A--Biological Testing Facility

This contract is an Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) award issued by the National Institutes of Health’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) for the establishment and operation of a Biological Testing Facility. The solicitation, issued under number 75N94026R00005, has a proposed performance period from September 30, 2026, through September 29, 2033, with an estimated total value ranging between $100,000 and $49,000,000. Offerors must submit proposals in two separate volumes—technical and business—with strict formatting requirements including page limits, font size, and file types, all submitted electronically via the NIH eCPS portal by the deadline of May 28, 2026. The technical proposal must not include pricing and is limited to 180 pages across multiple task order samples, while the business proposal must include detailed cost breakdowns using the prescribed NIH Excel template. Proposals are evaluated using a best-value trade-off approach where technical merit is significantly more important than cost, with criteria including experience, data management, animal welfare compliance, biological resource authentication, and project management. All submissions must adhere to NIH policies on reproducibility, public access to publications, and ethical conduct, and must include compliance with the vertebrate animal section worksheet and the contractor code of business ethics. The contract requires strict compliance with federal regulations and NIH-specific protocols, including adherence to biosafety and Good Manufacturing Practice standards for biological materials, with all shipments subject to IATA and ICAO regulations for temperature control and hazard labeling. Deliverables must be inspected and accepted at the NICHD facility in Bethesda, Maryland, under FAR clauses governing inspection of research and development services. Contractors must implement robust information security controls in alignment with HHSAR 352.239-76, maintain a roster of employees subject to suitability investigations, and ensure all personnel handling non-public information sign non-disclosure agreements. Invoicing is mandated through the Treasury’s Invoice Processing Platform (IPP), with strict requirements for electronic submission, taxpayer identification, and vendor invoice numbering. Contractors must maintain a compliant accounting system that adheres to FAR cost accounting standards, with deviations noted for specific clauses. Subcontracting plans are required under FAR 52.219-9, and all offerors must provide a Unique