Inactive

Description: 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:... Description: 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; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition. 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 NAICS code 541380 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 and Objectives: The NIH/CARD program will generate long-read sequencing data from roughly 4000 patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), Lewy body dementia (LBD), and healthy subjects. This project will produce roughly 8000 terabytes of data, so the government will need a Contractor to develop pipelines for storing, analyzing, and harmonizing these large data sets on cloud-based computing platforms. The Contractor will then use these datasets to identify DNA methylation changes and single nucleotide variants, both of which have been linked to normal aging and neurodegenerative diseases. The government will then use this service provided by the Contractor to evaluate how the epigenetic and genomic landscape in challenging regions contribute to the development of neurodegenerative diseases. Project Requirements: Independently and not as an agent of the Government, the Contractor shall furnish all the necessary services, qualified personnel, material, equipment, and facilities, not otherwise provided by the Government as needed to analyze the results of long-read sequencing to detect genomic and epigenetic features of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias. The Contractor shall develop and use algorithms to analyze single nucleotide variants and methylation profiles in long-read sequencing data, as well as pipelines to harmonize and store long-read sequencing data shared between NIH and the Contractor on cloud-based computing platforms. The Contractor shall upload all finalized algorithms for processing single nucleotide variants and methylation profiles to a GitHub repository maintained by CARD. The Contractor shall then perform analyses for single nucleotide variant detection and methylation calling and upload these files to a shared cloud-based platform. The Contractor shall work with and advise CARD on the finalized documents on cloud storage and GitHub. NIH/CARD will own all of the data resulting from this service, including algorithms uploaded to GitHub, raw long-read sequencing data, and sequencing data processed for single nucleotide variants and methylation calling. Anticipated Period of Performance: The anticipated period of performance is one year from the date of award with an optional six (6) period. Capability Statement: Small business concerns 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 by which all of the requirements may be met, if applicable, and 4) any other information considered relevant to this program. Small businesses must also provide their Company Name, DUNS number, Physical Address, and Point of Contact Information. Interested small businesses are required to identify their type of business, applicable North American Industry Classification System 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. All capability statements sent in response to this Sources Sought Notice must be submitted to Scott Bredow, Contracting Officer, via email at scott.bredow@nih.gov before the closing date and time of this announcement. All responses must be received by the specified due date and time in order to be considered. Facsimile responses are not acceptable. Disclaimer and Important Notes: This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in the response. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your 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 review of the responses received, pre-solicitation and solicitation notices may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. The solicitation release date is pending. 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).