The contractor shall provide enhanced analysis of clinical and specimen-derived data on all patients seen at VA network hospitals who have a cancer diagnosis. The contractor shall furnish a robust,…

This is a federal contract award issued by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc., a for-profit company that specializes in comprehensive genomic profiling and molecular diagnostics. The $98,925 firm-fixed-price contract requires the contractor to provide enhanced analysis of clinical and specimen-derived data for cancer patients seen at VA network hospitals.

The contractor will furnish innovative solutions for analyzing tissue samples obtained during clinical care, including targeted DNA sequencing, whole exome sequencing, and RNA sequencing. The goal is to improve oncology care for VA patients by identifying mutations and providing clinically relevant annotations. The contract has no set-aside designation and is not associated with a larger contract vehicle. The award represents one of several smaller purchase orders the VA has issued to Personal Genome Diagnostics for genomic and molecular diagnostic testing services.

The contractor shall provide enhanced analysis of clinical and specimen-derived data on all patients seen at VA network hospitals who have a cancer diagnosis. The contractor shall furnish a robust, scalable, dynamic, secure, innovative solutions of analyzing samples obtained during regular clinical care such as tissues from biopsy - using new genomic assay technology. The clia vendor shall provide emerging technologies to improve oncology care for all patients within the VA healthcare system. The contractor shall provide targeted sequencing of DNA fragments known to harbor mutations in cancer specimens (commonly referred to as a mutation panel). The number of DNA segments sequenced varies by the laboratory and assay performed. Mutations in the DNA can either be inferred against a laboratory `reference sequence or can be determined by sequencing of patient germ-line DNA obtained from adjacent normal tissue or peripheral blood. The contractors shall provide sequencing of the whole exome of cancer specimens, with mutations identified by comparison against a laboratory `reference sequence or germ-line DNA as described above. The contracotr shall provide sequencing of the cancer specimen RNA or `transcriptome . This strategy can be combined with either targeted or whole exome DNA sequencing. Products of the testing returned to the VA include all sequence data including raw test data (fast-Q, BAM, read quality files and variant call files) and a report of important mutations and their significance to be returned to the medical record. Mutations found in the tumor sample will be annotated so that clinicians can gain an understanding of their meaning. The laboratory shall specify how this annotation will be performed and in particular, what knowledge base will be used to generate the annotations. The contractor shall maintains an up-to-date knowledge base and must be able to update annotations of a patient report upon request. The contractor shall at all times maintain a secure environment and practice covering all protected health information (PHI).