A -- Large-Scale Genotyping of NHLBI Cohorts

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health is conducting this market survey to identify small businesses with the capability to serve as a large-scale genotyping center to provide sample receipt and handling, high-throughput genotyping, integration and documentation of phenotypic data, database and website development, bioinformatics, data management, data distribution, and administration. The overall objective of the NHLBI Large-Scale Genotyping Center is to expand the utilization of NHLBI=s well-phenotyped observational cohorts and intervention studies for genetic association studies, through the application of large-scale genotyping and widespread data dissemination for genotype-phenotype correlation. The Genotyping Center will process data set requests from scientific investigators for purposes of data analysis. The NHLBI Large-Scale Genotyping Center will perform in-depth characterization of more than 1,700 candidate genes (8-10 Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) per gene region) on approximately 50,000 study members in heart, lung, blood and sleep (HLBS) studies, for a total of more than 850 million genotypes (at a maximum cost, including labor, of $0.01 per genotype at initiation; costs are expected to lower as technologies evolve). The Genotyping Center must have the capacity to generate at least 850 million genotypes over two years with an error rate of no more than 1%. The NHLBI Large-Scale Genotyping Center will also develop informatic management processes for curation and cross-study data comparison, and provide a computing platform that facilitates data portability, accessibility, and security. The Genotyping Center must keep abreast of the evolving National Electronics Clinical Trials and Research (NECTAR) network as envisioned in the NIH Roadmap (http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/clinicalresearch/overview-networks.asp), as well as the Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG, http://cabig.nci.nih.gov/) and the e-health record of the HHS National Health Information Infrastructure (http://aspe.hhs.gov/sp/nhii/) as the computing platform and data set developed for dissemination must be capable of integration and interoperability with these platforms. The Genotyping Center will also establish comparable, resource-wide standardized phenotypes, controlled vocabularies including metathesaurus, thesaurus, and defined data elements mapped across participating population studies, and prepare uniform protocol models facilitating post-collection coordination and the evaluation of comparability across data sources. The Genotyping Center will process requests for use of the data generated including: processing applications, ensuring up-to-date IRB approval and completion of data distribution agreements from requesting investigators, creating data sets, distributing data sets to investigators, and providing technical support (answering questions about data). The Center will also develop and implement plans for distribution of non-identifying summary data, such as allele frequencies, in public databases such as dbSNP. The Large-Scale Genotyping Center will evaluate the feasibility of a genome-wide association study based on the current state-of-the-art and outputs of studies such as the Design and Analysis for Genome-wide Association Studies RFA, particularly regarding analytic strategies and marker selection. If feasible, the Genotyping Center will perform a genome-wide association study involving the use of a standard set of up to 300,000 state-of-the-art genetic variants in roughly 500 cases and 1,000 controls, for a total of roughly 450 million genotypes (at a maximum cost of $0.01 per genotype, including labor costs). Other required outputs of the Genotyping Center are monthly reports on quality control, status of genotyping and data integration, and reports on data dissemination. The applicable NAICS code is 541710 and the size standard is 500 employees. It is anticipated that one award will be made for a period of 4 years. The contract will be a cost-reimbursement, completion-type. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) AND NO RFP IS AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME. Small businesses who believe that they possess the capabilities to perform this work must submit an original and three copies of a capability statement to this office by 4:00 PM EST on March 7, 2005. Responses to this market survey should include pertinent information and meet the requirements of this notice. All information submitted in response to this notice must arrive on or before the closing date and time. Capability Statements should be submitted to the following address: Vivian Lucas, Contract Specialist National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute National Institutes of Health Rockledge 2 Building, Room 6137 6701 Rockledge Drive, MSC 7902 Bethesda, MD 20892-7902 email: Lucasv@nhlbi.nih.gov END OF DOCUMENT