21-005922

Submitted by whipple on
Post Date/ Solicitation Issue Date
Closing Response Date
Proposed Award Date
Project Title
Enhanced fMRI Quality Assurance and MRI Scanner Performance Evaluation Program
Contracting Office
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Contact Points

Primary Contract Specialist

Tam
Ngo
ngot@nih.gov
NAICS Code Number
541690
The National Institute of Mental Health functional MRI Facility (FMRIF) is a core resource of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) intramural research program mandated to provide researchers with access to state-of-the-art equipment, tools, and techniques for their experiments.
To meet these requirements, it is necessary that the FMRIF have modern, capable, accurate and reliable equipment. Further, it is necessary to perform routine (frequent and regular) quality assurance checks on the MRI equipment to ensure that it is operating safely, meeting performance specifications and thus providing the best possible data for research.
Small Business Size Standard
Small Business
Estimated Period of Performance
The period of performance for this requirement shall be 12 months from date of contract award .
Set-Aside Status
Not Set Aside
Set-Aside Type
Small Business (SB)
Competition Status
Brand Name Only
Vendor Name
Simply Physics Inc.
Vendor Address
3406 Labyrinth Road
Baltimore, MD 21215
Rationale/ Salient Characteristics
Although several service providers are, in principle, able to evaluate statis (MRI) based measures such as magnet homeogeneity, slice thickness etc, The SimplyPhsyics proposal integrates a daily QA scanner evaluation specifically tailored for fMRI as performed in the NIH FMRIF and developed during for a prior contract with the group and customized to the needs of the NIH FMRIF. The protocol includes cutting edge evaluation of EPI and multi-band EPI quality assurance that includes critical cross-slice Q/A metrics, dynamic ghosting measures as well as temporal SNR for standard Epi and multi-band acquisitions not available from any other vendor.
Single-Sole Source Determination
The Enhanced fMRI Quality Assurance and MRI Scanner Performance Evaluation Program listed herein is available from only one source, and competition is precluded for the reasons indicated below. There are no substitutes available.

This acquisition is restricted to Simply Physics, Inc., located at 3406 Labyrinth Rd Baltimore, MD 21215, phone: 410-982-6599. The point of contact is: Moriel NessAiver, Ph.D. (moriel@simplyphysics.com).
Background/Description of Requirement
The function of the FMRIF is to serve as a resource by which all NIH institutes can perform Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) studies that further the understanding of healthy and diseased brain anatomy, function and physiology. The FMRIF currently operates four 3T (high field) and one 7T (ultra-high field) human MRI system within the NMR MRI Research Center at NIH. The performance of all these systems is exquisitely sensitive to all the subsystems of the MRI. The quality of the fMRI research conclusions thus depends on the quality of the fMRI source data, which in turn depends on the performance of the MRI system hardware. To obtain high quality images, all the subsystems of the MRI system (Main magnet, RF transmit and receive, and gradients) must be operating within very stringent tolerances. This is especially important for the state-of-the-art and bleeding edge research methods being used for high resolution fMRI research, whose requirements are significantly more demanding than those for routine clinical MRI. During 2021-2022, we are expecting to replace one of the 3T MRI systems with a new 7T system. Longitudinal research projects on the 3T system to be replaced will migrate to one of our other 3T. To provide a smooth transition for those projects, it will be necessary to have complete evaluations of the current 3T system and the destination 3T scanners to assist regress-out data variations caused by the equipment change. The specific objective of this purchase is the acquisition of an independent, comprehensive quality assurance service meeting or exceeding the QA and safety requirements for accreditation by American College of Radiology (ACR accreditation). A complete system performance evaluation will be performed annually. The service will be purchased for the four 3T MRI systems operated by the FMRIF Initially, this will include: • FMRIF 3TA (GEHealthcare MR750 3T) • FMRIF 3TB (GE Healthcare MR750 3T) • FMRIF 3TC (GE Healthcare MR750 3T) • FMRIF 3TD (Siemens Skyra 3T) The FMRIF 3TC (GE MR750 model) scanner will be replaced with by FMRIF 7TB (Siemens Terra 7T model) during 2021-2022. The QA service will be transferred on the newly installed scanner from that point.

Interested parties may identify in writing their interest and capability in response to this requirement. Responses to this notice shall contain sufficient information to establish the interested parties’ bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the requirement and include: unit price, list price, shipping and handling costs, the delivery period after contract award, the prompt payment discount terms, the F.O.B. Point (Destination or Origin), the Dun & Bradstreet Number (DUNS), the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and the certification of business size. All offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov.

All responses must be received by closing date and must reference the announcement. Responses may be submitted electronically to the attention of the contract specialist. Fax responses will not be accepted.

All responsible sources may submit a bid, proposal, or quotation which shall be considered by the agency.