Development and Maintenance of an Aged Rodent Tissue Bank

The National Institute on Aging (NIA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) intends to re-compete a requirement currently being performed by BioReliance Inc. under NIA Contract HHSN260200600004C. This procurement is being competed under full and open competitive procedures under NAICS 541712. It is anticipated that a single cost reimbursement, term type contract will be awarded for a 5-year period of performance beginning on or about March 1, 2011, with an anticipated level of effort of approximately 1/2 FTE in each year, to develop, maintain and distribute a repository of tissues from aged rodents for use by investigators in studies of aging. The National Institute on Aging (NIA) supports through contracts several colonies of aged rats and mice for use in research on aging. Some investigators do not need live animals, but simply collect specific tissue from the animals for their experiments. The purpose of this contract is to provide a source of fresh-frozen tissue, suitable for multiple experimental protocols, from the NIA colonies of aged rats and mice. This will allow multiple investigators to make use of different tissues from the same animals, and will lower the cost of tissue for those investigators. The Contractor shall receive mice and rats selected by the Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR) from the NIA colonies and shipped at no cost to the Contractor, and shall upon receipt of the animals assign an identification number to each animal, record vital statistics, and collect, flash-freeze, package, label and store tissues, and ship tissues to investigators at the direction of the COTR. The number of animals to be sent for tissue collection each year is dependent on need. It is estimated that 150 animals per year shall be received by the Contractor, in groups of 5 animals per week. The COTR shall determine the specific strain, age and gender of the animals to be sent, as well as the schedule for submission of animals for tissue collection. The Contractor shall transfer the existing aged rodent tissue bank holdings from the existing contract to the Contractor's facilities. The transfer shall be accomplished in such away to prevent any thawing of frozen tissues. The current contract aged rodent tissue bank consists of approximately 6,600 frozen tissue samples in two freezers and 500 glass slides stored at room temperature. Upon receipt of the animals, the Contractor shall maintain them for three days under conditions where they will not be exposed to disease or other animals. Animals shall be maintained in filtered cages, no more than 3 rats or 5 mice per cage, with ad libitum food and water, a temperature range of 70-75oF and a 12/12 hour light/dark cycle. NIH31 laboratory diet (Rader et al., 1986, J. Nutrition 116:1777-88) shall be autoclaved, water shall be autoclaved, and cage bedding shall be autoclaved. Cages shall meet ILAR minimum floor space requirements per animals and population size as stated in NIH publication No. 85-23 entitled "Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals" (text available at http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/labrats/ ). The Contractor shall record on the Vital Statistics Information Sheet the date of accession, strain, gender, age, weight, barrier of origin, special notes such as caloric restricted, and general condition including visible lesions. The Contractor shall euthanize each animal individually by CO2 asphyxiation and immediately collect, freeze and store the following tissues (flash-frozen in LN2 and stored at -70 to -80oC): serum, brain, eyes, heart, lungs, liver, spleen, ovary or testes, pancreas, small intestine, prostate, muscle, skin, kidneys, white adipose tissue, thymus and any tumors found. The Contractor shall provide immersion fixation of tissues with ethanol or formalin for special cases designated by the COTR in order to meet the needs of NIA-funded projects and to prepare tissue arrays. Tissues fixed for investigators' special requests shall be stored at room temperature or at 4oC as instructed by the COTR, and shipped to the investigator in the fixative. Tissues fixed for tissue arrays shall be embedded in paraffin and arrays prepared at the direction of the COTR. Master blocks of tissue arrays are prepared and sectioned onto glass slides (1" x 3"), and stored at room temperature. It is estimated that one (1) tissue array will be made per year. The Contractor shall use an appropriate mechanism for inventory control of frozen tissue, fixed tissue, embedded tissue, and tissue arrays. The Contractor shall maintain frozen tissues in two freezers, each of which is equipped with an independent alarm system and back-up generator. Approximately half of each sample cohort of tissue (same strain, age, gender) shall be maintained in each freezer. The Contractor shall ship tissues and tissue arrays to investigators at the direction of the COTR, and invoice the investigator for the cost of shipping the tissue and a nominal fee set by the COTR. All responsible sources may submit a proposal which will be considered by the agency. This notice does not commit the Government to award a contract. No collect calls will be accepted. No facsimile transmissions will be accepted. Contracting Office Address: NIMH/NIA Contracts Management Branch NIDA Neuroscience COAC 6001 Executive Blvd, Rm 8154, MSC 9661 Bethesda, Maryland 20892-9661