Notice of Intent to Sole Source - AM/IL PTSD Design Study

THIS IS A NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD A SOLE-SOURCE CONTRACT AND IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE PROPOSALS.

The U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA) intends to award a sole source basis in accordance FAR 6.302-1 with President and Fellow of Harvard College,(Harvard) located at 1033 Massachusetts Avenue, 5th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02138  as the only responsible source that can provide Artificial Intelligence/ Machine Learning (AI/ML) Design PTSD Objective Indicators.

Background

Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) a subordinate laboratory of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command conducts biomedical and behavioral health research that is responsive to Department of Defense and US Army requirements and delivers life-saving products including knowledge, technology and medical material that sustain the combat effectiveness of the Warfighter. 

The Surgeon’s General of Army, Navy and Air Force instructed the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Systems Biology Consortium to determine an objective signature of PTSD which could be used as a diagnostic tool. This research supports the project on designing an objective screening tool to identify early comorbidities associated with Acute Stress Response (ASR) /Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

An existing Cooperative Research & Development Agreement (CRADA) established a consortium of performers in 2015 to meet the study that included Harvard; the Government requires continuity of data analysis by Harvard to ensure research integrity as outlined in the existing CRADA.

Research Efforts:

Harvard will provide data analysis to assist in designing an objective screening tool to identify early comorbidities associated with Acute Stress Response (ASR) /Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Harvard will apply novel statistical and machine learning methods for integrating a diverse set of pathway-based molecular markers and classify pre-specified and data-driven clinical subtypes/biotypes as identified from systems Biology PTSD biomarker using Veterans cohort. The team will provide methods to accurately classify and validate these subtypes/biotypes based on a shortlisted marker analysis discovered Veterans cohort. The current data analysis will focus on data from active duty cohort collected at pre/post-deployment time points.

The intended acquisition will be classified under North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 541714 Research and Technology in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) , with a size code of 1,000 employees.

This announcement fulfills the synopsis requirements under FAR 5.102(a)(3) and 5.203(a)(1). USAMRAA intends to release a solicitation no sooner than forty five (45) days after publishing this synopsis. This Special Notice of Intent (NOI) is not a request for competitive quotes. Meaningful submissions received in response to this notice will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether a competitive procurement is in the best interest of the Government. If no meaningful, written submissions are received by the date listed below, which reflects at least fifteen (45) days after the publication of this notice, the solicitation will be issued as a sole source requirement to Harvard, John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

All responses concerning this notice shall be emailed to Rebecca Wisner at rebecca.c.wisner.civ@mail.mil. Interested concerns must identify their capability in writing to the above e-mail address no later than 10:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), 08 June 2022. No phone calls accepted.