NOTICE OF INTENT to Sole Source.pdf

NOTICE OF INTENT to Sole Source

1. SOLICITATION NUMBER: NIMH25002736_1

2. TITLE: Accessibility Management Platform (AMP) Annual Subscription Renewal

3. CLASSIFICATION CODE:R499 – SCIENTIFIC CONSULTING SERVICES

NAICS CODE: 541519 – Other Computer Related Services

4. RESPONSE DATE: July 15, 2025, at 12:00 PM EST

5. PRIMARY POINT OF CONTACT:

Joe Kennedy Joseph.kennedy@nih.gov Phone: 262-391-7630

6. DESCRIPTION:

INTRODUCTION

This is a notice of intent, not a request for a quotation.

THIS IS A PRE-SOLICITATION NON-COMPETITIVE (NOTICE OF INTENT)

SYNOPSIS TO AWARD A CONTRACT WITHOUT PROVIDING FOR FULL OR

OPEN COMPETITION (INCLUDING BRAND-NAME).

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) intends to negotiate on a sole source basis with Level Access, Inc., for a base plus 4 option years contract, for Annual Subscription Renewal.

NORTH AMERICAN INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (NAICS) CODE

and SET ASIDE STATUS The intended procurement is classified under NAICS code 541519 – Other Computer Related Services with a Size Standard of $34M.

This intended procurement will be a small business set-aside requirement.

REGULATORY AUTHORITY

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13—Simplified Acquisition Procedures. Contracts awarded using FAR Part 13—Simplified Acquisition Procedures are exempt from the requirements of FAR Part 6—Competition Requirements. FAR Subpart 13.106-1 (b) Soliciting from a single source provides that: For purchases not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold, Contracting officers may solicit from one source IF the contracting officer determines that the circumstances of the contract action deem only one source reasonably available (e.g., urgency, exclusive licensing agreements, brand-name OR industrial mobilization).

The resultant contract will include all applicable provisions and clauses in effect through the Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) Number 2025-04, dated May 12, 2025.

DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENT

Purchase Description

NIMH is required by Congress per the 1998 amended Rehabilitation Act to make sure that the Institutes electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities. The existing “AMP (Accessibility

Management Platform) User Subscription” is used by NIMH HQ to provide custom software design and development for NIMH and for the aforementioned purpose. The AMP license renewal/upgrade itself is necessary for NIMH HQ to continue to provide an automated method for testing the 508 accessibilities of the applications produced by NIMH.

Specific Requirements

The purpose of this requirement is to procure Accessibility Management Platform (AMP) Annual Subscription Renewal – Team Edition

Salient Characteristics:

Software Subscription Renewal

Delivery Date

Ship To: National Institute of Mental Health

Attn: Tony Jones

6001 Executive Blvd.

Rockville, MD 20852

Antonio.Jones@nih.gov

Period of Performance

The proposed period of performance shall be base plus 4 option years.

Base: 8/1/2025 – 7/31/2026

Level of Effort N/A

Government Responsibilities

Reporting Requirements

OTHER CONSIDERARTIONS:

Data Rights

The NIMH shall have unlimited rights to, and ownership of all deliverables provided under this contract, including reports, recommendations, briefings, work plans, and all other deliverables. This includes the deliverables provided under the basic contract and any optional task deliverables exercised by the contracting officer. In addition, it includes any additional deliverables required by contract change. The definition of “unlimited rights” is contained in Federal Acquisition

Regulation (FAR) 27.401, “Definitions.” FAR clause 52.227-14, “Rights in Data-

General”, is hereby incorporated by reference and made a part of this contract/order.

Section 508—Electronic and Information Technology Standards

The contractor shall comply with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C.

§ 794d), as amended by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-220), August 7, 1998.

Confidentiality of Information:

The Contractor will not disclose, publish, divulge, release, or make known, in any manner or to any extent, to any individual other than the authorized government employee, the content of any sensitive information provided under this contract.

For this requirement, the government may provide to the contractor information or data of a personal nature about individual(s) or proprietary information or data pertaining to this project, which is confidential. This requirement is expected to generate information or data which is confidential. The Contractor shall handle all sensitive information or data in a secure manner and consult with the authorized government employee prior to any release, disclosure, dissemination, or publication.

(INCLUDING BRAND-NAME) DETERMINATION

The determination by the Government to award a contract without providing for full and open competition is based upon the market research conducted.

Specifically, Level Access, Inc., is the only vendor in the marketplace that can provide the services required by the National Institute of Mental Health.

The intended source is:

Level Access, Inc.

1310 N Courthouse Rd, Suite 860 Arlington VA 22201

Level Access, Inc.’s core line of business is to test IT applications for their accessibility to users with disabilities against defined accessibility standards, including Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. To carry out this testing process, Level Access, Inc. (LA) uses it proprietary testing methodology which includes manual testing, automated testing tools, and functionality testing by individuals who are disabled using the leading assistive technologies. After testing, LA consolidates the results and reports the data in its proprietary Accessibility Management Platform (AMP). These reports: (i) identify and prioritize the accessibility violations that were found during the testing process; (ii) explain why applications are inaccessible and provide high level remediation recommendations that clients can implement to improve the accessibility of the tested applications; and (iii) provide code-level guidance on methods for clients to implement the required accessibility enhancements.

Additionally, LA is the sole source provider of AMP. Maintenance and updates to LA's Best Practices Library and Level Access Academy are components of AMP subscriptions and are solely managed by LA. Any re-sellers of AMP act solely as representatives on our behalf.

CLOSING STATEMENT

THIS SYNOPSIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE PROPOSALS. However, interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this notice.

A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. All responsible sources may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation which shall be considered by the agency. The information received will normally be considered solely for the purposes of determining whether to proceed on a non-competitive basis or to conduct a competitive procurement.

Responses to this notice shall contain sufficient information to establish the interested parties' bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the requirement and include: unit price, list price, shipping and handling costs, the delivery period after contract award, the prompt payment discount terms, the F.O.B. Point (Destination or Origin), the Unique Entity ID UEI), the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and the certification of business size.

Responses must include the place of manufacturing (i.e. address if supply/equipment is a domestic end product and include country of manufacture). All offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov.

All responses must be received by the closing date and time of this announcement and must reference the solicitation number, NIMH25002736_1.

Responses must be submitted electronically to Joe Kennedy, Contract Specialist, at joseph.kennedy@nih.gov

U.S. Mail and fax responses will not be accepted.

mailto:joseph.kennedy@nih.gov