BMAP: GENE DISCOVERY IN THE DEVELOPING NERVOUS SYSTEM

Release Date:  July 10, 2000

NOTICE:  MH-00-011

National Institute of Mental Health

The National Institute of Mental Health proposes to issue solicitation No. 
NIMH-00-DB-0006 entitled "BMAP: GENE DISCOVERY IN THE DEVELOPING NERVOUS 
SYSTEM " as a 100 percent full and open competitive procedure under SIC Code 
8733.  The NIMH plans to award one (1) cost-reimbursement completion type 
contract, with a three-year base period and two (2) one-year options, on or 
about December 23, 2000.

In 1998, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National 
Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) initiated the Brain 
Molecular Anatomy Project (BMAP), an interdisciplinary project to establish 
state-of-the-art technologies and informatics systems to decipher the 
molecular anatomy of the mammalian brain. As part of this multi-institute 
effort, NIMH and NINDS awarded a contract (N01 MH-80014) to the University of 
Iowa (M. B. Soares, PI) to support construction of cDNA libraries from 10 
brain regions, spinal cord, and retina in the adult mouse using strain 
C57BL6/J.  This two-year project, which will be completed by the end of 
Calendar Year 2000, aims to identify over 75,000 3’ ESTs from serially 
subtracted libraries and generate a non-redundant collection of more than or 
equal to 20,000 mouse brain cDNA clones.  The biological resources obtained 
through current BMAP contract will be made widely available to the scientific 
community.  These resources include EST sequences, cDNA clones and libraries, 
and a collection of non-redundant arrayed cDNA clones representing 
transcripts expressed in adult mouse neural tissue (“BMAP UniGene” sets).  
This contract is a recompetition and expansion of this work.

The primary goal of this contract is the discovery of novel genes expressed 
in the developing mouse nervous system.  This contract requires the 
production of high-quality, representative cDNA libraries from specific 
anatomical regions of the mouse nervous system at different developmental 
stages to identify and discover the genes whose expression is restricted 
spatially and temporally during development.  The utility of this approach 
for novel gene discovery, namely utilization of representative cDNA libraries 
and determination of Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) present in the cDNA 
libraries, clearly has been demonstrated by the success of the on-going BMAP 
gene discovery project.  The primary requirements are: 1) Preparation and 
isolation of high-quality RNA using improved and/or new technologies for the 
purpose of generating cDNA libraries from the developing mouse nervous 
system; 2) Preparation of high-quality representative cDNA libraries using 
state-of-the-art techniques (use approved protocols to prepare approximately 
twenty (20) cDNA libraries in combination of developmental stages and regions 
of the nervous system); 3) Utilization of high-throughput sequencing to 
assess the quality of the cDNA libraries; generation of BMAP Developmental 
UniGene Sets (perform DNA sequencing on clones in cDNA libraries prepared in 
Requirement 2 above, in order to generate up to 100,000-150,000 3' ESTs, 
during the 3-year base period of the contract); and 4) Dissemination of data; 
storage and distribution of biological materials.

If exercised by the Government, there are options to extend the term of the 
contract as follows: each option year following the three-year base contract 
period will require the Contractor to prepare eight (8) to twelve (12) cDNA 
libraries per year, which will include developmental stages and regions of 
the nervous system that are not covered initially.  Also, if exercised by the 
Government , there are options for increased quantities for the base period 
and optional periods, as follows: the Contractor shall, during the base 
period, generate up to 15 additional cDNA libraries, and 150,000 EST 
sequences, from various related mouse tissues derived from the nervous system 
(e.g., sensory systems including visual, olfactory, auditory, and peripheral 
nervous system tissues), and during each option period, generate up to 10 
additional cDNA libraries, and 100,000 EST sequences, per year from various 
related mouse tissues.

There is a mandatory qualification criteria that a statement must be included 
in the proposal as follows: 1) the offeror agrees and is committed to 
producing materials and data that shall be widely distributed, in a timely 
manner; 2) the offeror agrees to provide sequencing data to GenBank at least 
every two weeks; and 3) upon request to provide individual cDNA clones and 
arrayed cDNA libraries during the contract term and/or at the conclusion of 
the contract, to the NIMH or to a third party designated by the NIMH

Request for Proposal (RFP) No. NIMH-00-DB-0006, will be available on or about 
July 11, 2000, and the receipt date for proposals will be on or about 
September 12, 2000.  The RFP may be accessed through the NIMH Home Page by 
at:  
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/grants/indexcon.cfm

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 may 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
Fax:  (301) 443-0501
Email: ba9i@nih.gov

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