NOT-MH-00-007: NIMH NEUROPATHOLOGY PROJECT

Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS)
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NIMH NEUROPATHOLOGY PROJECT

Release Date:  April 6, 2000

NOTICE:  MH-00-007

National Institute of Mental Health

The National Institute of Mental Health proposes to issue solicitation No. 
NIMH-00-IR-0003 entitled "NIMH Neuropathology Project" as a 100 percent full 
and open competitive procedure under SIC Code 8733.  The NIMH plans to award 
one or more cost-reimbursement contracts, each with a two-year base period 
and eight (8) one-year options, on or about August 25, 2000.  The goal of the 
contract is to provide the Clinical Brain Disorders Branch (CBDB), Intramural 
Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, with sources of 
human brain tissues in support of their research mission.  It is the specific 
objective of Government to collect human brain specimens that may be of 
interest to the NIMH (e.g., those with a reasonable suspicion of a history of 
mental or neurological illness, with an emphasis on schizophrenic brain 
specimens) through donations from decedents, through State Medical Examiner"s 
Offices.  It is specifically desired to obtain a minimum of 30 brains per 
awarded site, per year (30 cases per year minimum is a combination of 
mentally ill subjects and normal subjects, taken together for a total of 
30/year).  Where possible, selected cases should be of varied race, 
ethnicity, gender, and age.  The Contractor will extract and examine the 
brain using an NIMH developed protocol, and prepare a report on the 
macroscopic pathological findings on each case using the format of the 
Medical Examiner"s Office.  The material will be transported to the NIMH 
where the Neuropathology Section of the CBDB, NIMH will provide the Medical 
Examiner"s Office with a written neuropathological report of the microscopic 
analyses from each case.  Specifically, the contractor shall: 1) 
identify/recommend cases for donation to the NIMH, NIH, the CBDB staff will 
contact the next of kin as designated by the Medical Examiners" Office, and 
attempt to obtain telephone consent for the donation of brain and skull 
contents (including dura, pituitary, pineal, and upper cervical spinal cord), 
blood, and hair samples to the NIMH. In addition, they will solicit the 
release of medical records where indicated, 2) the Contractor"s  pathologist 
will perform the extraction and examination process based on an NIMH-
developed protocol, 3) transfer the samples and macroscopic report to the 
NIMH, the NIMH will generally retrieve the brain and blood samples on a daily 
basis from Contractors located in the Washington, D.C. vicinity.  Where this 
is not practicable for Contractor"s located outside of the local area, 
specimens will be shipped by the Contractor to the NIMH no later than seven 
(7) calendar days from extraction.  Specimens for pickup/shipping shall be 
properly prepared/packaged in accordance with all Federal, State and local 
regulations, 4) forward relevant case information such as police and autopsy 
reports in order to allow optimal characterization of the specimen.

Request for Proposal (RFP) No. NIMH-00-IR-0003 will be available on or about 
April 6, 2000 and the receipt date for proposals will be on or about June 6, 
2000.  The RFP may be accessed at 

Please note that the RFP for this requirement will include the Statement of 
Work, Deliverables and Reporting  Requirements, the Technical Evaluation 
Criteria, and proposal preparation instructions.  All information required 
for the submission of an offer will be contained in the electronic RFP 
package.  Following proposal submission and the initial review process, 
offerors included in the competitive range will be requested to provide 
additional documentation to the Contracting Officer.  All responsible sources 
may submit a proposal that will be considered by the NIMH.  This 
advertisement does not commit the government to award a contract.

INQUIRIES:

Inquiries may be directed to:

Bruce E. Anderson, Contracting Officer
Contracts Management Branch
National Institute of Mental Health, NIH
Neuroscience Center Bldg., Rm. 6107 (MSC 9603)
Bethesda, MD  20892-9603
Telephone:  (301) 443-2234
Email: ba9i@nih.gov
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