SOURCES SOUGHT
D -- Neuroimaging Informatics Tools and Resources Clearinghouse – Phase II
- Notice Date
- 4/15/2011
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541511
— Custom Computer Programming Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Rockledge Dr. Bethesda, MD, Office of Acquisitions, 6701 Rockledge Dr RKL2/6100 MSC 7902, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892-7902
- ZIP Code
- 20892-7902
- Solicitation Number
- NHLBI-CSB-(EB)-2011-159-RNP
- Archive Date
- 5/17/2011
- Point of Contact
- Rieka Plugge, Phone: (301) 435-0376, Aaron Blackshire, Phone: (301) 435-0335
- E-Mail Address
-
Rieka.plugge@nih.gov, aaron.blackshire@nih.gov
(Rieka.plugge@nih.gov, aaron.blackshire@nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- This Sources Sought Notice (SS) is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), on behalf of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB). The purpose of this SS is to identify qualified small business concerns [including Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDB), Woman-owned Small Businesses (WOSB), Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) Small Businesses, Veteran-owned Small Businesses (VOSB), and Service-Disabled Veteran-owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB)] that are interested in and capable of providing the below services to develop and improve the current NITRC model toward the ultimate goal of self-sustainability. The NHLBI, on behalf of NIBIB, does not intend to award a contract on the basis of responses nor otherwise pay for the preparation of any information submitted. As a result of this Sources Sought Notice, the NHLBI, on behalf of NIBIB, may issue a Request for Proposal (RFP). THERE IS NO SOLICITATION AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME. However, should such a requirement materialize, no basis for claims against NHLBI, on behalf of NIBIB, shall arise as a result of a response to this Sources Sought Notice or the use of such information as either part of our evaluation process or in developing specifications for any subsequent requirement. The NHLBI, on behalf of NIBIB, is seeking capability statements from all eligible small business concerns [particularly Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDB), Woman-owned Small Businesses (WOSB), Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) Small Businesses, Veteran-owned Small Businesses (VOSB), and Service-Disabled Veteran-owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB)] under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 541511 with a business size standard of $25.0 Million. Based on the responses received from this Sources Sought Notice, the proposed acquisition may be solicited as a Total Small Business Set-Aside. All eligible small business concerns responding to this Sources Sought Notice must have the capabilities to provide the below services at time of award. Interested parties are expected to review this notice to familiarize themselves with the requirements of this project; failure to do so will be at the firm's own risk. Statement of Work Background The NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research is a cooperative effort among the 16 NIH Institutes, Centers and Offices that support neuroscience research. By pooling resources and expertise, the Blueprint supports the development of new tools, training opportunities, and other resources to assist neuroscientists in both basic and clinical research. The NIH Blueprint has funded a project to build a Neuroimaging Informatics Tools and Resources Clearinghouse (NITRC, www.NITRC.org). The purpose of the NITRC project is to promote the enhancement, sharing, adoption, and evolution of neuroimaging informatics tools and resources by providing access, information, and forums for interaction for the user community and the associated developers. The NITRC project was designed to improve scientific research, promote sharing of previously funded research and initiatives, and encourage community interaction and collaboration. The initial focus of this project was on neuroimaging informatics tools and resources for functional MRI (fMRI) and directly related structural MRI. This NITRC project established an independent web-based clearinghouse for facilitating the dissemination and use of existing neuroimaging informatics tools and resources. The website provides a user friendly interface allowing neuroscientists to search, browse, filter, and compare tools and resources on the NITRC. The website also provides a way for tool developers to upload tools and updates. Tool developers and end users can discuss, request features and form a collaboration using the online discussion forum on NITRC. Since it was released to the public in October 2007, the NITRC has over 22.3 million hits (1 million hits generating 31,000 visits/month). It has become a home for a community of 94,466 unique visitors, which is 3 times the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) conference attendance. The number of unique visitors to the NITRC website every month reached 10,500. Over 380 software tools and resources were registered on NITRC, which generated 322,500 software tool downloads since its creation. It has become a very valuable and indispensable resource for the neuroscience research community. With the initial success of the NITRC project, several NIH Blueprint ICs (NIBIB, NIDA, NINDS, NIMH and NIA) have decided to continue to support the NITRC project for an additional two base years and two option years. This support will allow NIH to continuously and actively support the community with expanded scientific scope and new data resources. The offeror would also have the opportunity to develop and improve its model toward the ultimate goal of NITRC's self-sustainability. Purpose The offeror shall expand the current NITRC scientific scope of functional and structural MRI tools and resources to include a broader array of neuroimaging tools and neuroinformatics tools and resources. The offeror shall develop use cases for expanded