PRE-SOLICITATION NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD A CONTRACT WITHOUT PROVIDING FOR FULL OR OPEN COMPETITION: NIMH NIMH Generation and Characterization iPSC Lines from Individuals with Mood and Anxiety Disorders

NOTICE OF INTENT to Sole Source

1. SOLICITATION NUMBER: NIMH-22-005200-NOI
2. TITLE:  NIMH Generation and Characterization iPSC Lines from Individuals with Mood and Anxiety Disorders 
3. CLASSIFICATION CODE:Q – Medical Services
4. NAICS CODE: 541990 – All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
5. RESPONSE DATE:  8/3/22
6. PRIMARY POINTS OF CONTACT:

Kyle Miller

Kyle.miller2@nih.gov

Robin Knightly

Robin.Knightly@nih.gov

1. DESCRIPTION:

INTRODUCTION

THIS IS A PRE-SOLICITATION NON-COMPETITIVE (NOTICE OF INTENT) SYNOPSIS TO AWARD A CONTRACT WITHOUT PROVIDING FOR FULL OR OPEN COMPETITION (INCLUDING BRAND-NAME).

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Human Genetics Branch, Section on Mood and Anxiety Disorders intends to negotiate on a sole source basis with THE NEW YORK STEM CELL FOUNDATION for the purchase of services for the generation, expansion, and characterization of stable iPSC lines.

NORTH AMERICAN INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (NAICS) CODE and SET ASIDE STATUS

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

REGULATORY AUTHORITY

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13—Simplified Acquisition Procedures. Contracts awarded using FAR Part 13—Simplified Acquisition Procedures are exempt from the requirements of FAR Part 6—Competition Requirements. FAR Subpart 13.106-1 (b) Soliciting from a single source provides that: For purchases not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold, Contracting officers may solicit from one source IF the contracting officer determines that the circumstances of the contract action deem only one source reasonably available (e.g., urgency, exclusive licensing agreements, brand-name OR industrial mobilization).

The resultant contract will include all applicable provisions and clauses in effect through the Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2022-06 dated April 26, 2022.

DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENT
 

The NIMH, Human Genetics Branch, Section on Mood and Anxiety Disorders continues to invest significant Division of Intramural Research Programs’ resources in recruitment and characterization of individuals and families with the ongoing goal of discovering and characterizing genes involved in mood and anxiety disorders so that better methods of diagnosis and treatment can be developed.

To understand the impact of mood and anxiety disorders on human brain cells, we need to rely on new and specialized techniques for differentiation of neural cells from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). We have iPSCs and NPCs derived from multiple families with genes known to be involved in mood and anxiety disorders and have for the past two years been utilizing the services offered through New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF).

The generation, expansion, and characterization of stable iPSC lines from subjects’ biospecimens is time consuming, labor-intensive, and expensive, both in reagent costs as labor hours before experiments can begin.

Continuing to outsource this process as a service to NYSCF as a large, established laboratory that is equipped and staffed to provide these services, will continue to reduce our costs through economics of scale, as well as free up valuable staff time.

This project will last one year from date of award.

CONTRACTING WITHOUT PROVIDING FOR FULL OR OPEN COMPETITION (INCLUDING BRAND-NAME) DETERMINATION

During market research, it was found the processes implemented by the NYSCF has no way of being replicated through another vendor for comparability for data already acquired in a previous contract. Thus, to be able to use the last contract’s data, only the NYSCF processes that are highly specific, multistage, and extends over several months cannot be replicated without substantial duplication cost and time lost on old data. Therefore, with these facts in mind, it was found that the New York Stem Cell Foundation is the only vendor that can provided the needed services.

The intended source is:

The New York Stem Cell Foundation

619 W. 54th St.

New York, NY 10019

CLOSING STATEMENT

THIS SYNOPSIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE PROPOSALS. However, interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this notice.

A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. All responsible sources may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation which shall be considered by the agency. The information received will normally be considered solely for the purposes of determining whether to proceed on a non-competitive basis or to conduct a competitive procurement.

Responses to this notice shall contain sufficient information to establish the interested parties' bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the requirement and include: unit price, list price, the delivery period after contract award, the prompt payment discount terms, the F.O.B. Point (Destination or Origin), the Unique Entity Identifier ID (UEI), the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and the certification of business size. All offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov.

All responses must be received by the closing date and time of this announcement and must reference the solicitation number, NIMH-22-005200-NOI. Responses must be submitted electronically to Kyle Miller, Contract Specialist, at kyle.miller2@nih.gov and Robin Knightly, Contracting Officer, at robin.knightly@nih.gov. U.S. Mail and fax responses will not be accepted