The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is seeking to establish a contract for year-round supply of embryonated eggs for pandemic influenza preparedness.
The purpose of the requirement is to assure the year-round availability of sufficient embryonated eggs and other essential supplies to support production of pandemic influenza vaccine at full current capacity; and to produce investigational lots of pandemic-like influenza vaccine for clinical testing.
“In less than 100 years there have been four influenza pandemics: The Spanish Flu of 1918, the Asian Flu of 1957, the Hong Kong Flu of 1968, and most recently the 2009 H1N1 outbreak. Production of a vaccine to immunize against the influenza strain causing the next pandemic must occur as quickly as possible at any time of year,” states the annoucnement. “The ability to achieve this objective currently is limited by the seasonal nature of influenza vaccine production and seasonal variability in the availability of supplies essential to vaccine manufacture.”
Potential offerors must provide evidence of access to domestic supplies of embryonated eggs and domestic FDA licensed facilities for the manufacture of bulk and fill-finished final container egg-based pandemic influenza virus vaccine for human use for the period of performance of the contract.
Additional technical criteria are detailed under Solicitation Number: 14-100-SOL-00004.