American Sign Language Interpreting and CART Accommodation Services with Captioning and Other Accessibility Services

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), Office of Acquisitions (OA), Office of Logistics Acquisition Operations (OLAO), on behalf of the Office of Research Services (ORS), Events Management Branch (EMB), intends to solicit, negotiate, and award a contract for the purpose of providing American Sign Language Interpreting and CART Accommodation Services with Captioning and Other Accessibility Services to accommodate deaf and hard of hearing researchers participating in ongoing research projects and studies that may involve human or animal safety and healthcare.  It also delivers critical communication services around the clock to deaf and hard of hearing patients and their families participating in clinical trials receiving life-saving treatment, surgeries, medications, and other inpatient or outpatient care at the Clinical Center. Furthermore, services are needed to deliver broadcast quality captioning in English for live and prerecorded events held on-site or online across various platforms and capable of being displayed simultaneously on television screens, video monitors, virtual platforms, and mobile devices. Other 508 services include post-production file editing, transcription, and audio description (for the Blind) using professional voice actors, and captioning and transcription services from English to other spoken languages.

It is intended that a single award Indefinite-Delivery Indefinite Quantity, Performance-Based type contract will be made.  The anticipated period of performance shall be for a base period of September 1, 2025 – August 31, 2026, with four (4) one-year option periods.  Option years will be exercised at the sole discretion of the Government.  This procurement is a total 100% Small Business competitive set-aside.  All Small Business vendors with the capabilities under NAICS 541930 (Translation and Interpretation Services) are encouraged to submit a proposal when the Request for Proposal is issued.

THIS IS A SYNOPSIS, NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP).  THE ANTICIPATED RELEASE DATE OF RFP No. 75N98025R00007 WILL BE AVAILABLE ON OR ABOUT MARCH 2025, ON www.SAM.gov WITH A DUE DATE ON OR ABOUT APRIL 2025.  The solicitation and any documents related to this procurement will be available over the Internet at www.SAM.gov.  These documents will reside on a World-Wide Web (WWW) server, which may be accessed using a WWW browser application.  Prospective offerors are responsible for downloading the solicitation and any amendments.  It is the offeror’s responsibility to monitor the www.SAM.gov website for the release of the solicitation and amendments.  Hard copies will be provided to individuals eligible under the American with Disability Act and Rehabilitation Act upon request.

Note:  This synopsis follows the Small Business Sources Sought Notice HHS-NIH-OD-OLAO-SS-24-001 that was released on March 6, 2024.