Warehouse Storage Space for the NIH

The Building 49 Central Animal Facility (CAF), located on the Bethesda campus of the National Institutes of Health, contributes to the advancement of biomedical research by providing professional and technical support services related to laboratory animal care and use and housing laboratory animals in support of eight Institute's intramural research program. The animal research facility is a specially designed building type that accommodates exquisitely controlled environments for the care and maintenance of experimental animals. Animal research facilities are related to but distinct from research laboratories. The facilities are complex and expensive to build and operate, but they are vital to supporting a proper, safe, and humane research effort. It is far more cost-effective to store equipment offsite than take up valuable space within the animal facility. To support our animals and their critical research programs, we must ensure consistent equipment and supply storage, even during emergencies and disasters. Due to the essential nature of storing both supplies and equipment, our program requirements have been incorporated into our Facility and Institute disaster preparedness plans. Warehouse Services include transportation to and from the warehouse and storage of laboratory animal equipment (racks, caging, and miscellaneous items) which shall be sorted and inventoried.