The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate has awarded a new 10-year management and operations contract for the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center (NBACC) to the Battelle National Biodefense Institute (BNBI).
BNBI, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Battelle, was awarded the initial NBACC management and operations contract in December, 2006. In addition to managing the DHS lab located on Fort Detrick, BNBI has been a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education leader in central Maryland.
“BNBI’s new contract was awarded as the result of a highly competitive process,” said BNBI President, Dr. Patrick Fitch. “Our team has delivered impactful high quality science for the NBACC mission while maintaining safe, secure and compliant operations. This is a winning team in every respect and we are excited to build on this strong foundation and move NBACC forward with DHS.”
The new contract is a series of five, one-year contracts each with a one-year award term extension. If fully executed, the contract will be valued at more than $480 million over the next 10 years.
“We’re pleased to continue our successful management of the nation’s premier biodefense analysis lab,” said Ron Townsend, Executive Vice President of Battelle’s Global Laboratory Operations. “This was a first-of-its-kind endeavor when we started back in 2006 and we look forward to the second chapter of this important mission.”
NBACC’s state-of-the-art laboratories provide biocontainment capabilities to support high priority national security biodefense research. NBACC has two separate centers to conduct science: the National Bioforensic Analysis Center (NBFAC) and the National Biological Threat Characterization Center (NBTCC).
Battelle is an official sponsor of Global Biodefense.
