Pre-solicitation / Notice of Intent Synopsis for Bioinformatics Support Services

*Note- This NOTICE OF INTENT has been extended until 5:00 p.m March 27, 2013, Eastern Standard Time. INTRODUCTION THIS IS A , NOT A REQUEST FOR A PROPOSAL. A SOLICITATION DOCUMENT WILL NOT BE ISSUED AND PROPOSALS WILL NOT BE REQUESTED. This is a pre-solicitation / notice of intent synopsis for a sole source noncompetitive award to Stephen R. Brooks for bioinformatic Support Services. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Office of Acquisitions (OA) on behalf of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), intends to negotiate and award a purchase order on a noncompetitive sole source basis to Stephen R. Brooks, 5 Tweed Court, Rockville, MD 20851, to provide Bioinformatics Support Services. BACKGROUND This is a new requirement. The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), Intramural Research Program (IRP), is one of the nation's premier research institutions in the area of basic and clinical research efforts in rheumatic, other inflammatory disorders, autoimmune diseases, and has a state of the art clinical research hospital. Bioinformatic support services are needed to satisfy the overall operational objectives of NIAMS. The primary objective is to provide services and deliverables through performance of laboratory services. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE The period of performance is April 01, 2013 through March 31, 2013, there are no option periods. The contract type will be a firm fixed-priced purchase order. PROJECT DESCRIPTION The contractor shall: - Collaborate closely with investigators and provide bioinformatics support to ongoing research projects that use NGS (Next Generation Sequencing) and other biotechnologies towards the scientific and therapeutic discoveries for a variety of autoimmune, muscle, and bone diseases. - Develop and implement customized bioinformatics solutions needed to process and analyze high dimensional and large scale biomedical data such as those from ChIP-Seq and RNA-Seq. - Perform data process and data analysis with existing computational and statistical methods. - Participate in and contribute to data analysis result presentation and discussion. - Provide consultation for lab researchers on data analysis strategies and tactics. - Share expertise with researchers on popular computational tools. - Conduct computational research for better understanding of RNA-Seq and developing more efficient data analysis methods. - Test and implement published RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq data analysis approaches - Evaluate emerging methods and techniques in the rapidly evolving field of applied bioinformatics and computational biology. DELIVERABLES: Upon request, the contractor shall provide documentation evidence of any and/or all work product, including, but not limited to, the following tasks: - Work products and documents related to processing NGS data. - Work products and documents related to analyzing RNA-Seq/ChIP-Seq data. - Work products and documents related to conducting computational research. - Work products and documents related to developing computational tools. JUSTIFICATION Dr. Stephen Brooks is an indispensable team member of two on-going research projects of great significance for NIAMS: Study on the roles of IgE in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) using RNA-Seq, and effects of reads length and sequencing depth on RNA-Seq using human blood samples. For both projects, Dr. Brooks has developed unique data analysis strategies and computer software programs specifically tailored to these projects, including: classification methods with Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), and computer scripts for analyzing billions of sequencing reads from more than 450 SLE patients. Dr. Brooks has provided a critical computational driving force for both projects. Dr. Brooks possesses the "know-hows" to carry out the strategies and the multiple computer software programs he has designed and developed for these two projects. His expertise is essential in order to carry these two projects to their completion. REGULATORY AUTHORITY This acquisition is conducted under the authority of 41 U.S.C. 253(c) as set forth under FAR Part 13.106-1 (b) (1), Soliciting from a single source not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold, and is exempt from the requirements of FAR Part 6, Competition Requirements. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION The North American Industry Classification Code (NAICS) is 541690, Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services and the Small Business Size Standard is $14 Million Per Annum. The resultant purchase order will include all applicable provisions and clauses in effect through the Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 05-66 (February 28, 2013). The determination by the Government to award a purchase order on a sole source on competitive basis for genetic testing to Stephen R. Brooks is based upon the responses to the sources sought synopsis, HHS-NIH-NHLBI-CSB-AR-2013-104-CSP, published in the FedBizOpps on March 04, 2013, titled Bioinformatics Support Services. Any information received as a result of this pre-solicitation / notice of intent will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct any future competitive procurements. Responses to this notice shall contain sufficient documentation to establish the interested parties' bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the requirement. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals. The determination by the Government not to compete the proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. If you have any questions, please submit to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Office of Acquisition, COAC Services Branch, 6701 Rockledge Drive, Suite 6137, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-7902, Attention: Caitlin Palmer. Responses may be submitted electronically to caitlin.palmer@nih.gov. Faxes will not be accepted.