Amendment_2_-_2014011.pdf

Amendment 2, RFP No. NIAID-DAIDS-NIHAI2014011 1

Amendment No. 2

NIAID-DAIDS-NIHAI2014011

“Immune-Based Antiviral Products for Suppression/Elimination of HIV-1”

Solicitation Number: NIAID-DAIDS-NIHAI2014011

Amendment Number: Two (2)

Amendment Issue Date: October 22, 2014

Proposal Due Date (Unchanged): Monday, November 3, 2014 at 3:00 PM, Local Time

Issued By: John R. Manouelian

Contracting Officer

OA/DEA/NIAID/NIH/DHHS

6700-B Rockledge Drive, Room 3214, MSC 7612 Bethesda, Maryland 20892-7612

Points of Contact: PRIMARY virtsa@niaid.nih.gov Ashley Virts, Contracting Officer Phone: 301.402.7084

SECONDARY

manouelj@mail.nih.gov John R. Manouelian, Contracting Officer Phone: 301.451.3694

Offerors must acknowledge receipt of this Amendment by identifying this amendment number and date of the amendment on each copy of the proposal submitted. Failure to receive your acknowledgement may result in the rejection of your proposal. Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the solicitation remain unchanged and in full force and effect. The purpose of Amendment 2 is to answer questions from potential offerors regarding the solicitation, as reflected below:

Amendment 2, RFP No. NIAID-DAIDS-NIHAI2014011 2

Question 1:

Section L – Instructions, Conditions, and Notices to Offerors, item 2.a.2.I. (on page 56 of the solicitation), requires that the offeror include the following on the cover page of the proposal:

“the RFP title, number, name of organization, DUNS No., identification of the proposal part, and indicate whether the proposal is an original or a copy.” However, under item I. Proposal Submission of Attachment 1 - Packaging and Delivery of the Proposal, it states the following:

“Disc and online proposals must be exactly the same.” Since the electronic files are identical, is it permissible to label them both as “original”?

Response to Question 1:

Yes, since you will provide the same electronic copy of the Technical proposal and electronic copy of the Business proposal on Disc and online via eCPS, it is proper to label each of these files as “Original” (i.e., “Original” Technical Proposal and “Original” Business Proposal), accordingly.

Question 2:

Under Section L - Instructions, Conditions and Notices to Offerors, item 2.c.12.f. (on page 101 of the solicitation), it states that if subcontractors are proposed, the following is required: “Note:

Organizations that plan to enter into a subcontract with an educational concern under a contract awarded under this RFP should refer to the following Web Site for a listing of clauses that are required to be incorporated in Research & Development (R&D) subcontracts with educational institutions: http://ocm.od.nih.gov/contracts/rfps/FDP/FDPclausecover.htm.”. However, the link provided is broken. Please provide the clauses required for subcontracts with educational institutions.

Please also consider extending the proposal deadline by 45 days to give them time to evaluate the impact of these clauses on their costs so that it may be reflected in the business proposal.

Response to Question 2:

The above referenced link is hereby deleted and replaced with the following, which provides a general clause listing for each particular type of contract: http://oamp.od.nih.gov/dgs/general-clauses . Nevertheless, it is the successful offeror’s responsibility to determine what FAR and HHSAR clauses should be utilized, based upon the subcontract type being awarded. Further, it is the successful offeror’s responsibility to ensure that all applicable terms, conditions and local NIH articles that are included in the prime contract flow down to each subcontract that is awarded.

The above link is provided as a courtesy to Offerors, who should already have access to this type of information via the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) under Part 52 – Solicitation Provisions and Contract Clauses. Further, since any subcontract will not be executed until time of award or after, it in no way inhibits an offeror’s ability to submit a proposal. Therefore, the due date and time specified for proposal receipt remains unchanged.

Amendment 2, RFP No. NIAID-DAIDS-NIHAI2014011 3

Question 3:

It appears that the link (http://csrc.nist.gov/cryptval/) found on page 30 of the solicitation, under Article H.23. Information and Physical Access Security, paragraph C – Standard for Encryption Language, HHSAR 352.239-71, (January 2010) subparagraph b., is broken. This same broken link is also found on page 63 of the solicitation, under in Section L – Instructions, Conditions and Notices to Offerors, item 2.a.14., Information and Physical Access Security, paragraph C – Standard for Encryption Language, HHSAR 352.239-71, (January 2010), subparagraph b. Can you please provide a working link for this information?

Response to Question 3:

The above referenced link is hereby deleted and replaced with the following, under each respective aforementioned area: http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/STM/cmvp/

Question 4:

The following links require a password to access:

1. https://ocio.nih.gov/InfoSecurity/Policy/Documents/Final- InfoSecAwarenessTrainPol.doc (found on page 35, under Article H.23. Information and Physical Access Security, item E.2.b. Role-based Training, and on page 68, under Section L – Instructions, Conditions, and Notices to Offerors, item 2.a.14.E.2.b. Role-based Training).

2. https://ocio.nih.gov/InfoSecurity/training/Pages/nihitrob.aspx (found on page 35, under Article H.23. Information and Physical Access Security, item E.2.c. Rules of Behavior, and on page 68, under Section L – Instructions, Conditions, and Notices to Offerors, item 2.a.14.E.2.c. Rules of Behavior).

