Source Sought Notice Final.pdf

General Information:

Document Type: Sources Sought (FDA-SSN-1224105)

Release Date: March 3, 2020

Response Date: March 13, 2020 at 3.00 P.M. EST via e-mail to Ravichandan.Palaniandy@fda.hhs.gov

Contract Information: Ravi Chandan Palaniandy

Contract Specialist

Office of Acquisition and Grants Services

U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Tel: 301-796-4378

Email: Ravichandan.Palaniandy@fda.hhs.gov

Description: Access to Sales Data and Information Report

This is a Small Business Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources; (2) whether they are small businesses; HUBZone small businesses; service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition, 541910, Market Research and Public Opinion Polling

($15 million).

Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice.

**QUESTIONS WILL NOT BE ENTERTAINED AS A RESULT OF THIS NOTICE**

Background

On June 22, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the Family Smoking

Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. This historic legislation granted the U.S. Food and

Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to regulate tobacco products. The FDA then established the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) to regulate the manufacture, marketing, and distribution of tobacco products to protect public health and to reduce tobacco use by youth. CTP oversees the implementation of the Family Smoking mailto:Ravichandan.Palaniandy@fda.hhs.gov mailto:Ravichandan.Palaniandy@fda.hhs.gov mailto:Ravichandan.Palaniandy@fda.hhs.gov mailto:Ravichandan.Palaniandy@fda.hhs.gov

Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. To inform tobacco regulation, CTP’s Office of

Science implements and supports various internal and external research activities designed to expand the science base for tobacco regulation. One of these research activities is monitoring tobacco product sales to examine differences in sales across tobacco products at a particular point-in-time, and also potential changes in sales of tobacco products over time.

It is important for CTP to obtain information on tobacco product sales: 1) by product category (e.g., cigarettes and cigarette/roll-your-own tobacco, cigars, dissolvables, hookah tobacco, nicotine gels, pipe tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco, smokeless, e-cigarettes/electronic nicotine delivery systems; and nicotine replacement therapy for tobacco cessation); 2) by channel (e.g., brick-and-mortar retail outlets, online/internet, specialty shops, including cigar bars and “vape shops; and 3) by certain product attributes

(e.g., brand, product type, flavor, and nicotine content).

The purpose of this effort is for CTP to have access to information to effectively regulate the tobacco industry and reduce the risks to health from tobacco, having full knowledge and understanding of the US tobacco industry and tobacco marketplace. Such knowledge and understanding requires CTP to be able to measure the size, scope, direction of evolution, value and financial condition of the tobacco industry in this country and overseas. Effective regulation necessitates a full knowledge of the history of the individual companies in the tobacco industry and the history of the industry as whole.

Objectives

The objective of this effort is for CTP to obtain additional data and information on tobacco product sales from non-traditional channels (other than traditional brick and mortar stores) by product category and by certain product attributes to fulfill the CTP mission.

Scope of Work

The source need to provide the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)/Center for Tobacco

Products (CTP)/ Office of Science with the following:

a) Five (5) customized reports in the Base Period and each Option Period that document and summarize sales of hookah, cigar, ENDS, smokeless products, and cigarettes from nontraditional distribution channels such as online channels or from specialty stores that include “vape shops.”

b) One (1) customized report in the Base Period and each Option Period on the sales of emerging new tobacco products such as heated tobacco products.

Shall provide a total of five (5) customized reports that document and summarize sales of hookah, cigar, ENDS, smokeless products, and cigarettes from nontraditional channels such as online channels and specialty stores that include “vape shops.” The five (5) reports are as follows:

1) Summary description of US sales of hookah tobacco from nontraditional distribution channels such as online channels and tobacco specialty stores overall and for each available nontraditional distribution channel by available product attributes such as brand, product type, flavor, and/or nicotine content;

2) Summary description of US sales of cigars from nontraditional distribution channels such as online channels and tobacco specialty stores overall and for each available nontraditional distribution channel by available product attributes such as brand, product type, flavor, and/or nicotine content;

3) Summary of US sales of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) through nontraditional distribution channels such as online channels and specialty channels including “vape shops” overall and for each available nontraditional distribution channel by product attributes such as brand, product type, flavor, and/or nicotine content;

4) Summary description of US smokeless tobacco sales from nontraditional distribution channels such as online channels and tobacco specialty stores overall and for each available nontraditional distribution channel by available product attributes such as brand, product type, flavor, and/or nicotine content;

5) Summary description of US sales of cigarettes from nontraditional distribution channels such as online channels and tobacco specialty stores overall and for each available nontraditional distribution channel by available product attributes such as brand, product type, flavor, and/or nicotine content;

In addition, the contractor shall provide one (1) customized report that documents and summarizes sales of emerging new tobacco products.

The Base Period reports shall include data and information for 2017, 2018, 2019, and

2020. For each Option Period, reports shall include data and information for that year, for total coverage of the years 2017 – 2024.

Each of these customized research reports shall include, if available:

a) Research background and approach

b) Geography: U.S. and states

c) Annual U.S. product sales from the nontraditional distribution channel overall and for each available nontraditional distribution channel (in volume, value terms, and in channel shares of the overall sales in the U.S.)

d) Annual product sales by state from the nontraditional distribution channel overall and for each available nontraditional distribution channel (in volume, value terms, and in channel shares of the overall sales in the state)

e) Annual product sales from the nontraditional distribution channel overall and for each available nontraditional distribution channel by major brand and by major manufacturer (in both volume and value terms)

f) Annual product sales from the nontraditional distribution channel overall and for each available nontraditional distribution channel by other product attributes, including product type, nicotine content, flavor, claims/messaging, and product origin (in both volume and value terms)

g) Annual product sales by promotion and price

h) Data used for the report with visualization tools

i) Search, save, download and copy data

j) Share content with colleagues and use limited extracts in reports and presentations for third party distribution.

Period of Performance

The period of performance is base year with four (4) one (1) year option period.

Capabilities and Technical Experience:

Provide a capability statement describing how your company would meet the requirements.

Business Status:

Please provide your business size status (e.g., small business, 8(a), HUBZone, etc) and

DUNS number.

Disclaimer and Important Notes:

This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in 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 a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.

Responses to the sources sought shall be no longer than 10 pages.