Amendment_to_CIDR_2.pdf

NATIONAL HEART, LUNG, AND BLOOD INSTITUTE

SOLICITATION NUMBER HHS-NIH-NHLBI-CSB-HG-2016-17-DL

AMENDMENT NO. 2

DATE OF ISSUANCE: November 4, 2015

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth below. The hour and the date specified for receipt of proposals remains unchanged. Offerors must acknowledge receipt of the amendment prior to the hour and the date specified in the solicitation or as amended, by one of the following methods:

I. By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the proposal submitted. Please note that this is the preferred method.

II. By separate letter or email which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment number.

FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE

DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF PROPOSALS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND

DATE SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR PROPOSAL. If by virtue of this amendment you desire to change a proposal already submitted, such change may be made by letter, provided each letter makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

The purpose of this amendment is to publish questions and responses.

This amendment revises the solicitation to incorporate questions and responses as stated below:

1. Is the transition date 6 months from the date of award or 6 months from June 1st, 2016?

Response:

The 6-month transition period starts on the start date of the contract, which is currently estimated to be June 1, 2016.

2. Who owns the TRIAD building?

The TRIAD building is owned by Health Care Trust of America. The Government is currently leasing space within the TRIAD building for performance of the contract.

3. Is it understood that the NIH will lease the winning contractor the TRIAD building?

Yes, if the offeror chooses to perform the contract in the TRIAD building.

Offerors must state in their proposal whether or not they want to perform the contract in the TRIAD building, which is leased by the Government, OR the offeror may choose to perform the contract in their own facility that meets the mandatory criterion of being within a 100 mile radius of the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland [see RFP Section M, Item 3, on page 95].

4. Is the NIH paying all building upkeep on the TRIAD building? What does the building upkeep entail? Rent, utilities, internet, lawn maintenance, pest maintenance, taxes?

Yes, NIH will pay for all of the building upkeep. The contractor will not be responsible for the costs of maintenance. NIH has entered into a triple net lease with HTA Inc. that covers all the expenses related to the building. NIH covers the costs of building renovations and modifications. The need and scope of any renovations and modifications are funded by NIH, reviewed by NIH and require NIH pre-approval.

5. What percentage of the work can be subcontracted away from the Bethesda, MD property?

Response:

It’s not clear what is meant by “the Bethesda, MD property”. The government leased building for contract performance is in Baltimore, MD, or the offeror may propose their own facility that meets the mandatory criterion of being within a 100 mile radius of the NIH campus in Bethesda, MD. It is your business decision if you want to subcontract any percentage of the work.

There is no specified limit. You should propose what you think is the best approach for fulfilling the contract requirements. If any subcontracts are proposed, they should be described in detail in the proposal.

6. What are the current IT speeds at the TRIAD building? Is upgrading IT capabilities something the NIH is looking for in keeping up with current technologies?

The NIH maintains 1 gigabit/sec and 10 gigabit/sec connections to outside.

A 40 gigabit/sec connection is available between select endpoints in the Baltimore to Bethesda corridor. These connections should increase to 100 gigabit/sec in the near future. Connection speeds between various locations within the Triad Building have been continually upgraded to meet the demands imposed by the data production and analysis. The Contractor is not responsible for upgrading the IT capabilities from the building.

7. Can the winning contractor interview current CIDR staff in the objective realm of retaining them?

It is up to you if you want contact them, the staff are not under any obligation to do so.

8. Can the winning contractor get a list of current employees and their CVs?

The Government will not be providing a list, since it is not required. It is your business decision if you want to contact the current Contractor (Johns Hopkins University), to ask for a list.

9. Will the current list of SOP, procedures, and protocols be available to the winning contractor or is it understood the entity taking over will supply all new material?

The deliverables identified in the Attachment 3, Statement of Work, Section 7 on pages 3-4 will be made available to the winning contractor.

10. Who currently owns the CLIA certificate? NIH, Johns Hopkins, or CIDR?

The CLIA certificate is held by Johns Hopkins University for specific procedures/tests. A new contractor would have to have their own or obtain their own CLIA certification.

11. Is it expected that a new CLIA certificate will be applied for or can the current certificate be amended to reflect new ownership?

