ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, announced that it has been awarded a seven-year, Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with a ceiling value of $545 million by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). With this contract, ATCC will support NIAID’s Division of Clinical Research, Division of Intramural Research, and Vaccine Research Center with rapid response capabilities to infectious disease issues, such as COVID-19, as well as provide quality services across basic science, preclinical, clinical, assay development, and vaccine production.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s mission is to conduct and support basic and applied research to better understand, treat, and ultimately prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases. For more than 60 years, NIAID research has led to new therapies, vaccines, diagnostic tests, and other technologies that have improved the health of millions of people in the United States and around the world. NIAID advances the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of many of the world’s most intractable and widespread diseases. In 2017, NIAID drafted guidelines for “Emerging Infectious Disease Outbreak Research Response” based on lessons learned during outbreaks, such as Zika and Ebola. The most recent COVID‐19 outbreak further demonstrated the immediate need for more efficient reaction times and mechanisms to improve response and quality services.
“ATCC’s scientific, supply and cold chain logistics, and repository expertise in global health priorities will provide NIAID with rapid response capabilities to infectious disease issues to help save lives and ensure the protection of people worldwide,” said Raymond H. Cypess, D.V.M., Ph.D., chairman and CEO of ATCC. “With our biorepository services, including an FDA-registered facility for worldwide storage and distribution of biological materials, we are well-positioned to support NIAID with its pandemic preparedness and response.”
Specifically, ATCC’s role will involve the following activities: storage and repository; quality management; facilities, equipment and resource support/operations; supply chain and logistics management; and technical reporting. For decades, ATCC has supported government agencies with curated, high-quality biomaterials and resources, laboratory services, and repository operations.
“With this award, ATCC continues its development of a large new contract vehicle in the government sector leveraging expertise in infectious disease research and development,” said Joseph Leonelli, Ph.D., senior vice president of ATCC Federal Solutions. “We look forward to collaborating with NIAID to provide them with the solutions they need to advance global health.”