The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Office of Acquisitions, Station Support/Simplified Acquisition Branch, on behalf of the National Institute on Aging (NIA), intends to negotiate and award a purchase order on a noncompetitive basis to King's College London, Research Grants and Contracts Office, London, United Kingdom, SE1 3QD, for the performance of metabolic analyses on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples collected from patients with Alzheimer's Disease (AD). The period of performance is one base year plus three option years.

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) has a requirement for the performance of metabolic analyses on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples collected from patients with Alzheimer's Disease (AD). NIA requires these services to investigate whether the concentrations of small molecule metabolites in CSF are useful as diagnostic biomarkers of AD. Additionally, NIA requires these services to investigate whether normal aging is associated with changes in small molecule metabolites in CSF. The analyses will be performed in the laboratory of Dr. Cristina Legido-Quigley, Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, King's College London. The collaborating partners are the Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience, National Institute on Aging (NIA) (Dr. Madhav Thambisetty), and the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) School of Medicine (Dr. Richard O'Brien). The CSF samples have been previously collected under an existing Institutional Review Board (IRB) from patients evaluated in the Department of Neurology at JHU.

NIA currently has two studies in progress at King's College London for biomarker studies. These studies are both being performed in blood samples and use two different methodologies. In order to be able to compare changes in CSF to blood, it is critical that the same methodology is applied using the same instrumentation and analytical procedures as the ongoing studies in blood. Inter-laboratory variation would render the data un-interpretable.

This acquisition is being conducted using policies and procedures for solicitation, evaluation, and award prescribed in Part 13, Simplified Acquisition Procedures, and is exempt from the competition requirements of Part 6. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals. Interested parties may identify their interest and capabilities in response to this synopsis. The determination by the Government not to compete the proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.

Comments to this announcement, referencing this synopsis number, may be submitted to the NIDA SS/SA Branch, prior to the closing date specified in this announcement, electronically to the attention of John Flannery, at [email protected].