Amendment One.pdf

RFP-75N93024R00024 Page 1 of 3 Amendment One (1)

75N93024R00024

IN VITRO ASSESSMENTS OF ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY

AMENDMENT ONE (1)

OFFICE OF ACQUISITIONS

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) 5601 Fishers Lane, Room 3D38, MSC 9821 Bethesda, MD 20892-9821

Solicitation Number: 75N93024R00024

Date of Solicitation Issuance: December 30, 2024

Date of Amendment One (1) Issuance: January 10, 2025

Proposal Due Date and Time: March 10, 2025, 3:00pm EDT (UNCHANGED)

Number of Pages: 3

Point of Contact:

Primary POC Alexander Beraud, Contract Specialist Email: alexander.beraud@nih.gov

Secondary POC Brian Madgey, Contracting Officer Email: Brian.Madgey@Nih.gov

The purpose of Amendment One is to:

1. Provide a cut-off date for submission of questions;

2. Provide updated instructions for the Proposal Intent Response Sheet;

3. Clarify submission instructions to eCPS; and

4. Respond to questions received regarding this solicitation.

Offerors MUST acknowledge receipt of the amendment by Amendment number (s) and date of the amendment. Failure to receive your acknowledgment of this amendment may result in the rejection of your proposal.

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the solicitation remain unchanged and in full force and effect.

mailto:alexander.beraud@nih.gov mailto:Brian.Madgey@Nih.gov

RFP-75N93024R00024 Page 2 of 3

I. Cut-off date to submit questions regarding this solicitation:

All questions regarding this solicitation must be submitted via email to the Point of Contacts listed above by February 26, 2025.

II. Updated instructions for Proposal Intent Response Sheet

For planning purposes, it would be extremely helpful to the NIAID if Offerors would specifically identify the proposed Task Area(s) on Attachment 2 - Proposal Intent Form. For example, if an Offeror is proposing to Task Area A, the RFP Title of the Intent Form would state “In Vitro Assessments of Antimicrobial Activity – Task Area A.” Please submit Notice of Intents to the Point of Contacts listed above by February 26, 2025.

III. Submission Instruction to eCPS

As specified in Attachment 1 – “Packing and Delivery of Proposals for Use with the NIH eCPS Website”, proposals must be submitted via the electronic Contract Proposal Submission System (eCPS). eCPS has been structured to allow Offerors to submit it’s proposal to the corresponding Task Area. For example, if an Offeror is proposing to Task Area A, they would submit its Technical and Business Proposals to “Task Area A – Bacterial, Fungi, and Toxins ( In Vitro Assessments of Antimicrobial Activity) in eCPS. Please carefully review eCPS to ensure your proposal is submitted to the correct Task Area. If you are submitting a proposal to multiple Task Areas, please understand that you must submit separate technical and business proposals for each Task Area and each of those proposals need to be submitted to the correct Task Area in eCPS. Please do not combine multiple Task Areas into one technical and business proposal. Please label proposal documents as instructed in Attachment 1 Section I.B.6.

IV. The Government’s responses to questions received regarding this solicitation are as follows:

1. Question: Task Area B: We understand the Task order is for 200 test articles total. Do we need to demonstrate assays for each virus in the panel we choose, or is a subset sufficient? Also, would we need to divide the 200 assays evenly between the viruses in the panel?

Response: The task order is for 200 antiviral in vitro screening assays. Proposing to perform assays against a subset of viruses in the selected panel is acceptable. The assays may be divided evenly, but this is not required. Offerors must provide strong justification for what they propose.

2. Question: Task Area B: In addition to the primary assay, should we also include additional secondary assays to be performed on candidate test articles that show activity in the primary assay? For example, complement microscopy assay with viral RNA yield reduction and viral titer reduction?

Response: As long as the final number of assays equals 200 offerors may elect to include both primary and secondary assays. Again, offerors must provide strong justification for what they propose.

RFP-75N93024R00024 Page 3 of 3

3. Question: Task Area A: Please confirm if "in vitro assessments of antimicrobial activity" includes testing antimicrobials in the context of human cell and mouse infections.

Response: This RFP is for in vitro testing of countermeasures for infectious agents. Use of human cells is in scope (and should be well justified for the proposed infectious agent), however, in vivo mouse infection studies are out of scope.

4. Question: Our proprietary antimicrobial susceptibility testing technology, currently in development, positions us strongly for this opportunity. The RFP does not specify whether technologies still in development are eligible for proposal submission and service provision. We would greatly appreciate your clarification in this matter.

Response: While antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) could potentially be in scope (i.e., it's not out of scope). AST is typically used as a diagnostic method, not a way to determine if a product is effective against a panel of infectious agents. Since what the RFP is requiring is 'theoretical' in that the sample task order is not going to be awarded, an in-process technology, if sufficiently explained and well justified, is in scope.

PLEASE NOTE: In the questions/responses above, specific organizational names have been removed or replaced where possible as well as other minor adjustments.