Through its acquisition activities, the NIH buys products and services to support, conduct and acquire both basic and applied behavioral and biomedical research.  Product acquisitions range from basic office, medical and information technology supplies and equipment to sophisticated state-of-the-art biomedical equipment and systems.  Service acquisitions range from building construction and management consulting, to complex clinical trials.  NIH acquisitions exceeded 
$4.9 billion in fiscal year 2005 and involved contract awards to universities, hospitals, state and local government agencies, non-profit and commercial organizations.

Total NIH Acquisition Dollars for FY 2005: $4,944.4 M

NIH Acquisition Organization Solar Chart for FY 2006

Small Business Funding Opportunities: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/sbir.htm

If you are new to doing business with the NIH you can obtain a copy of "A Guide to the NIH Acquisition Process" . This handbook is a general guide to assist potential contractors not familiar with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) acquisition program. It answers questions most frequently asked, e.g., how to learn of NIH plans to award a contract, how proposals are evaluated, etc.

For available Requests for Proposals (RFPs) click here. This site also contains other valuable information related to the submission of proposals including a listing of Flow-Down Clauses for use in cost-reimbursement R&D subcontracts with educational concerns.

NIH publishes all Requests for Proposals through FedBizOpps which is the Government wide portal for doing business with all agencies. For access to NIH and all federal business opportunities click on FedBizOpps.

All acquisitions at the NIH come under the cognizance of the Head of Contracting Activity who is the Director of the
Office of Acquisition Management and Policy . The responsibility for negotiating, awarding and administering acquisitions rests with the contracting staff in NIH's various Institutes and two central organizations: the
Division of Research Acquisitions, OLAO, and the Office of Logistics and Acquisition Operations

The NIH has awarded a number of multi-agency Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) task order contracts. Responsibility for the award and administration of these contracts rests with the NIH Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC). These contracting vehicles are:

• Electronic Computer Store (ECS III)
• Image World 2
• Chief Information Officer Solutions and Partners (CIO-SP2i)
• Medical Equipment Products (MEG)
• CP Leasing

For assistance to those preparing proposals the following additional links are provided. 

• NIH Enterprise Architecture
• RFP DIRECTORY
• Department of Health and Human Services HomePage
• HHS Acquisition Directory
• Small Business Funding Opportunities
• Grants and Funding Opportunities