Amendment_1.pdf

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended, by one of the following methods:

(a) By completing items 8 and 15, and returning or (c) By separate letter or telegram which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment your desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made by telegram or letter, provided each telegram or letter makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

E. IMPORTANT: Contractor is not, is required to sign this document and return copies to the issuing office.

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT 1. CONTRACT ID CODE

2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NO. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE 4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO. 5. PROJECT NO. (If applicable)

7. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than Item 6) CODE

STANDARD FORM 30 (REV. 10-83)

Prescribed by GSA FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

FACILITY CODE

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION

NO.

9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers is extended, is not extended.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA (If required) copies of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted;

13. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO MODIFICATION OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS.

IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

CHECK ONE A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE CONTRACT ORDER NO.

IN ITEM 10A.

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc.) SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER (Specify type of modification and authority)

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect.

15C. DATE SIGNED

15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print)

16C. DATE SIGNED

16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print)

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

PAGE OF PAGES

6. ISSUED BY CODE

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (No., street, county, State and ZIP Code) (X)

CODE

15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR

(Signature of person authorized to sign)

16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

(Signature of Contracting Officer)

NSN 7540-01-152-8070

Previous edition unusable

Purpose: To correct the year of anticipated period of performance in the Pre-solicitation Notice #HHS-NIH-NHLBI-CSB-

RG-16-005-JF

Anticipated Period of Performance: The anticipated period of performance is 5 years from the date of award. The anticipated award date is March 15, 2016.

Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Rockledge Dr. Bethesda, MD, Office of Acquisitions, 6701 Rockledge Dr, RKL2/6145 MSC 7902, Bethesda, MD, 20892-7902, UNITED

STATES

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

1 7

11/04/2015

Ms. Nora I. Rivera, M.Ed., FAC III

11/4/2015

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s (NHLBI) Center for Scientific Review (CSR)

TRAVEL AND ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SERVICES

PRE‐SOLICITATION NOTICE

HHS‐NIH‐NHLBI‐CSB‐RG‐16‐005‐JF

Contracting Office Address Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Rockledge Dr. Bethesda, MD, Office of Acquisitions, 6701 Rockledge Dr, RKL2/6145 MSC 7902, Bethesda, MD, 20892‐7902, UNITED STATES

Description This is a small business Pre‐solicitation Notice. This is not a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), on behalf of the Center for Scientific Review (CSR), is seeking small businesses with the ability to provide travel and administrative management support services for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Center for Scientific Review (CSR) Scientific Review and Evaluation Award (SREA) Management and Service Center (MSC). The specific purpose 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 CSR and 27 NIH Institutes/Centers (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.

The designated NAICS code for this work effort is 561510. An organization that is not considered a small business under NAICS 561510 should not submit a response to this notice.

Background The NIH is one of the world’s largest biomedical research organizations and is the focal point for funding medical research. The 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 SREA MSC coordinates review activities for CSR and 27 NIH 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.

Project Requirements The Contractor shall provide on an average approximately 1500 to 2000 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

SREA TRAVEL AND ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SERVICES

Pre‐solicitation Notice #HHS‐NIH‐NHLBI‐CSB‐RG‐16‐005‐JF P a g e | 2 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 shall 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 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 cost purposes, assume that the approximate number of reimbursement payments made per year is 50.

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The Contractor shall provide after‐the‐fact travel reimbursement payment for closed and paid out conference travel claims. To understand the volume of activities and cost purposed, assume that the approximate number of after‐the‐fact reimbursement payments made per year is (300‐500).

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.

Contract Type and Funding Mechanism The government anticipates awarding one (1) Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract. The requirement will be funded via task order mechanism.

Anticipated Period of Performance The anticipated period of performance is 5 years from the date of award. The anticipated award date is March 15, 2016.

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 Contracting Officer’s Representative (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 COTR 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

P a g e | 4 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 COTR.

All travel shall 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.

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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, worldwide delivery service, 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 train and assume the full travel support services from the previous Contractor.

Capability Statement Small business concerns that believe they possess the capabilities necessary to undertake this work should submit complete documentation of their capabilities to the Contracting Officer. The capability statements will be evaluated on the following criteria:

The Offeror must demonstrate the ability, competence and experience performing large volumes of travel support services both domestic and foreign, data entry and fiduciary support.

Additionally, the capability statement should include: 1) the total number of employees; 2) the professional qualifications of personnel as it relates to the requirement; 3) a description of general and specific past experience and ability to carry the minimum line of credit; 4) an outline of previous projects that are similar to the project requirements in which the organization and proposed personnel have participated; and 5) any other information considered relevant to this program.

The capability statement must not exceed 5 single sided or 2.5 double sided pages in length and using a 12‐ point font size minimum.

Interested small business organizations are required to identify their size standards in accordance with the Small Business Administration. The government requests that no proprietary or confidential business data

P a g e | 6 be submitted in a response to this notice. However, responses that indicate the information therein is proprietary will be properly safeguarded for Government use only. Capability statements must include the name and telephone numbers of a point of contact having authority and knowledge to discuss responses with Government representatives. Capability statements in response to this market survey that do not provide sufficient information for evaluation will be considered non‐responsive. When submitting this information, please reference the Pre‐solicitation Notice number.

Questions regarding this Pre‐solicitation Notice must be submitted via email by Monday, November 9, 2015; 9:00 am (EST) to the Contracting Officer, Ms. Nora Rivera, at riverani@nhlbi.nih.gov.

All capability statements sent in response to this Pre‐solicitation Notice must be submitted electronically (via email) to Ms. Nora I. Rivera, Contracting Officer, at riverani@nhlbi.nih.gov in either MS Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), to the due date of this announcement. All responses must be received via email 15 consecutive days from the posting date – Wednesday, November 18, 2015; 9:00 am (EST).

Disclaimer and Important Notes:

This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in the response. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your 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 review of the responses received, pre‐ solicitation and solicitation notices may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. The solicitation release date is pending.

Original Point of Contact Ms. Nora I. Rivera, Contracting Officer, NHLBI COAC Services Branch, Phone (301) 435‐0712, Email:

riverani@nhlbi.nih.gov.

Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Rockledge Dr. Bethesda, MD, Office of Acquisitions 6701 Rockledge Dr. RKL2/6145 MSC 7902, Bethesda, MD, 20892‐7902, UNITED STATES.