Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS)
and Human Services (HHS)
June 30, 2021
None
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Introduction
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) supports research related to the basic understanding of microbiology and immunology leading to the development of vaccines, therapeutics, and medical diagnostics for the prevention, treatment, and diagnosis of infectious and immune-mediated diseases. The NIAID Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID) supports a comprehensive extramural research program focused on the prevention and control of diseases caused by virtually all infectious agents. The NIAID is re-competing the Structural Genomics Centers for Infectious Diseases (SGCID) program, herein now referred to as the Centers for Research on Structural Biology of Infectious Diseases (CRSTAL-ID).
Description
The goal of the CRSTAL-ID program is to continue to support experimental determination of 3D protein structures and other molecules with important biological roles across human pathogens, and pathogen and host proteins involved in host-pathogen interactions. Pathogens include those on the NIAID Category A-C Priority Pathogen lists and organisms associated with emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases: https://www.niaid.nih.gov/research/emerging-infectious-diseases-pathogens.
This CRSTAL-ID program will support research projects that utilize experimental approaches to define the molecular mechanisms of protein targets and gain further insight into the functional roles of these targets. Knowledge from these protein structures and their molecular functions will inform: 1) a structural view of biological processes and pathways which will assist systems-level investigations; and 2) insights into functional mechanisms of the protein target(s), either in complex with other biological molecules or with synthetic compounds. Moreover, the CRSTAL-ID will support projects that perform structure-guided vaccine design and drug discovery and will conduct evaluation and validation assays required for therapeutic use against infectious diseases. This rational structure-guided approach will improve selectivity, specificity and optimization of drug and vaccine development pipelines. Of critical importance, the CRSTAL-ID program will support projects on antimicrobial resistance and pandemic preparedness for emerging infectious disease threats with a focus on viruses with epidemic or pandemic potential to aid in coordination of NIAID response efforts. The 3D structure information, reagents and services provided by the CRSTAL-ID centers will be made freely available to the broad scientific community.
The purpose of this solicitation is to provide scientific support to the CRSTAL-ID program through a) generation of 3D structures for targets derived from bacterial, viral, eukaryotic and other human pathogens using state-of-the-art high-throughput technologies and structural biology methodologies including x-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), cryo-EM, and structural modeling; b) characterization of molecular functions and biochemical properties of selected targets; c) evaluation of structure-guided design and functional studies of drug targets and vaccine candidates; d) provision of pandemic preparedness and rapid response to emerging infectious diseases threats and programmatic priorities; e) provision of a 3D structure determination service to the external scientific community; and f) dissemination of contract generated resources, including all 3D structure information and reagents.
It is anticipated that two cost reimbursement, level of effort type contracts will be awarded with a one-year base period of performance beginning on or around June 1, 2022. Awards are expected to include 4 one-year option periods. The total period of performance, including options, is five years. The Government's base level of effort requirement is estimated at 31,200 labor hours for each contract year, equating to 15 full-time equivalents (FTE) with an FTE being defined as 2,080 hours. In addition to the base level of effort, each year of performance is anticipated to contain an option quantity for up to 12 additional FTEs.
Any responsible offeror may submit a proposal which will be considered by the Agency. This Request for Proposal (RFP) is available electronically and can be accessed through Beta Sam: https://sam.gov/opp/826f1fdbf8054deca4af4abbc37240e5/view. This Notice does not commit the Government to award a contract. No collect calls will be accepted. No facsimile transmissions will be accepted.
For this solicitation, the NIAID requires proposals to be submitted via the NIAID electronic Contract Proposal Submission (eCPS) website. Submission of proposals by facsimile or e-mail is not acceptable.
For directions on using eCPS, go to the website https://ecps.nih.gov and then click on "How to Submit."
Swee L. Teo
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Telephone: 240-669-5173
Email: teosl@niaid.nih.gov