The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is providing this notice of award of a sole source firm fixed price contract to The Broad Institute, Inc. for sequencing of up to 5000 SARS-CoV-2 samples per week from across their catchment area and submit the sequencing data to a public repositories such as NCBI, Genbank, and GISAID.  Option 1 and 2  continue the deliverables of 5,000 sequences and data per week for 13 weeks each.  The Broad Institute, Inc. has a large scale COVID diagnostic platform and several clinical and public health partnerships which provide them access to large numbers of  positive SARS-CoV-2 specimens and the capacity to provide  large numbers (up to 10,000/week if needed) of SARS-CoV-2 next generation sequencing covering New England, the Northeast US, CA , CO, DC, FL, GA, MD, VA and WA.  In addition, Broad has access to unique collections of specimens paired with detailed metadata, including passive vs active case detection, vaccine and immune status, symptoms and disease severity, duration of infection, and outcome.  The Broad currently reports results electronically to associated state health departments and has a pipeline for depositing data in NCBI, SRA, and GISAID.  Emergence of novel variants of SARS-CoV-2 in the UK, SA, and US underscore the urgency of large-scale genomic surveillance of the virus   in the US.  CDC needs to obtain genomic data on the virus circulating within the US to detect additional variants and monitor for known variants.  So far, some variants seem to spread more easily and quickly than other variants, which may lead to more cases of COVID-19. An increase in the number of cases will put more strain on health care resources, lead to more hospitalizations, and potentially more deaths. Changes in the virus genome may change the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines and monoclonal antibody treatment as well as increase the reinfection rate.  It is of critical importance that CDC monitor for vaccine escape variants so we can rapidly take action to reduce the potential for increased illness and death.  This contractor has the ability to provide genomic data rapidly upon contract award. 

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of 41 United States Code (U.S.C.) 253(c)(1) as set forth in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302- 2 Unusual and compelling urgency and FAR 18.104. An urgent and compelling need exists, and following the procedures would result in unacceptable delays, and FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(A). The agency need for the supplies or services is so urgent that providing a fair opportunity would result in unacceptable delays. This contract action is for supplies for which the Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under the authority of FAR) 6.302- 2 and 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1).  

This is a notice of award and is not a request for competitive quotations.  HHS reserves the right to exercise priorities and allocations authority with respect to this contract, to include rating this order in accordance with 45 CFR Part 101, Subpart A—Health Resources Priorities and Allocations System. A determination by the government not to compete this proposed contract based upon an ERR 2019 nCoV Response (ID: 20-15-4177) sole source award determination.  This notice will expire at  12:00pm on April 22, 2021.