Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE Solicitation Number: NIH-NIMH-20004988SS Title: Implementation of a Multivariate Statistical Method for brain imaging in MATLAB Classification Code: 70 – ADP Equipment Software, Supplies, and Support Equipment NAICS Code: 511210 – Software Publishers Description: This is a Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of all qualified sources to perform a potential requirement. This notice is issued to help determine the availability of qualified companies technically capable of meeting the Government requirement and to determine the method of acquisition. It is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government 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 notice. The Government will NOT be responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice. This notice is strictly for research and information purposes only. Background: The objective is to implement the method described by (Winkler et al., 2020; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117065) for permutation inference for CCA, allowing a diverse set of imaging file formats to be used as inputs and outputs, and to handle details specific to brain imaging, as well accommodate the possibility of multi-level block permutation as well as acceleration schemes. Purpose and Objectives: The Section on Development and Affective Neuroscience (SDAN) is a laboratory at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) designed to conduct brain imaging studies in children and adolescents. Such research requires the use of a diverse set of data collection methods, which lend themselves to the use of multivariate statistical approaches for analysis. Of particular interest is the use of Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) for the investigation of associations between a host of clinical and imaging variables. While CCA is available in a number of software packages, none is able to handle particularities of imaging data, which include reading and writing information from different file formats (NIFTI, GIFTI, CIFTI, MGH/MGZ, among others), handle masking of data, and crucially, producing valid statistical inferences. Recently, the SDAN participated in the development of a permutation test known to be statistically valid for CCA (Winkler et al., 2020; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117065). A general implementation is publicly available at https://github.com/andersonwinkler/PermCCA. However, to facilitate use with a broader context of imaging data, the implementation must be extended to handle reading and writing imaging formats, and other aspects that are specific to permutation tests, including the ability of conducting restricted permutations (Winkler et al., 2015; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.05.092) as needed, for example, to analyze data from siblings such as in the Human Connectome Project (HCP) and the Adolescent Brain Cognition Development (ABCD) study, both of which are funded by the NIH, and the ability to conduct faster inference using valid statistical shortcuts (Winkler et al., 2016; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.05.068). Project requirements: The Contractor shall: Implement Canonical Correlation Analysis as described in the above-mentioned publication, in a way that is compatible with both GNU Octave 5.0.0 or superior, and MATLAB (Mathworks, Inc) 2015a or superior. Implement reading and writing of imaging data using functions that already exist for the tool Permutation Analysis of Linear Models (PALM; https://fsl.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/fsl/fslwiki/PALM). Condition the input data so as to render them amenable to CCA. Condition the outputs of CCA to be amenable for storage into imaging formats. Ensure that the implementation can be integrated into PALM. Delivery or Deliverables: Octave and/or MATLAB-compatible software produced by the contractor shall be made available to the Government. Software should be fully functional on a variety of test data provided by the Government. Coding should be clear, concise, profusely commented, and follow well known best MATLAB coding practices towards speed and memory management. Reporting Requirements: Weekly software updates on a shared, private software repository with version control in a commercial platform (such as Github.com or Gitlab.com), to be agreed with the contractor, will act as reporting. The contractor is not required to submit additional written reports. Anticipated Period of Performance: The period of performance is for one year from the date of the award Level of Effort: During the period of performance of one year from date of award, the contractor shall provide approximately 10 hours per week, not to exceed 495 labor hours. Capability statement /information sought: Contractors that believe that they possess the ability to provide the required equipment, should submit documentation on their ability to meet each of the project requirements to the Contract Specialist. The Contractor should directly and specifically state in the, capabilities statement, which project requirements can be meet and/or supplied. The Contractor must also provide their DUNS number, organization name, address, point of contact, and size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HubZone, GSA Federal Supply, Nitaac, Nasa Sewp etc., pursuant to the applicable NAICS code and any other information that may be helpful in developing or finalizing the acquisition requirements. Prospective vendor must have either an SSN or TIN. The information submitted must be must be in and outline format that addresses each of the elements of the project requirement and in the capability statement /information sought paragraphs stated herein. A cover page and an executive summary may be included but is not required. The response is limited to two (2) page limit. The 2-page limit does not include the cover page or executive summary. The response must include the respondents’ technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses. All responses to this notice must be submitted electronically to the Contract Specialist. Facsimile responses are NOT accepted. The response must be submitted to Thien Nguyen, Contract Specialist, at
[email protected]. The response must be received on or before December 23, 2020 at 12 pm, Eastern Time. 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 presolicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. Confidentiality: No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).