Developing a Mobile Application to Monitor Physiological Arousal and Facilitate Psychotherapy

SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE Solicitation Number: NIMH21003473Title:  Developing a Mobile Application to Monitor Physiological Arousal and Facilitate PsychotherapyClassification Code:  70 – ADP Equipment Software, Supplies, and Support EquipmentNAICS Code:  541611 – Administrative Management and General Management Consulting ServicesDescription:  This is a Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of all qualified sources to perform a potential requirement.This notice is issued to help determine the availability of qualified companies technically capable of meeting the Government requirement and to determine the method of acquisition.  It is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract.  Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotes.  No award will be made as a result

of this notice.  The Government will NOT be responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice.  This notice is strictly for research and information purposes only.Background: The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) utilizes basic and clinical research to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses across the lifespan, paving the way for prevention, recovery, and cure. The Neuroscience and Novel Therapeutics Unit (NNT) within the NIMH embodies this goal by leveraging neuroscience to identify treatment targets and mechanisms, subsequently utilizing these targets to develop brain-based treatments for children with serious psychiatric disorders. In alignment with these mission statements, the proposed enhancements to the current mobile application (Track-It Mobile App) will allow for the acquisition of new forms of patient data, such as heart rate and heart rate variability, to be integrated with current app functions (including a mobile game aiming to measure behavioral response inhibition and patient-rated assessments to measure clinical symptoms in vivo). These changes will ameliorate the shortcomings of prior technologies by greatly enhancing the portability of ambulatory heart rate monitoring during app-based tasks, thus generating physiological data with greater relevance to the types of environmental demands patients encounter both in the clinic and daily life. The vendor will update the current mobile app to integrate Apple Healthkit heart monitoring capabilities, which will allow for the synchronization of data collection across behavioral, patient-report, and physiological measures. The vendor will also oversee data collection and management, develop, and automate analytics models, and troubleshoot any issues that arise within the scope of the mobile app interface and data collection processes.Purpose: The purpose of this project is to develop a new mobile application in order to monitor peripheral markers of arousal, such as heart rate and heart rate variability using an Apple Watch and related smart phone technology. The data will monitor peripheral markers of arousal using Apple’s HealthKit, a repository designed for storing health-related data (e.g., activity, body measurements) collected from other apps. While the Apple Watch and iPhone each have its own HealthKit, data is synced between the two devices, so that Apple Watch specific features (e.g., heart rate) can be accessed on the paired smartphone. Therefore, by implementing both devices, researchers can seamlessly collect and store real-time heart rate and heart rate variability data via HealthKit. Prior use of ambulatory arousal monitors (e.g., the Empatica E4 wristband) has enabled the measurement of specific markers such as heart rate (number of heart beats per minute) and heart rate variability (variation in heartbeats within a specified time frame) during clinic-based behavioral tasks to monitor emotional arousal in youth with varying degrees of irritability, anxiety, and deficits in attention. Previous research has suggested that baseline resting heart rate is predictive of externalizing behaviors in youth (e.g., aggression), and that heart rate variability may be used as a physiological marker of autonomic flexibility, such that individuals with greater ability to modulate heart rate may be more successful at regulating emotion in response to environmental cues. However, the cost and singular purpose associated with the Empatica E4 wristband would prohibit the use of this technology to monitor patient arousal outside of a clinic setting. The Apple Healthkit feature is a more seamless and cost-effective way to integrate ambulatory physiological monitoring into a multi-function application that is compatible with current smart phone technology, and would enable the collection of both physiological and other relevant clinical data in everyday life as a valuable counterpart to current clinic-based data collection methods. In addition to providing insight regarding phenotypic similarities and differences within a heterogeneous patient population, this technology could also be employed in novel treatment research, such as investigating the influence of arousal during psychosocial treatment for youth with severe irritability. Physiological arousal is regarded as a relevant biological component of mood and behavioral disorders, yet the precise mechanisms linking arousal to the maintenance and treatment of psychological symptoms (such as low tolerance for frustration and aberrant threat-approach behaviors) are currently unknown. Ambulatory monitoring of arousal within and outside of psychosocial treatment sessions, particularly in the context of behavioral exposure techniques which explicitly aim to modulate the expression of arousal-related irritability symptoms over time, would greatly enhance the investigation of physiological and psychological processes which characterize severe irritability and related disorders. We are seeking a contractor that has considerable experience with this novel, state-of-the-art ambulatory monitoring technique so that we can utilize this application in our ongoing studies.  By monitoring arousal outside of the clinic, we can ultimately facilitate therapy by determine what situations evoke high levels of arousal in the child.Project requirements: The contractor designs and executes an application interface which collects and stores heart rate parameters for clinicians and researchers to review research participants’ data.   Collected data will be stored in a secure data base, which adheres to the NIMH Division of Intramural Research Programs’ security specifications. The contractor will develop technology that interfaces between research participants and the data base, through EDB’s purchased mobile technology. EDB and the contractor will collaborate to analyze, design, and enhance the application. In addition to building on a prior contractor’s application interface, this contractor will also use Amazon Web Services and Apple Developer Program. Through a cloud portal, managed by the contractor, EDB will be able to manage app users, as well as view and analyze research participants’ data.  Once ready to be disseminated, the contractor will continue to provide general app-related support and monitor the data platform. When completed, the contractor will distribute the final product and will keep providing ongoing support needs of the mobile app and monitor the full platform of data collection techniques.Anticipated Period of Performance: One year from the award of the contractCapability statement /information sought: Contractors that believe that they possess the ability to provide the required service, should submit documentation on their ability to meet each of the project requirements to the Contract Specialist.The Contractor should directly and specifically state in the, capabilities statement, which project requirements can be meet and/or supplied. The Contractor must also provide their  DUNS number, GSA Federal Supple Schedule(If available), organization name, address, point of contact, and size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HubZone, etc., pursuant to the applicable NAICS code and any other information that may be helpful in developing or finalizing the acquisition requirements.The information submitted must be must be in and outline format that addresses each of the elements of the project requirement and in the capability statement /information sought paragraphs stated herein.  A cover page and an executive summary may be included but is not required.The response is limited to two (2) page limit.  The 2-page limit does not include the cover page or executive summary.The response must include the respondents’ technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses.All responses to this notice must be submitted electronically to the Contract Specialist.  Facsimile responses are NOT accepted.The response must be submitted to Thien Nguyen, Contract Specialist, at Thien.Nguyen2@nih.gov. and Valerie Whipple, Contracting Officer, at Valerie.Whipple@nih.govThe response must be received on or before May 7, 2021 at 12 pm, Eastern Time. Disclaimer and Important Notes: This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization’s qualifications to perform the work.Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a presolicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.Confidentiality: No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).