A_3-Statement_of_Work.pdf

ATTACHMENT #3 – STATEMENT OF WORK

Travel and Administrative Management Support Services

HHS-NIH-NHLBI-CSB-RG-16-005-JF

December 21, 2015

A. INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is one of the world’s largest biomedical research organizations and is the focal point for funding medical research. The Center for Scientific Review (CSR) is the portal for NIH grant applications and is the central receipt point for most Public Health Service applications. As such, CSR is responsible for assigning applications it receives to scientific review groups for scientific review to funding components for award considerations. CSR also carries out peer review for the majority of research and research training applications submitted to NIH. The Scientific Review Evaluation Activities (SREA) Management and Service Center (MSC) coordinate review activities for CSR and 27 NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs). As such, the SREA MSC serves as a cornerstone in the foundation of the NIH extramural biomedical research program providing service to 27 NIH ICs, which include coordination of 2,000 peer review meetings per year, review of 80,000 grant applications per year and administrative support and travel service arrangements for over 30,000 domestic and foreign scientific non-federal reviewers per year.

Because grant applications must be processed within very specific timeframes in order to avoid missed funding opportunities by researchers, flexibility in travel support services is essential. Travel tickets and travel support services must meet the NIH timeframes and coincide with the high demand of volume.

B. PURPOSE

The specific objective of this requirement is for the continuation of services by a contractor to provide a wide range of travel support services to the NIH SREA MSC that acts as a centralized center for the or CSR and 27 NIH ICs. These services include, but are not limited to, the issuing tickets via airline or train; fiduciary services in support of hotel meeting events for peer review; reimbursement payments for after-the-fact travel exceptions, and invoicing/billing in accordance with SREA/NIH requirements.

C. TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

Independently, and not as an agent of the Government, the Contractor shall furnish all necessary labor materials, supplies, equipment, and services (except as otherwise specified herein) as specified in the Statement of Work set forth below.

The Contractor shall provide on an average approximately 2,700 transactions per month. The transaction(s) shall include, but not be limited to, airline tickets, rail tickets, reimbursement payments to reviewers, hotel payments for peer review, and etc. The Contractor shall maintain a minimum line of credit of 12 million dollars with corporate banks in order to sustain costs associated with the large volume of travel support activities without the use of a government credit carry receivables beyond 90 days, pending full reimbursement by the government. In addition, due to the personal nature of each transaction, the Contractor shall keep all personal data confidential for each reviewer and shall not share this information with any other contractors/vendors.

Due to the critical need of the subject services to support the SREA MSC with their mission as the portal for NIH grant applications and the CSR review for scientific merit, the Contractor shall demonstrate their ability to provide uninterrupted continuity of service after regular business hours and during emergency situations such as power outages, national emergency, or weather related storms.

Representative activities that shall be performed by Contractor staff, under this contract, include, but are not limited to the following:

Transportation Support Services

• The Contractor shall provide and arrange transportation services via air, train, ground, etc., for NIH peer review meeting attendees (non-federal reviewers) to coincide with NIH review council rounds.

• The Contractor shall provide the most cost effective and time efficient routing and scheduling options to meeting attendees and beneficial to the Government.

• The Contractor shall provide electronic tickets at the lowest available non-refundable round trip air from the reviewer’s domicile city destination to the NIH peer review meeting locations.

• Airline baggage fees for check-in or carry on-luggage imposed by airlines are not charged to the government and must be paid by the reviewer.

• The Contractor shall provide alternative delivery method if electronic ticketing is not viable or if there is lost tickets.

• The Contractor shall provide processing of reservations within (two) 2 business days of receiving request from reviewers.

• The Contractor shall provide a minimum of $200,000 in travel insurance with each issued ticket at no additional cost to the Government.

Administrative and Fiduciary Support Services

• The Contractor shall provide payment via non-Government credit card to hotels where peer review meetings are held throughout the United States for lodging, rental of meeting space, meeting room package, and AV equipment in support of peer review meetings. To understand the volume of activities and for cost purposes, assume that the approximate number of peer review hotel meeting space used per year is 30-50.

• The Contractor shall provide reimbursement payment to Foreign Reviewers and Domestic

Reviewers who may not have a U.S. Bank account or unable to receive direct deposit. To understand the volume of activities and for cost purposes, assume that the approximate number of reimbursement payments made per year is 50.

• The Contractor shall provide after-the-fact travel reimbursement payment for closed and paid out conference travel claims. To under the volume of activities and for cost purposes, assume that the approximate number of after-the-fact reimbursement payments made per year is 300- 500.

EXPECTED OUTCOME OF REQUIREMENTS

Transportation Support Services (Airfare/Rail/Ticketing)

The Contractor shall provide air/rail tickets to peer reviewers as listed on NIH meeting rosters.

Meeting rosters will be sent to the Contractor two months prior to the meeting. NIH Institute/Center staff is responsible for informing the traveler (4-6 weeks prior to the meeting) of their requirement to contact the Contractor to book their travel. Prior to NIH notifying the travelers, a roster of meeting attendees who will be attending the meeting with contact information, residential address, date of the meeting, meeting code, will be electronically sent to the Contractor. The Contractor shall use the meeting roster to confirm which reviewer should be calling for travel arrangements. The Contractor shall have the ability to receive from the SREA MSC COR electronic data transfer of reviewer and meeting information.

