Contracting Office Address: Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Station Support Simplified Acquisitions, 31 Center Drive, Room 1B59, Bethesda, MD 20892, UNITED STATES. Introduction: This is a Small Business Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources, (2) whether they are small businesses; HUBZone small businesses, service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. Background: The Optogenetics and Transgenic Technology Core (OTTC) at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Intramural Research Program (IRP) was established for the purpose of developing technology to understand the contributions and connections of specific neurons in cognitive and behavioral functions related to addiction. Part of these efforts is the development of novel transgenic rats and viral vectors that serve as a versatile platform for understanding the cellular and molecular functions of neurons and glia in cognition, behavior and disease. An emphasis is placed on developing transgenic tools that will be generally useful to the scientific community and made available once published. Purpose and Objectives for the Procurement: The purpose of this requirement is to acquire creation of four (4) lines of transgenic rats through pronuclear injection of bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) and plasmid DNA into fertilized rat embryos. Project Requirements: The NIDA IRP OTTC requires transgenic rat lines be produced to help study the biology of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the brain. The BAC-injected transgenic rats (referred to as Cre driver rats) being produced will express aninducible Cre recombinase in specific cells of the brain (i.e., neurons, astrocytes, microglia, etc...). The plasmid-injected transgenic rat will harbor a Cre-dependent replication-defective HIV provirus (iHIV rat). Collectively, the rats generated will enable the study of the interactions between drugs of abuse and HIV gene products in the context of rat behavior. Specifically, the NIDA requires the following: 1. The contractor shall purify microinjection-quality BAC DNA from bacterial stocks provided by OTTC. 2. The contractor shall purify and linearize supplied plasmid DNA. 3. The contractor shall perform successful pronuclear injections into rat embryos and implant them in a receptive female rat for each of the three BACs and the linearized plasmid. There will be at least four separate sets of injections; success for each set shall result in the creation of four (4) founder animals. It is expected that sixteen (16) founder animals shall be created. 4. The integration of the plasmid DNA must be targeted to the Rosa26 rat locus. This may be mediated by CRISPR or ZFN technology. 5. The contractor must guarantee delivery of 4 (four) founders in the Long Evan rat strain for each transgenic strain developed. As detailed in requirement three above, there will be at least four separate sets of injections; success for each set shall result in the creation of four (4) founder animals. It is expected that sixteen (16) founder animals shall be created. 6. The contractor must genotype the pups produced to ensure the specified genes, specifically the tissue specific-Cre-ERT2 inserts and the Rosa26-targeted iHIV, are present in the rat genome. The rats shall be delivered within seven (7) months after contractor receipt of order. Delivery shall be made to 251 Bayview Boulevard, Baltimore MD 21224. The contractor must arrange for transportation of deliverables. Anticipated Period of Performance: The anticipated period of performance is seven (7) months from date of award. Capability Statement: Contractors that believe they possess the ability to provide the required services should submit documentation of their ability to meet each of the project requirements to the Contract Specialist. Contractors should also provide their Company Name, DUNS number, Physical Address, and Point of Contact Information. Interested organizations are required to identify their type of business, applicable North American Industry Classification System Code, and size standards in accordance with the Small Business Administration. The government requests that no proprietary or confidential business data be submitted in a response to this notice. However, responses that indicate the information therein is proprietary will be properly safeguarded for Government use only. Capability statements must include the name and telephone number of a point of contact having authority and knowledge to discuss responses with Government representatives. Capability statements in response to this market survey that do not provide sufficient information for evaluation will be considered non-responsive. When submitting this information, please reference the solicitation notice number. All capability statements sent in response to this Sources Sought Notice must be submitted electronically (via email) to Lauren Phelps, Contract Specialist, at [email protected] in MS Word format before the closing date and time of this announcement. All responses must be received by the specified due date and time in order to be considered. Note: This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in the response. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your 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 review of the responses received, pre-solicitation and solicitation notices may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. The solicitation release date is pending. The Government intends to negotiate a fixed-price purchase order. Â

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