DOIDFBO210002 National Cancer Institute Biomedical Information Technology Questions NCI FINAL_0001.pdf

DOIDFBO210002 National Cancer Institute Biomedical Information Technology, Software Development, and Informatics Support (BITSDIS) RFI Questions and Answers

Amendment 0001

1. Page 3 of the RFI states, “The Government has identified the NAICS Code of 541690 “Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services” for this requirement with a size standard of $15 million.” Would the Government consider using the NAICS Code of 541519 “Other Computer Related Services” with a size standard of $30 million to increase small business competition for this contract?

The Government has identified the NAICS code of 541690 as being the best fit for this requirement but will take into consideration other proposed NAICS codes in the RFI responses as part of market research.

2. Can the Government elaborate on what may be included in “other services” in Task 11 in the SOW, in addition to end-user support and help desk?

A SOW that clearly defines the requirements will be provided in the solicitation.

3. Which are some sample task orders the Government might wish to prioritize?

This will be determined during the Government’s acquisition planning.

4. Is there an incumbent (or multiple incumbents) for some or all the tasks delineated in the

SOW?

There are multiple incumbents and contracts that make up the work described in the draft

SOW.

5. If there is an incumbent (or multiple incumbents) for some or all the tasks delineated in the SOW, who are the vendors and what are their corresponding contract numbers?

See Answer to Question 4. This will be a new requirement supporting many different task areas and NCI offices that may or may not have been a part of an existing contract, therefore it is very difficult to provide corresponding contract numbers and contractors.

6. If an RFP is to be released, what is the expected timeline?

The Government is targeting to issue an RFP in the beginning of 2021.

7. Could the government please confirm that the “commercial services brochures and/or information providing a description, capabilities, and features of your commercially available services that meet the government’s requirements” described in Question 16 do not count against the 20-page limit?

This will not count against the page count. (See below answers to Questions 12 and 18)

8. Will any of the work delineated in the SOW involve the development of requirements for subsequent solicitations?

No.

9. Will any of the work delineated in the SOW involve the evaluation or oversight of other contract vendors?

No.

10. Does the government expect the scope of work to include AWS as the only Cloud Service Provider? If not, which Cloud Service Providers would the government consider?

The Government may also consider Microsoft Azure, Google, and other FedRAMP Authorized Cloud Service Providers.

11. Does a cover page and TOC count towards the page count?

No, the cover page and TOC will not count towards the RFI response page count.

12. Does the capability statement referenced in question 16 count towards page count?

No, this will not count towards the page count. (also see below response to Question 18)

13. Can the government confirm if all web pages produced for this contract must be 508-compliant?

Yes, all web pages must be 508-compliant.

14. Question 2 references the NAICS Code 541690 Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services with a size standard of 15M however the SBA references 16.5M as the size standard for small business. Can you confirm?

The correct size standard is 16.5M.

15. Would NIH please confirm that this is a new IT system that is being built?

This effort will include both the development of new IT systems and the integration and extension of existing IT systems.

16. If the government chooses a multi-award IDIQ, how many companies would you ideally want to award to?

This will be determined during the acquisition planning phase. Rresponses to question # 3 of the RFI will be considered.

17. Which companies are currently doing this work today? Which work is new?

See responses to questions 4 and 5 of this document.

18. Can the brochure be presented as an attachment or exhibit? Will such an attachment count towards page limit?

Yes, for your response to Question # 16, you may provide this as an attachment or exhibit and will not count towards the page limit.

19. Attachment 1 NCI BITSDIS Draft SOW; page 6, 6.4 definition and design services. Is this task 4?

Yes, 6.4 is Task 4 – Definition and Design Services.

20. Section 6.1, page 5 of the Draft SOW. What is the secure system for folder/document/workspace management preferred or in use by the NCI?

The Government currently uses a combination of document and workspace management solutions to include but not limited to; MS Teams, Confluence, OneDrive, and others. The contractor will be expected to work with the Government to define the appropriate tools for the effort.

21. Section 6.3, page 6 of the Draft SOW. Do EA models currently exist? If yes, what platform are they managed within?

EA models do not currently exist.

22. Section 6.3, page 6 of the Draft SOW. What business intelligence toolsets are currently in use?

BI tools are not currently in wide use.

23. Section 6.3, page 6 of the Draft SOW. Will the Government provide a high-level view of the current NCI-wise Enterprise Architecture and Information Architecture?

Yes, the Government will share existing EA documentation with the awarded contractor.

24. Section 6.4, page 6 of the Draft SOW. The SOW goes directly from Task 3 to Task 5, without a listing for Task 4. Is 6.4 meant to be Task 4?

Yes, 6.4 is Task 4 – Definition and Design Services.

25. Section 6.6, page 8 of the Draft SOW. Can the Government provide the list of external validation and certification bodies?

There are no external validation or certification bodies for this work.

26. Section 6.12, page 9 of the Draft SOW. Does the SOW consolidate work currently being delivered across multiple contracts currently in place at NCI? If so, which contracts?

See response to Questions 4 and 5.

27. Section 7, page 12 of the Draft SOW. The due date of the 10th calendar day of the month under the referenced section on page 12 does not align with the date contained deliverables tables on page 13. Will the Government align the due date within the text (page 12) to coincide with the due date (15th calendar day of the month) for Draft Monthly Status and Progress Report?

Aligned dates to read on Section 7, page 12 of the Draft SOW “Draft reports shall be forwarded to the COR by the 15th calendar day of the month following the reporting period”.

28. Section 7, page 11 of the Draft SOW. Please specify which deliverables are required to be submitted as three (3) draft printed copies and one electric copy for review and comment with Final deliverable products submitted as five (5) final bound copies, one (1) unbound flat final copy suitable for reproduction, and an electronic copy?

See Delivery Schedule on Page 13 of the SOW. Also, on page 11 it states that it is for all draft deliverables.

29. To help understand purchases and/or travel that might be required, what kinds of other direct costs (ODCs) are currently required/needed?

ODC’s will consist primarily of travel.

30. Would the Government please share the problems that each of the initiatives are supposed to solve?

Information is provided in the Background, Objective and Scope sections of the SOW.

31. Is there a Business Requirements document or charter available to better understand what the user needs are?

This is a draft SOW that was released with this RFI. The statement of work that will be released with the solicitation will provide more information on what the user needs are.

32. Will NCI identify, prioritize and provide a list of the off-the-shelf solutions or customized solutions built on available technologies?

These will be provided with each Task Order as appropriate.

33. Would the Government please provide the technology strategy and share that information with potential offerors? For e.g. use of emerging capabilities in AI vs conventional analytics.

These will be provided with each Task Order as appropriate.

34. For the Clinical Trial Reporting Program (CTRP), will this database include Trial Operational Data similar to Clinicaltrials.gov? Will this database also include medical, scientific, genomics data sets?

Trial Operational Data: all registration data in ClinicalTrials.gov is captured in CTRP. No genomic data is included and medical/scientific is limited to diagnosis and demographic data.

35. For the Correlative Study Management System (CSMS), will this system copy data from Study sites which are private, academic, non-profits? Does the Government plan to provide a standardized service for sites to leverage and include in the RFQ?

CSMS receives data from biobanks and clinical trial groups. The CSMS will be used for projects and programs as the NCI deems appropriate. Web services are currently under development.