NOSC_Sources_Sought_2015.docx

Sources Sought Notice:

Network Operations & Support Center

INTRODUCTION

The Buy Indian Act (25 USC 47) provides the Indian Health Service (IHS) with the authority to set-aside procurement contracts for Indian-owned and controlled businesses. The Buy Indian Act regulations are located at the Health and Human Services Acquisition Regulation (HHSAR) part 370.5, Acquisitions Under the Buy Indian Act and describe uniform administrative procedures that IHS will use to encourage procurement relationships with eligible Indian firms.

This is a Sources Sought notice to seek qualifying Indian-Owned Firms (IOF) for the requirement. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified Indian-Owned sources and their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition.

Your responses to the information requested will assist the IHS in determining if use of the Buy Indian Act is an appropriate acquisition method. An organization that is not considered an IOF under the applicable NAICS code SHOULD NOT submit a response to this notice. This requirement is assigned a code of 541513 in the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), and the size standard for such requirements is $27.5M.

Anticipated Period of Performance:

The anticipated period of performance for this requirement includes one year base period, with four one-year options.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Main requirements for contract competition under the Buy Indian Act.

· The business must be an (IOF) Indian-Owned Firm. A for profit business that is at least 51 percent Indian/Indian Tribe owned.

· The IOF must be owned by a member(s) of a tribe, pueblo, band, group, village or community that is recognized by the Secretary of the Interior as being Indian or any individual or group of individuals that is recognized by the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of HHS. The Secretary of HHS in making determinations may take into account the determination of the tribe with which affiliation is claimed.

· The IOF must manage the contract

· The Indian or Indian Tribe must perform the majority of the work from the contract

· The Indian or Indian Tribe must control the daily business operations

BACKGROUND

The Indian Health Service (IHS), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is responsible for providing federal health services to American Indians and Alaska Natives. The provision of health services to members of federally-recognized tribes grew out of the special government-to-government relationship between the federal government and Indian tribes. The IHS is the principal federal health care provider and health advocate for Indian people, and its goal is to raise their health status to the highest possible level. The IHS provides a comprehensive health service delivery system for approximately 1.9 million American Indians and Alaska Natives who belong to 566 federally recognized tribes in 35 states.

The IHS delivery system is composed of 12 administrative Area Offices, which oversee local Service Units. Each Area Office has the responsibility for operating the IHS program within a designated geographical region. Their administrative duties include budget, operation, personnel and property management, program planning and implementation tribal affairs, community development, statistical monitoring, grants and contract management, and environment program direction. Health care is provided at the Service Unit level through the IHS itself, through tribally operated facilities, urban programs or through the contract health services program.

To support the agency mission, the IHS Office of Information Technology (OIT), manages the Resource and Patient Management System (RPMS). It is a distributed electronic healthcare information system deployed at IHS sites and includes clinical, administrative, and financial information on patients and resources. It is also integrated with the Agency’s national data repository, the National Patient Information Reporting System (NPIRS) and with applications to securely exchange patient information with other healthcare providers.

In support of the RPMS and other applications, the Office of Information Technology manages the network infrastructure to provide network connectivity between IHS sites and to external networks such as the Internet, other Government departments and healthcare partners supporting IHS to deliver services.

This Sources Sought Notice seeks to identify Indian-Owned Firms that have capability to provide the IHS with Network Operations & Support Center (NOSC) Services. SEE DRAFT PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS) FOR DETAILS.

INSTRUCTIONS TO INDUSTRY

Questions: The Government will entertain questions regarding this Market Research; All questions should be submitted to the point of contact listed below not later than 1:00pm EST on Wednesday, December 30, 2015.

Interested Indian-Owned Firms are highly encouraged to respond to this notice. However, firms should understand that generic capability statements are not sufficient for effective evaluation of their capacity and capability to perform the work required. Responses must directly demonstrate the company’s capability, experience, and ability to assemble resources to effectively and efficiently perform the objectives described in the Draft PWS.

The written response to this notice SHALL consist of the following items:

a. Company Name, DUNS number, Point of Contact information and the firm’s socio-economic category (i.e., small business, 8(a), woman owned, veteran owned, etc.) as validated via the System for Award Management

(SAM).

b. Applicable company GSA Schedule number or other available procurement vehicle.

c. Company’s relevant past performance information on the deliverables described in the draft PWS subsections 3.1 Network Operations Center Service Desk; 3.2 Network Event and System Monitoring; 3.3 Network Infrastructure Configuration Management; 3.4 Design and Implement New Network Technology; 3.9 Firewall & Security Appliance Support; and 3.10 Network Traffic Load Balancer Support.

Disclaimer and Important Notes. This notice does not obligate the Government to award contract. Any information provided by industry to the Government as a result of this sources sought synopsis is strictly voluntary. Responses will not be returned. No entitlements to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges to the Government will arise as a result of contractor submission of responses, or the Government's use of such information 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 pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published on a government GPE. 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).

Responses must be submitted not later than 1:00 PM EST on Monday, January 4, 2016. Capability statements will not be returned and will not be accepted after the due date. The maximum number of pages for submission is ten (10) pages.

As previously stated, the Government will entertain questions regarding this Market Research; all questions should be submitted to the point of contact listed below not later than 1:00pm EST on Wednesday, December 30, 2015.

Primary POC: All capability statements sent in response to this sources sought notice must be submitted electronically (via email) to the Contract Specialist listed below in MS Word or PDF format. The subject line must specify 16-236-SOL-00011.

Kenneth Coriz, Contract Specialist Office: (301) 443-5668 Email: kenneth.coriz@ihs.gov