The major objective of this contract is to carry out scientific support activities for the National Toxicology Program's Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods (Center). The Center works closely with the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM) to promote the development, validation, acceptance, and use of new alternative testing methods and strategies that will be more predictive of human health and ecological effects than currently available methods and strategies. Methods are sought that incorporate new innovative technologies and scientific advances, and that provide for improved toxicity characterization, savings in time and costs, and the refinement, reduction, and replacement of animal use. The Center and ICCVAM's activities are directed at assessing the usefulness of new methods for specific risk assessment purposes. The Center coordinates the scientific peer review and interagency consideration of new test methods of multi-agency interest, convenes expert workshops to evaluate the validation status of new methods and to identify research and validation studies needed to fill critical knowledge gaps, provides administrative support for the ICCVAM and its ad hoc Test Method Expert Working Groups, prescreens test methods submitted for consideration, disseminates information on test method development and validation, and supports the Center's Scientific Advisory Committee. The objective of the contract will be to provide timely, responsive, high quality, and accurate administrative, technical, and scientific support needed to carry out these activities.