Notice of Intent to Increase Ceiling of Contract N66001-17-C-4005

This is a notice of intent to increase the ceiling of Contract N66001-17-C-4005 to Paradromics, Inc., awarded by SSC Pacific on behalf of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency Biological Technologies Office (DARPA/BTO) on 17 April 2017 for a base period of performance of 12 months followed by Option 1 for 12-months and Option 2 for 24 months. The effort under the contract supports the DARPA BTO Neural Engineering System Design (NESD) program and proposes to develop a neural interface system capable of recording from more than one million neurons, stimulating more than one hundred thousand neurons, and performing continuous, simultaneous full-duplex (read and write) interaction with at least one thousand neurons in regions of the human sensory cortex. The overall purpose of this effort is to develop a next-generation high precision neural interface. This additional effort will allow the performer to produce chronic implantation data in large animals (sheep), where bundles of 1,000+ wires can be implanted for 4-7 weeks that will then be followed up by traditional post mortem histology. The NAICS code for this procurement is 541711- Research and Development in Biotechnology. Due to the nature of Research and Development efforts, DARPA could not have reasonably estimated the results of the research from this program, which has seen breakthroughs that will benefit from the improved reliability and reduced downtime enabled with this purchase. It is expected that the technology will transition for use by the warfighter. This action includes a ceiling increase of approximately $281,749 and an additional two (2) months of performance. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals or quotes and will be posted for 15 days. A determination by the Government not to compete based upon response to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Interested parties may submit comments in writing to the Contract Specialist, Ms. Sabina Sabedra, Code 22530, SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific who may be reached by telephone at (619) 553-4522or via email to [email protected].