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FBO DAILY ISSUE OF SEPTEMBER 12, 2004 FBO #1021
SOLICITATION NOTICE

R -- NCI's Pathway Interactin Database

Notice Date

9/10/2004
 

Notice Type

Solicitation Notice
 

NAICS

541990 — All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical 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

NCI-40179-NG
 

Response Due

9/20/2004
 

Archive Date

10/5/2004
 

Point of Contact

Malinda Holdcraft, Purchasing Agent, Phone (301) 402-4509, Fax (301) 402-4513, - Renita Smith, Contract Specialist, Phone 301-496-8612, Fax 301-480-0241,
 

E-Mail Address

holdcram@exchange.nih.gov, rs442i@nih.gov
 

Description

The National Cancer Institute (NCI), Center for Bioinformatics (NCICB), plans to procure on a sole source basis seeks the services of personnel with expertise in biochemistry and molecular biology to curate pathway data for entry into NCI's Pathway Interaction Database. It is important that this data be correct, be backed by current literature, and be seen as authoritative by the user community. The supplies and services are being procured in accordance with FAR Part 12 and 13.5. The North American Industry Classification System code is 541990 and the business size standard is $6M. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) Center for Bioinformatics (NCICB) has established a Pathway Interaction Database (PID) (publicly-accessible at http://cmap.nci.nih.gov/PW/) in order to provide a highly structured, curated repository of information about known biomolecular interactions. Due to the clinical and therapeutic aims of the NCI, the PID is intended primarily to capture information about interactions known or believed to take place in humans. It includes signaling, metabolic, and regulatory pathways. The quality of the information currently in the PID is uncertain and it is certainly incomplete. Contractor shall be responsible for entering further data and ensuring the quality in terms of consistency and reliability. Additional information will come from a variety of sources, including journals, reference works and databases (including those that form part of the NCI's emerging caBIG bioinformatics project). The long-term plan is that the database contents will be authored in close collaboration with invited external experts (preferably with these experts doing most of the actual data entry, though it remains to be seen how feasible this will be). Other independent experts would be invited to peer-review the information before it is published. The aim is to provide an accurate representation of the scientific consensus, using facts published in the peer-reviewed literature. Contractor Requirements: 1) Contractor shall be responsible for assessing the quality and comprehensiveness of the PID data, biological pathway data; 2) Contractor shall create additional data, (biological pathway data) to be added to the PID. This data shall be based on refereed papers appearing in publications of the Nature Publishing Group (NPG), including Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Cell Biology, Nature Genetics, Nature Medicine, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Nature Reviews Cancer, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, Nature Reviews Genetics, Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology and Nature Clinical Practice Oncology; 3) Contractor shall conduct an assessment of the scientific utility of queries. In addition, Contractor shall provide estimates of the scale that the database would need to reach in order to answer further scientifically valuable questions (as defined by users, potential users, the NCI and the Contractor); 4) Contractor shall collate of a small number of textual highlights to provide context for the data. These will be sourced mainly or exclusively from existing NPG journal content, with little or no commissioned content; 5) Contractor shall conduct an assessment of the PID's position and distinctiveness relative to the Reactome database to see if it is possible to curate data in such a way that it can be imported into both databases, and to assess if the editorial scope and processes of each database are sufficiently compatible to warrant this level of data sharing; 6) Contractor shall conduct an assessment of the suitability of emerging data exchange formats such as SBML, CellML, BioPAX and HUPO PSI. The standards that describe the format are scientific data. To properly evaluate the utility and appropriateness of these standards, one has to understand the domain of biological pathways; 7) Contractor shall identify technical or web design changes in the PID that may be required to capture additional pathway information (for example, information about data sources and about different cell types) or to enhance usability of the database. Period of Performance: September 2004 - August 2005. The Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is uniquely qualified to perform the role of curator of the NCI's database, they are recognized as the premier publisher of current research in biochemistry and molecular biology; (2) NPG editors have early editorial access to the largest collection of current high-quality research relevant to biological pathways; (3) NPG has experience in curating pathway data for web publication (in particular the Alliance for Cell Signaling, http://www.signaling-gateway.org). Nature Publishing Group is the only known source with an extensive background in biochemistry and in molecular biology. Their privileged access, to the largest collection of top-quality research publications in molecular biology, no other contractor to ensure the correctness of NCI's database to the same level, nor could any other contractor invest the NCI's pathway database with the same level of authority. This is not a request for competitive quotation. However, if any interested party believes it can perform the above requirement, it may submit a statement of capabilities. The statement of capabilities and any other furnished information must be in writing and must contain material in sufficient detail to allow NCI to determine if the party can perform this requirement. Capability statements must be received in the contracting office by 1:00 PM EST, September 20, 2004. If you have any questions they must be submitted in writing to Malinda Holdcraft, Purchasing Agent, at holdcram@exchange.nih.gov or by fax 301-402-4513. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed requirement based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.
 

Place of Performance

Address: MD

Zip Code: 20892

Country: USA
 

Record

SN00669694-W 20040912/040910211741 (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)

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