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REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY METABOLOMICS ANALYSIS SERVICES FOR URINE, BLOOD, FECAL, SALIVA AND TISSUE SAMPLES MARKET SURVEY REQUEST: THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY for market research a... REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY METABOLOMICS ANALYSIS SERVICES FOR URINE, BLOOD, FECAL, SALIVA AND TISSUE SAMPLES MARKET SURVEY REQUEST: THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY for market research and planning purposes only, as defined in FAR 15.201(e). This is not a solicitation or request for competitive proposals. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. It is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government nor will the Government pay for the information solicited. No solicitation document exists or is guaranteed to be issued as a result of this Notice. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted, and the Government will not reimburse respondents for preparation of the response. Response to this Notice is strictly voluntary and will not affect future ability to submit an offer if a solicitation is released. There is no bid package or solicitation document associated with this announcement. BACKGROUND: The United States Army Medical Research Institute of Environmental Medicine – Military Nutrition Division (USARIEM – MND) is requiring specialized analytical services necessary to provide untargeted and targeted metabolomics measurement in human biological samples (urine, blood, feces, saliva, and tissue) and data analysis for on-going research studies led by USARIEM Primary Investigators (PI’s). REQUIREMENT: USARIEM – MND is requiring the measurement of multiple biochemical markers of metabolic, nutritional, and physiologic status and function, known as metabolites, in a variety of biological matrices. This will require untargeted metabolomics analysis (i.e., measurement of hundreds-to-thousands of metabolites in single biological samples) and targeted metabolomics analysis (i.e., quantitative measurement of specific metabolites) in both planned and future research studies. The services include, but are not limited to: Laboratory Analysis Services: Laboratory Analysis Services must include the following, at minimum: 1. Must have ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) with a heated electrospray ionization source and Orbitrap mass analyzer capability that can be operated in both positive and negative ion modes, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) capability for measuring metabolites derived from multiple biochemical pathways in human blood, urine, saliva, stool, and muscle. 2. Must have the capability to detect at least 8,000 novel metabolites and to validate and confidently identify at least 5,000 known metabolites using company-owned libraries. 3. Must use bioinformatics systems that include a Laboratory Information System (LIMS) that enables fully auditable laboratory automation through a secure, easy to use, and highly specialized system. This system must at least include sample accessioning, sample preparation, instrumental analysis and reporting, and must also be able to provide advanced data analysis. The system must enable data extraction and peak identification, utilize data processing tools for quality control and compound identification in accordance with Good Laboratory Practices (GLP), and contain, at a minimum, a collection of information interpretation and visualization tools used specifically for metabolomics data analysis. 4. Potential Offeror’s must show detailed expertise in bioinformatics analysis of metabolomics data, ability to provide user-friendly web portals for exploring, analyzing, and visualizing metabolomics and electronic reports summarizing analytical results and their interpretation. 5. Contractor Staff must include PhD-level scientists available to assist USARIEM scientists in interpretation of study results such as analyzing, summarizing, and interpreting the generated untargeted and/or targeted metabolomics data for all samples. Contracting company and/or its scientists must show history of contributing to peer-reviewed publications using the above-mentioned technologies. 6. Must have the capability to conduct quantification of short-chain fatty acids and bile acids and their derivatives in multiple biological sample types. 7. Must have Laboratory Systems governed by Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) that are reviewed and updated with adherence to Good Clinical Laboratory Practice (GLP) Standards and quality control for all analysis conducted. 8. Laboratory technicians trained on appropriate measurement procedures and validated equipment. Data Analysis Services: Data Analysis Services must include the following, at minimum: 1. Must be able to provide a list of biochemicals detected and identified by biochemical name, biochemical class (grouped by super pathway and sub pathway), platform used for measurement, KEGG identifier, HMDB identifier, PUBCHEM identifier, CHEMSPIDER identifier and CAS identifier. 2. Must include KEGG/HMBD links for all compounds having a KEGG or HMDB ID. 3. Must be able to show relative quantitation expressed as peak area (both raw and normalized with and without missing data imputed). 4. Must deliver results of all statistical analyses requested by the Primary Investigator (P.I.) including unadjusted p-values and false discovery rate adjusted p-values (q-value). 5. Must be able to provide box maps showing quantification of all detected compounds by study group and timepoint. 6. Must be able to provide a narrative summary of all results along with their interpretation within the context of the study design. Narrative summary will include visualizations, demonstrating results of statistical analyses and biochemical pathways, and methods sufficiently detailed to be used in peer- reviewed publications. 7. Must provide access to a web-based portal in which the USARIEM PI can continue to access, analyze, and visualize the generated metabolomics data using data analysis tools including principal components analysis, partial least squares discriminant analysis, volcano plots, hierarchical clustering, t-tests, and ANOVA. Additional Comments for Analytical Support under this Effort: 1. Interested Parties who wish to respond must have a bioinformatics system consisting of a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) that enables fully auditable laboratory automation through a highly specialized system, access to a specialized library of purified standards or recurrent unknown entities and provide USARIEM scientists access to visualization and interpretation software to conduct analysis for this requirement. Previous and ongoing studies at the USARIEM have been performed under these systems and future analyses must utilize the same methods and equipment to allow for valid and accurate comparisons across studies. SUBMITTALS: Summaries of the services as listed above shall be no more than Ten (10) pages in length (1 side of 1 sheet of paper counts as a “Page”) and shall describe service capabilities in each of these areas. Interested Parties shall provide their business size status based upon NAICS code 541380, Testing Laboratories and Services, with a Small Business Size Standard of $19M, and their CAGE code as registered at SAM.GOV. Interested Parties may include brochure information (if appropriate) with the summary package by the Government's requested date of submittal of 07 January 2025. Interested parties shall submit information in response to this RFI to: kasey.l.carroll.civ@health.mil. Responses shall be submitted and received via Email no later than Two O’clock Post Meridian Eastern Standard Time (2:00PM EST) Tuesday 07 January 2025. Documents shall be electronic in Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point, and/or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) and provided as attachments to the Email. No telephonic responses to this RFI will be considered. Questions concerning this Request For Information (RFI) may be addressed by contacting: kasey.l.carroll.civ@health.mil. All information received in response to this RFI that is marked proprietary will be handled accordingly. Responses to this RFI are not offers for a contract and will not be used by the Government to form a binding contract. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. Vendors having the services that they believe would be suitable for operations as described herein shall submit all supporting documentation requested by this RFI to the Point of Contact (POC) noted above. Please provide information on your organization in the following areas: Company Name, Address and Single Point of Contact with Name, Title, Telephone Number and E-mail Address. DUNS Number and Cage Code Confirmation of Current Active Registration in System for Award Management (SAM) Primary NAICS Code(s) and Business Size (i.e., small/large) GSA Schedule, If Available Commercial Price List, if GSA schedule is Not Available Product Specific Brochures Literature PROVISIONS AND CLAUSES: 52.215-3 Request for Information or Solicitation for Planning Purposes. Request for Information for Planning Purposes (Oct 1997) (a) The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this solicitation or to otherwise pay for the information solicited except as an allowable cost under other contracts as provided in subsection 31.205-18, Bid and proposal costs, of the Federal Acquisition Regulation. (b) Although "proposal" and "offeror" are used in this Request for Information, your response will be treated as information only. It shall not be used as a proposal. (c) This Request For Information (RFI) is issued for the purpose of specialized analytical services necessary to provide untargeted and targeted metabolomics measurement in human biological samples. (End of provision)