SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- Neuroscience contractor support in basal forebrain neuronal response
- Notice Date
- 8/28/2015
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541690
— Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Station Support/Simplified Acquisitions, 31 Center Drive, Room 1B59, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892
- ZIP Code
- 20892
- Solicitation Number
- HHS-NIH-NIDA-SSSA-SS-2015-829
- Archive Date
- 9/19/2015
- Point of Contact
- Hunter A. Tjugum, Phone: 301 435 8780
- E-Mail Address
-
hunter.tjugum@nih.gov
(hunter.tjugum@nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- This is a Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of all qualified sources to perform a potential requirement. 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. The information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a small business social-economic set-aside, competitive or non-competitive method is possible, and to determine the availability of all qualified companies technically capable of meeting the Government's requirement. NORTH AMERICAN CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (NAICS) CODE The NAICS code applicable to this requirement is 541690 - Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services with associated business size standard $15,000,000.00. PROJECT REQUIREMENTS The National Institute of Aging (NIA) is one of 27 Institute Centers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) committed to making important discoveries that improve health and save lives. The Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience (LBN) is contained within the Intramural Research Program (IRP) at the NIA. The fundamental scientific paradigm guiding research in the LBN is the study of individual differences and age-related changes in cognition, personality, brain structure and function, and their influences on age-related changes. The Neurocognitive Aging Section (NAS) is contained within the LBN and seeks to investigate: (1) the neurochemical identity of salience-encoding basal forebrain (BF) neurons; (2) how attention-related cortical activity is dynamically shaped by BF inputs; (3) how BF neuronal activity may be controlled by cortical and other inputs; (4) whether the decline of attention in the aging process is mediated by a corresponding impairment in cortical-BF interaction. The NAS has a potential requirement for a contractor to provide support in analyzing data from a dataset collected in the Neural Circuits and Cognition Unit (NCCU) in NAS from BF salience-encoding neuron experiments. The contractor will be in charge of quantitatively analyzing how BF neurons acquire a motivational salience signal during learning and the role of this salience signal in driving new learning. The contractor will prepare written reports and figures to support the conclusions from dissecting the role of BF salience-encoding neurons in the learning of new stimulus-outcome associations. The impairment of top-down attention is an integral component of age-related cognitive decline and a central feature of many neuropsychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, attention deficit disorder and Alzheimer's disease. A major research goal in the NCCU is to understand the role of BF in top-down attention, focusing in particular on a key neural population whose function is to amplify the processing of incoming sensory information based on the motivational, but not perceptual, salience of the stimulus. Toward this goal, NCCU has recently conducted a series of experiments examining how BF neurons acquire the responses to motivationally salient stimulus during the learning process. These experiments involve recording of BF neuronal activity while rats learn a new stimulus-outcome association in a carefully designed behavioral task. An essential next step of this project, as well as the main objective of this contract, is to fully quantify BF neuronal response dynamics in preparation of manuscript publication. The purpose of this Sources Sought notice is to determine eligible sources with the capability to meet the demands generated by these experiments, which are to perform quantitative analysis of a large and complex dataset. Neuroscience contractor support requires advanced quantitative analytical skills, programing proficiency in Matlab and Python, expert knowledge of in vivo neurophysiology, understanding of rodent behavior, the conceptual framework in reinforcement learning and learning theories as well as rationales for the experimental designs used. The general scope of work of the potential requirement includes performing: Data pre-processing of Offline spike sorting of collected neuronal data; establish programming platform in Python and Matlab; Quantify BF neuronal activity, with special focus on temporal dynamics on the per-trial basis and on the per-session basis; Correlate BF neuronal activity with behavioral metrics, including reaction time, percentage of correct choice, subjective prediction of reward; Provide monthly written report to document progress in new analyses, generate figures to support conclusions of the analyses, and annotate programming codes used for analyses and generate figures. The NCCU will provide backed-up copy of the raw experimental data for the contractor to analyze on a personal computer. NCCU will review and approve any manuscripts and reports generated. The period of performance for this potential requirement is anticipated to be 12 months beginning on or around September 30, 2015. CAPABILITY STATEMENT / INFORMATION SOUGHT Interested parties are expected to review this notice to familiarize itself with the requirements of this product or service and the type of information sought. Failure to do so will be at your firm's own risk. Respondents must provide clear and convincing evidence of previous experience in performing the subject requirement and include published manuscripts in research or analyses conducted in the area of the subject announcement as part of their responses. Specifically, the Offerors shall possess a PhD in a neuroscience related discipline and at least 3 years of postdoctoral training specifically in rodent neurophysiology in behaving animals. Respondents must provide clear and convincing documentation of their capability in providing any other required supplies or services specified in or tangential to this notice. Respondents must provide a general overview of the respondents' opinions about the difficulty and /or feasibility of the potential requirement, and any information regarding innovative ideas or concepts. The Respondent must also provide information in sufficient details of the respondents' (a) staff expertise, including their availability, experience, and formal and other training as it relates to the work descrbied in this potential requirement; (b) current in-house capability and capacity to perform the work; and (c) prior completed projects of similar nature. The respondent must also provide their DUNS number, organization name, address, point of contact, and size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HubZone, etc.) pursuant to the applicable NAICS code and any other information that may be helpful in developing or finalizing the acquisition requirements. 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 must be in and outline format that addresses each of the elements of the product requirement. 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. The response must include the respondents' technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses. 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 Hunter Tjugum, at hunter.tjugum@nih.gov prior to the closing date specified in this announcement. The response must be received on or before September 4, 2015 at 4:30 pm, Eastern Time. CONCLUDING STATEMENTS 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 pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. 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).
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