Inactive

NOTICE OF INTENT to Sole Source SOLICITATION NUMBER: NIMH-23-004006-NOI TITLE: NIMH Collaborative Research on Anxiety and Attention Bias CLASSIFICATION CODE:R497 -- Support- Professional: Personal Ser... NOTICE OF INTENT to Sole Source SOLICITATION NUMBER: NIMH-23-004006-NOI TITLE: NIMH Collaborative Research on Anxiety and Attention Bias CLASSIFICATION CODE:R497 -- Support- Professional: Personal Services Contracts NAICS CODE: 541990 - All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services RESPONSE DATE: 5/20/23 PRIMARY POINTS OF CONTACT: Kyle Miller Kyle.Miller2@nih.gov Michael Horn michael.horn@nih.gov 7. DESCRIPTION: INTRODUCTION THIS IS A PRE-SOLICITATION NON-COMPETITIVE (NOTICE OF INTENT) SYNOPSIS TO AWARD A CONTRACT WITHOUT PROVIDING FOR FULL OR OPEN COMPETITION (INCLUDING BRAND-NAME). The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Section on Development and Affective Neuroscience (SDAN) intends to negotiate on a sole source basis with Bar-Haim Yair for the purchase of services relating to the collaboration of studying the clinically significant alterations in brain function in specific mood and anxiety disorders. NORTH AMERICAN INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (NAICS) CODE and SET ASIDE STATUS The intended procurement is classified under NAICS code 541990 - All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services with a Size Standard of $16.5 million. REGULATORY AUTHORITY This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13—Simplified Acquisition Procedures. Contracts awarded using FAR Part 13—Simplified Acquisition Procedures are exempt from the requirements of FAR Part 6—Competition Requirements. FAR Subpart 13.106-1 (b) Soliciting from a single source provides that: For purchases not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold, Contracting officers may solicit from one source IF the contracting officer determines that the circumstances of the contract action deem only one source reasonably available (e.g., urgency, exclusive licensing agreements, brand-name OR industrial mobilization). The resultant contract will include all applicable provisions and clauses in effect through the Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2023-03 dated April 26, 2023. DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENT The Section on Development and Affective Neuroscience (SDAN) is a laboratory designed to conduct brain imaging studies in children and adolescents. Such research requires diverse expertise in cognitive neuroscience techniques. SDAN requires collaborative efforts to enhance the impact of research performed on site at the NIMH. SDAN are interested in clinically significant alterations in brain function in specific mood and anxiety disorders. SDAN requires a leading authority who can clarify how behavioral, eye-tracking, and electrophysiological data correlate with cognitive biases in anxiety. SDAN requires that the consultant has developed well-validated procedures for evaluating processing biases in children and adolescents that are highly congruent with the research question and data acquired by Dr. Pine of SDAN. These are questions that examine relationships between attention and anxiety. The overall goal of collaboration with the contractor is to delineate aspects of brain function that relate to both normal and pathological processing of emotionally salient stimuli. SDAN and the contractor’s group have used similar protocols in research with anxious and behaviorally inhibited children, in both brain imaging and behavioral studies. SDAN continues to seek a consultant to provide the following: (a) the refinement and wide-spread implementation of attention training protocols for anxious children to be incorporated in a study on efficacy of cognitive treatments; and (b) an implementation of tasks utilized both in fMRI research and with behavior based on eye-tracking, for use in anxious and non-anxious children and adolescents. The contractor has a leading role in all these projects including overseeing the technical work of research fellows, data analysis, and writing of scientific reports. The purpose of this acquisition is to continue this work in order to further oversee the dissemination of these methods to other collaborating laboratories. The period of performance is one 12-month base year from the date of award and two 12-month option years. CONTRACTING WITHOUT PROVIDING FOR FULL OR OPEN COMPETITION (INCLUDING BRAND-NAME) DETERMINATION During market research, it was found that this is only commercial service that can provide the needed expertise of the requirement. In the past, work with Dr. Bar-Haim has facilitated the impact of research at SDAN by developing new ideas for novel treatments, by creating new techniques, and by implementing studies in unique context. Moreover, his extensive experience of examining relationships between attention and anxiety in a neuroscientific research setting exclusively qualifies him for this work. Furthermore, Dr. Bar-Haim is internationally renowned for his expertise in attention bias training as well as in psychological, eye-tracking based, and behavioral experiments in research on pediatric mental illnesses. This expertise is of the utmost importance to our ongoing protocols at SDAN. Therefore, with these facts in mind, it was found that Bar-Haim Yair is the only vendor that can provide the needed services. The intended source is: Yair Bar-Haim 1 Zehavit ST. Yavne, Yavne 81502, Israel CLOSING STATEMENT THIS SYNOPSIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE PROPOSALS. However, interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this notice. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. All responsible sources may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation which shall be considered by the agency. The information received will normally be considered solely for the purposes of determining whether to proceed on a non-competitive basis or to conduct a competitive procurement. Responses to this notice shall contain sufficient information to establish the interested parties' bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the requirement and include: unit price, list price, the delivery period after contract award, the prompt payment discount terms, the F.O.B. Point (Destination or Origin), the Unique Entity Identifier ID (UEI), the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and the certification of business size. All offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov. All responses must be received by the closing date and time of this announcement and must reference the solicitation number, NIMH-23-004006-NOI. Responses must be submitted electronically to Kyle Miller, Contract Specialist, at kyle.miller2@nih.gov and Michael Horn, Contracting Officer, at michael.horn@nih.gov. U.S. Mail and fax responses will not be accepted