BEI-RRP Source Sought.docx

SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE

The Biological and Emerging Infections Research Resources Program (BEI-RRP) Sources Sought Reference Number: 75N93021R00022

Type of Requirement

Place of Performance

|X| Place of performance is unknown at this time

Recompetition (if applicable)

Contracting Office Address

Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Office of Acquisitions, 5601 Fishers Lane, MSC 9821, Bethesda, MD, 20892-9821

Sources Sought Notice Information

Introduction

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: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources; (2) small businesses, HUBZone small businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, 8(a) small businesses, veteran-owned small businesses, woman-owned small businesses, or small disadvantaged businesses classifications; and (3) size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition. Information submitted in response to this notice will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible.

An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code 541715 should not submit a response to this notice.

A determination by the Government not to compete this requirement as a set-aside based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.

Responses submitted must indicate if you have a GSA schedule contract, a contract on GSA 8(a) STARS, or a contract on GSA VETS GWAC.

Background

Research supported and conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), strives to understand, treat, and ultimately prevent the myriad infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases that threaten millions of human lives. The NIAID Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID) supports extramural research to control and prevent diseases caused by virtually all infectious agents. This includes basic and applied research to develop and evaluate therapeutics, vaccines, and diagnostics that are funded through a variety of research grants and contracts, as well as the evaluation of new and improved vaccine and therapeutic candidates in clinical trials and studies. In addition to maintaining this robust basic and applied research portfolio, NIAID’s mandate further requires the ability to rapidly respond to new and emerging disease threats.

Purpose and Objectives

The BEI-RRP would be a re-competition of the current Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Biological Resource Repository (MID-BRR), contract # HHSN272201600013C, which was awarded in 2016 to American Type Culture Collection (ATCC).

Project requirements

The Biological and Emerging Infections Research Resource Program (BEI-RRP) is a vital resource central to NIAID's mission that serves the broad community of microbiology and infectious diseases researchers; the purpose of this solicitation is to re-compete this program. The BEI-RRP will continue to serve as a vital central repository for quality-assured organisms, reagents, tools, services, and information related to the NIAID research portfolio and priorities in infectious disease (https://www.niaid.nih.gov/diseases-conditions?f%5B0%5D=disease%3A53), including Category A, B, and C priority pathogens (https://www.niaid.nih.gov/research/emerging-infectious-diseases-pathogens), emerging infectious diseases; HIV/AIDS; and non-pathogenic microbes. These priorities may change as scientific research and public health needs shift. The program is expected to serve approximately 12,000 registered users from the U.S. and other countries, and will include approximately 17,000 unique items in the public BEI-RRP catalog.

The Contractor shall provide services and capabilities for the following types of activities:

a. Acquire, receive, store, authenticate, produce, distribute, and deaccession organisms and reagents related to a wide range of biological and chemical materials for infectious disease research, under Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) conditions and appropriate biosafety level conditions (BSL-1, BSL-2, BSL-3, and BSL-4), as defined by CDC best practices (https://www.cdc.gov/labs/BMBL.html).

b. Perform assay development and optimization, whole genome sequencing, diagnostic evaluation and validation, and large-scale production of pathogens for pre-clinical studies.

c. Develop and maintain an integrated and interoperable system to manage and facilitate access to information and data related to material inventory management, a public website, registration of BEI-RRP users, searching available materials and related documentation, deposit and requesting of materials, and tracking shipments.

d. Provide capacity to receive, store and distribute materials under Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) compliant conditions.

e. Support technology transfer and execution of Material Transfer Agreements needed for acquisition and distribution of materials, assays, processes, methods, Standard Operating Procedures, reagents, and/or any other material or documentation.

f. Provide a Quality Assurance Program to provide robust programs for Quality Assurance/Quality Control of materials and processes as well as Biosafety/Biosecurity and Security.

g. Support communications and collaborations with the scientific community, including customer service, outreach activities, technical training, and a web-based system for requesting and depositing materials, including Public Health Emergency materials, and user registration.

