Research And Development Support Services

This is a SOURCES SOUGHT ANNOUNCEMENT ONLY , it is neither a solicitation announcement nor a request for proposals or quotes and does not obligate the Government to award a contract. Requests for a solicitation will not receive a response. Responses to this sources-sought must be in writing. The purpose of this SOURCES SOUGHT ANNOUNCEMENT is for market research to make appropriate acquisition decisions and to gain knowledge of potential sources capable of providing the services described below. Documentation on technical expertise must be presented in sufficient detail for the Government to determine that your company possesses the necessary functional area expertise and experience to compete for this acquisition. Responses to this notice shall include the following: Company name:

• (b) Address:
• (c)

Point of Contact:

• (d) Phone, Fax (if applicable), and Email:
• (e) SAM Unique Entity ID:
• (f) Cage Code:
• (g) Tax :
• (h) Type of business, SDVOSB; VOSB, WOSB, small, large, etc., as appropriate: Must provide a Capability Statement that addresses the organization s qualifications and ability to perform as a contractor for the statement of work described below. Failure to provide sufficient information may result in the Government s inability to determine whether the respondent is capable. GENERAL STATEMENTS OF CAPABILITY ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE. Federal Supply Schedule Contracting # if applicable General

Pricing The Department of Veterans Affairs, issued by the Contracting . All interested parties should submit information by email only to [email protected]. All emails must have as the subject line Sources Sought Notice No. 36C24526Q0550 Research & Development Support Services. All information submissions must be received no later than 11:00 AM (EST) on June 2, 2026. STATEMENT OF WORK 3.

Background. This contract directly relates to a VA Merit Research Award funded by the VA & Development at the Baltimore VA Medical Center to develop treatments for Achilles tendon injuries. The Principal Investigator (PI) utilizes a mouse model to determine the effectiveness of Achilles tendon therapies to restore musculoskeletal function and tendon material properties and biology, and to reduce tendon injury-related pain behaviors. The team will breed and maintain the mice as well as perform pre-clinical mouse studies due to the need for specialized equipment and expertise on site for live mouse pain behavior tests and highly specialized Achilles tendon tissue characterizations. The research also requires veterinary support for mouse husbandry and breeding, rodent-specific anesthesia equipment, specialty transport of mice between facilities for pain behavior tests, and highly specialized tissue processing and characterizations 4. Scope. The vendor will maintain mouse colonies and perform experimental tendon surgeries in selected animals to model recovery and pain treatment. 5. Specific Tasks. The vendor will be tasked with maintaining animal colonies, unilateral tendon transection surgeries, collagenase injections, recombinant protein/vehicle treatments, post-operative mouse care, pain behavior testing, and Achilles tendon processing and characterization testing. Pain behavior testing will include von Frey testing, grip strength testing, and gait testing. Achilles tendon tissue characterizations will include collagen crosslink analysis using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and tensile testing using a custom mechanical tester. These activities will also require preparing experimental protocols, maintaining logs of experimental activities, and communicating experimental results in oral and written form. 5.1 Task 1 - Data Management 5.1.1 Subtask 1 - Assisting with Development of Experimental Protocols. The vendor will develop experimental protocols in digital form (e.g., Microsoft Word), with specific indication of experimental details, such as description of samples, reagents, procedures, interventions, substance volumes and concentrations, timing, power analysis, cohort sizes, and other pertinent details. 5.1.2 Subtask 2 - Keeping laboratory records. The vendor will keep thorough records of the experiments, including details of the work performed and detailed experimental observations. These will be reviewed once per week, to clarify all ambiguous or missing details and to correct the notebook/logs. All data analysis will be carried out in laboratory notebooks and laboratory computers and backed up using the existing servers and infrastructure.