THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY. This is not a solicitation for bids, proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this Sources Sought Notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of all qualified sources to perform a potential requirement. The responses received from interested contractors will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Network Contracting Office (NCO) 20, is conducting market research to identify potential Vendor Information Pages (VIP) Verified (www.vip.vetbiz.gov) Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business (SDVOSB) or Veteran Owned Business (VOSB) sources which can provide the following equipment: PMOD Software Imaging Processing Licenses to be used with the PET Scanner. The basic functions of PMOD, packaged as the PBAS module, executes the initial required steps of analysis and provides image viewing capabilities with the ability to delineate regions of interest through an intuitive graphical user interface directly on the image. Image viewing and basic processing will allow investigators to confirm if the imaging study performed was successful by verifying radioligand uptake into target organs or tissue (e.g., brain, tumor) in the expected manner. Radioactivity measurements can then be extracted from the target and any other imaged region as time-activity curves, which form the basis of quantitative analysis for PET studies. Time-activity curve allows investigators to verify if the expected time course of radioligand uptake and washout from target regions occurred. The strongest application of PMOD is its pharmacokinetic modeling capability, packaged as the PKIN module, and can also be used by all users. This module is necessary for imaging data to be analyzed quantitatively using numerous mathematical models based on physiological design. Using a nonlinear least squares iterative algorithm, the program estimates model parameters to the data extracted by the time-activity curves from the selected regions of interest within the PET images. PMOD provides numerous models that can be compared to one another based on aspects of study design (i.e., radioligand used, target tissue), and the various model parameters can correlate to study outcome measures, such as protein (e.g., receptor or enzyme) density or metabolic rates. Hence, PMOD has the capability to transform qualitative images with raw quantifiable values from the PET study into quantitative and physiologically meaningful outcome measures. PMOD features statistical analysis of its model fitting and ability to directly change details within the model settings, which is not available in any other commercial software. PMOD's module dedicated to brain studies, PNEURO, provides users a consolidated means of displaying brain images from a PET scan, align them with the obtained CT scan or another reference scan, and align both to a validated and standardized brain atlas. Use of the brain atlas provides the user ability to obtain regional time-activity curves automatically from anatomical regions, thereby reducing user time and error. PNEURO includes the C57BL/6J mouse brain atlas from a well validated reference template. This module is critical for correct and replicable analysis for any neuroimaging study using PMOD, and is not available on any other currently accessible software. PMOD's module PXMOD performs quantitative pharmacokinetic modeling in a pixel-by-pixel manner, resulting in a parametric image corresponding to the desired outcome measure related to the pharmacokinetic model chosen for analysis. This provides an intuitive projection of the imaged tissue, such as display of protein density or metabolic rate overlaid onto the imaged source. Pixel-wise modeling is also a means to independently replicate and verify results obtained using the region of interest defined anatomical areas, and is an established method of high-quality PET research. Pixel-wise modeling can be used to compare results obtained by PET imaging directly with relevant autoradiography and related laboratory techniques, which strongly compliments other small animal research techniques. PFUS module of PMOD performs co-registration for the entire rodent body to anatomical images obtained by CT, which is a requirement for researchers engaged in non-brain related research, such as cancer or metabolism. PET images can be co-registered to images from the same animal from previous studies, and would be a crucial and required component for longitudinal studies, such as tracking tumor size. PSEG module of PMOD is necessary for analyzing organs in mouse body in a non-biased manner. PSEG allows users to automatically segment organs or 3-dimensional regions of interest based on a hierarchy of radioactivity uptake within a study. Quantitative analysis can be directly obtained by obtaining time-activity curves from the regions of interest, and applied to pharmacokinetic modeling modules within PMOD. Visual displays of the PET image can be segmented and overlaid on anatomical images, providing a perspective of tissue (e.g., tumor) within the context of the surrounding structures. PMOD to be a very flexible, powerful, and user friendly application. PMOD is used by researchers at many other highly respected PET centers, such as University of Washington, University of Pittsburgh, Karolinska Institute (Stockholm, Sweden), National Institute of Radiological Sciences (Chiba, Japan), and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust (Oxford, United Kingdom). An additional advantage of PMOD is that it can automatically detect image format, including DICOM, and open and process images within its native format. Potential SD/VOSB's having the capabilities necessary to provide the above stated equipment are invited to respond to this Sources Sought Notice via e-mail to Craig Wagstaff at
[email protected] no later than August 22, 2016. No telephone inquiries will be accepted. RESPONSES SHOULD INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION: company name, address, and business size; point of contact name, phone number, and e-mail address; suggested equipment information including manufacturer, model and delivery schedule; whether system is presently offered on a current GSA Federal Supply Schedule contract. NAICS Code 334614 is applicable to determine business size standard. Any questions or concerns may also be directed to Craig Wagstaff via e-mail. Disclaimer and Important Notes: This Sources Sought 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. The Government will treat any information received as proprietary and will not share such information with other companies. Any organization responding to this Sources Sought 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. The Government may or may not issue a solicitation as a result of this announcement. There is no solicitation available at this time.