SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- Needs Assessment of the Cancer Research Community for Animal Models of Cancer for the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Office of the Director (OD), Division of Cancer Biology (DCB)
- Notice Date
- 8/7/2013
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541712
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Office of Acquisitions, 9609 Medical Center Drive, Room 1E128, Rockville, Maryland, 20852, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20852
- Solicitation Number
- SS-NCI-130115-HN
- Archive Date
- 8/15/2013
- Point of Contact
- Huy Nguyen, Phone: 2402765570, Seena Ninan, Phone: 240-276-5419
- E-Mail Address
-
anh-huy.nguyen@nih.gov, ninans@mail.nih.gov
(anh-huy.nguyen@nih.gov, ninans@mail.nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Key Dates: Capability Statement Due Date: August 14, 2013 by 4:00PM EST This Small Business Sources Sought Notice (SBSS) is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The purpose of this Sources Sought Notice is to identify qualified small business concerns including 8(a), HUBZone or Service-Disabled Veteran-owned business concerns that are interested in and capable of performing the work described herein. The NCI does not intend to award a contract on the basis of responses received nor otherwise pay for the preparation of any information submitted. 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 requirement is assigned North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 541712 with a size standard of 500 employees is being considered. As a result of this Sources Sought Notice, the NCI may issue a Request for Quotation (RFQ) through FedBizOpps. THERE IS NO SOLICITATION AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME. However, should such a requirement materialize, no basis for claims against NCI shall arise as a result of a response to this Sources Sought Notice or the NCI's use of such information as either part of our evaluation process or in developing specifications for any subsequent requirement. The National Cancer Institute (NCI), Office of the Director (OD), Division of Cancer Biology (DCB) has a requirement for support in conducting a comprehensive assessment of the needs of all sectors of the cancer research community for a widely deployed suite of novel, robust cancer models to support basic research and translational applications. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) Mouse Models of Human Cancers Consortium (NCI-MMHCC) is a component of the Office of the Director, NCI Division of Cancer Biology (OD DCB), which reports to the Office of the NCI Director (NCI OD). The NCI-MMHCC, a U01 grant-supported cooperative group, was established on September 30, 1999, to capitalize on extraordinary technologic advances in modeling human cancers by altering the genes of laboratory mice. After more than a dozen successful years, its current mission is to evolve an international program to define, assemble, and deploy best practices for the application of faithful cancer models as translational research tools. This mission pertains to the programs of all of the other research Divisions of the NCI, as well as programs managed in the Office of the Director, NCI. At the present time, the annual research funding for the NCI-MMHCC is approximately $20 million, supporting 27 U01 grants. The NCI grant, operating, and contract support for the past 13 years has enabled the Consortium to collaborate internally and externally to transform the field of mouse cancer modeling, thereby accomplishing and exceeding its original and subsequent goals. The NCI's original intent for the NCI-MMHCC was to ensure that the bench to bedside continuum of cancer research is enabled by ready access to well-validated animal models that are reasonable representations of the natural histories and clinical courses of specific human cancers. The NCI-MMHCC substantially exceeded all of its goals. At the same time, though, the program exposed a number of new research and applications directions that the NCI DCB does not believe can be accommodated through continuation of the Consortium program as a research cooperative group beyond 2014. The scope of these new directions is too broad, and they reach beyond the US borders and the academic sector, for a single program to be effective. Simply changing some aspects of the NCI-MMHCC will no longer accommodate the NCI's goals for animal model-enabled research. For example, there are substantial tangible benefits to the NCI and its research communities, both academic and private sector. These benefits can now be realized by new programs to facilitate networking opportunities among those individuals and institutions that are adept at animal modeling, and basic researchers, clinicians, epidemiologists, drug developers, and diagnostic imagers whose work might benefit from appropriate applications of animal models. The benefits of wide-ranging collaborations is an important lesson learned from the NCI-MMHCC, but a community-wide needs assessment is now required to ensure that the NCI does not miss crucial opportunities that may come from leveraging connections to, and collaborations with, other on-going efforts and existing infrastructure. The NCI long-term goals for development and use of rodent models are: •To support fully integrated use of appropriate rodent models in basic, translational, clinical, and epidemiological applications to support continued discovery, inform patient and agent selection for therapy, design and test early interventions, develop imaging and biomarkers for early detection, and determine risk of developing cancer or its recurrence; •To support development of, and effective transfer of knowledge about, best practices and standards for rodent model selection and applications to academic and industry researchers; •To support, through networks with other NCI or NIH or other national or international programs, or other means, the continued development of more animal models of existing or additional types that meet the emerging requirements of the translational research and drug developers and drug testing communities. •To continue to evolve, and incorporate into translational use of animal models, the necessary informatics, data analysis, information systems, and communications strategies that enable cross-fertilization of research questions and development of solutions among different cancer