Blood Bank Sample Services

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) seeks to procure blood bank sample services—specifically GMP leukopaks and fresh whole blood from healthy donors with viral testing—with quotations due September 2. This is a 100% small business set-aside under NAICS 621511 (Medical Laboratories).

Place of performance is Gaithersburg, Maryland. The contract includes a one-year base period and one one-year option period. Amendment 0001, issued August 26, revised the Not-to-Exceed quantity from 500 to 250 lots per sample type (leukopaks and whole blood), updated the CLIN structure, and extended the response deadline; the prior due date was August 28.

The Biomolecular Measurement Division requires samples to support forensic DNA testing, Standard Reference Material production, inter-laboratory studies, and allele frequency publication. All donors must be IRB-consented with clinically confirmed healthy status and provide de-identified demographics (age, sex, race/ethnicity). Informed consent must explicitly authorize sample and data sharing with law enforcement and academia, and permit publication of genotyping and sequencing results; samples must be eligible for SRM production, redistribution, and commercialization. Contractors must complete full clinical screening and viral testing, collect and ship samples within 24 hours, and deliver to NIST within 72 hours of collection via cold transport (approximately 4°C) on weekdays only, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET. FOB Destination delivery is required. NIST permits one month for contractors to resolve positive viral test results and provides acceptance confirmation within one week of receipt.

Evaluation criteria, in descending order of importance: Technical Capability (ability to collect, screen, and deliver samples within 72 hours; informed consent compliance); Experience (demonstrated ability to provide high-quality human biological specimens to federal, academic, or forensic institutions with cold-chain integrity); Past Performance (product quality, timeliness, business relations); and Price. Offerors with established cGMP or GMP-like quality management systems receive higher ratings. All quotations must be firm-fixed-price, include shipping costs, and remain valid for 90 days. Electronic quotations are submitted to rene.edwards@nist.gov and robert.singman@nist.gov. The government intends a single award without discussions and reserves the right to make no award. All quoters must maintain active SAM.gov registration through final payment.