Support for Development, Maintenance and Distribution of Identifiers for Research Resources to Serve Replicable, Reproducible and Generalizable Biomedical Research

The National Institutes of Health Office of Logistics and Acquisition Operations seeks support for development, maintenance, and distribution of identifiers for research resources to serve replicable, reproducible, and generalizable biomedical research, with proposals due June 1, 2026 and questions due May 21, 2026. The procurement is set aside for Woman-Owned Small Business concerns and carries Amendment One issued May 27, 2026, which clarifies that prior experience with ORIP and OCCAM are illustrative examples rather than restrictive mandatory requirements; offerors will be evaluated on experience of similar scope, complexity, and relevance involving NIH, HHS, or comparable Federal biomedical or health research organizations.

Place of performance is Bethesda, Maryland. This is a Firm Fixed Price Request for Quote conducted under FAR Parts 12 and 13, with NAICS code 541690 (Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services) and small business size standard of $19 million. The incumbent contractor is SciCrunch LLC. The anticipated base period runs eleven months (August 29, 2026 through August 28, 2027) with four optional twelve-month extension periods through August 28, 2031.

The contractor must maintain and develop Research Resource Identifiers (RRIDs) for ORIP-supported model resources, improve search capabilities using ontological models, develop impact assessment methods, and gather validation data. Key tasks include unique identification tagging and curation of one to three new resources annually, onboarding of NAMs identification systems with a virtual conference in Year 1 focused on cell repositories, and analysis and impact assessment of model organisms distributed by ORIP repositories.

Evaluation criteria comprise technical approach and capabilities (Factor 1), personnel qualifications and staffing with key personnel resumes limited to two pages each (Factor 2), organizational capacity including facilities and management structure (Factor 3), and past performance within the last five years (Factor 4). Technical factors are weighted as more important than price. Award will be made to the responsible vendor whose quote represents best value.