Sources Sought Notice 01.30.2024.pdf

SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE

NIAID PROFESSIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT SERVICES (PSTSS)

RFP Number: 75N93023R00010B

Sources Sought Reference Number: 75N93023R00010B

Type of Requirement

New Requirement Re-competition (Contract Numbers: 75N93019D00023, 75N93019D00024, 75N93019D00025, 75N93019D00026, and 75N93019D00027) Expansion of (Contract/RFP No.:______________)

Place of Performance

Place of performance is unknown at this time Place of performance is known

Recompetition (if applicable)

Name: Guidehouse Digital LLC Contract Number: 75N93019D00023 Address: 1676 International Drive Suite 800

Mclean, Virginia 22102

Name: Axle Informatics, LLC Contract Number: 75N93019D00024 Address: 1700 Rockville Pike Suite 400

Rockville, Maryland 20852

Name: CAMRIS International, Inc.

Contract Number: 75N93019D00025 Address: 3 Bethesda Metro Center Floor 16

Bethesda, Maryland 20814

Name: GAP Solutions Inc.

Contract Number: 75N93019D00026 Address: 205 Van Buren Street Suite 205

Herndon, Virginia 20170

Name: Kelly Services Inc.

Contract Number: 75N93019D00027 Address: 999 W. Big Beaver Road

Troy, Michigan 48084

Sources Sought Notice Information

Introduction 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. 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.

Background The mission of NIAID is to conduct and support basic, translational and clinical research to better understand, treat, and ultimately prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases. Infectious diseases include global killers such as human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), tuberculosis (TB), and malaria; emerging or reemerging threats such as influenza, novel pathogenic coronaviruses (e.g., Middle East respiratory syndrome), Ebola, Zika, chikungunya, multiple drug resistant bacteria (e.g., multi-drug resistant Staphylococcus aureus), and extensively drug resistant TB (XDR TB); and "deliberately emerging" threats from potential agents of bioterrorism.

Immune-mediated disorders include autoimmune diseases such as lupus and type 1 diabetes, asthma, allergies and graft rejection and other problems associated with tissue and organ transplantation.

For more than 60 years, NIAID research has led to new therapies, vaccines, diagnostic tests and other technologies that have improved the health of millions of people in the US and around the world. The scope of NIAID research portfolio has expanded considerably in recent years in response to new challenges such as bioterrorism, emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, and the increase of asthma prevalence among children in this country.

To accomplish this mission, NIAID conducts and supports a comprehensive portfolio of research that provides the scientific understanding and research platforms for translational and clinical research to develop and test vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics to prevent and treat the many infectious, immune-mediated, and allergic diseases that afflict people throughout the world.

New and expanding Congressional mandates, rapid evolution of research tools and technical capabilities, changing policies and information technologies, expanding research programs, and NIAID's leadership role in the global community has resulted in a critical requirement to obtain highly specialized scientific and technical services of a Contractor capable of flexible assignments and availability.

This is a technically complex and high throughput requirement that necessitates the vendor to have scientifically fluent and robust management resources to recruit an ample pool of highly specialized, labor categories (e.g., novel infectious disease experts) in a fast-paced environment. Vendors must have the ability to discriminate between specific scientific labor categories (as well as technical labor categories) and manage any issues that might arise throughout the performance of the contract. The vendor/s (as a prime contractor) must have sufficient experience to address any Task Order performance issues that arise across all labor categories, including in Biosafety Level (BSL) 1 - 4 laboratory environments. Since this will be a high throughput contract, the vendor must have meticulous record keeping and management experience of high-volume time sensitive requirements. Task Orders under this requirement will include cost reimbursement type, requiring vendors to have an audited accounting system in place to be eligible for award.

Interested vendors must have the capability to perform the Statement of Work in its entirety and provide all the labor categories listed herein.

The Government anticipates awarding Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts to multiple Contractors that meet the overall qualifications.

This is a recompetition of existing contracts entitled “NIAID Professional, Scientific, and Technical Support” with Guidehouse Digital LLC, Axle Informatics, LLC, CAMRIS International, Inc., GAP Solutions Inc., and Kelly Services Inc. under Contract Numbers 75N93019D00023, 75N93019D00024, 75N93019D00025, 75N93019D00026, and 75N93019D00027.

Purpose and Objectives The purpose of this contract is to provide professional, scientific, and technical support services to support NIAID’s current and emerging research priorities. Support includes specialized scientific support related to basic, translational and clinical research; vaccine research; general laboratory research at BSL- 2, -3 and -4; veterinary and scientific research in ABSL-2, -3 and -4 environments; and bioinformatics and computational biology. The contract shall not include services that are Inherently Governmental as defined by FAR 7.5, nor any personal services as defined by FAR 37.104.

Project Requirements The Contractor shall provide support services as described below. Services shall be furnished according to individual task orders issued during the contract period of performance.

Services involve providing professional expertise in microbiology, molecular biology, biochemistry, infectious diseases, immunology, and bioinformatics; and cutting-edge vaccine research to improve understanding of immune responses and to identify new vaccine targets for HIV/AIDS, malaria, influenza, Ebola, Zika, and other pathogens and diseases within the mission of NIAID. Support for NIAID’s international research efforts and NIAID’s participation in responding to worldwide crises and outbreaks is also included. In addition, this includes clinical trials support and other related expertise to conduct basic and applied research; to expand the biomedical knowledge base to prevent, diagnose, monitor and treat emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases; and to develop and implement domestic and international clinical trials to support critical research efforts on HIV/AIDS, TB, Hepatitis C, malaria, Ebola, Zika, influenza, and other leading infectious causes of global and focal morbidity and mortality. Expertise shall also be provided in order to lead or conduct basic/clinical research or extramural research related to NIAID’s mission. Services also include specialized support in the areas of bioinformatics, high-throughput genomic sequencing, proteomics, image analysis, computational and systems biology, and data analysis for both basic and clinical research projects. Also included are consultants and/or specialists to provide input on special projects.

