Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Centers (CIVICs)

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases needs new contracts to continue and rebuild momentum in its influenza vaccine development program following the end of the current contracts. The business need is to support teams that can design, test, and advance new influenza vaccines that provide broader and longer-lasting protection than current seasonal vaccines. The required services include integrated research and development support for vaccine design, laboratory studies, immune response testing, assay and reagent development, process development, manufacturing planning and production, safety and toxicology studies, regulatory support, data sharing, and overall project and portfolio management. These contracts will support milestone-based work to improve seasonal influenza vaccines and develop new vaccine approaches that protect against multiple influenza strains. Existing strategic sourcing, government-wide acquisition, schedule, and other task-order contract vehicles were considered, but they do not meet this need because this requirement is not for routine commercial products, information technology services, or stand-alone support tasks. Instead, it requires multidisciplinary research centers that propose and carry out end-to-end vaccine development programs under Broad Agency Announcement procedures. Clinical trials will not be conducted under these contracts and will instead be supported through existing National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases clinical research infrastructure. Because the prior contracts have already ended, further delay in approval will extend the current gap in services, slow or halt follow-on work needed to advance promising vaccine candidates, and increase the risk that prior National Institutes of Health investments in vaccine concepts, preclinical data, assays, reagents, manufacturing planning, and established collaborations will lose value. Additional delay may also make it more difficult to reestablish integrated teams and restart development activities efficiently. The new contracts are planned as one base year with six one-year options.