[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 118 (Monday, June 21, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33101-33102]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-15637]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


National Cancer Institute: Opportunity for a Cooperative Research 
and Development Agreement (CRADA) for the Research and Development of 
Software for Managing Distributed Knowledgebases Consisting of Large 
Numbers of Object of Diverse Categories Spanning Administrative, 
Scientific and Other Knowledge Domains

    The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has extended the deadline for 
submission of written notices and proposals regarding the CRADA 
opportunity described in the Federal Register Notice number 74, volume 
64, page 19183, dated April 19, 1999.


[[Page 33102]]


AGENCY: National Institutes of Health, PHS, DHHS.

ACTION: Notice of extension of announcement.

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SUMMARY: The National Cancer Institute (NCI) seeks a Cooperative 
Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with a software company with 
demonstrated excellence in the development and deployment of software 
applications for the enterprise and individuals. NCI has recently 
developed a powerful but user-friendly computer-based system which 
enables its users to create, use and share a knowledge base of 
information consisting of diverse objects related to each other by 
semantically meaningful links. This system, provisionally called 
``KBTool'', can be considered a new class of software application since 
it is sufficiently different from existing applications. The system 
provides a knowledge base that is seamless, allowing individuals to 
store information on a virtually unlimited range of objects and 
concepts. In addition, dense and informative links between many types 
of concepts are constructed. The system is extensible so that it is 
suited for use in distributed systems in which information is shared 
between users and stored at different physical locations. Because of 
the power of the system and its relevance to many domains of knowledge 
and types of applications, the NCI is seeking a commercial partner for 
its continued development and deployment. The software was originally 
created to organize and link vast quantities of scientific data; 
however, NCI predicts that KBTool's functionality will be applicable to 
a wide variety of fields. The Collaborator must have a demonstrated 
record of success in privately producing and marketing information 
resources. Please refer to Federal Register notice number 74, volume 
64, page 19183, dated April 19, 1999 for additional information about 
the KBTool technology and the corresponding CRADA opportunity.

    A Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) is the 
anticipated joint agreement to be entered into by the NCI pursuant to 
the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986 and Executive Order 12591 
of April 10, 1987 as amended by the national Technology Transfer 
Advancement Act of 1995. The NCI is looking for a CRADA partner to 
collaborate in the development of the properties of the KBTool data 
management system. The expected duration of the CRADA would be from 
one(1) to five (5) years.

DATES: Interested parties should notify this office in writing of their 
interest in filing a formal proposal no later than July 21, 1999. They 
will then have an additional thirty (30) days to submit a formal 
proposal. CRADA proposals submitted thereafter may be considered if a 
suitable CRADA Collaborator has not been selected.

ADDRESSES: Inquiries and proposals regarding this opportunity should be 
addressed to Holly S. Symonds, Ph.D. (Tel. #301-496-0477, FAX # 301-
402-2117), Technology Development and Commercialization Branch, 
National Cancer Institute, 6120 Executive Blvd., Suite 450, Rockville, 
MD 20852. Inquiries directed to obtaining patent license(s) needed for 
participation in the CRADA opportunity may be addressed to John Fahner-
Vihtelic, Office of Technology Transfer, National Institutes of Health, 
6011 Executive Blvd., Suite 325, Rockville, MD 20852, (Tel. 301-496-
7735, ext. 270; FAX 301-402-0220).

    Dated: June 13, 1999.
Kathleen Sybert,
Chief, Technology Development and Commercilization Branch, National 
Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health.
[FR Doc. 99-15637 Filed 6-18-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-M