Nonclinical Services for Development of Interventional Agents

The National Institutes of Health is operating a closed Master IDIQ established April 16, 2018, to procure nonclinical development services for promising therapeutic candidates targeting bioterrorism agents, drug-resistant pathogens, emerging infectious diseases, and diseases prevalent in resource-limited countries. Ordering against the vehicle closed April 30, 2025, more than one year ago, making this vehicle unavailable for new task orders.

The vehicle remains a reference point for understanding NIAID's historical nonclinical services spending: 94 task orders totaling $104 million in combined potential value have been awarded, with $73.5 million obligated as of the most recent data. Sri International dominates the vehicle, holding 41 of the 94 orders and $64.6 million of the combined potential value—nearly 62 percent of all task-order value. Eurofins Discovery Services North America and Curia Global account for $12.3 million and $7.4 million respectively, with Research Triangle Institute, IIT Research Institute, and Southern Research Institute filling secondary roles. The remaining two primes account for less than 5 percent of activity combined.

All 94 task orders were unrestricted (no set-aside), and all funded National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases programs. Task orders span synthesis and chemistry services, preclinical pharmacokinetics and toxicology, microbiological safety studies, manufacturing and scale-up, lead optimization screening, and product development planning. Recent awards from late 2024 include manufacturing services, lead identification and chemistry work, and nonclinical development support ranging from approximately $67,000 to $1.9 million in obligated value. Pricing models mixed Cost Plus Fixed Fee and Firm Fixed Price structures across the portfolio.

Ordering momentum peaked in 2020–2022 (17–18 orders per year) and declined sharply after that (4 orders in 2023, 7 in 2024 before the ordering deadline). The vehicle's combined potential value of $104 million against a shared ceiling of $120 million reflects 87 percent utilization of the authorized capacity. With the ordering deadline passed, pursuit of this vehicle is not possible.

The development and introduction of new therapeutic products against potential agents of bioterrorism, drug-resistant pathogens, emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, as well as infectious diseases prevalent in resource-limited countries remain a high public health priority. To assist in filling these public health gaps, the NIAID requires a nontraditional, proactive, and product development-oriented program to provide preclinical and non-clinical development support for promising therapeutic candidates that emerge from academia, the private sector, or other sources.