iPSC Culture and Differentiation

NOTICE OF INTENT – SOLE-SOURCE ACQUISITION Notice No.: The National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), intends to award a Firm-Fixed-Price Purchase Order to Creative Biolab Inc. for culture all cells and differentiate them, expand their cell populations to more than 20 million, collect them, verify cell count, and send them back to us.

Description of the Requirement The primary objective of this study is to sequence and analyze the 4q35 locus on Chromosome 4 for several years. This locus is a gene-poor and extremely long (>100K) region of DNA that consists of many repetitive sequences which makes sequencing and analysis extremely difficult. To sequence this locus using Nanopore Sequencing technology.

To expand the number of samples for our experiment, we looked for a company that can handle numerous cell lines and follow the protocol that we provide. Creative Biolabs is the only company/research institute that has been able to perform differentiation within 3 months and has the ability to follow our protocol with numerous cell lines.

Justification for the Proposed Sole-Source Acquisition The Government intends to solicit from a single source pursuant to FAR 6.302-1, Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements. Only Creative Biolabs was willing to follow our exact protocol and had the logistical capacity to handle the large number of cell lines that we need to analyze, which is vital to research at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Response Information This notice is not a request for competitive quotations or proposals. However, interested parties that believe they can meet the Government's requirements may submit a capability statement demonstrating their ability to provide the required preventive maintenance and remedial repair services for the specified instrument and meet all applicable technical and operational requirements.

The Government will review timely submissions to determine whether another responsible source is capable of satisfying the requirement and whether a competitive acquisition is appropriate. The Government anticipates making an award approximately five (5) calendar days after the closing date of this notice, unless the Government determines that another responsible source can satisfy the requirement.

Capability statements must be submitted electronically to verne.griffin@nih.gov no later than 9:00 a.m. EDT on November 13, 2026. Please reference Notice No. 75N98027Q00053 in the subject line of the submission.