Announcement of an Exempt Purchase

Laboratory research grade animals required for biomedical research purposes including specialized pathogen-free inbred and out-bred species as required and specified in approved UIC protocol research projects.

This purchase is exempt from the usual selection processes of the Procurement Code because the procurement expenditure is for performing sponsored research and other sponsored activities under grants and contracts funded by the sponsor or by sources other than State appropriations. (30 ILCS 500 / 1-13(b)(8)) If the exemption is not approved, the research community will lose access to Charles River Laboratories (CRL) research models, which are essential for maintaining consistency and minimizing genetic variability that can arise when strains are sourced from different vendors, which has the potential to jeopardize critical, high-cost research initiatives by forcing university investigators to transition to alternative suppliers, resulting in substantial unplanned expenses to transition to different sources for the purposes of validating existing research and ongoing studies.