CPTAC_DCC_Sources_Sought.doc

SMALL BUSINESS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE

Notice Number: HHS-NIH-NCI-SBSS-TSB-67005-16 Title: Data Coordinating Center (DCC) for The Clinical Proteomics Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) Program 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. The NAICS code for this acquisition is 541990, which has a size standard of $15 million.

Your response 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.

The NCI does not intend to award a contract on the basis of responses received nor otherwise pay for the preparation of any information submitted. As a result of this SBSS Notice, the NCI may issue a Request for Proposal (RFP). THERE IS NO SOLICITATION AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME. However, should such a requirement materialize, no basis for claims against NCI shall arise as a result of a response to this Small Business Sources Sought Notice or the NCI’s use of such information as either part of our evaluation process or in developing specifications for any subsequent requirement.

A determination by the Government not to compete this requirement as a set-aside based upon responses to this Notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.

Interested parties are expected to review this Notice and the draft Statement of Work (SOW) to familiarize themselves with the requirements of this project; failure to do so will be at your firm’s own risk.

Background:

The National Cancer Institute is expanding its basic and translational research programs that rely heavily on sufficient availability of high quality well annotated biospecimens suitable for concurrent use in proteomic and genomic studies. The National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) overarching goal with such programs is to improve the ability to diagnose, treat, and prevent cancer.

The Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC), one such program, is a comprehensive and coordinated effort to accelerate our understanding of the molecular basis of cancer through the application of proteomic and genomic technologies. NCI launched CPTAC as a technology assessment program in 2006. In its second phase, CPTAC provided proteomic analysis to selected biospecimens from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Now in its third phase, CPTAC will expand the depth of analysis and breadth of tumor types to systematically explore the entire spectrum of proteomic and genomic changes involved in human cancer. Specifically, the project is designed to comprehensively analyze protein, RNA, and DNA sequences, DNA copy number changes, protein and transcription profiles, sequence variation, and sequence in both tumor tissue and case-matched germline DNA. The suite of analysis platforms will be applied to a common set of molecular analytes obtained from clinically annotated, high-quality, tumor biospecimens and case-matched nonmalignant tissue. More detailed information can be found at the project’s website: http://proteomics.cancer.gov. To successfully generate comprehensive data, CPTAC will need in excess of 4,000 biospecimens over the course of the project.

During its second phase CPTAC generated 20 terabytes (TB) of data, spanning biospecimen information, patient information, and proteome, genome, exome and epigenetic data for both tumor and normal specimens per patient. The ability to ensure data completeness associated with each specimen required a coordinated effort across numerous institutions and information systems. This coordination will become increasingly difficult and important as the program triples the number of tumor types in the coming five (5) years. The purpose of the Data Coordinating Center (DCC) is to collect, analyze, review, store and distribute the data associated with CPTAC.

The attached draft Statement of Work (SOW) document outlines the purpose, requirements and scope of the CPTAC DCC.

Purpose and Objectives:

The purpose of this Small Business Sources Sought Notice (SBSS) is to identify qualified small business concerns that are interested in and capable of performing the work described herein.

The objective of this project is to adapt, develop and support the CPTAC DCC and data portals. Over the next five years, 6-10 tumor types will be characterized by the CPTAC components using a variety of platforms and experimental approaches to molecularly characterized cancer cells.

Project Requirements:

The Contractor shall possess the necessary labor, services, equipment, materials, supplies and facilities, except as otherwise specified herein, as needed to perform the work as set forth below:

· Adapt, design, build, specify, enhance, test, deploy and support the CTPAC DCC;

· Establish and execute standard operating procedures (SOP) for data transmission from CTPAC data producers to the DCC;

· Design and implement data analysis procedures that perform quality checks on incoming data and report anomalies and non-conforming data to the data producers and the QMS;

· Train a representative from each CPTAC data producer with appropriate SOPs for data transmission and procedures for addressing non-conforming data;

· Implement a data management pipeline to process data and prepare it for public distribution in formats and systems compatible with the Database for Genotypes and Phenotypes and NCI’s Genomic Data Cloud;

· Design, build, specify, enhance, test, deploy and support the CPTAC Data Analysis Pipeline to provide a first-level analysis of al CPTAC proteomic and genomic data;

· Post the data to publicly accessible distribution points after quality checks and processing are completed such that NCI’s data release policy guidelines have been followed and cleared;

· Design, build, specify, enhance, test, deploy and support the CPTAC Data Portal and the CPTAC Assay Portal, targeted to basic and clinical researchers, for browsing and downloading subsets of data that are selected based upon various characteristics of data provenance, source and content and;

· Provide regular and detailed reports of the status of CPTAC data, data quality, and data usage at all stages of the data management pipeline.

Anticipated Period of Performance:

The anticipated period of performance for this requirement is five (5) years, consisting of a twelve (12) month base period, plus four (4) successive, one-year options. The anticipated start date is on/or about September 25, 2016. A single award is anticipated.

Capability Statement/Information Sought:

Sources are expected to have the personnel, facilities, equipment and experience to outline a strategy and propose the specifications for the development of a program-wide DCC and to meet requirements for all tasks in the draft SOW.

Respondents must be qualified and prepare capability statements for all of the Task Areas in the draft Statement of Work. The Capability Statements will be evaluated based on the information provided in relation to the project requirements and the current capability and capacity to:

1. Perform work in the Task Areas in the attached draft Statement of Work;

2. Staff education, training, experience, expertise and knowledge;

3. Corporate experience and management capabilities; and

4. Facilities, Equipment and Systems.

Information Submission Instructions:

1. Page Limitations:

Interested, qualified small business organizations should submit a tailored capability statement for this requirement not to exceed twenty (20) single sided pages including all attachments, resumes, charts, etc. (single spaced, 12 point font minimum) that clearly details the firm’s ability to perform the aspects of the notice described above and in the draft SOW. Tailored capability statements should also include an indication of current certified small business status and subtype(s); this indication should be clearly marked on the first page of your capability statement (preferably placed under the eligible small business concern’s name and address) as well as the eligible small business concern’s name, point of contact, address and DUNS number.

2. Number of Copies/Delivery Point:

All capability statements in response to this Small Business Sources Sought Notice shall be submitted electronically (via e-mail) to Nicole Belanger, Contracting Officer, at belangern@mail.nih.gov in MS Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). The e-mail subject line must specify HHS-NIH-NCI-SBSS-TSB-67005-16. Facsimile responses will not be accepted.

3. Common Cut-off Date:

Electronically submitted, tailored capability statements are due no later than 2:00PM (Eastern Prevailing Time) on January 13, 2015. CAPABILITY STATEMENTS RECEIVED AFTER THIS DATE AND TIME MAY NOT BE CONSIDERED.

DISCLAIMER AND IMPORTANT NOTES: This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in this 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).