The Contractor shall issue coach, non-refundable electronic tickets. Reviewers will call the Contractor directly to make arrangements for air/rail fares. The Contractor shall obtain prior approval from the SREA MSC COR for any special accommodation request, first class or premium fares, or other special travel arrangements prior to issuing the ticket.

The Contractor shall issue electronic tickets unless otherwise directed by the traveler within 24 hours of booking. Any tickets that need to be mailed to a traveler must be mailed via first class mail unless the trip is scheduled to occur within 10 days and then the tickets shall be sent via Express Delivery and extra delivery charges will be paid by the Government. The maximum charge for sending a ticket via Express Delivery shall not exceed $25.00 ticket. When an electronic ticket is issued, a confirmation number shall be given to the reviewer via telephone, e-mail or facsimile.

The Contractor shall provide after hours or emergency 1-800 numbers, and a generic email address that allows flexibility to make changes to issue tickets or to cancel tickets due to inclement weather or unusual circumstances, which will assure a prompt response to traveler calls within the same day or 24 hours.

The Contractor shall offer the ability for reviewers to make travel arrangements by e-mail, online, or fax. Reviewers’ service requests made via e-mail, online, phone, or fax will be handled within the same day or 24 hours. NIH will be promptly informed within four (4) business hours of any technical problems with telephone, email, online, or fax connections.

The Contractor shall maintain a continuous customer satisfaction and investigate and respond to customer complaints within 24 hours after a complaint is received.

The Contractor may make alternate routing or personal travel arrangements for travel in conjunction with an NIH peer review meeting but unrelated to NIH business. However, the NIH will be responsible only for the cost of the round trip fare to and from the reviewer’s home residential address or from the reviewer’s point of temporary duty to the NIH meeting site location and return to the reviewer’s home residential location, whichever is the most cost efficient to the Government.

The Contractor shall provide non-refundable fares and electronic tickets for airfare travel.

Refundable fare may be used for reviewers traveling from and to foreign countries to attend an NIH peer review meeting with prior approval from the SREA MSC COR.

All travel must include the exclusive use of U.S. flag carriers.

Customer Service

The Contractor shall have direct contact with NIH staff members and reviewers and shall provide courteous and helpful service. The Contractor shall be working with Government staff members before, during, and after meetings. It is imperative that the Contractor provides up-to-the minute information related to reviewer travel. The Contractor shall be prepared to answer travel related inquiries for which the Contractor is responsible. This is not necessarily a status or update report but is considered to be a standard requirement for customer service. In addition, the Contractor shall be attentive to any last-minute changes regarding peer review meeting travel as requested by the NIH staff or the reviewer.

Administrative and Fiduciary Support Services

The Contractor shall provide fiduciary services for the payment of NIH peer review meeting events in hotels used for peer review and NIH site visits. This includes hotel lodging, rental of meeting space, and AV equipment. By providing this requirement, the Contractor shall make direct payment to the hotel for sleeping rooms, rental of meeting room, and AV equipment.

NIH Scientific Review Officers (SROs) will make arrangements with the hotels, secure an unsigned contract and forward to the NIH SREA Management and Service Center for review.

The SREA Management and Service Center will send to the Contractor for signature of contract and finalized direct payment to the hotel.

Upon completion of the meeting, the hotel shall send the billing summary to the Contractor and forward to the NIH SREA Management and Service Center for verification of services rendered.

The NIH SREA Center will review and send the verified billing summary to the Contractor for authorizing final direct payment to the hotel. All costs shall be submitted in actual dollars and cents with a copy of the master bill summary from the Hotel.

Any disputed charges noted by the NIH SREA Center shall be resolved between the Contractor and the Hotel.

1. The Contractor shall provide reimbursement payments to Foreign Reviewers and after-the Fact Exceptions.

The NIH is seeking fiduciary services for payment of Foreign Reviewers who are unable to register in the NIH Secure Payee Registration System (SPRS). The NIH recruits foreign scientific reviewers to serve on the NIH Peer Review meetings, but most of the foreign reviewers do not have a US Bank Account to register for direct deposit payments in the NIH Secure Payee Registration System (SPRS). In addition, a small percentage of Domestic Reviewers who are registered in SPRS have bank accounts that do not accept direct deposit payments (ACH). The Contractor shall provide direct reimbursement payment via paper check upon notification by the Government.

Occasionally, the NIH receives reimbursement claims by reviewers who attended a peer review meeting after the meeting is closed and paid out by NIH. These are considered after-the-fact exceptions. The Contractor shall provide direct reimbursement payment via paper check upon notification by the Government.

The NIH SREA MSC will send NIH Conference Reports for Peer Review Reimbursements (payments that include honorarium) and After-the-Fact travel exception forms.

The Contractor shall make direct payment to the foreign reviewer via paper check and issue approved payment as Peer Review Consultant Reimbursement via certified mail, DHL worldwide delivery, or appropriate delivery service using the Government negotiated discount rates where possible.

PHASE IN, PHASE OUT TRANSITION

The Contractor shall have a 45 day phase in transition period to assume the full travel support services from the previous Contractor. In the event the Government re-competes the requirements of this SOW and prior to completion of this Task Order’s period of performance, the Contractor shall, at the

Government’s option, provide the Government with a Phase-Out Plan that will ensure an orderly and successful transition of services should the incumbent Contractor not be selected during the re-competition.

As part of the Phase-Out Plan, the Contractor shall adequately train the successful contractor’s employees following any re-competition for services for CSR. The phase-out process must adhere to the requirements stipulated by FAR 52.237-3 Continuity of Services (Jan 1991).