Sources_Sought_Notice_Grantsgov.pdf

SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE

Grants.gov Information Technology Services

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I. INTRODUCTION

This SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE is to determine the availability of potential small businesses, e.g., 8(a) business development participants, HUBZone small business concerns, service-disabled veteran-owned small business concerns, and economically disadvantaged women-owned small business (EDWOSB) concerns and women-owned small business (WOSB) concerns) that can provide information technology (IT) services to host, operate, maintain, support and enhance the Grants.gov system. These services are required to ensure that Grants.gov continues to provide a single place for the public to find and apply for federal grants.

The information from this market research will help the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources (ASFR) plan their acquisition strategy. Please be sure to indicate if you are a NITAAC Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) holder as the CIO-SP3 Small Business contract is being considered for this requirement.

THIS IS STRICTLY MARKET RESEARCH. HHS/ASFR WILL NOT ENTERTAIN

QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS MARKET RESEARCH.

II. GENERAL INFORMATION

This Sources Sought Notice is for information and planning purposes only and should not be construed as a commitment by the Government. This is not a solicitation announcement for proposals and no contract will be awarded from this Notice. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this Notice. Respondents will not be notified of the results of this evaluation. Capability statements will not be returned and will not be accepted after the due date.

As previously stated, the Government will not entertain questions regarding this Market Research; however, general questions may be forwarded to the following:

Contract Specialist: Cristy Scott Email Address: cristy.scott@psc.hhs.gov

III. BACKGROUND

Grants.gov was established to support the 2002 President’s Management Agenda and Public Law 106-107, the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act of 1999. The President’s Management Agenda (http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/omb/budget/fy2002/mgmt.pdf) which provided the mission for Grants.gov, called for agencies to “allow applicants for federal grants to apply for, and ultimately manage, grant funds online through a common web site, simplifying grants management and eliminating redundancies.” Public Law 106-107 called for the establishment of "a common system, including electronic processes, wherein a non-federal entity can apply for, manage, and report on the use of funding from multiple financial assistance programs".

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Grants.gov was successfully launched in 2003 and provides a one-stop electronic portal where potential grant recipients can find and apply for federal grant opportunities. The program is supported by all of the major federal grant-making agencies, with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as the managing partner. The system (see Grants.gov Context Diagram below) provides the capability for federal agencies to post descriptions of grant opportunities along with electronic grant application packages, and to download completed grant applications.

It is worth emphasizing that neither Grants.gov Program Management Office (PMO) nor its contractors post any grant packages on Grants.gov. The posting activity is handled entirely by the granting agencies. Grants.gov provides the capability for applicants to search grant opportunities, register to receive notices of new opportunities, download application packages and instructions, complete applications offline, and securely upload completed applications.

Upon receipt of an application, Grants.gov sends an electronic acknowledgement to the applicant and delivers the completed application to the agency. The system provides these functions through both a web-based graphical user interface and a web-service-based system-to-system (S2S) interface. Grants.gov also has a registration process that allows applying institutions to register their members as authorized representatives at the website. This one-time registration process allows an organization to submit grant applications to all federal grant- making agencies posting funding opportunities on Grants.gov.

The current system is operational and can be accessed at www.grants.gov. Additional information and reference documentation concerning the current system can be found in the Attachment 2, GGITS Current Operating Environment and by accessing www.grants.gov.

Figure 1 ‐ Grants.gov Context Diagram

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The platform is mature and robust, and capable of reliably processing millions of opportunity searches and hundreds of thousands of grant applications annually. As of 2015, Grants.gov achieves the following:

Provides grants information to approximately 6.5 million web site visitors per year and logs over 2 million web hits a month

Provides information on 4,700 federal grant opportunities worth approximately $100 billion

Handles millions of grant opportunity searches per month Processes 250,000 grant application submissions per year Operates 24/7 with no downtime Handles 10,000 phone calls a month through its call center

The system infrastructure (servers, storage, and networks) was refreshed in 2015 based on operational requirements determined in 2014, and provides a redundant, virtualized environment that provides good performance, is fault tolerant, and supports no-downtime releases. The servers are owned and operated by the program in leased rack space at commercial data centers.

Several environments are implemented to support each stage of the development and operations cycle: development, testing, training, staging and production.

The Grants.gov PMO is responsible for overseeing all operational and enhancement activities, including program management, system operation and maintenance, system development and integration, system verification, helpdesk operations, website maintenance, and program communications and outreach. The PMO uses contractors to support these activities, including the IT services that are the subject of this PWS.

IV. RESPONSE INFORMATION

In order to respond to this notice, contractors must be able to clearly convey their experience and/or ability to perform the following tasks identified:

Task 1. Project/IT Management, including cost/schedule management, issue management, staff management, and project communications as well as technical analysis and planning for the Grants.gov system

Task 2. Transition Management, including transition in of the Contractor to assume management of the Grants.gov system and, if necessary, transition out to a subsequent contractor

Task 3. Application Platform Management, including hosting, operations, maintenance, and enhancement of the Grants.gov application platform including all equipment and software needed to run the Grants.gov application

Task 4. Applications Management, including operations, maintenance, and enhancement of the Grants.gov application and associated PDF forms

Task 5. Application Transformation Support, including technical/process support for projects related to the development and implementation of Grants.gov NextGen application and platform

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Task 6. DATA Act Support, including analysis, planning and development required to meet regulatory DATA Act compliance requirements

Task 7. Customer Support Services, including Contact Center, Help Desk management, Communications and Outreach support, end-user support, response scripts, knowledge bases, and user case histories

Additionally, contractors must satisfy the following requirements and provide a detailed description of your company’s (including its teammates, if applicable) experience and demonstrated abilities to deliver each and every one (address each separately) of the following requirements:

1. Contractors must be able to perform during the Call Center hours of 7:00am to 9:00pm ET, Monday through Friday excluding Federal holidays and staffing is flexible based on volume forecasts. The Contact Center is expected to be staffed with 24/7 support at all times for Task Area 7.

2. Contractors must possess knowledge and experience with all of the software, hardware, and tools as described in Attachment 1: Current Technical Overview Grants.gov Information Technology Services.

A Time and Materials contract is anticipated for a base year and four option years. The government would like to consider if portions of the contract can be Firm Fixed Priced and is open to feedback in the sources sought notice responses. The NAICS Code is 541512 Computer Systems Design Services, with a small business size standard of $27.5.

Each response should include the following Business Information in addition to discussing the tasks and requirements indicated above:

1. DUNS.

2. Company Name.

3. Company Address.

4. Current NITAAC GWAC or GSA Schedules (including SINs) appropriate to this

Sources Sought.

5. Do you have a Government approved accounting system? If so, please identify the agency that approved the system.

6. Type of Company (i.e., small business, 8(a), etc.) as self-certified in the System for Award Management or provide SBA certification, were applicable.

7. Company Point of Contact, Phone and Email address

Teaming Arrangements: All teaming arrangements should also include the above-cited information and certifications for each entity on the proposed team. Teaming arrangements are encouraged.

V. RESPONSE DEADLINE

The maximum number of pages for submission is 8 pages. Responses must be submitted no later than April 11, 2016 at 5 PM to Cristy Scott via email at cristy.scott@psc.hhs.gov.