Anticipated period of performance

The anticipated start date is on/or about March 1, 2023 with a one-year base period and six (6) one-year Option periods all accounting to 54.75 FTE each. The contract will also provide for Options for increased level of effort up to an additional 54 FTE annually.

Capability statement / information sought

In order to respond to this notice, contractors must be able to clearly convey its experience and/or ability to provide:

A total level of effort of 54.75 full-time equivalents (FTEs) per year (i.e., 113,880 total direct labor hours per year based on a Work Year of 2,080 hours) for a period of performance of seven years (Base Period plus six, one-year Options). Moreover, in any year of the contract, Contractors must be able to respond to requests to provide additional effort, up to a maximum of 54 additional FTEs/year. That is, the Government must have the option to increase level of effort to a maximum 108.75 FTEs/year.

Contractors must provide, for example, the following estimated labor mix:

Professional: Project/Program Manager, Director of Resources, Director of Science

Technicians and Support: Technical Manager, Collection Scientist, Regulatory Specialist, Compliance Director, Marketing Manager, Field Acquisition Specialist, Technical Writers, Biologists

Non-Professional Support: Operations Technician, Quality Systems Technician, Technical Service Representative, Customer Support staff, Clerical

Base Period plus Options to Increase Term (in FTEs)

(12 mos) (12 mos) (12 mos) (12 mos) (12 mos) (12 mos) (12 mos)

Total FTEs

54.75

1. A Project Manager with the adequacy, appropriateness and relevance of expertise and experience with a project of similar size, scope, and complexity; qualifications.

2. Key professional and technical staff.

3. Organization and staffing to ensure efficient planning, initiation, implementation, conduct, and completion of all activities.

4. The ability to operate a biological resource repository supporting basic and applied research related to the NIAID research portfolio and priorities in infectious disease.

5. The ability to affect an orderly, secure and efficient transition of materials from an existing repository located within the United States.

6. A documented quality management system including external review and/or accreditation.

7. The ability to provide efficient and effective customer service to the Government and to registered users from the scientific research community.

8. The facilities to authenticate, produce, store and distribute approximately 1,550,000 units of approximately 17,000 unique organisms and reagents under appropriate temperature and containment and biosafety conditions.

9. Biocontainment facilities (BSL-1 through BSL-3 and access to BSL-4).

10. Equipment and training programs adequate to operate a biological resource repository.

11. Adequate computer and information management systems to operate a biological resource repository.

12. A web-based system for ordering and depositing materials from/to the BEI-RRP.

Page Limitations:

Interested qualified small business organizations should submit a tailored Capability Statement not to exceed seven (7) pages, excluding resumes. Capability Statements must not include links to internet web site addresses (URLs) or otherwise direct readers to alternate sources of information. Font size must be 10 to 12 points. Spacing must be no more than 15 characters per inch. Within a vertical inch, there must be no more than six lines of text. Print margins must be at least one-inch on each edge of the paper. Print setup should be single-sided on standard letter size paper (8.5 x 11" in the U.S., A4 in Europe). All proprietary information should be marked as such.

Required Business Information:

1. DUNS or Unique Entity Identifier (UEI).

1. Company Name.

1. Company Address.

1. Company Point of Contact, Phone and Email address

1. Current GSA Schedules and/or Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) appropriate to this Sources Sought.

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

1. Type of Company (i.e., small business, 8(a), woman owned, veteran owned, etc.) as validated via the System for Award Management (SAM) located at https://www.sam.gov/index.html/#1. This indication should be clearly marked on the first page of your Capability Statement (preferable placed under the eligible small business concern’s name and address).

Number of Copies:

Please submit one (1) electric copy of your response as follows:

For this Small Business Sources Sought, the NIAID requires capability statements to be submitted online via the NIAID electronic Contract Proposal Submission (eCPS) website.

For directions on using eCPS, go to the website https://ecps.nih.gov and then click on "How to Submit."

Common Cut-off Date:

Electronically submitted tailored capability statements are due no later than November 9, 2021 CAPABILITY STATEMENTS RECEIVED AFTER THIS DATE AND TIME WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.

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 pre-solicitation 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).”

SOURCE SELECTION INFORMATION--SEE FAR 2.101 and 3.104