IMMUNE EPITOPE DATABASE AND ANALYSIS RESOURCE PROGRAM

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 immune-mediated diseases. Background 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, the 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/T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire analyses, and epitope prediction and analysis tools for use by the research community worldwide. Purpose and Objectives The main goal of this solicitation is to continue support of the Immune Epitope and Analysis Resource Program(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. Funding under the prior solicitation is NOT required for submission to this current solicitation. Project Requirements The scope of this solicitation shall include: - Maintenance, further development, expansion, enhancement, and population of a central source of information - on T cell epitopes and linear and conformational antibody/B cell epitopes (through curation of existing literature and direct submissions by the broader research community) - T Cell Receptor and B cell receptor repertoire analyses and interactions with appropriate public databases for primary sequence information - Maintenance, further development expansion , enhancement, and population of a central 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. - Continued development, maintenance and provision of robust algorithms, mathematical models, and other predictive tools for identifying and visualizing novel antibody/B cell and T cell epitopes from genome or protein sequence information of specific pathogens or related to immune-mediated diseases. In order to fulfill the scope described above, the IEDB contains four components: A. An Immune Epitope Database containing linear and conformational antibody/B cell epitopes and T cell epitopes composed of MHC-binding peptides and ligands (e.g., carbohydrates, lipids, and modified peptides) including all infectious diseases, and immune-mediated diseases such as allergy , asthma, autoimmunity, and organ transplant rejection. HIV and non-infectious disease related cancer epitopes will be curated upon exercise of specific option(s) of the contract and are NOT included in the base contract. B. An Analysis Resource that includes online access to: (1) tools to help researchers locate and analyze information contained in the Immune Epitope Database; (2) other relevant databases and related information; and (3) data mining algorithms , mathematical models, and other sophisticated analytical tools to help researchers identify and/or visualize novel antibody/B cell and T cell epitopes from genome or protein sequence/structure information; C. Community Outreach activities to expand the user-base and utility of the Immune Epitope Database resource for the broader research community; and D. Interactions with existing NIAID programs. These programs minimally include: a. Contractors supported by the B cell Epitope Discovery and Mechanisms of Action, Large -scale T cell Epitope Discover , and the Allergen Epitope Discovery programs; b. Contractors supported by the Bioinformatics Integration Support Contract (BISC)/ImmPort, Bioinformatics Resource Centers (BRCs) and the HIV Molecular Immunology Database. This contract will NOT support the following activities: 1. Immune epitope discovery through direct experimentation and/or any laboratory- based basic or clinical research. 2. Any phase clinical trial. 3. De Novo development of the IEDB and operating system. Offerors can access the specifications for the current IEDB operating system at: www. iedb.org. The system architecture and software design specifications and entity relational diagrams of the current IEDB system are available at the IEDB website : www.iedb.org. Anticipated Period of Performance The anticipated period of performance will begin around December 2018 and continue for seven years Capability Statement/Iinformation Sought Potential sources must demonstrate and document the following in their capability statements: - Ability to maintain, further develop, expand, enhance, and populate a central source of information on T cell epitopes and linear and conformational antibody/B cell epitopes (through curation of existing literature and direct submissions by the broader research community) - Ability to maintain, further develop, expand, enhance, and populate a central 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. - Ability to continue development, maintenance and provision of an analysis resource containing robust algorithms, mathematical models, and other predictive tools for identifying and visualizing novel antibody/B cell and T cell epitopes and their associated B and T cell receptor repertoire information from genome or protein sequence information of specific pathogens or related to immune-mediated diseases. Capability statements submitted as a result of this announcement should demonstrate the offerors ' qualifications and experience, specifically providing evidence as to their capability to perform this requirement, with particular attention to the following: Technical Plan/Approach: appropriateness and adequacy of the plans for maintaining, continuing development, and enhancing the existing IEDB database system (software and hardware), including maintaining and updating system documentation ; curating new and updating existing epitope information and accompanying biological data; maintaining, continuing development , and updating a publicly available Analysis Resource containing epitope prediction and analysis tools; and plans for Community Outreach and interactions with existing NIAID-supported programs. Personnel/Management: adequacy, appropriateness and relevance of expertise, experience, qualifications, and availability of the key professional and technical staff with a project of similar size, scope, and complexity. Facilities/Resources/IT Security: adequacy, appropriateness of the facilities and resources dedicated to the project; security against catastrophic loss of data or important software; and the provision of uninterrupted access and service to the IEDB user community. Past Performance: Past performance is considered essential. In addition to demonstrating that they have met the above qualifications, interested parties must identify experience with another project of similar size and complexity. 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: - DUNS. - 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://www.sam.gov/index.html/#1. 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 Emily Bannister, Contracting Officer, at contact@example.gov in MS Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). The e-mail subject line must specify HHS-NIH-NIAID-SBSS- NIHAI201700097. Facsimile responses will not be accepted. Common Cut-off Date: Electronically submitted tailored capability statements are due no later than 3:OOPM(Eastern/Prevailing Time) on 07/25/2017. 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 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).