283-25-0695_sole_source_intent_notice.pdf

Pre-solicitation Non-competitive (Notice of Intent) Synopsis

INTRODUCTION

THIS IS A PRE-SOLICITATION NON-COMPETITIVE (NOTICE OF INTENT) SYNOPSIS TO AWARD A CONTRACT OR PURCHASE ORDER WITHOUT PROVIDING FOR FULL OR OPEN COMPETITION (INCLUDING BRAND-

NAME).

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA), Division of Contract Management (DCM) on behalf of the Office of the Chief Medical Officer (OCMO) intends to negotiate and award a purchase order without providing for full and open competition (Including brand-name) to Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), 190 S. LaSalle Street, Suite 3000 Chicago, Illinois 60603 for Continuing Education Units/Continuing Medical Education Units Project.

NORTH AMERICAN INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (NAICS) CODE

The intended procurement is classified under NAICS code 611710 – Educational Support Services with a Size Standard of $24.0 million.

REGULATORY AUTHORITY

The resultant contract will include all applicable provisions and clauses in effect through the Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2025-01 effective 11/12/2024.

This acquisition is conducted under the procedures as prescribed in FAR subpart 13—Simplified Acquisition Procedures at an amount not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold ($250,000) and FAR subpart 12—Acquisition of Commercial Items at an amount exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold ($250,000) and not exceeding $7.5 million.

STATUTORY AUTHORITY

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13— Simplified Acquisition Procedures, Subpart 13.106-1 (b) (1), Soliciting from a single source and is not expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold. Contracts awarded using FAR Part 13— Simplified Acquisition Procedures are exempt from the requirements of FAR Part 6—Competition Requirements.

DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENT

Background – In 2024, OCMO applied to the ACPE to review our agency application for the purpose of providing CEU/CME credits to professionals in a learning environment. There review process included an application review, agency interview, and the awarding of CEUs/CMEs.

The ACPE is the financial arm of The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) which provides Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education and established the standards for interprofessional continuing education (IPCE) planned by the healthcare team, for the healthcare team. This collaboration offers organizations the opportunity to be simultaneously accredited to design and deliver IPCE for multiple professions through a single, unified application process, fee structure, and set of accreditation standards. Without this unified structure, Continuing Education Units (CEU)/ Continuing Medical Education (CME) providers would have to apply and seek permission from various CEU/CME providers to offer continuing education credits for a variety of CEU/CME requirements.

At the present time, most approved educational activities are accredited only through the Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education and only the Joint Accreditation offers accreditation across disciplines so that educational credits may be conferred to psychologists, social workers, nurses, pharmacists, and physicians.

Because the CEU/CME project is ongoing, SAMHSA/OCMO intends to continue offering CEUs via the ACPE in Year 2025 and four subsequent years.

Purpose and Objectives In 2024, SAMHSA’s application to provide CEUs/CMEs for it educational endeavors were awarded by ACPE after an application review and an interview. SAMHSA was awarded the ability to provide CEUs/CMEs. On an ongoing basis, SAMHSA intends to continue offering CEUs/CMEs for its professional learning opportunities.

This process is beneficial to the government in that it offers SAMHSA the ability to provide professional continuing educational units to SAMHSA staff. This brings a level of knowledge and professional learning opportunities to SAMHSA staff and offers them continuing education to meet individual licensing requirements via multiple professional licensing boards.

The CEU/CME project at SAMHSA is a new endeavor but the goal is to continue annually, as SAMHSA creates learning opportunities and offers CEM/CEU credits to professionals. This project not only benefits OCMO but all of SAMHSA.

Anticipated Period of Performance Base Period: 4/1/25 – 3/31/26 Option Period One: 4/1/26 – 3/31/27 Option Period Two: 4/1/27 – 3/31/28 Option Period Three: 4/1/28 – 3/31/29 Option Period Four: 4/1/29 – 3/31/30

Project Description The scope of the project has five components to be provided by the contractor:

1) The vendors’ standard model for interprofessional practice utilizing 12 standards for SAMHSA to include in programs.

2) A watermark from vendor for SAMHSA to place on certificates of completion of SAMHSA activities so learners can receive credit through their boards

3) Access to vendor’s log-in system for SAMHSA to list program offerings in case of auditing by professional boards.

4) The ability to award CEUs/CMEs in year 2025 and four (4) subsequent option years.

5) Ongoing reviews of SAMHSA’s educational activities for compliance to joint accreditation standards; review of responses to questions posed by vendor, and provision of guidance for SAMHSA’s education activities, as needed.

CONTRACTING WITHOUT PROVIDING FOR FULL OR OPEN COMPETITION (INCLUDING BRAND-NAME)

DETERMINATION

The determination by the Government to award a contract without providing for full and open competition is based upon the market research conducted as prescribed in FAR Part 10—Market Research.

In 2024, SAMHSA entered into a sole-source agreement with ACPE, as they are the only entity that approves CEUs for five disciplines: medicine, nursing, pharmacy, psychology, and social work. Over the course of the year, ACPE reviewed and approved SAMHSA’s application, enabling the agency to offer CEUs for these disciplines—a significant achievement that enhances the value of SAMHSA’s training programs.

This arrangement eliminates the need to apply separately to five different entities, which would result in duplicating efforts already completed and potentially wasting the application fee already paid to ACPE.

Such a scenario could also lead to inconsistent outcomes, as each entity has different criteria, creating the risk that some applications might be denied. Since ACPE has already approved SAMHSA for all five disciplines, maintaining this approval ensures streamlined and reliable CEU offerings, supporting SAMHSA’s mission to provide high-quality professional development opportunities without unnecessary inefficiencies.

CLOSING STATEMENT

This synopsis is not a request for competitive proposals. However, interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this notice. Responses to this notice shall contain sufficient information to establish the interested parties’ bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the requirement and may include as necessary: unit price, list price, shipping and handling costs, the delivery period after contract award, the prompt payment discount terms, the F.O.B. Point (Destination or Origin), the Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) #, the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and the certification of business size. All offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov.

A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. The information received will normally be considered solely for the purposes of determining whether to proceed on a non-competitive basis or to conduct a competitive procurement.

All responses must be received by 12:00 PM EST on 01/03/2025. Responses must be submitted electronically to Arun Mathur, arun.mathur@samhsa.hhs.gov and must reference solicitation number 283-25-0695 on your electronic request.

All responsible sources may submit a bid, proposal, or quotation which shall be considered by the agency.

http://www.sam.gov/ mailto:arun.mathur@samhsa.hhs.gov

All responses must be received by 12:00 PM EST on 01/03/2025. Responses must be submitted electronically to Arun Mathur, arun.mathur@samhsa.hhs.gov and must reference solicitation number 283-25-0695 on your electronic request.