SOURCES SOUGHT
D -- Development of a Common Biospecimen Coordination System and Informatics Infrastructure for NCI Prostate Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPOREs)
- Notice Date
- 2/4/2005
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541512
— Computer Systems Design Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Research Contracts Br., 6120 Executive Blvd. EPS Suite 600, Rockville, MD, 20852
- ZIP Code
- 20852
- Solicitation Number
- Reference-Number-SS-NCI-ESS-2005
- Response Due
- 2/18/2005
- Small Business Set-Aside
- Total Small Business
- Description
- REQUEST FOR COMMENT/SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE No. SS-NCI-ESS-2005 Title: "Development of a Common Biospecimen Coordination System and Informatics Infrastructure for NCI Prostate Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPOREs)" This Request for Comment (RFC)/Source 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 Cancer Institute (NCI). The purpose of this RFC/SS is to identify two (2) or more qualified small businesses including 8(a), HUBzone, and service disabled small disadvantaged businesses that are interested in and capable of performing the work described herein. The NCI 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 RFC/SS, the NCI may issue a Request for Proposal (RFP). However, should such a requirement materialize, no basis for claims against NCI shall arise as a result of a response to this RFC/SS or the NCI's use of such information as either part of our evaluation process or in developing specifications for any subsequent requirement. Request for Comment: The National Cancer Institute seeks qualified small business contractors capable of developing a design plan and implementing a common biospecimen coordination system and informatics infrastructure (a "Biospecimen Coordination System") for multiple NCI Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPOREs) in prostate cancer research. This system shall facilitate biospecimen and data sharing among scientific investigators located at different institutions by employing standardized approaches for collecting, processing, storing, annotating and distributing high-quality biospecimens. Initially, this system shall support the Inter-SPORE Prostate Biomarkers Study (IPBS), a validation study of prospective prostate cancer biomarkers. Ultimately, the purpose of this project is to serve as a pilot for the National Biospecimen Network (NBN) by developing an infrastructure to annotate and integrate specimen banks, such as those of the SPOREs, to enhance the quality and availability of various biospecimens and associated data for the broader scientific community. If the pilot project is successful, then the government intends to use the Biospecimen Coordination System developed by the Contractor for other NCI and government projects. Future acquisitions to use, modify and/or update the Biospecimen Coordination System for other government projects will be awarded on a competitive basis. The Biospecimen Coordination System informatics infrastructure shall promote communication and the exchange of biospecimens and data between participating centers, shall be fully compatible with the NCI's Cancer Bioinformatics Grid (caBIG) (http://cabig.nci.nih.gov/), and will directly employ caBIG tools wherever possible. Therefore, in addition to serving as a pilot for the NBN, the IPBS infrastructure will provide the Prostate SPOREs with an integrated, scalable informatics system that may serve as a model for other biorepository networks. The Biospecimen Coordination System is not intended to supplant existing resources at the participating SPORE sites, and will integrate with relevant clinical departments (e.g., surgery and pathology) without interrupting existing workflows. Capability statements shall include: (1) an outline of similar projects and other written statements to allow the NCI to perform a proper evaluation of the capability of prospective Offerors; and (2) detailed information on the Offeror's contract(s)/project(s) similar in nature to the this synopsis and draft statement of work documenting at least two (2) consecutive years of experience of the Project Director and the Offeror's company/institution in managing, running, and overseeing a multi-institutional human biorepository network within the past five years. Contract(s)/project(s) listed may include those entered into by the Federal Government, agencies of state or local governments, and commercial concerns. The following information should be submitted to document this experience: Name of contracting organization; Contract number (for subcontracts, provide the prime contract number and the subcontract number); Contract type; Total contract value; Description of the requirement; Contracting Officer's name and telephone number; Project Director's name and telephone number; and Standard Industrial Code or NAICS code. The Project Director shall be an employee of the Offeror and not a consultant or part of subcontractor staff, and must have a Master's degree or higher. Capability statements shall also address the following major components of the Biospecimen Coordination System: (1) human subjects protection, privacy protection and informed consent processes; (2) rigorous standard operating procedures for biospecimen collection, processing, annotation, storage and dissemination; (3) quality assurance/quality control; (4) integration with associated clinical data, both retrospectively and prospectively; (5) informatics system requirements; (6) biospecimen and data access policies; (7) biohazard considerations and packing, shipping and storage policies; (8) intellectual property/ongoing system oversight and maintenance; (9) establishment of a common repository for biospecimens unused by the IPBS; and (10) personnel management. Because the Biospecimen Coordination System is envisioned as an ongoing resource with broad applicability to the scientific community, the Contractor shall establish a common biorepository of material not required for the IPBS. Access to this common biorepository will be overseen by a subcommittee of the project Governance Board. Prostate SPORE programs may store some biospecimens locally; however, each participating SPORE program will ship a subset of samples (rigorously collected and annotated based on Standard Operating Procedures) to the common repository managed by the Contractor. This project will consist of two phases. Phase 1 focuses on developing a recommended design plan and budget for system implementation. The Phase 1 design plan shall also describe at least two other viable options and alternatives (including budgets) for implementing the pilot system. Phase 2 is the implementation of the Phase 1 design plan as a pilot system for the Prostate SPOREs, and will be contingent upon review and approval of the Phase 1 design plan and budget by an NCI-convened expert committee. The Phase 1 design plan including alternatives with budgets will be due within three (3) months of the Contract award. The expert review committee may accept the Phase 1 recommended design plan, reject the Phase 1 design plan, or suggest changes based on the options and alternatives stated in the design plan. Therefore, Phase 2 is an option to be exercised at the discretion of the Government. An important charge of the expert review committee will be to determine the appropriate human subject provisions for Phase 2 based on the Phase 1 design plan. Phase 2 shall incorporate all required human subjects requirements before Phase 2 implementation based on the recommendations of the expert review committee. Upon approval of the Phase 1 design plan and exercising of Phase 2, complete system implementation shall be achieved within twenty (20) months. A copy of the draft Statement of Work (SOW) pertaining to this requirement, which is subject to revisions, may be accessed on the NCI Research Contracts Branch External Website at URL: http://rcb.nci.nih.gov/ Once there, click on Current Requests for Proposals. Under the section entitled Sources Sought/Request for Information click on number SS-NCI-ESS-2005 entitled, "Development of a Common Biospecimen Coordination System and Informatics Infrastructure for NCI Prostate Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPOREs)." Interested small business organizations should submit a capability statement of approximately 15 pages (single spaced, 12 point font) that details the ability to perform the aspects of the statement of work described above. All proprietary information should be marked as such. Responses will be reviewed only by NIH personnel and will be held in a confidential manner. In the event an RFP is issued, North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 541512 with a size standard of $21 million is being considered. Capabilities statements are due no later than 3:00pm eastern prevailing time on February 18, 2005. Please submit one (1) original and three (3) copies of your response to the attention of: Robin M. Irving, Contracting Officer, Epidemiology and Support Section, Research Contracts Branch, OM, National Cancer Institute, and if using regular mail - Executive Plaza South, Suite 600, Room 6118, MSC 7196, 6120 Executive Boulevard, Bethesda, MD 20892-7196. If courier service is used, the address is the same except for the city and zip code (Rockville, MD 20852). Facsimile responses may be submitted by FAX to 301/480-0241 or e-mail responses may be sent to irvingr@mail.nih.gov. Electronic submissions must be in WordPerfect or Microsoft Word.
- Record
- SN00745803-W 20050206/050204211753 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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