3. https://ocio.nih.gov/InfoSecurity/Policy/Documents/NIH_PII_Spillage_Proced.doc [found on page 36, under Article H.23. Information and Physical Access Security, item E.4. Loss And/Or Disclosure of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) – Notification of Data Breach, and on page 70, under Section L – Instructions, Conditions, and Notices to Offerors, item 2.a.14.E.4. Loss And/Or Disclosure of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) – Notification of Data Breach].

4. https://ocio.nih.gov/InfoSecurity/Policy/Documents/ISSO_Stolen_Device- Media_Handling_Procedures.doc [found on page 36, under Article H.23. Information and Physical Access Security, item E.4. Loss And/Or Disclosure of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) – Notification of Data Breach, and on page 70, under Section L – Instructions, Conditions, and Notices to Offerors, item 2.a.14.E.4. Loss And/Or Disclosure of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) – Notification of Data Breach].

Would you consider making this information available to offerors so that we may assess the impact of the requirement on our proposal?

Response to Question 4:

PDFs of the each of the above aforementioned documents are now provided as Attachments 1-4 of this Amendment.

Amendment 2, RFP No. NIAID-DAIDS-NIHAI2014011 4

Question 5:

On Attachment 16 – Small Business Subcontracting Plan, on page 2 and on page 9 (under item 6.b.) the following link is broken: http://www.hhs.gov/about/smallbusiness/osdbustaff.html. Is the following link a substitute for the information that we were supposed to find at the above broken link: http://www.hhs.gov/asfr/ogapa/osbdu/Small%20Business/subcontractplan.html ?

Response to Question 5:

We have checked the referenced link (http://www.hhs.gov/about/smallbusiness/osdbustaff.html) and have confirmed that it is not broken. Please check your browser or try using a different browser to open the link. The aforementioned link (http://www.hhs.gov/about/smallbusiness/osdbustaff.html) takes you to the Office of Small & Disadvantaged Business Utilization’s (OSDBU’s) website, so that you can view the listing of the HHS OSDBU staff and their related contact information.

The other link (http://www.hhs.gov/asfr/ogapa/osbdu/Small%20Business/subcontractplan.html) that you cited in your question is not a substitute for the link found on page 9 of Attachment 16 – Small Business Subcontracting Plan, under item 6.b.

(http://www.hhs.gov/about/smallbusiness/osdbustaff.html). The link that you provided is a link to the Small Business Subcontracting Plan template, which is also included as Attachment 16 to the solicitation.

Question 6:

The link (http://www.hhs.gov/hhsmanuals/logisticsmanual/Appendix Q_HHS Contracting Guide.pdf) found on page 98 of the solicitation, under Section L – Instructions, Conditions and Notices to Offerors, item 2.c.10., Other Administrative Data, subparagraph 4., is broken. Can you please provide a working link for this information?

Response to Question 6:

Please use the following link for the information found in Section L as defined above:

https://web.archive.org/web/20111015213630/http://www.hhs.gov/hhsmanuals/logisticsmanual/ Appendix%20Q_HHS%20Contracting%20Guide.pdf . This document is also included for your convenience, as Attachment 5, HHS Contracting Guide for Contract of Government Property, to this Amendment.

Question 7:

The link (https://ecps.niaid.nih.gov) provided under Attachment 1 – Packaging and Delivery of the Proposal, Section III., Online Submission of Electronic Proposals, item A.5., is broken. Can you please provide a working link for this information?

Response to Question 7:

If you click on the link provided (https://ecps.niaid.nih.gov), it should redirect you to the main page of NIAID’s electronic Contract Proposal Submission (eCPS) website at https://ecps.nih.gov/ . If you are still having difficulty accessing the page, please type the link (https://ecps.nih.gov/) directly into the address bar of your browser. While on this main page, there is a clickable “How To Submit” icon/phrase at the top of the page, which will take you to a

Amendment 2, RFP No. NIAID-DAIDS-NIHAI2014011 5 page instructing you on “How to Submit an Electronic Proposal”. This page may also be accessed directly via the following link: https://ecps.nih.gov/NIAID/home/howto.

Question 8:

The link (http://oamp.od.nih.gov/DGS/rc.html) associated with Individual Representations and Certifications, provided under Attachment 9, Section K – Representations, Certifications, and Other Statements of Offerors, item 1.b.2.ii., is broken (the website states, “Page not found.”).

Can you please provide a working link for this information?

Response to Question 8:

Please use the following link for the information found in Attachment 9, Section K – Representations, Certifications, and Other Statements of Offerors, item 1.b.2.ii., regarding Individual Representations and Certifications: http://oamp.od.nih.gov/content/individual-representations-and-certifications. While on this webpage, please select either the PDF or Word version of Negotiated Acquisition, as this is the applicable version of Individual Representations and Certifications required for this solicitation.

Question 9:

The link (http://intranet.hhs.gov/infosec/docs/policies_guides/COG/Contractor_Oversight_Guide.pdf ) included as a footnote 1 to Attachment 26, Commitment to Protest Non-Public Information Contractor Agreement, is not working. Can you please provide a working link for this information?

Response to Question 9:

This referenced link is for HHS Official Use only, and the information contained within is not required in order for an offeror to submit a proposal.

Attachments to this Amendment:

Attachment 1: NIH Information Security Awareness and Training Policy (January 31, 2011) Attachment 2: NIH Information Technology General Rules of Behavior Attachment 3: Personally Identifiable Information (PII) Breach/Spillage Incident Procedures for

ISSOs Attachment 4: Procedures for Lost or Stolen Computing Device and Media Attachment 5: HHS Contracting Guide for Contract of Government Property