[independentmind]

And it gets even more interesting...

On July 30th, the NIH decided not to renew Tulane’s 5 year contract for the Lassa Fever project in Sierra Leone.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/07/us-health-ebola-funding-exclusive-idUSKBN0G72C220140807

From the article:

NIH declined to comment on the decision, citing “federal government procurement integrity rules.”

What integrity issues were involved?

[MarMema]

In the letter to Tulane, a contracting officer for the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Liem Nguyen, said the proposal had been rejected “based on technical factors, scientific priority, and availability of funds." The proposal, the letter added, "falls short of those considered by NIAID to offer the best opportunities for the most successful accomplishment of the acquisition objectives."

They just lost the contract. Whoever wrote the proposal did a poor job or NIH was not impressed with what they had done with the last contract, or money is just tight and this was not a high enough priority.