Basic and Clinical Research Efforts, Surveillance, Vaccine Efficacy, Performance and Evaluation of New Diagnostic Capabilities for NAMRU-3

This is a pre-solicitation notice for an upcoming non-personal services stand-alone contract to provide contractor support for bio-surveillance activities conducted by the Naval Medical Research Unit- 3 (NAMRU-3) primarily in Egypt, Africa and the Middle East. The contractor shall provide all personnel, equipment, supplies, facilities, transportation, tools, materials, contractor supervision, and any other items and non-personal services necessary to perform Bio-surveillance Activities in Egypt, Africa and the Middle East. Areas of Contractor Support include: Vector Surveillance And Vector Control Support- Egypt: NAMRU-3 has initiated research activities in collaboration with research Institutes in Nigeria, Ghana, Jordan, Djibouti and other countries. These studies aim at understanding the environmental factors, geographic distribution, diversity, and abundance of arthropod vectors transmitting pathogens potentially involved in acute febrile illness as well as detecting pathogens in vectors and offering vector control support. The goals of these studies are to fill in this information gap by conducting entomological research to determine relative health risks associated with the presence of vector species and/or vector-borne diseases. This support is anticipated to take place primarily at the NAMRU-3 offices in Cairo, Egypt. Bacterial and Parasitic Disease Research Program (BPDRP)- Egypt, Djibouti, and Liberia: The contractor shall assist in the design and execution of field and laboratory research related to emerging infectious diseases. The latter may include but is not limited to: (a) proposal and protocol writing (to be approved by Government personnel), (b) collection of samples and specimens under bio-surveillance and research protocols (e.g., drawing of blood), (c) lab analysis of samples and specimens (e.g., molecular analysis), (d) lab assay development, (e) clinical testing and lab evaluation, (f) development and maintenance of data repositories containing information from the aforementioned, (g) performance of epidemiological research using as a basis the aforementioned, and (h) safety maintenance of personnel involved with research (e.g., personnel medical physicals, lab tests, vaccine injections, etc.). This support is anticipated to take place primarily at the NAMRU-3 offices and field collection sites in Cairo, Egypt; Camp Lemonier, Djibouti; Camp Edward Binyah Kesselly (EBK), Liberia; Camp Ware, Liberia; and the Liberia Coast Guard Camp (LCG), Liberia. Bio-Surveillance Activities for Viral and Zoonotic Disease Research and Infection Control Programs in Egypt, Eastern Mediterranean and West African Countries: The Viral and Zoonotic Disease Research and Infection Control Programs at NAMRU-3 are conducting several surveillance research activities in Egypt, Jordan, and other Eastern Mediterranean (EM) countries as well as Liberia and other West African Countries. Such activities include but are not limited to Surveillance for Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI), Influenza like Illnesses (ILI) and surveillance for Arboviruses causing Acute Febrile Illness (AFI), and surveillance of Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Such surveillance activities are important to study, monitor, and detect emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats of both viral and bacterial etiologies that would affect significantly the public health on both civilian and military levels. Through this contract, laboratory and epidemiological contractors are required to perform tasks required for different surveillance research activities conducted by the Viral and Zoonotic Disease Research Program and the Infection Control Program. This support is anticipated to take place primarily at the NAMRU-3 offices in Cairo, Egypt, but may include the Kingdom of Jordan and other collaborating countries within the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) and West Africa. Support for NAMRU-3 Biosurveillance Activities in West Africa- Ghana: The NAMRU-3 Ghana Detachment requires contractor support for its portfolio of research projects including, but not limited to, acute febrile illness, viral hemorrhagic fevers, sexually transmitted infections, antimicrobial resistance, influenza, vector-borne disease, malaria, and sepsis. Increased NAMRU-3 biopreparedness research and development in West Africa requires additional contracted staff as NAMRU-3 establishes a new headquarters in Sigonella, Italy in order to meet its mission and requirements of the COCOM. This support is anticipated to take place primarily at the NAMRU-3 satelite facility in Ghana. Overall Support for NAMRU-3 Activities in Egypt: NAMRU-3 requires overall programmatic and technical support to create a program management system that will provide NAMRU-3 visibility on performance research projects for the various activities in Egypt. Objectives of this work include coordinating research activities, facilitating communications between NAMRU-3 staff and partners, and assisting in coordination of grant proposal processes, progress reports, and technical reports. In addition, this support will provide Information Technology (IT) support, System/Network Administration, and Logistics services to support Government and Contractor personnel involved in the aforementioned research. This support is anticipated to take place primarily at the NAMRU-3 offices in Cairo, Egypt. Intramural human subject research (HSR) is expected under this contract. Research with human subjects shall not begin until the Contractor (and all applicable subcontractors) obtains a Federal Wide Assurance (FWA) issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). A solicitation for this requirement is anticipated to be posted on or around 17 May 2021 to beta.SAM.gov. Solicitations are to be downloaded from beta.SAM.gov. No solicitations will be mailed. All proposals shall be submitted per the instructions set forth in the upcoming solicitation. The services required are non-personal and are considered to be severable services. The resultant contract will have a period of performance of 60 months (consisting of one 12-month base period and four additional 12-month option periods) from the start date of services. The cost type for this contract will be cost-plus-fixed-fee. This effort is not considered a new requirement; the legacy contract is W911QY-16-D-0039 and all of its awarded task orders. If, for any reason, there are no successful proposals, the Government reserves the right to re-open the upcoming solicitation. This requirement will be solicited in accordance with FAR Part 15, utilizing full and open competition after exclusion of sources (this requirement will be set aside for small businesses). Instructions for questions regarding this requirement will be outlined in the upcoming solicitation. No phone calls or faxes will be accepted. The Government reserves the right to change information included in this notice.