SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- IMMUNE EPITOPE DATABASE AND ANALYSIS RESOURCE PROGRAM
- Notice Date
- 11/8/2010
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541712
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Office of Acquisitions, 6700 B Rockledge Room 3214 MSC7612, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892-7612
- ZIP Code
- 20892-7612
- Solicitation Number
- HHS-NIH-NIAID(AI)-SBSS-10-109
- Point of Contact
- Andrea Giuliano, Phone: 301-451-3685, Donald E Collie, Phone: 301-496-0992
- E-Mail Address
-
giulianoan@niaid.nih.gov, dcollie@niaid.nih.gov
(giulianoan@niaid.nih.gov, dcollie@niaid.nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Introduction. This is a Small Business Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources; (2) whether they are small businesses; HUBZone small businesses; service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice. Background. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), supports research related to the basic understanding, treatment and ultimately prevention of immunologic, infectious, and allergic diseases that threaten millions of human lives. The NIAID Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation (DAIT) supports extramural grants and contracts for basic, pre-clinical, and clinical research on immune system development and function, and host immune responses to infectious and immune-mediated (e.g., autoimmunity, allergy/asthma, and transplant tolerance) diseases. This mission includes support of various reagent facilities, repositories, and databases that provide resources for biomedical researchers. As a part of this continuing effort to support the scientific enterprise, the NIAID announces the renewal of the Immune Epitope Database and Analysis Resource program (www.iedb.org) to maintain and continue development populate, and expand the public resource containing antibody/B cell and T cell epitope information and epitope prediction and analysis tools for use by the research community worldwide. For the purpose of this RFP, immune epitopes are defined as molecular structures recognized by specific antigen receptors of the immune system, namely antibodies, B cell receptors, and T cell receptors. Immune epitopes derived from infectious diseases, excluding HIV, and immune-mediated diseases and the accompanying biological information will be included in the Immune Epitope Database and Analysis Resource (IEDB). Purpose and Objectives. The main goal of this solicitation is to continue support and further development, expansion, population, and maintenance of the existing IEDB resource. Funding under the prior solicitation is NOT required for submission to this current solicitation. Project Requirements. The scope of this solicitation shall include: • Maintenance, further development, expansion, enhancement, and population of a central source of information on T cell epitopes and linear and conformational antibody/B cell epitopes (through curation of existing literature and direct submissions by the broader research community) • Maintenance, further development expansion, enhancement, and population of a central source of data on ligand binding to MHC class I, class II, non-classical, and MHC-related molecules, including ligands shown experimentally not to bind to any of these molecules. • Continued development, maintenance and provision of robust algorithms, mathematical models, and other predictive tools for identifying and visualizing novel antibody/B cell and T cell epitopes from genome or protein sequence information of specific pathogens or related to immune-mediated diseases. In order to fulfill the scope described above, the IEDB contains four components: A. An Immune Epitope Database containing linear and conformational antibody/B cell epitopes and T cell epitopes composed of MHC-binding peptides and ligands (e.g., carbohydrates, lipids, and modified peptides) with a priority for epitopes associated with NIAID category A-C potential bioterrorism pathogens and their toxins (listed at http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/BiodefenseRelated/Biodefense/research/Pages/CatA.aspx), but also including all infectious diseases, except HIV, and immune-mediated diseases such as allergy, asthma, autoimmunity, and organ transplant rejection. B. An Analysis Resource that includes online access to: (1) tools to help researchers locate and analyze information contained in the Immune Epitope Database; (2) other relevant databases and related information; and (3) data mining algorithms, mathematical models, and other sophisticated analytical tools to help researchers identify and/or visualize novel antibody/B cell and T cell epitopes from genome or protein sequence/structure information; C. Community Outreach activities to expand the user-base and utility of the Immune Epitope Database resource for the broader research community; and D. Interact with existing NIAID programs. These programs minimally include: a. Contractors supported by the B cell Epitope Discovery and Mechanisms of Action, Large -scale T cell Epitope Discovery, and the Allergen Epitope Discovery programs; b. Contractors supported by the Bioinformatics Integration Support Contract (BISC), Bioinformatics Resource Centers (BRCs) and the HIV Molecular Immunology Database. This contract will NOT support the following activities: 1. Immune epitope discovery through direct experimentation and/or any laboratory-based basic or clinical research. 2. Any phase clinical trial. 3. Curation of HIV immune epitopes, which are captured in the HIV Molecular Immunology Database: http://www.hiv.lanl.gov/content/immunology/index.html 4. Curation of immune epitopes solely associated with any type of cancer. 5. De Novo development of the IEDB and operating system. Offerors can access the specifications for the current IEDB operating system at: www.iedb.org. The system architecture and software design specifications and entity relational diagrams of the current IEDB system are available at the IEDB website: www.iedb.org. Capability Statement/Information Sought. Potential sources must demonstrate and document the following in their capability statements: • Ability to maintain, further develop, expand, enhance, and populate a central source of information on T cell epitopes and linear and conformational antibody/B cell epitopes (through curation of existing literature and direct submissions by the broader research community) • Ability to maintain, further develop, expand, enhance, and populate a central source of data on ligand binding to MHC class I, class II, non-classical, and MHC-related molecules, including ligands shown experimentally not to bind to any of these molecules. • Ability to continue development, maintenance and provision of an analysis resource containing robust algorithms, mathematical models, and other predictive tools for identifying and visualizing novel antibody/B cell and T cell epitopes from genome or protein sequence information of specific pathogens or related to immune-mediated diseases. Capability statements submitted as a result of this announcement should demonstrate the offerors' qualifications and experience, specifically providing evidence as to their capability to perform this requirement, with particular attention to the following: Technical Plan/Approach: appropriateness and adequacy of the plans for maintaining, continuing development, and enhancing the existing IEDB database system (software and hardware), including maintaining and updating system documentation; curating new and updating existing epitope information and accompanying biological data; maintaining, continuing development, and updating a publicly available Analysis Resource containing epitope prediction and analysis tools; and plans for Community Outreach and interactions with existing NIAID-supported programs. Personnel/Management: adequacy, appropriateness and relevance of expertise, experience, qualifications, and availability of the key professional and technical staff with a project of similar size, scope, and complexity. Facilities/Resources/IT Security: adequacy, appropriateness of the facilities and resources dedicated to the project; of the Operational Recovery Plan (ORP) and Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP; security against catastrophic loss of data or important software; and the provision of uninterrupted access and service to the IEDB user community. Past Performance: Past performance is considered essential. In addition to demonstrating that they have met the above qualifications, interested parties must identify experience with another project of similar size and complexity. All capable small business organizations are encouraged to submit capability statements based on this announcement. Interested organizations should submit two copies of their capability statement addressing each of the areas cited above. Written capability statements should be received by the Contracting Officer by 3:00 PM, local time, November 19, 2010. Please reference the solicitation number on all related correspondence. Facsimile and e-mail transmissions will be accepted. Any proprietary information should be so marked. The following information needs to be included with each response: Respondents' DUNS number, organization name, address, point of contact, and size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HUBZone, etc) pursuant to the applicable NAICS code. Disclaimer and Important Notes. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. Confidentiality. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).
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- Record
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