IMMUNE EPITOPE DATABASE AND ANALYSIS PROGRAM

Sources Sought Notice Information Introduction 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 Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) supports research related to the basic understanding of microbiology and immunology leading to the development of vaccines, therapeutics, and medical diagnostics for the prevention, treatment, and diagnosis of infectious and immunemediated diseases. Background The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), supports research related to the basic understanding, treatment and prevention of immunologic, infectious, and allergic diseases that threaten millions of human lives. The NIAID Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation (DAIT) supports extramural grants and contracts for basic, pre-clinical, and clinical research on immune system development and function, and host immune responses in infectious and immune-mediated disorders (e.g., autoimmunity, allergy/asthma, and transplant rejection). This mission includes support of various reagent facilities, repositories, and databases that provide resources for biomedical researchers. As a part of this continuing effort to support the scientific enterprise, NIAID announces the renewal of the Immune Epitope Database and Analysis Resource program to further develop, populate, and maintain a public resource containing antibody/B cell and T cell epitope information, B cell receptor (BCR) and T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire analyses, and epitope prediction and analysis tools for use by the research community worldwide. For this Request for Proposals (RFP), immune epitopes are defined as molecular structures recognized by specific antigen receptors of the immune system, namely antibodies, BCRs, and TCRs. Immune epitopes involved in infectious and immune-mediated diseases and the accompanying biological information will be included in the Immune Epitope Database and Analysis Resource (IEDB). Purpose and Objectives The main goal of this solicitation is to continue support of the IEDB, which provides the research community an easy resource for searching experimental data characterizing antibody and T-cell epitopes studied in humans, non-human primates, and other animal species, involved in infectious disease, allergy, autoimmunity, and transplant, and tools to assist in the prediction and analysis of B-cell and T-cell epitopes. No changes are anticipated to the scope of work from the previous solicitation in terms of the types of immune epitopes to be included in the IEDB. In addition, since this solicitation is a re-competition of an existing public resource, there is no requirement to develop the IEDB and operating system de novo. Offerors can access the specifications for the current IEDB operating system at: http://help.iedb.org/hc/en-us/articles/114094150691-IEDB-System-Architecture-and-Design. Subsequent Contractors are expected to use/improve upon the existing IEDB system. Funding under the prior solicitation is NOT required for submission to this current solicitation. Project requirements This contract will provide for further enhancements/improvements, as well as population and maintenance of the IEDB composed of a comprehensive immune epitope database and epitope prediction and analysis tools. Epitopes shall include those derived from infectious pathogens (other than HIV), allergens, alloantigens, autoantigens, and model antigens (e.g., ovalbumin). HIV epitopes only shall be curated when they are a component of an infectious or immune-mediated disease citation, but not when HIV is the sole focus of the citation. The Government may decide in the future to curate HIV-focused epitope citations as part of the IEDB. Note the following will NOT be supported under this contract: immune epitope discovery through direct experimentation, and/or any laboratory-based basic or clinical research or any phase clinical trial. Anticipated period of performance The anticipated period of performance will begin around October 2025 and continue for five years. Capability statement/information sought Potential sources must demonstrate and document the following in their capability statements: Maintain and enhance a central web-based source of information on T-cell epitopes and linear and conformational antibody/B-cell epitopes (e.g., proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, small molecules, and modified peptides) through curation of existing literature and direct submissions by the broader research community. Maintain and enhance a central web-based source of data on ligand binding to MHC class I, class II, non-classical, and MHC-related molecules, including ligands shown experimentally not to bind to any of these molecules (i.e., negative binding data). Maintain and enhance a central source of data on BCR and TCR repertoire information associated with T cell- and antibody/B-cell epitopes located within the IEDB. Foster further development of an Analysis Resource within the IEDB composed of more robust algorithms, mathematical and artificial intelligence models, and other predictive and analysis/visualization tools that support: Identification of novel antibody/B-cell and T-cell epitopes from genome, protein, or other non-peptidic sequence information and predicting host responses to specific pathogens or immune-mediated diseases; Draw connections between both BCR and/or TCR repertoire sequence data, epitope binding and computational identification of epitopes from TCR/BCR sequence; and/or facilitate identification of antibody- and T-cell epitopes associated with infectious or immune-mediated diseases for their use as targets for vaccine candidates and/or immune-based therapies Page Limitations: Interested qualified small business organizations should submit a tailored Capability Statement not to exceed 10 pages, excluding resumes. Capability Statements must not include links to internet web site addresses (URLs) or otherwise direct readers to alternate sources of information. Font size must be 10 to 12 points. Spacing must be no more than 15 characters per inch. Within a vertical inch, there must be no more than six lines of text. Print margins must be at least one inch on each edge of the paper. Print setup should be single sided on standard letter size paper (8.5 x 11" in the U.S., A4 in Europe). All proprietary information should be marked as such. Required Business Information: UEI Company Name. Company Address. Company Point of Contact, Phone and Email address Current GSA Schedules and/or Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) appropriate to this Sources Sought. Do you have a Government approved accounting system? If so, please identify the agency that approved the system. Type of Company (i.e., small business, 8(a), woman owned, veteran owned, etc.) as validated via the System for Award Management (SAM) located at https://sam.gov/content/home. 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). Number of Copies: Please submit one (1) electric copy of your response as follows: All Capability Statements sent in response to this Small Business Sources Sought notice must be submitted electronically (via e-mail) to Brandon de White, Contract Specialist, at whitebra@niaid.nih.gov in MS Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). The email subject line must specify HHS-NIH-NIAID-SBSS-75N93024R00017. Facsimile responses will not be accepted. Common Cut-off Date: Electronically submitted tailored capability statements are due no later than 3:00 PM (Eastern Prevailing Time) on 6/28/2024. CAPABILITY STATEMENTS RECEIVED AFTER THIS DATE AND TIME WILL NOT 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 at SAM.gov. 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).