PET Analysis Pipeline and Molecular Imaging Brain Atlas

THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP). THIS IS A PRESOLICITATION ANNOUNCEMENT ONLY.

This procurement is being competed under full and open competitive

NORTH AMERICAN INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (NAICS) CODE

The intended procurement is classified under NAICS code 541990 - All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services with a Size Standard of $16.5 million.

REGULATORY AUTHORITY

The resultant contract will include all applicable provisions and clauses in effect through the Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2021-07 effective September 10, 2021.

This acquisition is conducted under the procedures as prescribed in FAR Subpart 15—Contracting by Negotiation at an amount exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold inclusive of options. 

DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENT

Project Description

This proposed contract will provide expert services to the NIMH IRP: 1) to propose a data analysis pipeline that PET centers can use to reliably produce individual PET and MR images and 2) to create average PET images of each submitted data set, called a Molecular Imaging Brain Atlas (MIBA).

Purpose and Objectives

The general purpose is to establish an international archive for PET data so they may be meaningfully and freely shared. The awarded contractor will help with the following two objectives:

Objective 1: To recommend a data analysis pipeline to create uniform PET and MRI images that can be shared and averaged. Because there is no agreed upon "right way" to process PET data, we will have a processing stream that allows flexibility and adaptability. While most PET data are analyzed on a region of interest (ROI) basis, most MRI data are analyzed on a voxel-wise (i.e., map) basis; thus, we need a processing stream that can do both. We will base the stream on PETsurfer (15, 16), the PET analysis module of the FreeSurfer suite of neuroimaging tools. FreeSurfer is an MRI analysis stream that provides detailed anatomical segmentation of an individual's brain, including a surface-based representation of the cortical surfaces. It provides the ROIs for the ROI analysis as well as intersubject registration to the average surface space for voxel-wise analysis. It can also render results in the MNI152 volume space to facilitate integration with FSL, SPM, and AFNI. PETsurfer is built on top of FreeSurfer and provides kinetic modeling and partial volume correction. The basic steps will consist of the following: FS analysis of the T1-weighted MRI (with MRI scanner distortion correction (17)); motion correction of the PET time series (18); registration of PET to MRI (19, 20); partial volume correction (15, 16, 21, 22) (or not); resampling the PET data into ROIs, MNI152 space, and/or FreeSurfer surface space; spatial smoothing; kinetic modeling (if needed, using Logan (23) (invasive or reference), Patlak (24) (invasive or reference), or multilinear reference tissue model (MRTM) 1 or 2 (25, 26)); and, finally, group averaging to create the MIBAs.

Objective 2: To create molecular imaging brain atlases. These atlases will provide the average molecular target densities in the brains of healthy human subjects as quantified by in vivo PET. The molecular imaging brain atlases will be offered in formats that facilitate inclusion in MRI analyses, thus greatly expanding their potential impact. The OpenNeuroPET Archive will serve as the platform for aggregating already-collected data for dozens or hundreds of different molecular targets, thereby allowing a comprehensive characterization of, for example, the neuroreceptor signature of the human brain. The proposed MIBAs would be analogous to the Allen Human Brain Atlas (14), which reports the regional distribution in postmortem human brain of the densities of gene transcripts and expressed proteins for over 400 genes. This atlas has been widely praised, used by diverse fields, and cited as a data source by over 2,000 publications since 2005.

As a rough overview, during the first year, the contractor will create a standard data analysis pipeline. During the remaining four years of the award, the contractor will create the brain atlases for each submitted data set.

Period of Performance

It is anticipated that a single firm-fixed-price contract will be awarded for a one-year base period and four (4) one-year option periods beginning on or about January 15, 2022.

CLOSING STATEMENT

The solicitation NIMH-CSS-22-000155 will be issued on or about November 23, 2021, and proposals will be tentatively due about fifteen (15) days after the solicitation release date.

You can access the RFP through beta.SAM.gov (URL: http://betaSAM.gov). All information required for the submission of a proposal will be contained in or accessible through the RFP package.

An Offeror is required to be registered in System for Award Management (SAM) when submitting an offer or quotation, and shall continue to be registered until time of award, during performance, and through final payment of any contract, basic agreement, basic ordering agreement, or blanket purchasing agreement resulting from a solicitation.

Processing time should be taken into consideration when registering. Offerors who are not registered in SAM should consider applying for registration immediately upon receipt of this notice or solicitation. See FAR 52.204-7 System for Award Management (OCT 2018) and https://www.sam.gov for information on registration.

This proposed acquisition was previously publicized under sources sought NIMH21001046.

All responsible sources may submit a proposal which will be considered by the agency.  This notice does not commit the Government to award a contract.