(i)  This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6 as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Office of Acquisitions (OA) on behalf of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) intends to negotiate and award a contract without providing for full and open competition to Cresset Biomolecular Discovery Ltd for Cresset's Flare Designer Software License to include Flare LigandPro, Forge GUI, and Spark GU.

This acquisition is conducted as non-competitive for a commercial item or service and is conducted under the authority of the FAR Subpart 13.5—Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items and 13.501 Special documentation requirements and the authority of 41 U.S.C. 1901 and the statutory authority of FAR Subpart 6.302-1 Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

Pursuant to FAR Subpart 13.501 (a) (1) (iii) the justification will be made available within 14 days after contract award or in the case of unusual and compelling urgency within 30 days after contract award.

(ii)   The solicitation number is 75N95022Q00116 and the solicitation is issued as a Request for Quotation (RFQ).    

This acquisition is for a commercial item or service and is conducted under the authority of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13—Simplified Acquisition Procedures;  and FAR Part 12—Acquisition of Commercial Items, and is not expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold.

THIS IS A NON-COMPETITIVE (NOTICE OF INTENT) COMBINED SYNOPSIS SOLICITATION TO AWARD A CONTRACT OR PURCHASE ORDER WITHOUT PROVIDING FOR FULL OR OPEN COMPETITION (INCLUDING BRAND-NAME). 

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Office of Acquisition (OA), on behalf of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) or the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), intends to negotiate and award a purchase order without providing for full and open competition (including brand-name) to Cresset Biomolecular Discovery Ltd for Cresset's Flare Designer Software License to include Flare LigandPro, Forge GUI, and Spark GU.

This acquisition is conducted as non-competitive for a commercial item or service and is conducted pursuant to FAR 13.106-1(b)(1) Soliciting from a single source. (1) For purchases not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold, contracting officers may solicit from one source if the contracting officer determines that the circumstances of the contract action deem only one source reasonably available (e.g., urgency, exclusive licensing agreements, or industrial mobilization).

The rationale for the brand-name justification is Cresset’s patent, copyright, proprietary data, or licensing agreement limits competition.

(iii)  The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) Number 22-2022/01-14-2022.

(iv)  The associated NAICS code 511210 and the number of employees is 500 employees.   This requirement is

(v)   This requirement is for Cresset's Flare software platform that will help to advanced approaches for protein-ligand analysis for the structure-d design of ligands. Computational, medicinal and synthetic chemists at NCATS will use this software on a daily basis as  a part of their work flow.  NCATS is in need of software that can perform the following:

•The software shall be d on field technology, a feature that uses biological activity rather than chemical similarities as the key deors of the molecule

•The software shall be get accurate values for relative binding affinity within a related set of ligands using Free Energy Perturbation (FEP)

•The software able to study the conformational changes of proteins and assess the stability of protein-ligand complexes using Molecular Dynamics experiments

•The software shall use choice of force fields for FEP and Dynamics calculations, including Open force field

•The software shall get immediate feedback on where ligands complement proteins and use this in design

•The software shall assist to design new molecules and dock them to protein target

•The software shall be able minimize protein-ligand complexes to achieve optimal interaction for each compound

•The software shall use the energetics of ligand binding to guide lead optimization

•The software shall be able to calculate the location and stability of water molecules in your protein

•The software shall be able Automate and customize workflows and add new menu entries through the Python API

•The software shall be able to integrate into already subscribed FORGE and SPARK tools