Sources Sought Notice NIHCATS IV_April13.pdf

Sources Sought Notice

SS75N98022R00015

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 NAICS code 541611, with a size standard of $16.5 million should not submit a response to this notice.

Background

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), Office of Logistics and Acquisitions Operations (OLAO) intends to award multiple Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts for acquiring a wide range of conference, administrative, and travel support (domestic and international) services for the NIH and other Federal agencies. The Contractor shall provide all the necessary services, qualified personnel, facilities, and financial capability needed to perform the services required in the draft Statement of Work (SOW). The NIH Conference, Administrative and Travel Services IV (NIHCATS IV) contracts will provide customers with improved response time and equitable and reasonable rates. The geographic scope of this requirement includes the United States and abroad.

Program Requirements

See attached: Draft Statement of Work (SOW) for NIH Conference, Administrative and Travel Services IV (NIHCATS IV).

Capability Statement Content

Small business owners capable of meeting the Government’s requirements for providing conference, administrative, and travel support services to the NIH community are encouraged to submit a capability statement.

In addition to capability statements, firms must include this information in their responses: (1) organization name, address, email address, website address, and telephone number; (2) size and type of ownership and socio-economic designation (i.e., Small/Large Business, HUBZone, Service Disabled Veteran Owned, 8(a)) as it relates to NAICS Code 541611 ($16.5 million small business size-standard); (3) business experience to include: a summary of the type of services performed, and experience as it relates to conference, administrative, and travel support services as outlined in the attached draft SOW. Additionally, demonstrate how you can meet all deliverables detailed in draft SOW; (4) Unique Entity Identifier, UEI; (5) Additional information and/or comments; and (6) Responses to the following questions:

6. How has the conference industry evolved since COVID?

a. What trends are being observed? Are customers returning to in person conferences?

b. How has industry evolved?

c. How have customer needs changed? Have you seen new types of requests not seen before

COVID? What type of conference support has your company provided?

d. How has your approach to providing conference support changed?

7. What capabilities (i.e., tools, innovative approaches, resources, technology) have been employed by industry to support clients in meeting their conference, meeting, and/or travel needs in the current environment.

8. Has your company provided travel support to customers since COVID?

a. What type of travel support has your company provided?

b. What trends have you observed in customer’s travel needs?

9. What have been your biggest challenges in providing conference/meeting services to federal clients since COVID?

The Government will not notify respondents of the results of the evaluation of the data received.

No contract award will be made on the basis of responses received; however, this information will be used in NIH's assessment of services available on the market. No faxed responses.

Requests for copies of a solicitation will not be honored or acknowledged. No solicitation is being issued at this time.

Instructions for Submitting Capability Statements

1 Has your company provided conference support to a federal customer in the past 2 years?

Yes No

2 Does your company have experience adhering to EO 13589 on Promoting Efficient Spending?

Yes No

3 Does your company have experience adhering to the HHS Policy on Promoting Efficient Spending?

Yes No

4 Does your company have experience adhering to the Federal Travel Regulations?

Yes No

5 Do you have experience working with Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) type contracts?

Yes No

Statements (capability statement and responses to questions outlined above) must not exceed 10 pages (including cover and TOC); use 12-point font Times New Roman. Identify your business size standards, in accordance with the Small Business Administration. Reference the sources sought number on all documentation submitted.

Include the name, phone numbers, and email address of a point of contact having authority and knowledge to discuss responses with Government representatives.

Submit your capability statement by email as an MS Word or PDF attachment to:

Darlene Johnson, Contract Specialist, at nihcatsiv@od.nih.gov. All responses must be received by 10:00 am EST, Tuesday, April 19, 2022 to be considered. All questions and/or comments regarding this Sources Sought notice must be in writing and emailed to Darlene Johnson at nihcatsiv@od.nih.gov .Comments and questions will NOT be answered but may assist in creating a solicitation for this requirement.

Disclaimer

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 on SAM.gov. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. The solicitation release date is pending. All information pertaining to this procurement will only be posted and made available for viewing and downloading on the System for Award Management (SAM) site at https://sam.gov . It is the responsibility of interested concerns to review this site frequently for updates.

All quoters that intend to participate in the solicitation shall have an active registration with System for Award Management (SAM). If quoters do not have an active SAM account; account registration will be required at the following website: https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/ Future business opportunities will continue to be posted and located on System for Award Management (SAM) site at https://sam.gov.

mailto:nihcatsiv@od.nih.gov mailto:nihcatsiv@od.nih.gov https://sam.gov/ https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/ https://sam.gov/