Contracting Office Address: Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute, Office of Acquisitions 9609 Medical Center Drive Room 1E154 Bethesda, MD 20892 Description: The Rudloff Laboratory in the Surgery Branch, Center for Cancer Research (CCR), National Cancer Institute (NCI) plans to procure on a sole source basis services comprising of the performance and analysis of a reverse-phase protein microarray. The products herein are being procured in accordance with the simplified acquisition procedures as authorized by FAR Part 13.106-1 (b) (1). The North American Industry Classification System code is 541380 and the small business standard is $14 million. Only one (1) award will be made as a result of this solicitation. This will be awarded as a firm fixed price type contract. It has been determined there are no opportunities to acquire green products or services for this procurement. The Rudloff laboratory in the Surgery Branch at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) devotes its research efforts to the discovery of novel treatment strategies against pancreatic cancer. This disease remains one of the cancers with the highest mortality rates and there is an urgent need for improved therapies. Emphasis has been placed on the application of known small molecule inhibitors targeting major signaling pathways that are responsible for tumor development and growth in an extensive panel of over 50 pancreatic cancer cell lines and several patient tumor xenografts as well as the discovery of new small molecule inhibitors of pancreatic cancer in collaboration with the Chemical Development Group at the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). Combined efforts have lead to the discovery of small molecule inhibitors that are highly potent against subsets of pancreas cancer. The majority, however, rapidly develop resistance to the drugs; a mechanism also seen in the clinic. To identify intracellular signaling pathways which mediate this resistance, changes in the activation of major intracellular pathways following treatment need to be studied. This information is vital to develop combination strategies that will allow the growth control of previously treatment-resistant pancreatic cancer. Applying the reversed-phase protein microarray will enable the NCI to determine resistance mechanisms in pancreas cancer and allow the NCI to fulfill its mission in developing novel treatments for this disease. The reverse-phase protein microarray is unique in that it enables the detection of changes in the phosphorylation status of proteins and therefore the activity of signaling pathways upon drug treatment in a high-throughput manner. This is a distinct advantage over, e.g. gene expression microarrays that allow the evaluation of mRNA levels (not [active] protein) or low-throughput methods such as western blotting. The contractor shall (a) print each of 250 sample on the protein array in quadruplicate for the generation of technical replicates, positive controls, in situ protein normalization, and calibration curves, (b) scan arrays, extract and process data (primary analysis), and (c) provide data in XLS files (raw), customer report and quality control (QC) report as well as other relevant data analysis files. Theranostics Health is unique as it is the only known US-based company that offers reverse-phase protein microarray services required for this project. Theranostics' platform is technically equivalent to other commercial reverse-phase protein microarray profiling companies. Theranostics Health has the capability of testing large batch sizes and protein concentrations of .5mg/ml allows for better economy of the NCI's limited sample resources. The NCI knows of no other contractor that possesses the experience, expertise, and detailed knowledge of these studies needed to allow them to immediately undertake the tasks covered by this procurement and conduct these efforts in a timely fashion. This is not a solicitation for competitive quotations. However, if any interested party, particularly small businesses, believe they can meet the above requirement, they may submit a statement of capabilities. All information furnished must be in writing and must contain sufficient detail to allow the NCI to determine if it can meet the above unique specifications described herein. An original and one copy of the capability statement must be received in the NCI contracting office on or before 11:00 AM EST on May 24, 2013. No electronic capability statements will be accepted (i.e. email or fax); an original and one copy must be sent to the NCI contracting office to the address stated above. All questions must be in writing and can be faxed (240)-276-5401 or emailed to Anh-Huy Nguyen, Contract Specialist at
contact@example.gov. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. In order to receive an award, contractors must have valid registration and certification in the System for Award Management (SAM) at www.sam.gov. No collect calls will be accepted. Please reference solicitation number NCI-130067-HN on all correspondences.