scientific scope for the NITRC project, based on neuroscience communities' needs and real world scenarios of image and neuroscience data analysis workflow. The offeror shall then design, develop, implement, operate and maintain the functions to support the current and the expanded scientific scope of NITRC. The offeror shall develop and implement an efficient project management process that ensures high-quality contract performance. Examples of expanded scientific scope in neuroimaging and neuroinformatics tools for NITRC includes, but not limited to: • Neuroimaging informatics tools o Positron emission tomography (PET) o Electroencephalography (EEG) o Magnetoencephalography (MEG) o Computed Tomography (CT) o Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) o Optical Imaging o Co-modalities such as PET/CT, PET/MRI o Digital atlas generation o Tractography o Statistical tools for analysis of group differences o Longitudinal analysis tools • Neuroinformatics tools o Digital Atlasing o Genetic Imaging o Optogenetic Imaging o Computational Neuroscience including large-scale and multi-scale modeling o Neuromorphic engineering o Electrophysiology that interfaces with imaging for structural and functional research o Brain machine interface o Clinical neuroinformatics o Clinical neuroscience o Computational neuroscience o Electrophysiology o Genomics and genetics o Large scale modeling As for the resources, the project will focus on neuroimaging data. The offeror shall supply appropriate neuroimaging informatics and neuroinformatics experience and expertise to curate and evaluate tools and resources data, and to moderate forum discussion on the NITRC. Technical Requirements The offeror must demonstrate that they have the capability to maintain the current NITRC website, and to expand the scientific scope of the NITRC project described in this SOW. The offeror must also demonstrate, by themselves or by collaborators, the ability to include and provide broad expertise listed in the expanded scientific scope. The offeror must also demonstrate its ability to interact with a large number academic institutions and neuroscience societies. The offeror shall develop an initial program plan and project management process, which will eventually lead to the self-sustainability of NITRC. 1. Base Year Period (two years): In the base year period (two years), the offeror is required to: • Develop a program plan and project management process. A program plan will provide a detailed description of the activities for the entire contractual period. These activities shall be presented in a time-oriented sequence. For clarity and brevity, one-page charts shall be utilized whenever possible. The program plan shall include: o Tasks to be accomplished o Methods and timelines for achieving the tasks o Milestones, deliverables, and timelines o Allocation of resources, costs, hours, and personnel o If the offeror is not the contractor for the NITRC Phase I, please also provide a transition plan. • With prior approval from the NIH Project Officer, implement and maintain a project management process. • Establish a 5 to 9 member Change Control Board (CCB), to provide the direction for the project and to evaluate and recommend the use cases of the expanded scientific scope for development. The CCB members shall be recruited from academic institutions, professional societies, and industries representing a broad expertise in neuroimaging informatics and neuroinformatics. • Develop use cases for the expanded scientific scope of the NITRC. The use cases must be based on the needs and real world scenarios of neuroscience research. • Implement the use cases of the expanded scientific scope of the NITRC with the CCB and NIH project officer's approval. • Provide plans and measures to ensure eventual self-sustainability of the NITRC. The offeror shall explore economic models and financial reward schemes to develop a sustainability model for the NITRC, including but not limited to: o Public/private partnership o Sponsorship by professional societies and organizations o Sponsorship by international organizations o Industry partners o Advertising revenue o User fees (subscription to premium services, fees for enhancement, online tool execution, data analysis/storage, etc.) • The offeror shall implement virtual machine installations of a set of selected neuroimaging and neuroinformatics tools that is on NITRC for the analysis of the neuroscience data in a cloud environment. The set of selected neuroimaging and neuroinformatics tools shall be recommended by the CCB. The offeror is also required to: • Maintain and operate the NITRC web system according to its original design. The use cases, user's guides, and other technical documents are located on the NITRC website at: www.NITRC.org. The high level technical specifications for the original NITRC web system were: o The NITRC system shall be web-based and shall work with all major browsers. o The NITRC system shall provide a web services interface for automated interactions. o The NITRC system shall easily scale for use beyond fMRI and related structural MRI data. It shall be designed so that a scaling of number of resources and of scope can be accomplished with little or no enlargement of existing infrastructure support. o This web-based NITRC shall be fully available at least 23/24 hours, 7 days a week:  timely response to user inquiries  timely response to the NIH Project Officer to intermittent queries generated on an ad hoc basis  uninterrupted website operations and timely hardware upgrading  adequate storage, access, and support  incremental and full website data backup o In designing features for the NITRC, the offeror shall work with the CCB, the NIH Project Officer, and the NIH NITRC project committee. o The NITRC system shall provide users with a user friendly interface to search, browse, filter, and compare tools and resources. o The NITRC system shall provide users with a means to select among neuroimaging informatics tools and resources. e.g.:  A simple to understand rating system  User and expert review and forum discussion  Usage statistics: hits, unique visitors, downloads, etc.  