FY17 TOPMed RNA Sequencing

This is a Small Business Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources; (2) whether they are small businesses; HUBZone small businesses; service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition. 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. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) does not intend to award a contract on the basis of responses nor otherwise pay for the preparation of any information submitted. As a result of this Sources Sought notice, the NHLBI may issue a Request for Quote (RFQ). There is no solicitation available at this time. However, should such a requirement materialize, no basis for claims against NHLBI shall arise as a result of a response to this Sources Sought notice or the NHLBI's use of such information as either part of our evaluation process or in developing specifications for any subsequent requirement. The NHLBI is seeking capability statements from all eligible small business concerns under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 541990 with a size standard $15.0M. Based on the responses received from this sources sought announcement, the proposed acquisition may be solicited as a Total Small Business Set-Aside. All eligible small business concerns responding to this sources sought announcement must have the capabilities to provide the equipment as stated below. Background The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has a Transomics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) Program whose goal is to generate scientific resources to enhance our understanding of fundamental biological processes that underlie heart, lung, blood and sleep disorders. The program was organized in response to President Barack Obama's Precision Medicine Initiative which aims to provide disease treatments that are tailored to an individual's unique genes and environment. TOPMed contributes to this initiative through the integration of whole-genome sequencing and other "omics data" (e.g. metabolic profiles, protein and RNA expression patterns) with molecular, behavioral, imaging, environmental, and clinical data. In doing so, TOPMed hopes to uncover factors that increase or decrease the risk of disease, identify subtypes of disease, and develop more targeted and personalized treatments. The Framingham Heart Study (FHS) is a key contributor to the TOPMed Program. FHS Patient data and samples are a valuable asset to TOPMed. To date, TOPMed has acquired 1,200 patient samples from FHS for extensive analysis. FHS requires a TOPMed-approved contractor to perform RNA sequencing on 500 new patient samples for the TOPMed Program. Purpose and Objectives FHS seeks to augment TOPMed's data resource by contributing 500 new patient samples to the program. Data obtained from the sequencing will aid FHS and TOPMed in their efforts to uncover factors that increase or decrease the risk of disease, identify subtypes of disease, and develop more targeted and personalized treatments. Contractor Requirements The contractor shall perform RNA Sequencing on 500 FHS samples according to the following specifications: 1. Contractor shall utilize the following equipment and supplies to perform sequencing on all samples: a. HiSeq 4000 Sequence System; b. Illumina TruSeq RNA library prep kit (RS-122-2201); and, c. HiSeq Paired End (PE) kits (PE-410-1001) with 2x 150bp Reads. 2. Contractor shall employ the following methods in sequencing for all samples: a. Method to include 2x150bp reads with 50 million reads; and, b. Sequencing alignment with STAR. Qualification Criteria The offeror must be TOPMed-approved. A list of pre-approved sequencing centers was established by TOPMed early in 2016. In order to ensure consistency across data sets, TOPMed will only accept data from pre-approved centers. Therefore, only TOPMed-approved centers will be considered for award. Capability Statement / Information Sought Interested parties are expected to review this notice to familiarize itself with the requirements of this acquisition. Failure to do so will be at the contractor's own risk. The following information shall be included in the capability statement: - 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. - Information in sufficient details of the respondents' (a) staff expertise, including their availability, experience, and formal and other training; (b) current in-house capability and capacity to perform the work; (c) prior completed projects of similar nature; (d) corporate experience and management capability; and (e) examples of prior completed Government contracts, references, and other related information. - The respondents' DUNS number, organization name, address, point of contact, and size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HUBZone, etc.) pursuant to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code: 541990 - All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services, with a small business size standard of $15.0M. Closing Statement Interested qualified small business organizations should submit a tailored capability statement for this requirement, not to exceed ten (10) single-sided pages (including all attachments, resumes, charts, etc.) presented in single-space and using a 12-point font size minimum, that clearly details the ability to provide the requested equipment that meets the specifications above. All proprietary information should be marked as such. 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 (preferably placed under the eligible small business concern's name and address). Responses will be reviewed only by NHLBI personnel and will be held in a confidential manner. All capability statements sent in response to this sources sought notice must be submitted electronically (via email) to Cornelius Moore, Contracting Officer, at mooreco@nhlbi.nih.gov in either MS Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), by May 18, 2017 at 3:00PM, EST and must reference synopsis number HHSN26817HL00001R. All responses must be received by the specified due date and time in order to be considered. 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).