Amendment 1 RFP 75N93024R00029.pdf

AMENDMENT #1 RFP No. 75N93024R00029 1

Amendment No. 1 RFP No. 75N93024R00029

“Animal Care and Laboratory Support Services to the Vaccine Research Center”

Solicitation Number: 75N93024R00029

Amendment Number: One (1)

Amendment Issue Date: April 16, 2026

Proposal Due Date/Time: May 15, 2026, at 3:00 PM, Local Time (EST) (Changed)

Issued By: Evguenia Mathur

Contract Specialist

OALM//NIH/DHHS

6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 400-B Bethesda, Maryland 20817

Points of Contact: PRIMARY jane.mathur@nih.gov Evguenia Mathur, Contract Specialist Phone: 301.451.0237

SECONDARY

Ashley.kinderdine@nih.gov Ashley Kinderdine, Contracting Officer Phone: 240.669.5154

Offerors must acknowledge receipt of this Amendment by identifying the amendment number and the date of the amendment on each copy of the submitted proposal. Failure to receive your acknowledgement 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.

The purpose of this Amendment is to (1) extend the proposal submission due date from May 1, 2026 to May 15, 2026; and (2) provide responses to questions from potential offerors, regarding the solicitation.

The due date for receipt of proposals is hereby extended as follows:

Original Due Date: May 1, 2026, at 3.00 PM, local time (EST) Revised Due Date: May 15, 2026, at 3.00 PM, local time (EST)

Offerors shall submit proposals in accordance with the solicitation instructions.

mailto:jane.mathur@nih.gov mailto:Ashley.kinderdine@nih.gov

AMENDMENT #1 RFP No. 75N93024R00029 2

Offerors are required to acknowledge receipt of this amendment. Failure to acknowledge may render the proposal ineligible for award.

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the solicitation remain unchanged.

RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS FROM POTENTIAL OFFERORS:

Question 1 Regarding personnel biosketches: Will NIH formatted biosketches be acceptable via inclusion in an appendix to the technical proposal or should they be uploaded electronically to NIH?

Response to Question 1 NIH-formatted biosketches or resumes for all key personnel are required. Offerors shall include these documents as an appendix to the technical proposal. No separate electronic submission to NIH is required.

Question 2 On Page 22 of Attachment 4 Section 1, 3) Mandatory Qualification Criteria (MQC): We are unsure about what should be included in this section of the technical proposal. Should this section provide a list of the documentation for our USDA inspections, AAALAC approval letter, Select Agent permit, etc. with the actual documents included in an Appendix?

Response to Question 2 The wording “MQC” is not succinctly defined in the RFP, but it is in included below. All of the documentation the vendor provided above in question 2 is appropriate and should also include the following:

The project requirements include comprehensive housing, care, and technical support for Non- Human Primates (NHPs) essential to vaccine and therapeutic development. The selected contractor will be required to deliver all necessary services, qualified personnel, materials, equipment, and facilities, including those capable of handling up to 500 NHPs annually. Key technical requirements include providing Biosafety Level-2 (BSL-2) and Biosafety Level-3 (BSL-3) animal holding facilities, with specialized capabilities, such as a dedicated Tuberculosis (TB) suite equipped with GFE PET/CT scanning for ABSL-3 level studies. The selected contractor must ensure strict adherence to NIH and federal animal care and biosafety standards.

Deliverables include regular reports on animal care, veterinary services, and technical procedures, as well as detailed records of all activities conducted under the contract. Of particular importance is the maintenance of a secure and compliant environment, ensuring the humane treatment of NHPs, and the capability to support long-term and high-containment infectious disease studies.

This acquisition will have a mandatory qualification that Offerors must demonstrate their facility is within 60 minutes from the VRC NIH Bethesda campus via reasonable transportation methods

AMENDMENT #1 RFP No. 75N93024R00029 3

(e.g. automobile) on a routine basis. The 60-minute proximity requirement is essential to ensuring the stability of research materials, timely sample processing, and efficient facility oversight.

Many materials, such as immunizations and therapeutics, have strict stability limits and must be prepared under controlled conditions at VRC by scientific staff within one hour before being transported for administration. Similarly, sample integrity depends on rapid processing to maintain viability for analysis. According to International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER) best practices, specimens should be processed as quickly as possible, as even brief exposure to warm environments can cause macromolecular degradation, compromising research outcomes.

Additionally, study quality assurance and semi-annual facility inspections by the VRC IACUC require feasible travel logistics without excessive costs or scheduling burdens. This time-based requirement ensures research continuity, compliance, and operational efficiency.

The components listed below are critical to this acquisition and stabilizing research materials.

These components include integrity of research material, integrity and processing of samples and feasibility of required visits.

1. Integrity of research material: Many research studies involve preparation of materials such as immunizations and therapeutics that have limited stability and must be administered within one hour of thawing, preparation, dilution, resuspension etc. There are often limitations in availability of appropriate laboratory space and equipment for performing these preparations at the contractor site. Requirements of this nature for preparation can include but, are not limited to, need for: Biosafety cabinets/sterile environment, water bath/bead bath for thawing materials, pipettes, etc. Therefore, the ability to prepare these materials at VRC and transport them to the contractor site and administer within the stability time frame is required.

2. Integrity and processing of samples: Many of the samples that are collected for research studies require processing before they may be analyzed and/or stored for future analysis.

Some of these processing procedures require fresh tissues or samples which have limited viability under room temperature or refrigerated conditions. Additionally, researchers and designated staff must be able to process samples in a timely fashion during their available work hours; required processing and sample analysis can be lengthy.

3. Feasibility of required visits: The VRC IACUC must perform semi-annual facility inspections. These visits require scheduling designated time, and transportation of IACUC member to the contractor site. Therefore, a distance requirement of 60 minutes from VRC maintains a feasible length of time for performing this activity, not requiring additional travel expenses or approvals for members.

AMENDMENT #1 RFP No. 75N93024R00029 4

Question 3 We are unsure about what should be included in the new "MQR" section at the top of the proposal document (see Attachment 4, Section 1.3). Should we include past performance here?

Response to Question 3

A. Facility within 1-hour radius of NIH Bethesda B. Required federal regulatory compliance documentation and certifications C. ABSL-2/3 operational capability and regulatory approval documentation for operation D. Ability to meet strict sample transport timelines E. Valid IACUC/IBC, Safety, and animal welfare compliance F. Past Performance or reference to location within proposal

Yes. Any other past performance information should be included in this section of the proposal.

Question 4 How are bidders supposed to link the new online biosketches to their submissions? Are we expected to include PDFs of the Biosketch and Supplement forms, but only after they are "Certified" (basically e-signed) through SciEnv by the owner of the account, or is an alternative method supposed to be used?

Response to Question 4

The Government is unaware of any specific technical system requirements for submitting biosketches. In the absence of explicit instructions or guidance in the RFP, it would be reasonable to expect the offeror to determine the most appropriate and efficient method for providing the required information in support of their proposal. Ideally, the information should be presented in a clear and well-organized format that facilitates straightforward evaluation

END OF AMENDMENT NO. 1, RFP No. 75N93024R00029