Disaster Salvage and Recovery of NLM Collections

This synopsis is for Solicitation 75N97024R00001 - Disaster Salvage and Recovery of NLM Collections, in accordance with FAR Part 5.204, Pre-Solicitation Notice.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) on behalf of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) intends to solicit and award a competitive Indefinite-Delivery Requirements contract for commercial items/services using FAR Part 12 in conjunction with FAR 15.

The NLM mission is to enable biomedical research, support health care and public health, and promote healthy behavior by acquiring, organizing, preserving, and providing free online access to scholarly biomedical literature from around the world. To support its mission, the Library assembled one of the largest collections of biomedical literature in the world and continues to collect in some forty biomedical areas. In total, NLM collections contain approximately 30 million print and non-print items currently located on three levels of Building 38 as well as offsite storage locations. NLM requires professional salvage and recovery assistance on an as-needed basis in the event of flooding or other catastrophe that puts collection materials at risk of damage or loss. This work is necessary to support the NLM mission to provide access to its collections. The full description of the Statement of Work will be released with the official solicitation. Below is a summary of the requirements:

NLM collections are estimated to contain more than 21,574,272 items. NLM's print materials include an estimated 2.95 million bound and unbound printed monographs and journals printed on both coated and uncoated paper, as well as on paper that is brittle due to materials and processes used in its manufacture. Some of these items are oversized. Historical print materials include animal skin-covered books and handwritten manuscripts, first and rare editions of medical books, and books with rare or unique period bindings.

The Library's print collections include many items that would be difficult or impossible to replace in the event they were damaged beyond recovery in a disaster or emergency. Recovery and salvage of print originals in the event of a disaster or emergency is critical to the Library's mission. By definition, manuscripts are irreplaceable. Rare, historical, and valuable printed medical works are likely to be irreplaceable, or replaceable only at great cost. Replacement copies are also not widely available for many modern medical texts, particularly those in highly specialized areas of research. The historical prints and photographs collection includes art prints, posters, legacy photographic prints, negatives and slides, and modern manuscript collections, which include mixed media.

The Library's media collections include 70,000 reels of polyester and acetate microforms and over 15,000 film, video, and audio items, which include acetate and polyester motion picture film, obsolete magnetic tape formats, and a variety of digital formats, some of which are irreplaceable. NLM's collection policy is ever changing, and new types of materials may be added to this list. The Program Manager and COR will update the Vendor if new material types are added to the collection.

NLM has a need for salvage and recovery services of NLM collections when the library is confronted with a disaster or emergency that affects or has affected its collections and the magnitude of the disaster or emergency outstrips the resources and ability of NLM to respond effectively. The majority of emergencies is expected to be water-induced events with water affecting collections either from indoor (e.g., plumbing or sprinkler system) or outside (e.g., roof leak) sources, but this contract covers all disaster scenarios including more catastrophic events such as earthquakes, fires, floods, major biological infestations due to disasters (e.g., mold, insect, and/or vermin infestations), acts of terrorism, and similar catastrophes.

The proposed action is for 3-year Indefinite-Delivery Requirements contract. The anticipated period of performance is for a Base Year plus two (2) one-year options.

The North American Industry Classification System Code (NAICS) associated with this requirement is 624230 (Disaster Relief Services) and the small business size standard is $41.5 million.

The following provisions and clauses apply to this acquisition and are incorporated by reference. Full text may be found at https://www.acquisition.gov/Far.

FAR 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items
FAR 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes and Executive Orders.
Confidentiality: No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).

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.

It is anticipated that Solicitation No. 75N97024R00001 will be released on or around October 31, 2023.