A -- HLA Typing and Epitope Mapping Relative to HIV Vaccine Design

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) supports a comprehensive portfolio of grant and contract resources to discover, develop and evaluate potential vaccines to prevent infections caused by Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 (HIV-1). This acquisition shall support the immunogenetic characterization of selected HIV seropositive and seronegative populations at international vaccine sites, identify and map the CTL and T helper epitopes restricted by the common HLA types, analyze the HIV clade variants circulating in the geographic locations of the cohort to be immunized, and establish a database of HLA types, associated T cell epitopes, and viral variants to guide HIV vaccine design, prediction of immune responses and assay development. It is anticipated that one (1) cost reimbursement, completion type contract will be awarded for a period of five (5) years, beginning approximately May 2003. RFP NIH-NIAID-DAIDS-03-13 will be available electronically on or about June 17, 2003, and may be accessed through the NIAID Contract Management Branch (CMB) Home Page by using the following electronic address and instructions: NIAID/CMB Home Page (http://www.niaid.nih.gov/contract to access the NIAID/CMB Home Page. Once at the NIAID/CMB Home Page, click on the "RFPs" link and then click on RFP NIH-NIAID-DAIDS-03-13.) Please note that the RFP for this acquisition has been revised to include only the Work Statement, Deliverable and Reporting Requirements, Special Requirements and Mandatory Qualification, if any, the Technical Evaluation Criteria, and the Specific RFP Instructions and Provisions. All information required for the submission of an offer will be contained in the electronic RFP package. Following proposal submission and the initial review process, Offerors comprising the competitive range will be requested to provide additional documentation to the Contracting Officer. Responses to this RFP will be due on September 13, 2002. Any responsible Offeror may submit a proposal which will be considered by the Government. This advertisement does not commit the Government to award a contract. The point of contact for this RFP is: Scott Drega, Contract Specialist (contact@example.gov, Telephone - +1 (555) 000-0000 FAX - +1 (555) 000-0000). No collect calls will be accepted.