A -- NIEHS Regional Mouse Vivarium Resource

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) will be soliciting proposals from offerors for a requirement to house, maintain, and breed laboratory mice, thereby assisting the NIEHS to conduct research studies requiring genetically-modified laboratory mice. The following mandatory qualification criteria must be met at the time of award: 1. The facility must be located within 30 minutes driving time of the NIEHS South Campus facility located at 111 T.W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. 2. The facility must be a dedicated animal facility in which NIEHS is the sole tenant or have a dedicated NIEHS-specific area of an animal facility. 3. The NIEHS portion must be self-contained, and have the capacity to house, care for, and breed mice occupying up to 2,000 cages at the start of the first year, 4,000 cages at the start of the second year, 6,000 cages at the start of the third year, 8,000 cages at the start of the fourth year, and a maximum of 10,000 cages at the start of Year 5 and any option years thereafter. 4. The Offeror must be able to provide and maintain animal husbandry, maintenance, veterinary care, and housing for specific-pathogen free (SPF) laboratory mice twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days per year. 5. The Offeror must have the capability to order and receive (and purchase if necessary) animals from NIEHS-approved commercial vendors. For estimating purposes, the facility should include ten (10) animal rooms at approximate 450 square feet each for at least 8 racks/room x 144 cages/rack; two (2) procedure rooms at approximately 200 square feet each for the purposes of experimental procedures such as euthanasia, necropsy, and collection of tissues (i.e., blood, urine, feces, tissues for formalin fixation, etc); one (1) ante room at approximately 100 square feet; shared space outside the specific-pathogen free (SPF) barrier at approximately 4,500 square feet for support, administration, cage wash, and storage; dedicated space outside the SPF barrier at approximately 2,250 square feet for quarantine and marshaling areas for an approximate 11,750 square feet. The contractor must maintain compliance with Federal, State, and Local laws, and NIH Regulations such as: 1) The Laboratory Animal Welfare Act of 1966 (P.L. 89-544 as amended in 1970, 1976, and 1985) http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/legislat/usdaleg1/htm ; 2) Standard Operating Procedures that conform to the most recent version of the National Research Council Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/labrats/ National Academy Press, 1996); 3) PHS Policy on the Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (http://oacu.od.nih.gov/regs/guide/guidex.htm); 4) The Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care, International (AAALAC International) standards (http://www.aaalac.org/); 5) Should have an approved animal welfare assurance statement on file with the NIH OLAW (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/olaw/references/phspol.htm); 6) should have a functional Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), and 7) must be accredited by the Association For Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International (AAALAC) http://www.aaalac. The estimated period of performance, including all option years, shall be ten years. It is anticipated that level of effort for this project shall be approximately 32,240 direct labor hours in the first year and increasing to approximately 73,840 direct labor hours during the fifth through the tenth years. The estimated direct labor hours for the first year shall consist of approximately 4,160 professional hours, 9,360 professional support hours, and 29,120 technical support hours. It is anticipated that a Request for Proposal (RFP) will be released on or about July 26, 2007. Offerors will then have 30 days to respond to the RFP. Inquiries may be addressed to Ms. Jennifer Smith, Contract Specialist, Post Office Box 12874, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709. Overnight address: 79 T.W. Alexander Drive, Bldg. 4401, Suite 100, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709. Inquiries will be also be accepted by fax (919) 541-2712 or e-mail at smithj3@niehs.nih.gov.