The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) proposes to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) No. NIMH-03-AI-0002 entitled, HIV Brain Bank - National Coordination Office, under a 100% Small Business Set Aside using North American Industry Classification System 514210. A National Coordination Office (NCO) was established in October 1999 to provide support to the National NeuroAIDS Tissue Consortium (NNTC), a brain bank that was established in 1998 as a resource for fluids and post-mortem CNS tissue samples from well-characterized advanced stage, HIV-infected patients. NIMH seeks the support of a Contractor to provide NCO services to the NNTC which will: (1) maintain and expand the centralized inventory database on a secure network server that contains unidentifiable patient-related clinical information (such as: cognitive status, drug use history, neuropsychology history, CD4 count) and general demographics, pathological data, specimen inventory, and researcher's requests; (2) maintain and monitor a password-protected website accessible to authorized users; (3) serve as an information conduit between the consortium and the public, producing appropriate public relations materials on behalf of the NNTC, including maintaining and updating a public NNTC website, and providing toll free telephone access by which researchers can contact the NCO; (4) collect requests from researchers for specimens, distribute requests to individual NNTC sites, coordinate the shipments of samples, and follow-up on receipt of tissue and fluid delivery; and (5) train NNTC staff in any new database entry methods as a result of approved changes in current database operation and, more specifically, provide them with technical assistance related to data transfer. A performance based, cost reimbursement plus award fee, five (5) year base contract with four (4), one (1) year options is contemplated. Plans are to award a contract in early 2003. RFP No. NIMH-03-AI-0002 is scheduled for electronic release in mid-October (estimated sometime between October 11 to October 25, 2002) and the receipt date of proposals will be approximately 45 days from the date of release of the RFP, (estimated to be in December 2002). The RFP may be accessed through http://www.fedbizopps.gov or the NIMH home page by using the following instructions: access the home page at http://www.nimh.nih.gov, first select Funding Opportunities, then Contracts, then NIMH Requests for Proposals. It is the offeror's responsibility to monitor the above internet sites for the release of this solicitation and amendments, if any. Please note that the RFP for this requirement will include the Statement of Work, Deliverables, Performance Based Standards and Measures, Reporting Requirements, Technical Evaluation Criteria, and proposal preparation instructions. All information required for the submission of an offeror will be contained in the electronic RFP package. Following proposal submission and the initial review process, offerors comprising the competitive range will be requested to provide additional documentation to the Contracting Officer. All responsible sources are encouraged to submit a proposal that will be considered by the NIMH. This advertisement does not commit the Government to award a contract. Please contact Suzanne Stinson, NIMH Contracting Officer, at 301-443-4116 or
[email protected] for further information. No collect calls will be accepted.