Regent of the University of Minnesota

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), under the Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health, has issued a Notice of Intent to Sole Source for an annual subscription renewal of an Accessibility Management Platform. The contract will be awarded to the Regent of the University of Minnesota as an 8(a) sole source procurement for a one-year base period from September 1, 2025, to September 31, 2026. The contract value will remain under the simplified acquisition threshold and falls under NAICS code 541714 for Research and Development in Biotechnology. The procurement involves retrieving, aliquoting, and shipping biospecimen samples from the Hispanic Community Health Study / Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) biobank. The University of Minnesota Central Laboratory is considered the sole source provider due to its exclusive role as the biobank for HCHS/SOL biospecimens.

The primary objective of this contract is to support research into autoimmune diseases within the Hispanic population, utilizing a multiplex assay of autoantibodies to detect subclinical and preclinical autoimmune conditions. The research aims to assess seroprevalence of autoimmune diseases in Hispanic communities and investigate autoantibody associations with various infection-related antibodies and age-related conditions. Interested parties may submit capability statements electronically to the contract specialist by August 9, 2025, at 12:00 PM EST, though the government reserves the right to determine whether to proceed competitively or non-competitively. The procurement will be conducted under FAR Part 13 Simplified Acquisition Procedures with a small business set-aside designation. This initiative addresses the significant health impact of autoimmune diseases, which collectively affect tens of millions of Americans and disproportionately impact women, with certain conditions like systemic lupus erythematosus occurring more frequently in Hispanic populations.