Inactive

This is a Small Business Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the avai... This is a Small Business Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources; (2) whether they are small businesses; HUBZone small businesses; service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition; and Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice. This notice is issued to help determine the availability of qualified companies technically capable of meeting the Government requirement and to determine the method of acquisition. It is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotes. No award will be made as a result of this notice. The Government will NOT be responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice. This notice is strictly for research and information purposes only. Background: The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) focuses on getting more treatments to more patients more quickly. Several thousand genetic diseases affect humans, of which only about 500 have any treatment. A novel drug, device or other intervention can take about 14 years and $2 billion to develop, with a failure rate exceeding 95 percent. NCATS is directly addressing this problem by discovering new technologies and other approaches that could greatly accelerate the process of developing and deploying solutions that can be used by all translational researchers. The NCATS Early Translation Branch (ETB) is tasked with identifying and developing novel small molecule leads against a wide spectrum of human disease targets, which it accomplishes by screening thousands of small molecules in collaboration with both intra-and extramural researchers. In pursuit of this goal, the Center has a strong internal transdisciplinary team of scientists who continually discover novel small molecules for application against a wide range of human diseases. As an ongoing high priority project for ETB we are in need of testing NCGC00846044 in the mouse SUGEN-Hypoxia model of pulmonary hypertension. NCGC00846044 was developed through NIH Molecular Libraries Program that set out to discover, optimize, and assess biological activity of small molecules agonists of human relaxin receptor 1 (RXFP1). The natural peptide hormone relaxin targets the class B G-protein coupled receptor RXFP1 but has limited utility clinically because of a short half-life in vivo. Optimized compounds from this series are potent and highly selective RXFP1 agonists with similar efficacy as the natural hormone in functional assays. To further understand the effect of NCGC00846044 ETB is in need of studying NCGC00846044 in a hypertensive mouse model to assess RXFP1 agonist effects on fibrosis, heart compliance, and pulmonary function. The SUGEN-Hypoxia model of pulmonary hypertension is the established standard animal model for this biology and is predictive of human efficacy. Purpose and Objectives: Testing services to assess NCGC00846044 in a SUGEN-Hypoxia model of pulmonary hypertension to assess fibrosis, heart compliance, and pulmonary function in mice, using humanized-RXFP1 mice. Project requirements: Possess a Public Health Service (PHS) Animal Welfare Assurance (Assurance) on file with the NIH Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) Procure and have access to 72 knock-in human-RXFP1 mice and source breeding mice Be able to house mice for 90 days in 15 cages (21 days quarantine and 69 days mouse model) Do echocardiography in 36 mice Data analysis to assess fibrosis, heart compliance, and pulmonary function Provide invasive hemodynamic measurements for pulmonary hypertension in 72 mice Conduct histology, gene, and protein expression studies and provide data Provide 72 mice, by procuring breeding knock-in human-RXFP1 mice; house and administer NCGC00846044 to mice; study effects of NCGC00846044 on fibrosis, heart compliance, and pulmonary function using echocardiography, invasive hemodynamic measurements, and histology, gene, and protein expression studies. Anticipated period of performance: Twelve (12) months. Other important considerations: Interested companies must demonstrate they have a Public Health Service (PHS) Animal Welfare Assurance (Assurance) on file with the NIH Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW). In case domestic sources are available and capable of fulfilling the Government’s need, and a future solicitation is published, the Government will use evaluation preferences in accordance with FAR 25. Capability statement /information sought. Companies that believe they possess the capabilities to provide the required services should submit documentation of their ability to meet each of the project requirements to the Contracting Officer. The capability statement must specifically address each of the project requirements separately. Additionally, the capability statement should include 1) the total number of employees, 2) the professional qualifications of personnel as it relates to the requirements outlined, 3) any contractor GSA Schedule contracts and/or other government-wide acquisition contracts (GWACs) by which all of the requirements may be met, if applicable, and 4) any other information considered relevant to this program. Capability statements must also include the Company Name, Unique Entity ID from SAM.gov, Physical Address, and Point of Contact Information. The response must include the respondents’ technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses. Interested companies are required to identify their type of business, applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code, and size standards in accordance with the Small Business Administration. The government requests that no proprietary or confidential business data be submitted in a response to this notice. However, responses that indicate the information therein is proprietary will be properly safeguarded for Government use only. Capability statements must include the name and telephone number of a point of contact having authority and knowledge to discuss responses with Government representatives. Capability statements in response to this market survey that do not provide sufficient information for evaluation will be considered non-responsive. When submitting this information, please reference the solicitation notice number. One (1) copy of the response is required and must be in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format using 11-point or 12-point font, 8-1/2” x 11” paper size, with 1” top, bottom, left and right margins, and with single or double spacing. The information submitted must be in and outline format that addresses each of the elements of the project requirement and in the capability statement /information sought paragraphs stated herein. A cover page and an executive summary may be included but is not required. The response is limited to ten (10) page limit. The 10-page limit does not include the cover page, executive summary, or references, if requested. All responses to this notice must be submitted electronically to the Contract Specialist and Contracting Officer. Facsimile responses are NOT accepted. The response must be submitted to Mark McNally, Contracting Officer, at e-mail address mark.mcnally@nih.gov. The response must be received on or before 03:00 PM EDT, July 25, 2022. “Disclaimer and Important Notes: This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization’s qualifications to perform the work. 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. After a review of the responses received, a presolicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in www.sam.gov. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. Confidentiality: No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).”