DRAFT RFP -NIST Information Technology and Database Applications Support Services

AMENDMENT 001:

THE PURPOSE OF THIS AMENDMENT TO THE DRAFT RFP IS TO PROVIDE RESPONSES TO INQUIRIES RECEIVED DURING THE ACTIVE DRAFT SOLICITATION PHASE. 

NO ADDITIONAL INQUIRIES WILL  BE ACCEPTED IN RESPONSE TO THIS NOTICE. 

THE ATTACHED DOCUMENT LABELED "DRAFT RFP QA POSTING" IS HEREBY ATTACHED. 

Please note that regardless of any information or answers given in this Draft RFP or its attachments or amendments, only the information given in the anticipated “official” RFP notice, once posted, will govern the evaluation of eventual proposals.  All information given in or in response to this notice is strictly DRAFT and is subject to change.

ORIGINAL NOTICE:

Title: Draft Request for Quotation (RFP) – NIST IT and Database Applications Support Services IDIQ

Response Time/Date:  NLT 12:00 PM, Monday August 17, 2020

Intended Acquisition Strategy:  Open Market; 100% Small Business Set Aside

NAICS Code: 541519 – Other Computer Related Services

The purpose of this notice is to release a Draft Request for Proposals (RFP) for industry review and comment. This Draft RFP does not constitute a solicitation or a promise of a solicitation in the future. This Draft RFP is for planning purposes only and does not commit the Government to any contractual agreements or arrangements. PROPOSALS ARE NOT SOLICITED UNDER THIS DRAFT RFP.

No entitlement or payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will arise as a result of submission of responses to this Notice and NIST use of such information. NIST recognizes that proprietary components, interfaces and equipment, and clearly mark restricted or proprietary components, interfaces and equipment, and clearly mark restricted or proprietary data and present it as an addendum to the non‐restricted/non‐proprietary information. In the absence of such identification, NIST will assume to have unlimited rights to all technical data in the information paper.

Background: NIST intends on issuing a solicitation during the 4th quarter of FY2020 for a multiple-award IDIQ contract for IT and Database Applications Support Services as described in the attached Draft SF1449. NIST previously posted Sources Sought Notice number AMDTC-20-0001 to FBO for market research purposes. The planned requirements are described in the attached documents. This requirement will be solicited as a small business set-aside. The NAICS code is 541519 – Other Computer Related Services. The small business size standard is $30M. 

Purpose: To ensure this effort is executed in the most effective manner possible, NIST is seeking industry input by issuing a Draft RFP for prospective offerors’ review, comments, recommendations, and questions.

The Draft RFP is intended to provide interested parties with information on the anticipated procurement and provide an opportunity for expert industry feedback into the tentative design of the proposed effort and the supporting procurement.

Draft RFP Response Submission Instructions

NIST encourages industry to submit questions and comments regarding any and all contents of the Draft RFP documents by no later than Monday August 17, 2020 by 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. Questions and comments submitted after this date may be accepted, but may have less impact on the content of the final solicitation depending on where the acquisition team is at in the final solicitation development process, and may not be answered. The Government intends on answering questions received in accordance with the Draft RFP instructions in as timely a manner as possible.  However, please note that regardless of any information or answers given in this Draft RFP or its attachments or amendments, only the information given in the anticipated “official” RFP notice, once posted, would govern the evaluation of eventual proposals.  All information given in or in response to this notice is strictly DRAFT and is subject to change. 

NIST is specifically interested in elements of the Draft RFP documents that prospective offerors believe require clarification in order to allow for sufficient responses in eventual proposals.

Responses: All questions/comments in response to the Draft RFP notice must be submitted by the aforementioned deadline, and must be submitted to the Government Point of Contact, Lynda Horton, Lynda.horton@nist.gov.  All e-mails submitted in response to this notice must reference the Notice number “1333ND20RNB770014” in the email subject line.

Questions:

It is expected that interested parties will respond to this Draft RFP notice with specific questions/comments on specific elements of the Draft RFP documents. Questions/Comments to this Draft RFP shall be submitted using the format found in section J of the Draft RFP.

Protection and Encryption of Sensitive Data: To ensure secure, email communications, it is strongly recommended that all prospective offerors obtain email encryption capability. Use of unencrypted email by the submitter is done at the submitter’s own risk, but will be accepted by the Contracting Officer. E-mails from the Contracting Officer may, at some point, be limited to prospective offerors with encryption capability.