National Institute of Mental Health, Contracts Management Branch, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rm. 9C-15, Rockville, MD, 20857-8030

A -- PEDIATRIC BRAIN MRI DATABASE AND STUDY OF NORMAL DEVELOPMENT: CENTRAL COORDINATING SITE SOL NIMH-98-DM-0002 DUE 060998 POC Contracting Officer, David Eskenazi or Patricia Gibbons, (301) 443-2696 WEB: NIMH-98-DM-0002, http://www.nimh.nih.gov. E-MAIL: Click here to contact the contracting officer via e-mail, pgibbons@nih.gov. The National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke and National Institute of Child Health and Human Development propose to issue a solicitation (RFP) No. NIMH-98-DM-0002 entitled "Pediatric Brain MRI Database and Study of Normal Development: Central Coordinating Site" as Full and Open Competition under SIC Code 8731. The NIMH, NINDS and NICHD plan to award a five year cost-reimbursement contract, and plan to make the award by September 30, 1998. This will be the initial award for this requirement. The purpose of this contract is to organize a network of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) acquisition and data analysis sites and supervise a multicenter study of normal brain development. The coordinating site will play a key role in planning, organizing and conducting the multicenter study, taking primary responsibility for providing scientific expertise and quality control at all stages of the process. The study will recruit a community sample of normal childrenwho will be studied with brain MRI scans and behavioral measures. State of the art automated computer software will be selected, developed and used to analyze the MRI images and to characterize normal development using sophisticated quantitative measures. A data sharing plan will developed, and raw data, analytic software and results of data analyses will be made available to extramural researchers. Critical to this effort will be the role of the coordinating center in insuring homogeneity or comparability of data collected across sites and across a time period of approximately five years. Thus, the central coordinating center must have knowledge and expertise in the following areas: (1) MRI hardware, software and acquisition sequences, (2) the design, creation and implementation of state-of-the-art MR image analysis using automated computer software, (3) developmental neuroanatomy, (4) the transfer from multiple sites and processing of large MRI data sets, (5) insuring comparability of data across machines and time, and (6) statistical expertise as applied to MRI research Request for Proposal (RFP) No. NIMH-98-DM-0002 will be available on or about April 22, 1998 and the receipt date of proposal on or about June 9, 1998. The RFP may be accessed through the NIMH Home Page by using the following instructions: access the home page at http://www.nimh.nih.gov, first select "Grants and Contracts", then select "NIMH Request for Proposals (RFP)", and lastly select "NIMH-98-DM-0002." Please note that the RFP for this requirement will include the Statement of Work, Deliverables and Reporting Requirements, the Technical Evaluation Criteria, and proposal preparation instructions. All information required for the submission of an offer will be contained in the electronic RFP package. Following proposal submission and initial review process, offerors comprising of the competitive range will be requested to provide additional documentation to the Contracting Officer. All responsible sources may submit a proposal that will be considered by the NIMH. This advertisement does not commit the Government to award a contract. (0099)

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