SER-CAT beamline located at the Argonne National Lab in Argonne, IL

This is a Notice of Intent (NOI). This notice is published in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 5.101(a)(1) requiring the dissemination of information regarding proposed contract actions. This is a Notice of Intent to award a sole source, firm-fixed price purchase order under the authority of 41 U.S.C. 253 (c)(1), as implemented by FAR 13.106-1(b) and 13.501(a)- Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Service Will Satisfy Agency Requirements and is not a request for quotes. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) intends to negotiate on an other than full and open competition basis with the University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc.

Only one (1) award will be made as a result of this solicitation. This will be awarded as a firm-fixed price type of contract.

Period of Performance(s) are as follows:

March 20, 2026 to March 19, 2027

Acquisition purpose and objectives:

The mission of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), as stated in Title W, Part C, Subpart 6, Section 446 of the Public Health Service Act (42U.S.C. Sec. 285 F) is the conduct and support of research, training, health information dissemination, and other programs with respect to allergic and immunologic diseases and disorders and infectious diseases, including tropical diseases.

To accomplish Institute goals, the NIAID, Division of Intramural Research (DIR) conducts basic and clinical research in its laboratories in Bethesda, Rockville, and Baltimore, Maryland and Hamilton, Montana. The NIAID, DIR supports basic research in the disciplines of virology, bacteriology, parasitology, mycology, molecular biology, immunobiology, immunochemistry, immunoregulation, immunogenetics, transplantation biology, and immunopathology.

The goal of all the Institute's research programs is to improve methods for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of infectious and immune-mediated diseases. NIAID investigators are devising new approaches to combat infectious agents and are uncovering new ways to enhance protective powers of the immune system and to diminish its destructive effects or restore deficiencies when it malfunctions. Their efforts are facilitated by advances in molecular biology, which now permit a better understanding of microorganisms and cells at the fundamental molecular level.

Roughly twenty years ago, NIH established a consortium consisting of ~20-30 PI (Principal Investigator) groups across multiple institutes (NCI,NIAID,VRC,DDK,NIEHS,NIAMS, etc) as a collective entity to acquire a portion of the SERCAT beamline, a synchrotron data collection facility operated by the University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc (UGA) housed in Argonne National Lab (DOE). The ability to use synchrotron beamline to collect high resolution X-ray diffractions is critical for protein crystallography groups at NIH. In the past twenty years or so, NCI has taken a lead in negotiating the contract with UGA. The contract was between Leidos (administratively affiliated with NCI) and UGA. The FY2025 contract negotiated by NCI with UGA (which hosts SERCAT beamline) expired at the end of September 2025. Subsequently, NIAID with multiple PI groups in the NIH consortium, decided to take over the responsibility of negotiating the contract with UGA. It cost each group less if all the groups at NIH to negotiate with UGA as a consortium than separate negotiations by each PI.

THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION FOR COMPETITIVE QUOTATIONS. All responsible sources that could provide the required services may submit a capability statement that will be considered by email (subject line to reference NIAID-NOI-26-2278124 to Linda Smith at linda.smith2@nih.gov, by 11:00 am eastern standard time Monday, March 16, 2026. All responses received by the closing date of this notice will be considered by the Government. A determination not to compete this requirement, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the Government.

This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for any information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted.