WRAIR Emerging Infectious Diseases and One Health Research (R&D)

This is a pre-solicitation notice in accordance with FAR 5.204. A solicitation is being forecasted for 27 March 2023. This will be a full and open competitive solicitation. The purpose of this requirement is to meet the ongoing needs of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) by obtaining support to conduct basic, applied and advanced research and development that supports the mission of WRAIR to discover, test and evaluate medical countermeasures to prevent or treat infectious diseases; to surveil to detect disease-causing agents or vectors that spread diseases in order to inform and drive countermeasure development; and to generate knowledge aimed at sustaining health and readiness of US personnel and public health globally. There is significant synergy between several branches at WRAIR that fall under the Center for Infectious Diseases Research (CIDR) as well as other collaborations/branches that fall within the described mission and program scope.The contractor would

closely collaborate and apply resources to jointly devise, conduct, apply for funding, execute, manage and report on medical research and development projects. The EIDB/OHB/VDB work within the entire continuum of research and development to include surveillance and diagnostics, countermeasure discovery, in vivo and in vitro preclinical testing, and all phases of clinical trials. The results would be new scientific knowledge or techniques, and/or prototype medical countermeasures to mitigate or defeat disease threats of military importance. The collaborative efforts and subsequent outputs and accomplishments would maintain or elevate WRAIR’s world class research in the areas of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, and other diseases that occur at the human-animal-environmental interface, in order to combat disease threats by detecting threats and creating and testing countermeasure for diseases of military importance.This requirement would enable collaboration in science between the USG and the contractor and would afford the collaboration with internationally recognized expertise, modern and cutting-edge research capabilities, international sites and research networks who would collaborate with USG personnel to accomplish the EIDB/OHB/VDB missions. The overall objective would be to achieve the research objectives detailed in this document but the desired approach must support the day to day operations of a premier research and development facility in a safe and compliant manner to support research missions. The Government envisions this award as a vehicle that will allow the contractor to provide both technical and programmatic assistance as needed, while working collaboratively with the USG. The contractor would need to have sufficient expertise, personnel, capabilities and networks (personnel and infrastructure) to conduct research at CONUS and OCONUS locations where research projects are currently being performed in support of WRAIR mission activities and must be able to rapidly adjust and re-locate to locations TBD as mission requirements dictate. The contractor would need to have the ability to plan, implement, and execute research projects at CONUS and OCONUS locations including, but not limited, to East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda), West Africa (Liberia, Ghana, Nigeria), Jordan, and Thailand. The contractor cannot be merely a pass-through with sub-agreements with “contracted” access to research sites and must be vested 50% or more in their own OCONUS sites to implement WRAIR international programs and projects. The desired approach would need to specifically support all research and research support elements for today’s research mission while providing flexibility and scope to support future known and unknown research missions. The contractor would also collaborate with the USG to conceive, write, and submit research and development (R&D) grant and similar proposals that would expand the portfolio of R&D activities to more effectively research and find MCM solutions. The contractor would provide and/or foster collaborations with appropriate external partners to facilitate research as needed. Collaborative partners may include, but are not limited to: US governmental agencies, academic organizations, foreign governmental agencies (e.g. Ministries of Health, Research Institutes), and NGOs.