The CLIA certification is not transferrable. A new contractor would have to have their own or obtain their own CLIA certification.

12. Would it be possible to schedule an information interview with the current NIH Lab Director to double click (explore) on technical requirements and expectations?

Response:

No, due to the competitive nature of the procurement, private meetings with the Government cannot be held.

13. Would it be possible to arrange a site visit to tour the current labs or providers that are servicing the NIH today?

Response:

See RFP Section L, d. on pg. 57. A tour of the Government facility is already planned. The date was changed to November 9, 2015 in Amendment 1 to the RFP, issued on October 29th.

14. Would the NIH Lab Director or a Senior Lab representative of NIH be interested in visiting and touring one of our labs?

Site visits may be performed with offerors who are in the competitive range (i.e. selected for negotiations).

15. Section 3 (page 78) Technical Evaluation | Section A. Sharing Research Data. Is there a general outline that can be made available or any direction on specific examples of data NIH would like shared?

See Attachment 3, Statement of Work, Item 8., on pg. 17 for information about the data sharing requirement. This section also contains the following link: https://gds.nih.gov/03policy2.html.

16. Section 6 (page 96) Technical Evaluation Factors | Section A. Performance Genotyping and DNA Sequencing | Are there any published standards, procedures or genotyping and sequencing algorithms that are used currently that we can review with our lab(s)? I would like to review any established SOP (Standard Operating Practices) with our lab providers.

Acceptable performance metrics are specified in the Statement of Work. The offeror is free to provide or propose additional metrics and QC measures in their proposal.

17. Section 6 (page 96) Technical Evaluation Factors | Section B. Study Management | Would it be of value to setup a lab on the NIH HQ campus?

No Government space is currently available for performance of this contract on the NIH Campus in Bethesda, Maryland.

18. Attachment 3, page 5, d)Strategic Planning Meetings – budget 2 in person meetings at contractor’s facility. What costs would that include if the meetings are to occur at our facility (i.e. we wouldn’t charge food or travel of NIH personnel)?

No costs should be included since they will occur at the Contractor’s facility.

19. Budgets. We understand we are to provide a detailed Year 1 budget for Task Order 1 in the business proposal. We are also to respond to the sample task order for task area 2 with a fixed price cost proposal which should be included in the business proposal. Are these the only costs related to task area 2 which should be included in the business proposal?

Please refer to Attachment 9, Additional Business Proposal Instructions, Item 3, regarding the price list that must also be submitted for Task Area 2.

20. Page 86. For the small business subcontracting plan, should a plan be submitted based on the maximum of $213,478,000 even though our business proposal will not include a https://gds.nih.gov/03policy2.html detailed budget and breakdown for this maximum amount? (if our assumption from question 2 is correct)

Yes, the Small Business Subcontracting Plan should be based on the maximum amount of the contract. Although a detailed budget for all 7 years is not required, offerors should estimate subcontracting costs for the full 7 years of performance in the event the ceiling amount is reached.

21. Attachment 8 – are the resumes/CV’s acceptable in any format?

Yes, provided they include education as well as career experience related to the duties to be performed under the contract.

22. Technical Proposal Attachment 3, page 15. Does “Current accepted minimum coverage is 30, high-quality reads of each called base” mean that the coverage required is > 90% at a minimum of 30X for exomes? While a mean coverage of 30X is standard for whole genomes, requiring a minimum coverage of 30X for any targeted base in an exome is higher than normal for research studies.

Correct, exome coverage would also be benchmarked against standards in the field. This will require coverage that is higher than the current minimum for whole genomes. The standards for exome coverage are currently in flux and are expected to reach some accepted standard during the life of the contract. It is also expected that the standard for whole genome coverage with regards to read depth and percent coverage will rise during the course of the contract. The contractor will be expected to meet these improved standards.

23. Budget. What is to be included in the technical proposal cost information /summary of labor and direct costs budget? Just costs for Year 1 of Task Order 1? This plus the sample task order costs (for just Year 1)? An estimate of the breakdown for the max $213M over the full 7 years?

Response:

The Technical Proposal Cost Summary (Attachment 10) should include the direct costs for Year 1 of Task Order 1. The full 7 years should not be included. No prices related to Task Area 2 should be included in the technical proposal.