SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- RECOVERY-Computational Thinking to Support Clinicians and Biomedical Scientists (Part B-Full and Open)
- Notice Date
- 5/4/2010
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- NAICS
- 541519
— Other Computer Related Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, 6707 Democracy Blvd., Suite 105, Bethesda, Maryland, 20894, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20894
- Solicitation Number
- HHS-NIH-NLM-RDPS-10-121-KP
- Archive Date
- 6/3/2010
- Point of Contact
- Kimberly Pringle, Phone: 301-496-6546, Robin D Hope-Williams, Phone: 301-435-4379
- E-Mail Address
-
kp271m@nih.gov, rhwilli@mail.nih.gov
(kp271m@nih.gov, rhwilli@mail.nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- RECOVERY- The funding for this requirement will be made available under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) and all qualification criteria that arise from the use of ARRA funding apply to this requirement. It is the intent of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to procure, as part of its "Medical Advanced Research Projects Initiative" feasibility or "proof of concept" studies that could serve as the basis for future longer-term, more extensive research projects, that evaluate the feasibility of using innovative computational approaches to enhance the ability of clinicians and biomedical scientists to solve one or more significant cognitive tasks and bring improvement in medical care to patients, families, and the public. The focus of this requirement is to fund meritorious projects that are innovative and offer significant technological advances in NLM's mission in the fields of science and health. The debate about whether the human brain is a protoplasmic "digital computer" or functions by other means does not preclude continuing interest in the possibility that computers can carry out tasks that would be viewed as requiring intelligence if performed by humans. Artificial intelligence (AI), a term coined in 1956, seemed to have limitless potential, including the development of "thinking machines" such as HAL, in Kubrick's film, 2001: a Space Odyssey. Much was accomplished in knowledge representation, programming languages, and in development of expert systems that could do useful things in this or that domain. The latter, "partially intelligent artifacts", however, fell far short of duplicating the general intelligence of the human. Key challenges, for example, understanding of natural language in texts and speech, as well as generation of innovative ideas and discovery, remain partially or wholly unresolved. Because few today believe that "strong AI" i.e. human-like cognition or better, is a likely near-term achievement, research and development largely gravitated to "weak" or "applied" AI, intended to produce "smart" tools, such as a security system capable of face recognition. To invigorate research in the arena of computation and cognition (and to avoid the increasingly diffuse connotations of the term "AI" Artificial Intelligence), a number of fresh concepts, each focused on somewhat different aspects of the issues, have arisen in recent years: computational intelligence, machine learning, intelligence amplifying systems, flexible competence, human-computer collaboration, and computational thinking inter alia. For NLM, three factors have combined to rekindle interest in the potential of computation to carry out more ambitious cognitive tasks. • Continued advances in information technology and computer science • Increased awareness that "intelligent" behavior by computers requires substantial understanding of the operational decision space, and the more distantly related surrounding turf. • Redirection of goal from replacement of humans to enhancement of human intelligence by a human-machine partnership. In biomedicine, clinicians and researchers now face formidable challenges in information management, innovation, and decision-making in an era which is seeing extraordinarily rapid growth of knowledge, distributed among a host of databases, and on a scale far larger than can be mastered by an individual. NLM believes that the remarkable speed, memory, and symbol-manipulating power of computers, if properly harnessed, can complement human cognitive strengths so as to enable efficient use of all of the knowledge relevant to solution of clinical and scientific problems. The purpose of this procurement is to obtain contract development services that will develop and test computational approaches to one or more cognitive problems as commonly encountered by clinician, clinical researcher, biologist, or patient. NLM places no constraint on approach. Artificial neural nets, fuzzy systems, evolutionary computation, statistical (e.g., Bayesian inference, regression, etc.) and other methods, alone or in combination are acceptable as are novel approaches. NLM expects that progress on each proposed project will be an exploratory focus on feasibility testing; full scale development and formal testing are not requirements. NLM intends to fund multiple contract awards to address these issues, with emphasis on novel approaches to computational thinking, and expects to fund a broad variety of methods of procedure in order to obtain an overview of what is promising in this arena and what is not. Deliverables will be reports provided to NLM that include: Introduction Methodology Results Discussion Proposed Future Directions Summary References All deliverables must be free from encumbering licenses or restrictions. The period of performance is anticipated to be for a one (1) year period. This notice is for informational purposes only. This is not a RFP. The Request for Proposals (RFP) is expected to be released on or about May 20, 2010 through the website at http://FedBizOpps.gov. POTENTIAL OFFERORS WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR DOWNLOADING THEIR OWN COPY OF THE SOLICITATION AND AMENDMENTS. Requests for the RFP will not be accepted via telephone, fax or e-mail. Offers will be tentatively due by July 6, 2010. Awards of this project are anticipated on or about August 20, 2010. Questions regarding this notice may be addressed to pringlek@mail.nih.gov, ATTN: Kimberly D. Pringle, Contract Specialist. Please reference HHS-NIH-NLM-RDPS-10-121-KP on all correspondence. All responsible and responsive sources may submit a proposal that shall be considered by the National Library of Medicine. This requirement will allow for two pre-solicitation notices and two solicitation notices; one small business set-aside and one full and open. In order to receive an award, contractors must have valid registration certification in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) www.ccr.gov. This advertisement does not commit the Government to award a contract.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/HHS/NIH/OAM/HHS-NIH-NLM-RDPS-10-121-KP /listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, United States
- Zip Code: 20892
- Zip Code: 20892
- Record
- SN02139437-W 20100506/100504234905-e77037dfb9bd8f7bb525e01a78fb486d (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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