National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Contract Management Branch, Solar Bldg., Room 3C07, 6003 Executive Blvd. MSC 7610, Bethesda, MD 20892-7610

A -- HIV DATABASE AND ANALYSIS UNIT DUE 021099 POC Bruce E. Anderson, Contracting Officer, (301) 496-8371 The NIAID requires a specialized database that will serve as an international research resource for the compilation, analysis and dissemination of genetic sequence and associated data for HIV-1 and related lentiviruses. The proposed project with the Department of Energy will continue the work of the current HIV Database and Analysis Unit located at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The current agreement ends December 14, 1999. The period of duration of the proposed project is five (5) years. The contractor will receive, compile, store and manage genetic and associated biological and immunological data for HIV-1 and related lentviruses and for cellular proteins of interest in AIDS pathogenesis studies. Genetic sequence data will be obtained as GenBank entries, and this information enhanced by the addition of pertainent data extracted from publications. In-depth analysis will be required of all genetic sequence data. HIV immunology data is obtained from published reports and compiled in a separate database. This database will contain epitope alignments, maps and reference information for cytotoxic and helper T-cell epitopes and antibody binding sites in HIV-1 immunologically reactive sites. Both databases will be mounted as relational databases accessible via the Internet and designed for ease of search by the user community. The contractor will also be required to design or otherwise obtain state-of-the-art analysis packages that can be provided to the user community via the Internet. As a reference, the current sites can be accessed at the following Internet addresses: http://hiv-web.lanl.gov/ and http://hiv-web.lanl.gov/immunology/index.html. In addition, the contractor will be required to publish two annual publications containing up-to-date information on genetic sequence and immunology of HIV-1 and related lentiviruses, and to deliver these compendia to all interested parties (current mailing lists are 1,500 and 600 for the genetic sequence and immunology compendia, respectively). Examples of past compendia can be viewed at the above web sites. This research requires that the HIV Database and Analysis Unit staff have extensive experience in a number of areas related to genetic sequence data compilation, management, and analysis in general and as it applies to AIDS research, and in Internet web site design and management. The research will also require a staff with experience in AIDS-related molecular genetics and molecular immunology. Interested potential offerors should furnish capability information demonstrating past experience and expertise in the following areas: 1) Analysis of genetic sequence data for HIV-1 and related lentiviruses, including: a) nucleotide sequence alignments, base substitution frequencies, evolutionary tree analysis, compilation of consensus sequences, reading frame analysis, identification of conserved and variable regions, subtyping and recombination; b) protein sequence analysis, including amino acid alignments, identification of glycosylation patterns, derivation of consensus amino acid sequences of biologically and immunologically relevant epitopes, derivation of hydropathy profiles, protein structure predictions, subtyping, and homology-similarity searches; 2) Experience with compilation and management of genetic sequence and associated data for HIV-1 and related lentiviruses, and for other proteins of interest to the AIDS research community; 3) Experience with compilation, analysis and integration of associated data that may have relevance to the pathology and immunological recognition of the virus isolates from which genetic sequence was derived; 4) Experience with Internet web site design and management; 5) Experience with design of genetic sequence analysis tools; 6)Access to full-time personnel with the following qualifications: a) a Principal Investigator(s) with training and experience related to HIV-specific data compilation, management and analysis, experience with technical approaches required, with molecular genetics and molecular immunology, and with managing projects of similar complexity; b) other scientific and technical staff with documented training and expertise in providing data management and analysis and dissemination; 7) Availability of adequate facilities, equipment and resources necessary to receive, store, analyze and transfer data. Potential offerors should provide a detailed description of computer hardware that could be dedicated to this project. Hardware should include a computer mainframe or other hardware capable of compiling and analyzing the volume of sequence information that is handled by the HIV Sequence Database and Analysis Unit at Los Alamos. There are currently approximately 29,000 HIV and HIV-related sequences in the database. This is not a Request for Proposal (RFP). No RFP is available and the government is not committed to award a contract pursuant to this announcement. Interested offerors should furnish 5 copies of their capability information addressing the items above no later than February 12, 1999, to Mr. Bruce Anderson, Contracting Officer, Contract Management Branch, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Solar Building, Room 3C07, Bethesda, Maryland 20892; for overnight mail, use Rockville, Maryland 20852. Posted 01/20/99 (W-SN289721). 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