SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- BIOINFORMATICS RESOURCE CENTERS FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES
- Notice Date
- 7/8/2008
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541711
— Research and Development in Biotechnology
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Office of Acquisitions, 6700 B Rockledge Room 3214 MSC7612, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892-7612
- ZIP Code
- 20892-7612
- Solicitation Number
- RFP-NIH-NIAID-DMID-AI2008038
- Archive Date
- 8/7/2008
- Point of Contact
- Kathy Fetterman,, Phone: 301-496-0612, Yvette R Brown,, Phone: 301-496-0612
- E-Mail Address
-
kf105q@nih.gov, ybrown@niaid.nih.gov
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Introduction THIS NOTICE IS FOR INFORMATION AND PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL AND DOES NOT COMMIT THE GOVERNMENT TO AWARD A CONTRACT NOW OR IN THE FUTURE. NO SOLICITATION IS AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME. BASED ON CAPABILITY STATEMENTS RECEIVED IN RESPONSE TO THIS SOURCES SOUGHT ANNOUNCEMENT THIS ACQUISITION MAY BE SOLICITED AS A SMALL BUSINESS SET-ASIDE. ALL SMALL BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS (SB, SDB, WOSB, HUBZone, VOSB, and SDVOSB) ARE ENCOURAGED TO RESPOND TO THIS NOTICE. SMALL BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS MUST HAVE THEIR SIZE STATUS CERTIFIED BY THE SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION. ALL SMALL BUSINESSES ARE ENCOURAGED TO RESPOND. THE NAICS CODE IS 541711 WITH A SIZE STANDARD OF 500. Description This initiative will provide for the continuation of the Bioinformatics Resource Centers (BRCs) program, as well as the expansion, to include collaboration on experimental research projects and maintenance of a central BRC Portal. The BRCs will be established to provide the scientific community with databases that house not only genomics data, but also a variety of research data about infectious diseases caused by selected groups of human pathogens in the NIAID Category A-C Priority Pathogen lists for biodefense research, as well as pathogens causing emerging/re-emerging infectious diseases (http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/research/topics/emerging/list.htm), and to make available analytical resources and bioinformatics services. Specifically, the contractor shall be required to establish and maintain a Bioinformatics Resource Center that will provide scientific, web-based database resources to researchers who use in their investigations genomics and other basic research data of microbial organisms. To provide these resources, the Centers will: 1) collect and efficiently update research data for multiple pathogens; 2) establish databases that store, integrate, and annotate a large variety of experimental data types from different public and private data sources; 3) develop interfaces to the databases to allow external users to easily query, retrieve, analyze, upload, and download data; 4) develop software tools and algorithms to analyze and curate pathogen research data. Software developed by the Centers shall be made available to the scientific community with an open source license, with the appropriate tutorials and help documentation. Data generated by the Centers will also be publicly disseminated to the scientific community. Outreach activities to the scientific community, hands-on training and workshops shall be provided by the BRC. The expansion of the BRCs program will provide the opportunity for the BRCs to collaborate with experimental research laboratories through “Driving Biological Projects” (DBPs) to apply bioinformatics techniques to investigate and support experimental biology research in infectious diseases. One of the BRCs shall support and maintain the BRCs Portal of information for the BRCs program (currently named BRC-Central http://www.brc-central.org/). The BRCs Portal will serve as the central data repository and analysis resource for all targeted pathogens for selected data types, and will facilitate interoperability projects among the BRCs and with other bioinformatics resources. Upon award, the new contractors will have to ensure an effective transition of the data and software hosted by the incumbent BRCs contractors (see http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/research/resources/brc/awards.htm for the current BRC web sites) into the new BRC and BRCs Portal. Capability statements submitted as a result of this announcement should demonstrate the offerors’ qualifications and experience, specifically providing evidence as to their capability to perform this requirement, with particular attention to the following: Technical Capability: Adequacy, appropriateness, and feasibility of the scientific and technical approaches to providing the proposed Bioinformatics Resource Center, with the following considerations: 1) adequacy and appropriateness of the documented experience in establishing and maintaining bioinformatics resources; adequacy, appropriateness and feasibility of the proposed plan to establish and maintain a database that supports a variety of research data types and datasets associated to the selected group of pathogens; adequacy and appropriateness of the proposed analysis resources, including the microbial genome annotation resource and the provision of existing or new analysis tools; adequacy and feasibility of the plan to solicit and establish DBPs; and adequacy and feasibility of the plan to establish strong collaborations with the scientific community, including the outreach and training activities; 2) availability and adequacy of facilities, computational and other resources dedicated to carry out all phases of the proposed project for the duration of the contract period, including those of subcontractors and consultants; 3) adequacy of the computer equipment, network infrastructure, database management systems and overall information technology systems administration. Personnel/Management: adequacy, appropriateness and relevance of expertise, experience, qualifications, and availability of the key professional and technical staff with a project of similar size, scope, and complexity. Expertise in infectious diseases or microbiology is required. Past performance is considered essential. In addition to demonstrating that they have met the above qualifications, interested parties must identify at least one other project of similar size and complexity. The Government anticipates multiple awards. It is anticipated that the duration of the contracts will be a maximum of five (5) years; however, the length of time for which funding is requested should be consistent with the nature and complexity of the proposed research. Small business and 8(a) contractors are reminded that in order to qualify as a set-aside, 51% of the direct labor must be performed by the prime contractor. It is anticipated the total effort of approximately 12.4 FTEs for the BRC and 16.4 FTEs for the BRC and the BRC Portal combined will be needed to accomplish this project. Interested organizations should submit three (3) copies of their capability statement addressing each of the areas cited above. Interested organizations presenting a capability statement in response to this sources sought announcement must identify their size status. Written capability statements should be received by the NIAID Contracting Officer by July 23, 2008. Please reference the solicitation number on all related correspondence. No collect calls or facsimiles will be accepted. E-mail transmissions will be accepted. Any proprietary information should be so marked. See Government-wide numbered note 25.
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