Comparative matrices  Feature description in packages  Standards supported by the packages  Data sheets  Links to professional reviews and publications of the resource and reference access  users guide, tutorials and other technical documentation  allow users to comment on their experiences o The NITRC system shall provide a means to upload and update the tool or resource. o The NITRC system shall consider means for ongoing training and usage monitoring. o The NITRC system shall provide a standard means for reporting and tracking bugs and feature requests for all tools and resources in the NITRC. o The offeror shall continue to fix critical bugs. o The NITRC system shall provide developers with means and best practices for interacting with their user community. o The offeror shall formulate and implement a website content development strategy for identifying, soliciting, and integrating existing neuroimaging informatics tools and resources into the website. o The offeror shall provide opportunities for authors and developers of neuroimaging informatics tools and resources to comment on development of a resource for vocabularies and related ontology for terms and relationships used in neuroimaging informatics tools and resources. o The NITRC shall be portable. It shall be recreated using existing documentation and backups of the system on a naïve computer(s). • Develop effective approaches and an outreach plan to actively promote widespread use of the NITRC and the tools and resources. • Develop a cloud-based federated neuroimaging data storage system for resource sharing by implementing a selected pre-existing software tools for the cloud-based federated neuroimaging data storage system for sharing of neuroimaging data in DICOM and NIFTI format. In the two base years, the offeror shall focus on the following type of tools and resources: • Neuroimaging informatics tools o fMRI o Structural MRI o Optical Imaging o PET o CT o EEG o MEG o SPECT o Co-modalities e.g., PET/CT, PET/MRI • In addition to the above specified category of tools, a selected set of neuroinformatics tools recommended by the CCB from the following list or other neuroinformatics tools recommended by the CCB include: o Digital Atlasing o Genetic Imaging o Optogenetic Imaging o Computational Neuroscience including large-scale and multi-scale modeling o Neuromorphic engineering o Electrophysiology that interfaces with imaging for structural and functional research o Brain machine interface o Clinical neuroinformatics o Clinical neuroscience o Computational neuroscience o Electrophysiology o Genomics and genetics o Large scale modeling At the end of the base year period of performance (end of year two), the offeror shall: • Have evaluated, developed, tested and validated one or more sustainability model for NITRC. The offeror shall be able to generate revenue that can cover about 30% - 50% of the minimal NITRC operational cost. • Provide a financial analysis of the NITRC operational cost and revenue. 2. Option Period (1st year): If an option is exercised, in the option period (1st year), the offeror is required to: • Continue to perform all of the requirements described in the base year period, with additional new use cases, new neuroimaging and neuroinformatics tools, and new neuroimaging data and resources recommended by the CCB (please refer to the lists of neuroimaging informatics tools and neuroinformatics tools listed under the Purpose). At the end of the option year period 1 of performance (end of year three), the offeror shall: • Have evaluated, developed, tested and validated one or more sustainability model for the NITRC. The offeror shall be able to generate revenue that can cover about 60% - 90% of the minimal NITRC operational cost. • Have provided a financial analysis of the NITRC operational cost and revenue. 3. Option Period (2nd year): In the option period (2nd year), the offeror is required to: • Continue to perform all the requirements described in the base year period and option period (1st year), with additional new use cases, new neuroimaging and neuroinformatics tools, and new neuroimaging data and resources recommended by the CCB. At the end of the option year period 2 of performance (end of year four), the offeror shall: • Have evaluated, developed, tested and validated one or more sustainability model for the NITRC. The offeror shall be able to generate revenue that can cover all NITRC operational cost. • Have provided a financial analysis of the NITRC operational cost and revenue. Interested parties should submit a tailored capability statement for this requirement, not to exceed 20 pages (including all attachments, resumes, charts, etc.), single-spaced and using 12-point font size minimum that clearly details the ability to perform the aspects of the notice described above. All proprietary information should be marked as such. Statements should also include an indication of current certified small business status; this indication should be clearly marked on the first page of your capability statement (preferably placed under the eligible small business concern's name and address). Responses will be reviewed only by NIH personnel and will be held in a confidential manner. All capability statements sent in response to this Sources Sought Notice must be submitted electronically (via e-mail) to Ms. Rieka Plugge, Contract Specialist, at rieka.plugge@nih.gov and Mr. Aaron Blackshire, Contracting Officer, at aaron.blackshire@nih.gov in either MS Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), by May 2, 2011, 7:30 AM, EST. All responses must be received by the specified due date and time in order to be considered.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/HHS/NIH/NHLBI/NHLBI-CSB-(EB)-2011-159-RNP/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, United States
- Zip Code: 20892
- Zip Code: 20892
- Record
- SN02425961-W 20110417/110415234509-50f4385f5f0d8abfa9823a1b614b834e (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |