Chemoinformatic Platform

Request for Information (RFI)/Sources Sought (SS) Notice

Requiring Activity Name: The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID)  

Subject: This is a non-personal service(s) contract to contract mechanisms to supply a web-based chemoinformatic platform software license. This chemoinformatic platform is required to conduct state-of-the-art chemical research including drug development, chemical reactions, drug metabolism, and knowledge of prior art for intellectual property rights.

In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.201 -Exchange with industry before receipt of proposals, this Sources Sought is for information and planning purposes only and at this time shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation or commitment on the part of the Government nor will the Government pay for information solicited. No evaluation letters and/or results will be issued to the respondents.

This Sources Sought Notice is a Market Research tool used to determine the availability and adequacy of potential sources, prior to determining the method of acquisition and issuance of a solicitation.

The NAICS code for this requirement is 513210– Software Publisher

DISCLAIMER: This Request for Information (RFI)/Sources Sought (SS) Notice is NOT a Request for Proposals (RFP) or a Request for Quotations (RFQ). This RFI is issued solely for market research information and planning purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation.

Responses to the RFI will not be returned. Neither unsolicited proposals nor any other kind of offers will be considered in response to this RFI. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. No contract will be awarded from this announcement. No reimbursement will be made of any costs to provide information in response to this announcement or any follow-up information requests; responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. Availability of any formal solicitation will be announced under a separate announcement.

All information received in response to this RFI will be treated as confidential business information. Submitters should properly mark their responses if the information is confidential. All information received in response to this RFI that is marked Proprietary, will be handled accordingly.

At this time, questions concerning the composition and requirements for future solicitation will not be entertained.

RFI/SS Notice Response and due date: 29 May 2026, 1000, Eastern Time

Background: The purpose of this procurement is to ensure that USAMRIID is provided with a Chemoinformatic platform to research chemical reactions. This platform is required to conduct state-of-the-art chemical research including drug development, chemical reactions, drug metabolism, and knowledge of prior art for intellectual property rights. The requirement supports current and future Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), Joint Science and Technology Office, (JSTO) funded project priorities including drug discovery efforts and translation of preclinical or clinical candidates into appropriate biodefense models. As the basis for drug action is wholly dependent on chemical properties, the chemoinformatic platform allows for chemical structure and property-based searches and directly tied that information back to primary literature sources. This platform should be for a software system that is currently developed and in use commercially.

Instructions to Responders: Responses from capable and qualified Small Business sources are encouraged to respond to this request.

Review the Performance Work Statement (PWS) listed below. Respondents should address how they best can fulfil the requirements set forth in the PWS in their capabilities statement. Capability Statements or any other proprietary information relative to this RFI should adhere to the following formatting and outline instructions:

1. All submissions shall be made electronically and be in one of the following formats: Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF and shall not exceed 10 pages (Cover page excluded from page count).

1. Cover Page

• • Title
  • Organization
  • Responders technical and administrative points of contact (names, addresses, phone, fax number and email addresses)
  • Topic area(s) addressed
  • Respondents shall be registered in www.sam.gov under the NAICS code of 513210.
  • List all ordering vehicles held by respondents and associated contracting numbers (e.g. OMNIBUS IV, CHESS, GSA, etc.)

1. Response shall address whether the respondent is offering similar or like supplies/services in the commercial market to the general public. 

1. Please note that the response shall provide sufficient technical data to determine how you fully meet the requirements as specified in MEC’s.

The requested information shall be submitted by the date and time specified above, via email, to Ryan Jorgensen, Contract Specialist, at ryan.r.jorgensen.civ@health.mil and Tonya Kreps, Contracting Officer, at tonya.r.kreps.civ@health.mil . Only electronic responses will be accepted. No evaluation letters and/or results will be issued to the respondents. Currently no solicitation exists; therefore, please do not request a copy of the solicitation. NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE.

Minimal Essential Characteristics (MEC)

USAMRIID requires a license for a web-based cheminformatics software platform currently developed for commercial use meeting the following MECs:

1. The platform must be delivered as a web-based service accessible through modern web browsers (including Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari) without the need for client-side software installation.
2. The platform must seamlessly tie all chemical substance indices to primary literature, patents, or references.
3. The platform must index over 250 million chemical substances and 70 million protein and nucleic acid sequences.
4. The platform must be manually curated or indexed to ensure reproducibility and reliability.
5. The platform must index over 150 million chemical reactions.
6. The platform must provide predictive retrosynthetic analysis capabilities.
7. The platform must be compatible with or provide integrated life sciences content such as bioactivity, toxicology, and pharmacology information for substances.
8. The platform must enable property-based searches, integrating substance information with chemical vendor catalogues ensuring all data is directly traceable to primary literature sources.

The platform must support chemical research including drug development, chemical reactions, drug metabolism, and knowledge of prior art for intellectual property rights.