SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- Dissecting the role of basal forebrain salience-encoding neurons in the learning of new stimulus-outcome association
- Notice Date
- 9/24/2015
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- 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-NOI-2015-913
- Archive Date
- 10/10/2015
- Point of Contact
- Hunter A. Tjugum, Phone: 301 435 8780
- E-Mail Address
-
hunter.tjugum@nih.gov
(hunter.tjugum@nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- INTRODUCTION THIS IS A PRE-SOLICITATION NON-COMPETITIVE (NOTICE OF INTENT) SYNOPSIS TO AWARD A CONTRACT OR PURCHASE ORDER WITHOUT PROVIDING FOR FULL OR OPEN COMPETITION (INCLUDING BRAND-NAME). The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Station Support Contracts and Simplified Acquisitions Branch (SS/SA) on behalf of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institues of Health (NIH) intends to negotiate and award a contract without providing for full and open competition (Including brand-name) to Dr. Hachi Eben El Haggch Manzur Valdivia, located at Las Clarisas # 36, Santiago, Santiago, Chile for Neuroscience contractor support in basal forebrain neuronal response research. NORTH AMERICAN INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (NAICS) CODE The intended procurement is classified under NAICS code 541990 with a Size Standard of $15.0 M. REGULATORY AUTHORITY The resultant contract will include all applicable provisions and clauses in effect through the Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-83-1, September 5, 2014. This acquisition is conducted under the procedures as prescribed in FAR subpart 13-Simplified Acquisition Procedures at an amount not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold ($150,000). STATUTORY AUTHORITY This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13-Simplified Acquisition Procedures, Subpart 13.106-1 (b) (1), Soliciting from a single source and is not expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold. Contracts awarded using FAR Part 13-Simplifeid Acquisition Procedures are exempt from the requirements of FAR Part 6-Competition Requirements. GENERAL INFORMATION 1. Title: Dissecting the role of basal forebrain salience-encoding neurons in the learning of new stimulus-outcome association 2. Background Information: The Intramural Research Program (IRP) of the NIA provides a stimulating setting for a comprehensive effort to understand aging through multidisciplinary investigator-initiated research. One of the IRP's programs includes understanding the neural mechanism of top-down attention in the basal forebrain region. The impairment of top-down attention is an integral component of age-related cognitive decline and a central feature of many neuropsychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, attention deficit disorder and Alzheimer's disease. 3. Purpose or Objective: A major goal of research in the Neural Circuits and Cognition Unit (NCCU) is to understand the role of basal forebrain (BF) in top-down attention, focusing in particular on a key neural population whose function is to amplify the processing of incoming sensory information based on the motivational, but not perceptual, salience of the stimulus. Toward this goal, NCCU has recently conducted a series of experiments examining how BF neurons acquire the responses to motivationally salient stimulus during the learning process. These experiments involve recording of BF neuronal activity while rats learn a new stimulus-outcome association in a carefully designed behavioral task. An essential next step of this project, as well as the main objective of this contract, is to fully quantify BF neuronal response dynamics in preparation of manuscript publication. 4. Period of Performance: September 30, 2015 through September 29, 2016 CONTRACTOR REQUIREMENTS (SCOPE OF WORK) Independently and not as an agent of the Government, the contractor shall furnish all the necessary services, qualified personnel, materials, equipment, and facilities, not otherwise provided by the Government as needed to perform the work specified herein. Specifically, the contractor will perform: 1. Data pre-processing: Offline spike sorting of collected neuronal data; 2. Establish programming platform in Python and Matlab; 3.Quantify BF neuronal activity, with special focus on temporal dynamics on the per-trial basis and on the per-session basis; and 4. Correlate BF neuronal activity with behavioral metrics, including reaction time, percentage of correct choice, subjective prediction of reward. The NCCU and NIA will provide backed-up copy of the raw experimental data for the contractor to analyze on his personal computers. NCCU will review and approve manuscripts and reports generated under this contract. The contractor will deliver written reports with associated figures supporting analyses conclusions, as well as the analyses program codes, to the Government on a monthly basis. CONTRACTING WITHOUT PROVIDING FOR FULL OR OPEN COMPETITION (INCLUDING BRAND-NAME) DETERMINATION The determination by the Government to award a contract without providing for full and open competition is based upon the market research conducted as prescribed in FAR Part 10-Market Research, specifically the review and evaluation of the responses to the sources sought notice published in the FedBizOpps on August 28, 2015, under notice number HHS-NIH-NIDA-SSSA-SS-2015-829, Neuroscience contractor support in basal forebrain neuronal response. Dr. Manzur has both the expertise and experience for performing the requirements of this project. The subject award will be a continuation to previous work conducted by the subject contractor. Specifically, research experience in support of NIA IRP research project ZIA AG000339: The roles of basal forebrain neuronal ensembles in top-down attention for which Dr. Manzur worked as part of his postdoctoral training in the NCCU. CLOSING STATEMENT This synopsis is not a request for competitive proposals. However, interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this notice. Responses to this notice shall contain sufficient information to establish the interested parties' bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the requirement and include a technical proposal, cost-price proposal, the period of performance, the Dun & Bradstreet Number (DUNS), the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and the certification of business size. All offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.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. The information received will normally be considered solely for the purposes of determining whether to proceed on a non-competitive basis or to conduct a competitive procurement. All responses must be received by September 25, 2015, 4:30 PM Eastern time and must reference solicitation number HHS-NIH-NIDA-SSSA-NOI-2015-913. Responses may be submitted electronically to Mr. Hunter Tjugum, Contracting Specialist at hunter.tjugum@nih.gov. Fax responses will not be accepted. "All responsible sources may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation, which shall be considered by the agency."
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