POST DATE : May 01, 2012

CLOSING DATE : May 15, 2012

PROPOSED AWARD DATE : September 01, 2012

Title : Generation of iPSC in High Thru-put Manner

Project Title or General Description:

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) on behalf of the The National Institutes of Health Center for Regenerative Medicine (NIH-CRM), is seeking sources to provide Generation of iPSC(s) in High Thru-put manner. This SOURCES SOUGHT (SS) is being issued to help determine the availability of qualified companies technically capable of meeting the Government's requirement. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP), NOR IS IT A REQUEST FOR QUOTATION (RFQ). It is not to be construed as a commitment by the requesting party to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotes. No award will be made as a result of this SS. The Government will NOT be responsible for any costs incurred by interested parties in responding to this SS. This FedBizOpps SS is strictly for market research purposes only. As a result of this SS, the Government may issue a RFQ, however, should such requirements materialize, no basis for claims against the Government shall arise as a result of a response to the SS.

The North American Classification System (NAICS) code applicable to this requirement is 541990 - All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services, and the associated small business size standard is $7.0 Million.

Based on the responses received from this SOURCES SOUGHT announcement, the NHLBI may conduct a competitive procurement.

All eligible companies responding to this SS Announcement must demonstrate they have the capabilities to provide the services defined in the following Statement of Work.

STATEMENT OF WORK:

Background:
The National Institutes of Health Center for Regenerative Medicine (NIH-CRM) is a resource for the National Institutes of Health Intramural Research Program (NIH IRP) in the area of stem cell technology. One main goal of the NIH-CRM is to provide the NIH IRP with support in order to move research in the area of stem cell technology forward. To better support the NIH IRP, the NIH-CRM plans to establish a bank of cell lines to be shared and used by the greater NIH community.

Objective:
The objective of this contract is to generate iPSC lines that can be utilized by the greater NIH-IRP community. It is proposed that the NIH will distribute the cells obtained under this contract through a repository (for profit or non profit) to both academic and non-academic users. It is expected that these users will utilize these cells for developing tools for translational work including screening of molecular libraries.

*Note: The cells will be distributed under a standard Material Trade Agreement (MTA) between the Contractor and NIH. Use of proprietary technology, processes, or restrictions that prevent NIH from use of the iPSC lines will not be contracted with.

Contractor Requirements:

The contractor shall generate 10 iPSC lines using the Sendai virus technology, and feeder free conditions, in a high thru-put manner utilizing Nanostring technology.

The tasks will require obtaining tissue samples from normal or specified patient populations (these tissue samples may be provided by the contractor or my NIH-CRM) expanding the tissue to an appropriate number of cells, inserting pluripotency inducing molecules into the cells, identifying clones that fulfill the criteria of pluripotency, and providing a minimum of two sets of clones; that are karyotypically normal and pluripotent.

Deliverables:
The contractor shall provide two vials per line, at 1-2 million cells per vial. Custom Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC) lines shall be generated using the zero footprint technology of the Sendai virus, using feeder free conditions in serum free media. The contractor shall generate the lines using high thru-put automation technology and quality control potency testing using Nanostring technology.

Companies that can perform the requirements above are requested to submit a tailored capability statement for this requirement, not to exceed 20 single-sided pages (including all attachments, resumes, data, etc.) presented in single-space and using a 12-point font size minimum, that clearly details the ability to perform the task (s) as described above. The capability statement shall include the following:
1. Name and identify your size and type of business (i.e. Large Business; Small Business; Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDB); Woman-owned Small Businesses (WOSB); Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone); Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (VOSB); and Service-Disabled Veteran-owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB];
2. To demonstrate experience in providing the above services, please provide information regarding three Government/Non-Government contracts for the same or similar services (include a description of services provided; period of performance; reference name, phone number and email address; and value of each contract);
3. If subcontractors will be utilized, the name of company(ies), and a point of contact for the company (name, phone number, fax number and email address);
4. Any other relevant information that is not listed above which the Government should consider in finalizing its market research.

Disclaimer and Important Notes:
This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in 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 Request for Quotes (RFQ) may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.

All capability Statements sent in response to this SOURCES SOUGHT notice must be submitted electronically (via email) to Caitlin Palmer, Contract Specialist, at [email protected] in either MS Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), by May 15, 2012, at 4:30PM., EST. All responses must be received by the specified due date and time in order to be considered.