Activities also include providing support for scientific research on viral agents (Ebola, Zika, MERS, adenoviruses, and flaviviruses and others), some requiring high containment (BSL-3 and BS- 4), to understand transmission, pathogenesis, and host immune responses. Contractor personnel supporting BSL-3 and BSL-4 environments must have required security and medical clearances in accordance with NIH and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regulations and must be certified to work with select agents.

Additionally, support includes providing expertise in veterinary clinical and procedural support for laboratory animal housed in ABSL-2, -3, and -4; assisting with animal experiment development;

consulting on selection of appropriate animal models; performing specialist veterinary procedures within high containment environments; and providing guidance on the administration of NIAID’s Animal Care and Use Program in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

The level of professional expertise being obtained runs the full gamut from work tasks not requiring degrees, credentials, licenses, or certifications, up to and including licensed practitioners and highly specialized Ph.D. or doctorate level professionals.

The labor categories include the following:

Animal Biologist Biologist Bioinformatics Scientist Bioprocess Engineer Budget Analyst Chemist Chemical Engineer Clinical Advisor Clinical Operations Manager Clinical Program Manager Clinical Protocol Coordinator Clinical Research Coordinator Clinical Research Pharmacist Data Manager Data Scientist Epidemiologist Genetic Counselor Imaging Specialist Laboratory Manager Laboratory Operations Specialist Laboratory Technician Medical Officer

Molecular Geneticist Nurse Practitioner Patient Care Coordinator Paralegal Peer Review Specialist Pharmacy Technician Specialist Phlebotomist Physician Assistant Program Analyst Project Manager Quality Assurance Specialist Recruitment and Outreach Specialist Research Nurse Researcher Science Writer/Editor Scientific Program Analyst Scientific Program Manager Sr. Scientific Program Manager Scientific Review Officer Scientist Statistician

Anticipated Period of Performance NIAID anticipates that multiple Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract awards for the Base contracts will be made on or about June 1, 2025. The anticipated ordering period is for 5 years: June 1, 2025 through May 31, 2030.

Capability Statement/Information Sought Capability Statements should clearly convey information regarding the respondent’s capabilities, including: (a) staff expertise, including their availability, experience, and formal and other training; (b) current in-house capability and capacity to perform the work; (c) prior completed projects of similar nature; (d) corporate experience and management capability; and (e) examples of prior completed Government contracts, references, and other related information.

Information Submission Instructions:

Page Limitations Interested contractors must submit a tailored capability statement not to exceed five (5) pages, excluding resumes. Capability Statements must not include links to internet web site addresses (URLs) or otherwise direct readers to alternate sources of information. Font size must be 10 to 12 points. Spacing must be no more than 15 characters per inch. Within a vertical inch, there must be no more than six lines of text.

Print margins must be at least one-inch on each edge of the paper. Print setup should be single-sided on standard letter size paper (8.5 x 11" in the U.S., A4 in Europe). All proprietary information should be marked as such.

Statements should describe their company’s experience and ability to perform this effort that includes the following: (1) a summary list of similar work previously performed; (2) the professional qualifications and specific experience of staff who may be assigned to the requirement; (3) resumes for proposed key personnel, including the Principal Investigator, that reflect education, and previous work relevant to the proposed requirement; (4) a general description of the facilities and other resources needed to perform the work; and (5) demonstrated ability to carry out the work.

Capability Statements must demonstrate the ability to hire and retain the professional positions on a continuous need basis. The Government will issue individual task orders for the positions throughout the performance period of the contract.

Required Business Information:

• UEI number

• Company Name

• Company Address

• Company Points of Contact (both technical and administrative), including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers and Email addresses

• Current GSA Schedules and/or Government-wide Acquisition contracts (GWACs) appropriate to this Sources Sought

• Do you have a Government-approved accounting system? If so, please identify the agency that approved the system.

• Type of Company (i.e., small business, 8(a), woman owned, veteran owned, etc.) As validated via the Central Contractor Registration (CCR). All offerors must be registered in the CCR, located at http://www.ccr.gov/

Number of Copies:

Please submit one (1) electric copy of your response as follows:

All Capability Statements sent in response to this Small Business Sources Sought notice must be submitted electronically (via e-mail) to Rosemary Gomes, Contracting Officer, at Rosemary.Gomes@nih.gov, and Kristel Turansky, Contracting Officer, at Kristel.Turansky@nih.gov in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). The e-mail subject line must specify 75N93023R00010B. Facsimile responses will not be accepted.

Common Cut-off Date:

Electronically submitted tailored capability statements are due no later than Wednesday, February 14, 2024, at 10:00am ET. All responses must be received by the specified due date and time in order to be considered. No calls or facsimile transmissions will be accepted. CAPABILITY STATEMENTS RECEIVED

AFTER THIS DATE AND TIME WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.

Disclaimer and Important Notes This notice does not obligate the Government to award an IDIQ contract or Task Order 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.

Confidentiality 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 http://www.ccr.gov/ mailto:Rosemary.Gomes@nih.gov mailto:Kristel.Turansky@nih.gov 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 at beta.SAM.gov. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.

Contracting Office Address Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Office of Acquisitions 5601 Fishers Lane Bethesda, Maryland 20892-9821

Points of Contact:

Rosemary Gomes Contracting Officer Email: Rosemary.Gomes@nih.gov

Kristel Turansky Contracting Officer Email: Kristel.Turansky@nih.gov