SAM #26-006633

NIH intends sole source contract for PINC AI Healthcare Database services from Commonwealth Informatics Inc.

NIH's Clinical Center Critical Care Medicine Department is pursuing a sole source contract with Commonwealth Informatics Inc. for specialized services related to the PINC AI Healthcare Database. - Sole source, firm-fixed-price contract to Commonwealth Informatics Inc. - Services include: - Generation of project-specific datasets - Epidemiologic investigations (sepsis, antibiotic resistance, invasive fungal infections) - Comparative effectiveness studies - Ad hoc analyses and troubleshooting - Data loading, algorithm construction, and mapping/curating near-real-time datasets - Generation of eSOFA scores and analysis-ready files - Commonwealth Informatics Inc. is the only vendor identified with required expertise and prior experience with Cerner Healthfacts and similar datasets - Labor-hour contract; tasks performed as requested by NIH investigators - No other vendors or OEMs mentioned besides Commonwealth Informatics Inc. and Cerner (as referenced database) - Contract covers data from September 2023 to September 2025 and may include future studies

Description

The National Institute of Health (NIH) intends to negotiate and award a purchase order without providing for full and open competition to Commonwealth Informatics Inc. The purpose of this requirement is to provide a firm-fixed-price contract for the PINC AI Healthcare Database (PINC AI) at the NIH Division of Intramural Research.

The primary objectives of the NIH Clinical Center, Critical Care Medicine Department (CCMD) for this project include general, specific, and ad hoc tasks requested of Commonwealth Informatics Inc. These tasks will be performed under a labor-hour contract until all allotted hours have been utilized. The requested tasks encompass, but are not limited to, the following:

Generation of project-specific datasets using the PINC AI database for studies including, but not limited to:

Epidemiologic investigations in sepsis, antibiotic resistance, and invasive fungal infections Comparative effectiveness of therapies for critically ill patients where clinical trials are not feasible

Commonwealth Informatics will perform various ad hoc analyses and prepare deliverables as requested for the “pruned” PINC AI data, in accordance with the Statement of Work (SOW) found in the Proposal Appendix or provided as a separate attachment. Commonwealth will provide PINC AI data loading tasks as outlined below:

Generate project-specific data files based on investigator feedback and share during meetings/webinars (frequency to be determined, as needed) Troubleshoot in real-time with NIH investigators on study queries and data inconsistencies Construct algorithms to generate specific populations from the data that are of interest to NIH investigators Correspond on various projects via email

In addition, Commonwealth Informatics will provide project-specific and/or ad hoc tasks as requested via this Labor Hour contract until the allotted hours have been exhausted. General tasks may include, but are not limited to, the following areas:

Mapping and curating near-real-time versions of datasets Generation of eSOFA scores Mapping September 2023 - September 2025 data to add more recent data to current and ongoing projects Generation of analysis-ready data files for each of the projects

Commonwealth Informatics Inc. (CII; Waltham, MA) is the only known informatics company with over five years of experience working with the Cerner Healthfacts database, a large multi-hospital electronic health record-based dataset with detailed information on patient physiologic, laboratory, pharmacy, and administrative data. The CCMD at NIH/CC has previously collaborated with Harvard’s Department of Population Medicine on a study utilizing Cerner Healthfacts as the data source and CII for data management and analysis. This study provided an estimate of the prevalence of sepsis in the US and was published in JAMA in 2017.

CCMD has also collaborated with NIAID DIR, which has contracted with CII in the past on projects involving the Cerner Healthfacts database. These collaborations resulted in the establishment of analytical macros and predictive models. CII’s familiarity with these tools and data sources would greatly benefit the epidemiologic studies at CCMD proposed for 2026-2027, allowing for expedited progress.

Furthermore, CII delivered the requested deliverables for NIAID DIR under previous contracts in a timely and efficient manner. Given their expertise with Cerner data, their services can be utilized for data curation of similar datasets, such as the Premier Healthcare dataset.

The objective of the planned study, for which CII’s services are currently sought, is to find ways to improve outcomes of patients with life-threatening infections. This includes target trial emulations to identify therapies that may be potentially lifesaving but for which traditional clinical trials are not feasible or practical. Findings are expected to inform clinical practice and national healthcare policy, but the studies require expeditious conduct while maintaining high quality.

If another contractor were to be used, there would likely be a significant delay due to the learning curve associated with understanding the data and pre-defined algorithms. CII analysts have already achieved a high level of familiarity with these tools. Moreover, CII’s work on a recent CCMD study on COVID-19 prediction models will serve as a foundation for future studies planned for 2026-2027.

The urgent and high-utility nature of this work necessitates prompt data file generation and analysis. Using CII’s services is deemed the most effective way to ensure this requirement is met.

A review of the GSA Advantage, Dynamic Small Business Search, and previous government acquisitions returned no results that meet all the requirements. Therefore, only Commonwealth Informatics Inc. is capable of meeting the needs of this requirement.

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