Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) Data System Maintenance

This is a Notice of Intent to Sole Source and is not a request for competitive quotations.

HHS Office of Mission Acquisition Solutions (OMAS) on behalf of NIA, intends to negotiate and award a firm-fixed-price purchase order on a sole source basis to:

MINDSET Core, The University of Mississippi Medical Center, Department of Medicine MIND Center, 2500 N. State St

Jackson, MS 39216

Under the authority of RFO 12.102 Restricting competition, Soliciting from a Single Source, as only one source is reasonably available to meet the Government’s requirements.

The purpose of this requirement is to obtain assistance in ongoing maintenance of the updated Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) data system. The Contractor will provide methodological and technical expertise in data science to complement the work of the BLSA study staff and NIA Information Technology resources. The BLSA data system enables access by both intramural and extramural investigators to the rich catalogue of BLSA data. Accumulated over more than 60 years, BLSA data includes results from standard clinical assessments, specialized research instruments, laboratory tests, imaging studies, genomic panels as well as other evaluations. The data system includes algorithmic pipelines for quality control, transformation, and formatting data (the FACTS system), interfaces for exploring metadata and documentation (BLSA data explorer), as well as workflows for data sharing. The work of the Contractor will include responding to technical queries, making modifications to the previously built system as requested, and maintaining compatibility over time as the BLSA study protocols and other NIA systems evolve. The work of the Contractor will facilitate the continued storage and integration of study data as well as public sharing. Maintaining the modern BLSA data system preserves study data in line with FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data principles.

The period of performance shall be twelve months.