SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- Cardiothoracic Surgery, Research and Training Program
- Notice Date
- 11/4/2004
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 622110
— General Medical and Surgical Hospitals
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Contracts Operations Branch 6701 Rockledge Dr RKL2/6100 MSC 7902, Bethesda, MD, 20892-7902
- ZIP Code
- 20892-7902
- Solicitation Number
- NHLBI-HI-05-18
- Response Due
- 12/20/2004
- Archive Date
- 1/4/2005
- Description
- The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has re-established its Cardiothoracic Surgery Branch (CTSB) as part of its Clinical Research Program in its Division of Intramural Research (DIR). The Institute plans to create an academic research program in cardiothoracic surgery (CTS) that integrates basic research at the NIH and clinical investigation and acute patient care at a nearby hospital. The CTSB, which operated from the 1950s through 1990, provided a world-class basic science and clinical investigation program that linked basic laboratory research and clinical investigation and served as a research and clinical training program for several generations of leading academic cardiothoracic surgeons. For a variety of reasons, the cardiothoracic surgery capabilities within the NHLBI were phased out over 10 years ago. However, changes in CTS in recent years require evaluation and further development of innovative surgical techniques. Ongoing and frequent interaction between scientists, clinicians, and patients at the selected hospital and the NHLBI will bring the basic science changes in CTS into clinical practice more quickly through an integrated research approach. The goals of the CTSB are to conduct innovative basic, translational, and clinical research that will advance the field of cardiovascular science and medicine and to train the next generations of academic cardiothoracic surgeons in leadership skills, research methodologies and techniques, and publication generation. To accomplish these goals, the NHLBI plans to pursue mutually beneficial research collaborations with the selected hospital and other NIH Institutes and Centers. In this pursuit, the NIH offers links between basic science and clinical investigations, swiftness in translating basic science to clinical usage, access to state-of-the-art animal facilities, presence of multidisciplinary research teams, capability to focus on selected science and health problems, support of a centralized coordinating facility, organization of a center of excellence in clinical research, and ability to provide timely integrated service delivery. The NHLBI needs to partner with a hospital able to provide a leading academic cardiovascular surgeon who has experience in developing and leading a basic science and clinical research team, along with access to acute cardiovascular care. The Chief Cardiothoracic Surgeon of the hospital will lead an integrated research program consisting of basic research and clinical investigation. The NHLBI requires that the hospital provide an academic leader in cardiothoracic surgery who has: 1) a national and international reputation for outstanding basic and clinical research; 2) an established record of R01 funded research; 3) a history of leading basic and clinical research teams at an academic medical center; 4) an established record of teaching surgical fellows, residents, and medical students in the fundamentals of basic research, clinical research, and clinical medicine. The Chief Cardiothoracic Surgeon will conduct basic research in the CTSB laboratory located in the NIH Clinical Research Center. The surgeons in the CTSB will collaborate with basic investigators in the NHLBI Division of Intramural Research (DIR). The products of this research will be translated into clinical investigations at the hospital in a ?bench to bedside? approach. An essential component of a successful, integrated research program is the proximity of the basic cardiothoracic research laboratory at the NHLBI to acute patient care, which is critical for academic surgeons and fellows to move quickly multiple times a day between the research laboratories at the NHLBI/NIH and the cardiothoracic surgical facility. This will enable investigators to devote time to research activities and to respond to acute patient care in a timely manner from the NIH campus. This is central to the success of the CTSB. This fundamental principle of proximity is the basis for the configuration of the existing Clinical Research Center (CRC) at the NIH. In the CRC basic scientists, clinical investigators, clinicians, and patients are co-located in the same building or in close proximity. Meetings with investigators, collaborators, and staff occur several times daily and require surgeons to move back and forth from the clinical arena to the research facility in a timely fashion multiple times a day. This fundamental principle is also the basis for the design of academic cardiothoracic research units where academic cardiothoracic surgeons conduct basic research in close proximity to the operating rooms, recovery rooms, and patient care units. As examples, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Virginia, the University of Michigan, Brigham and Women?s Hospital at Harvard University, Stanford University, and other outstanding cardiothoracic programs have the cardiothoracic basic research laboratory, the operating rooms, and patient care units within the same building, in adjacent buildings, or nearby on campus and in any event located no more that 10 minutes walking distance apart. These models have been used to define the fundamental principle of close proximity of the CTSB basic research laboratory to the operating rooms and patient care units as 5 minutes driving time or 10 minutes by foot. A close coupling of an acute care hospital staffed by outstanding cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons with a history of supporting NIH research with a research infrastructure relevant to the NHLBI will make the CTSB a success. Responses to this synopsis will be evaluated based on the following technical evaluation criteria, which are presented in descending order of importance: 1) Evidence of ability to provide an academic cardiothoracic surgeon with prior leadership experience in basic science and clinical research. Evidence that this surgeon understands the academic model described above and how it will be implemented. Evidence of the surgeon?s understanding of the research scope and objectives. Evidence of ability to recruit, retain and train academic cardiac surgeons and soundness of plans to collaborate with researchers. Experience of lead cardiothoracic surgeon in implementation of basic science and clinical research protocols, evidence of prior NIH R01 funding, and ability to conduct a program combining clinical excellence and mutually beneficial research collaborations; 2) Evidence of ability to meet the fundamental principle of close proximity; 3) Adequate availability, qualifications, experience, and demonstrated competence of cardiac surgeons, to include proposed affiliations and consultants, and overall understanding, willingness and ability to perform research protocols; 4) Availability and skills of proposed staff, including project management, in providing the services, quality control, data collection, dissemination and training, and other collaborative activities necessary; 5) Evidence of feasibility to provide an adequate number of cardiac surgery patients to the cardiac surgery program, and evidence of ability to maintain community support for the research. Ability to demonstrate that volume of cases will permit sufficient access to acute care patients so that clinical research, applied and basic research, and training and education components of the program can be successfully implemented. The NHLBI intends to negotiate on a non-competitive basis with Suburban Hospital for a five year contract program to provide the lead academic cardiothoracic surgeon skilled in basic science and clinical research as well as the acute care components of CTS, if Suburban Hospital receives a Certificate of Need to perform cardiac surgery from the Maryland Health Care Commission. Authority: 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(1) as set forth in FAR 6.302-1. Responses are due at the following address not later than December 20, 2004: National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Contracts Operations Branch, 6701 Rockledge Drive, Rockledge Building Two, Room 6142, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-7902, attention: Kathleen J. Marsden, Contracting Officer. Authority: 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(1) as set forth in FAR 6.302-1. This is not a Request for Proposals. See Note 22.
- Place of Performance
- Address: Suburban Hospital, 8600 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda, Maryland
- Zip Code: 20814
- Country: USA
- Zip Code: 20814
- Record
- SN00703807-W 20041106/041104211830 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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