Notice of Intent to Award on a Sole Source Basis- Establishment of TR-FRET assays for LATS1, LATS2, AKT and ROCK1

THIS IS A NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD A SOLE SOURCE ORDER AND NOT A REQUEST FOR QUOTATIONS. The National Center For Advancing Transltional Sciences (NCATS), Rockville, MD intends to negotiate on a sole source basis and issue an order with ENZYMLOGIC SL under the authority of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.106-1(b). Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. This purchase is for Lab Testing Services, establishing a TR-FRET binding assay for 4 (four) key targets (LATS1, LATS2, AKT and ROCK1) of interest to our candidates LATS1/2 inhibitors that we are currently developing. LATS1/2 are 1st in class targets, for which no drugs are currently available. Inhibition of LATS1/2 is expected to be beneficial in multiple settings/indications, spanning from regenerative medicine to cancer immune-therapy. A TR-FRET binding assay will be established for each kinase following standard procedures. These assays will be further used to characterize the kinetic profile of several reference compounds and to determine the kinetic constants (kon and koff), Kd and residence times of these compounds upon binding to the target of interest. The TR-FRET signal will be measured continuously throughout 240 minutes. Results will be fitted into a non-linear regression curve that measures the kinetics of competitive binding. Work to be completed 50 days after vendor receives Award. Award is subject to approval of the Sole Source Justification. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals or quotations; however, an interested party may submit a statement of capabilities if they believe they can meet the above requirement. The statement of capabilities must be submitted in writing and contain sufficient detail to allow the Government to determine if the party can provide the requirement. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed action based upon responses to this notice is solely with the discretion of the Government. All responses must be received within 10 days from the date of publication of this synopsis. Information received will normally be considered for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. If no affirmative responses are received within 10 days of this notice, an award will be made to ENZYMLOGIC SL. The NAICS Code 541380. This procurement is to be processed using Simplified Acquisition Procedures. There is no solicitation package available. No faxed documents will be accepted. For any questions regarding this announcement, please contact Robert McFarland via email: mcfarlar@mail.nih.gov, or Brian Lind via email: brian.lind@nih.gov