SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- Linking function and structure: the relationship between brain activity and white matter integrity
- Notice Date
- 7/30/2014
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541990
— All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Station Support/Simplified Acquisitions, 31 Center Drive, Room 1B59, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892
- ZIP Code
- 20892
- Solicitation Number
- HHS-NIH-NIDA(SSSA)-SBSS-14-307
- Archive Date
- 8/21/2014
- Point of Contact
- Hunter A. Tjugum, Phone: 301 435 8780, ,
- E-Mail Address
-
hunter.tjugum@nih.gov, NIDASSSAPurchaseRequ@mail.nih.gov
(hunter.tjugum@nih.gov, NIDASSSAPurchaseRequ@mail.nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- INTRODUCTION This is a Small Business Sources Sought (SBSS) notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources; (2) whether they are small businesses; HUBZone small businesses; service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice. This notice is issued to help determine the availability and type of qualified Small Business companies technically capable of meeting this potential government requirement and to determine the method of acquisition. It is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotes. No award will be made as a result of this notice. The Government will NOT be responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice. The notice is strictly for research and information purposes only. The information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method including small business socio-economic set-aside possibilities and to determine the availability of qualified Small Business companies technically capable of meeting the Government's potential requirement. All Small Business companies with the capability and availability to perform the requirement under the applicable NAICS code are invited to submit a response to this notice. NORTH AMERICAN CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (NAICS) CODE The NAICS code applicable to this requirement is 541990 All Other Professional, Scientific and Technical Services with associated small business size standard $14.0 million. Background The National Institute on Aging (NIA), one of the 27 Institutes and Centers of NIH, leads a broad scientific effort to understand the nature of aging and to extend the healthy, active years of life. The Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience (LBN) enhances understanding of age associated physical and biological changes in health and disease. The LBN investigates structural and functional brain changes and how they relate to age-associated changes in cognition, and factors that modify cognitive and brain aging. The Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) at the NIA studies age-related changes in medical, physiological, cognitive and physical functioning across the adult life span. The LBN studies age-related changes, including development of a variety of medical conditions and the effects of these comorbidities on physical and psychological health and resilience. Data from the BLSA is used by many of the NIA laboratories in the preparation of analyses, presentations and manuscripts. Purpose and Objectives This Small Business Sources Sought notice seeks to determine eligible sources with the capability and expertise to provide the required services stated in this announcement. The purpose of this potential requirement is to provide the knowledge and expertise necessary to perform the functions as stated in this notice. The LBN has a potential requirement for a contractor to provide the government with state-of-the art statistical approaches and analysis of white matter correlates of alterations in functional connectivity as well as functional connectivity correlates of white matter alterations. This project will use resting state fMRI and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) acquired by the government. Together, these imaging sequences provide new avenues for mapping human brain activity, including investigation of the functional connectivity and white matter integrity to better understand how networks of brain activity underlying cognitive processing change with aging and disease. The Contractor will develop new statistical approaches, including massively univariate analyses, for the combined rsfMRI and DTI data. The Contractor will provide the government with results of statistical analyses of the combined rs-fMRI and DTI data. The LBN has established a database and image processing pipeline to perform customized processing of structural and functional brain images of participants in the BLSA, which utilize 3T MRI data acquired on the NIA 3T scanner. Customized script was developed for analysis of BLSA images and for further investigation of structure-function associations that will allow mapping of functional connections in the human brain. Project requirements consist of analysis and development of methods for statistical analysis of structure function relationships of longitudinal NIA BLSA images. The LBN continues collecting longitudinal BLSA MRI data on an ongoing basis, with approximately 300 sets of imaging data annually. In addition, tools for analysis of structure-function relationships including both temporal and spatial analysis are limited and require customization for longitudinal analysis. Such tools will continue to be developed and validated under any potential requirement resulting from this announcement. Project Requirements This Small Business Sources Sought notice seeks to determine eligible sources with the capacity, capability and experience to perform the work cited in this notice. Such innovative methods include model II regression and regression calibration, for use in massively univariate inference with imaging data and the design matrix paradigm accounting for both random and non-random imaging regressors. Any potential requirement may utilize customized scripts previously developed in the pre-processing and statistical analysis of the multi-modal longitudinal imaging data, as well as other customized scripts written for BLSA data, and continuing work on BLSA multi-modal longitudinal image analysis. Work will consist of processing longitudinal multi-modal images for investigation of structure-function relations that are critical to the mapping of human brain activity and networks. The anticipated period of performance of any resulting contract is one base year, including four (4) option years, to be effective on or around September 30, 2014. Capability statements sought Interested parties are expected to review this notice to familiarize itself with the requirements of this project. Failure to do so will be at your firm's own risk. Respondents must provide clear and convincing evidence of published manuscripts of research conducted in the area described in this notice as part of their responses. Respondents must provide clear and convincing documentation of their capability in providing the other requirements and services specified in this notice. Respondents must provide a general overview of the respondents' opinions about the difficulty and /or feasibility of the potential requirement, and any information regarding innovative ideas or concepts. The Respondent must also provide information in sufficient details of the respondents' (a) staff expertise, including their availability, experience, and formal and other training; (b) current in-house capability and capacity to perform the work; (c) prior completed projects of similar nature; (d) corporate experience and management capability; and (e) examples of prior completed Government contracts, references, and other related information. The respondent must also provide their DUNS number, organization name, address, point of contact, and size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HubZone, etc.) pursuant to the applicable NAICS code and any other information that may be helpful in developing or finalizing the acquisition requirements. All responses to this small business sources sought notice must reference solicitation number HHS-NIH-NIDA(SSSA)-SBSS-14-307 and be submitted electronically (via email) to Hunter Tjugum, Contract Specialist at hunter.tjugum@nih.gov and NIDASSSAPurchaseRequ@mail.nih.gov on or before the closing date specified in this announcement. Facsimile responses will be accepted at 301-480-1358. Responses must not exceed 15 pages in total length in a Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format using 11-point or 12-point font, 8-1/2" x 11" paper size, with 1" top, bottom, left and right margins, and with single or double spacing. CONCLUDING STATEMENTS Disclaimer and Important Notes. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. Confidentiality. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).
- Web Link
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