research communities. •To develop international collaborations among academic and private sector entities to foster best practices for pre-, co-, and post-clinical applications of rodent models. Contractor Requirements: The Contractor shall perform the following: 1.Work with the NCI to develop a work plan and timeline for the needs assessment; 2.Work with the NCI to assemble data and information that will inform the survey questions: •Organize archival information that the NCI provides about the range of purposes for animal model use; •Assess and tabulate information provided by the NCI from NIH databases about the use and non-use of animal models in research supported by grants, contracts, and operating funds by all NCI programs; •Assess and tabulate information provided by the NCI from NIH databases about the existing infrastructure for animal model generation and use supported on NCI grants to the academic sector; •Organize information collected by the NCI from Federal agency websites and databases and private sector publications and corporate websites about mechanisms to encourage and support collaborations and team science. 3.Obtain the necessary IRB clearances and work with the NCI to convene a focus group that will identify key stakeholder groups who generate, use, or could potentially use, animal models. 4.Work with the NCI to develop an Internet-based survey that is tailored to the type of stakeholders - academic or private sector - who do, or do not, develop or use animal models. 5. Work with the NCI to develop a sampling plan for each group, including an estimate of the sample size required to obtain statistically significant results; to select a representative sample, the contractor may stratify each group if necessary; 6.Work with the NCI to develop lists of appropriate stakeholders to survey; 7.Obtain the necessary IRB clearance, contact stakeholders by email, and obtain their informed consent to participate; 8.Develop a survey website that complies fully with the Federal requirements of the Privacy Act, Section 508 compliance, and physical and electronic security. 9.Use the secure, electronically recording website to conduct the surveys (using follow-up telephone calls if necessary) to determine: •Affiliation, research interests, and seniority of academic users and non-users of animal models; •Affiliation, sector, company size, and research interests of private sector users and non-users of animal models; •Reasons for use and non-use of animal models; •Preferred communication channels and styles; •Areas of research and translational need that are unmet by existing animal models; •Collaboration needs and priorities of both academic and private sector users; •Collaboration needs that are unmet by current networking mechanisms; •Knowledge gaps about models/modeling approaches among users and non-users; •Animal research and available informatics/information systems infrastructure in both the academic and private sectors. 10.Recommend to the NCI methods for replacing survey non-responders if the response rates are too low to ensure the accuracy and precision of the survey results. If necessary for clarification of survey responses, the contractor may contact certain respondents for brief phone discussions in order to provide clarification and discuss their needs in more detail. 11.Compile the results of the survey and analyze the data using appropriate descriptive and analytical statistics and provide a comprehensive technical report. 12.In consultation with the NCI, the contractor shall convene via the Internet one or more focus groups to determine the appropriate balance among competing priorities so that needs that are identified by the survey respondents are aligned with short-term and long-term goals of the NCI for support of animal model research. 13.Provide draft reports to the NCI for comment and corrections. 14.Provide final reports to the NCI for approval. Period of Performance: From September 30, 2013 to September 29, 2014. How to Submit a Response: 1.Page Limitations: Interested qualified small business organizations should submit a tailored capability statement for this requirement not to exceed 10 single sided pages including all attachments, resumes, charts, etc. (single spaced, 12 point font minimum) that clearly details the ability to perform the requirements of the notice described above. All proprietary information should be marked as such. Responses should include a minimum of a two pages demonstrating experience over the past two years meeting the requirements of this notice. Statements should also include an indication of current certified small business status; this indication should be clearly marked on the first page of your capability statement (preferable placed under the eligible small business concern's name and address). Responses will be reviewed only by NIH personnel and will be held in a confidential manner. 2.Due Date: Capability statements are due no later than 4:00 a.m. EST on August 14, 2013. 3.Delivery Point: All information furnished must be in writing and must contain sufficient detail to allow the NCI to determine if it can meet the unique specifications described herein. Written responses can be emailed to Huy Nguyen, Contract Specialist at anh-huy.nguyen@nih.gov or mailed to the address located under Point of Contact. All questions must be in writing and can be faxed to (240) 276-5399 or emailed. A determination by the Government not to compete this requirement based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. In order to receive an award, contractors must have valid registration and certification in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) www.ccr.gov and the Online Representations and Certifications Applications (ORCA), http://orca.bpn.gov. No collect calls will be accepted. Please reference number SS-NCI-130115-HN on all correspondence. 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, an RFQ may be published on FedBizOpps. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation(s). Point of Contact: Inquiries concerning this Notice may be direct to: Huy Nguyen 9609 Medical Center Dr, Room 1E154 Bethesda, MD 20892-9705 anh-huy.nguyen@nih.gov
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/HHS/NIH/RCB/SS-NCI-130115-HN/listing.html)
- Record
- SN03140249-W 20130809/130807235533-e4ebbf88268a4bb58b158e7bcf16a70d (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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