Cercariae Services

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), intends to negotiate on an other than full and open competition basis with American Foundation for Biomedical Research, 9410 Key West Avenue, Rockville, Maryland 20850-3345 to obtain services to maintain the life cycle Schistosoma mansoni to provide investigators with the cercariae stage of the life cycle.  See the attached Statement of Work. 

This acquisition will be processed under FAR Part 12 – Acquisition for Commercial Items and will be made pursuant to the authority in FAR Part 13.501(a)(1).

Only one award will be made as a result of this solicitation.  This will be awarded as a firm-fixed price type of contract.

Delivery to Bethesda, Maryland 20892 with a period of performance for full performance of a base year that includes four (4) one-year option periods from date and acceptance of award. 

The Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases (LPD) has a requirement to obtain services to maintain the lifecycle of Schistosoma mansoni, and to provide investigators with the cercariae stage of the life cycle.  Schistosomiasis is a highly prevalent disease in the developing world.  Research is designed to understand the pathology of disease by characterizing the host’s immune response to parasite eggs as well as the nature of protective immunity.  Studies are ultimately aimed at developing a schistosome anti-infection and/or anti-pathology vaccine, which may be used in both visitors to endemic areas as well as person endemically exposed.  The prevention of the disease is a goal, which thus benefits the United States and the developing world.

The LPD requires cercariae that is harvested and delivered once per week.  For some years the LPD has been experimenting with cercariae from the American Foundation for Biomedical Research.  If the lab does not receive cercariae, the lab will not be able to continue the research and the resources would have to be abandoned, causing harm to the government resources.  To reproduce and continue the research the same source must be used, or the data will be compromised.  Animal studies are prone to error and introducing more errors into the system and change the source of the cercariae will make the data invalid and useless.  Very importantly, in order to maintain the consistency in variables within experiments, and ensure the best possible comparison between existing and future data is to continue to source cercariae from American Foundation for Biomedical Research.

The statutory authority for this sole source requirement is 41 U.S.C. 253 (c) (1) as implemented by FAR 6.302-1 only one source available, no substitutions possible.  THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION FOR COMPETITIVE QUOTATIONS.  All responsible sources that could provide cercariae submit a capability statement that will be considered by email (subject line to reference NIAID-NOI-22-2114220 to Tonia Alexander at talexander@niaid.nih.gov, by 11:00 am eastern daylight time Monday, May 9, 2022.  A determination not to compete this requirement, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the Government.  Any responses received by NIAID after this date and exact time specified is late and will not be considered.