RFP ANNOUNCEMENT:  NIAID INNER-CITY ASTHMA CONSORTIUM:  IMMUNOLOGIC APPROACHES 
TO REDUCE ASTHMA SEVERITY:  NIH-NIAID-DAIT-02-11

Release Date:  May 24, 2001

NOTICE:  NOT-AI-01-024

Receipt Date:  October 15, 2001

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

The Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation of the National 
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH, has a 
requirement for a Contractor having the capabilities and facilities to 
establish, coordinate and manage The Inner-City Asthma Consortium. The 
goals of this Consortium are to develop and carry out a long-range 
scientific plan to reduce asthma severity and prevent asthma among 
inner-city children, and to identify the mechanisms involved in the 
immunopathogenesis of asthma in these populations. 

Specifically, the Contractor shall: (1) design and conduct clinical 
trials to evaluate the safety and efficacy of promising immune-based 
therapies in reducing asthma severity and preventing disease onset in 
minority children residing in inner cities in the United States; (2) 
design and conduct research to delineate the underlying mechanisms of 
such therapies as an integral part of the clinical trials undertaken by 
the Consortium; (3) design and conduct clinical studies on the 
immunopathogenesis of asthma onset, progression and severity; and (4) 
develop and validate surrogate/ biomarkers to measure disease stage, 
progression and therapeutic effect. 

The major focus of the clinical trials to be carried out by the 
Consortium will be on the identification and evaluation of immune-based 
therapies to reduce asthma severity in inner-city children. To the 
extent that fundamental knowledge, strategies and investigational 
agents are available to test approaches to prevent disease onset in 
children at high risk of developing asthma, such approaches shall be 
considered and, when appropriate, implemented in clinical trials 
supported by the Consortium. 

The major focus of studies on the immunopathogenesis of asthma will be 
on the pathogenesis of asthma in inner-city children who already have 
the disease. To the extent that fundamental knowledge and strategies 
are available to perform studies on the immune mechanisms underlying 
the onset of asthma in inner-city children at high risk of developing 
asthma, and that such strategies will provide important information 
about asthma pathogenesis, such approaches shall be considered and, 
when appropriate, implemented in clinical studies supported by the 
Consortium.  

It is anticipated that one (1) cost reimbursement completion type 
contract will be awarded for a period of six (6) years, beginning 
approximately June 1, 2002.  RFP NIH-NIAID-DAIT-02-11 will be available 
electronically on or about May 30, 2001, and may be accessed through 
the NIAID Contract Management Branch (CMB) Home Page by using the 
following electronic address and instructions:  NIAID CMB Home Page 
(via the World Wide Web) may be accessed using 
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/contract.  Once at the NIAID/CMB Home Page, 
click on the "RFPs" link and then click on "RFP NIH-NIAID-DAIT-02-11."  
Please note that the RFP for this acquisition has been revised to 
include only the Work Statement, Deliverable and Reporting 
Requirements, Special Requirements, the Technical Evaluation Criteria, 
and the Specific RFP Instructions and Provisions.  All information 
required for the submission of an offer will be contained in the 
electronic RFP package.  Following proposal submission and the initial 
review process, Offerors comprising the competitive range will be 
requested to provide additional documentation to the Contracting 
Officer.

Responses to this RFP will be due on October 15, 2001.  Any responsible 
Offeror may submit a proposal, which will be considered by the 
Government.  This advertisement does not commit the Government to award 
a contract.

Point of Contact:  Grace Bruce, Contracting Officer
Electronic mail address:  gb15w@nih.gov
Telephone:  (301) 496-0195
FAX:  (301) 402-0972

No collect calls will be accepted.

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