Evaluating pertussis Antibodies in Women Immunized with Tdap during Pregancy and their pre-term infants

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Office of Infectious Diseases (OID), National Center for Infectious and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), Division of Bacterial Diseases (DBD) intends to award, on a noncompetitive basis, a Time and Materials (T&M) contract to Baylor College of Medicine of Houston, TX. The purpose of the award is the conduct of a study in which pertussis antibodies will be analyzed to determine the concentration of maternal pertussis-specific IgG concentrations following Tdap vaccination in infants born pre-term. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 611310 Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; for which the size standard is $25.5 million dollars. Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is affiliated with Texas Children's Hospital (TCH) and the Pavilion for Women (PFW) at Texas Children's Hospital. TCH is the largest children's hospital in the United States and delivers care to pregnant women at the PFW. The PFW has approximately 5,000 deliveries annually and serves as a tertiary referral center for women with high risk pregnancies. PFW cares for a mixed ethnicity population of pregnant women with both low and high risk pregnancies. The team of investigators at BCM have established a surveillance protocol whereby maternal records are routinely reviewed soon after infant delivery to determine maternal and infant health parameters and vaccination status, and paired maternal deliver-infant cord samples meeting study criteria can be processed in a timely fashion for future testing. This team also carries out ongoing surveillance of infant pertussis admission to area hospitals, thus allowing the possibility of linking antibody levels at birth with subsequent infant infection. The proposed site and team of investigators are uniquely placed to address this question and have a track record in successfully performing this type of research. Their access to high numbers of women with low and high risk pregnancies, thus with a higher likelihood of preterm deliveries, who received Tdap during pregnancy, their already approved and established protocol to collect maternal and infant cord blood samples for testing, and proven track record in this field of pertussis research, are uniquely suited to performing the proposed study. The anticipated period of performance is twelve (12) months, with an optional 12-month performance period. This is not a request for competitive proposals and no solicitation is available. However, all responsible sources believing themselves capable of fulfilling this requirement are encouraged to identify themselves through the submission of a capability statement, proposal, or quotation, which shall be considered by the agency. Such written notification must be submitted to the contracting office no later than 12:00 PM EST on Tuesday 02 September 2014 and may be transmitted either electronically to Donna J Myler, Contracting Officer, at dmyler@cdc.gov or by facsimile to 770-488-2044. A determination by the Government not to compete the proposed contract action based on responses to this notice is solely within its discretion.