Early Talent Marketplace Services

Sources Sought: Early Talent Market Place Services Indian Health Service (IHS)

Sources Sought Notice Number: IHS-SS-24-00042

This is a Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. Pursuant to 48 CFR Part 326, Subpart 326.603-3 and IHM 5.5-6, Indian Health Service must use the negotiation authority of the Buy Indian Act, 25 U.S.C. 47, to give preference to Indian Economic Enterprises (IEE) whenever the use of that authority is authorized and practicable.

The Government is seeking to identify Indian Small Business Economic Enterprises (ISBEEs) capable of performing the below Indian Health Services (IHS) requirement. Any vendor responding to this notice should submit their capability statement as well as the Buy Indian Act Indian Economic Enterprise Representation Form (attached). Instructions for submission are outlined below.

Indian Small Business Economic Enterprises (ISBEEs) and other small business are highly encouraged to respond to this notice. However, firms should understand that generic capability statements are not sufficient for effective evaluation of their capacity and capability to perform the work required. Responses must directly demonstrate the company’s capability, experience, and ability to provide an Early Talent Platform to university-validated candidate profiles with academic enrollment data that is real-time.

The Government requests interested parties submit a written response to this notice, which includes:

1. A general overview of the respondent’s opinions about the difficulty and/or feasibility of the potential requirement, and any information regarding innovative ideas or concepts.

2. Information in sufficient detail of the respondent’s (a) current capability and capacity to perform the work; (b) prior completed projects of similar nature/size; (c) organizational experience and management capability; and (d) examples of prior completed Government contracts and other related information.

3. To be considered capable of fulfilling this requirement evidence of an Offerors ability to fully satisfy the requirements described above must be provided.

4. The respondents’ DUNS number, organization name, address, point of contact, and size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HUBZone, etc.) Pursuant to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code: 518210, IT and Telecom-Platform as a service: Database, Mainframe, Middleware or comparable NAICS.

5. Applicable company GSA Schedule number or other available procurement vehicle.

6. Company’s System for Award Management (SAM) registration status. All respondents must register on the SAM located at http://www.sam.gov/.

7. Any other information that may be helpful in developing or finalizing the requirements of the potential acquisition.

8. Submit Indian Health Service Buy Indian Act Indian Economic Enterprise Representation Form (attached)

9. The capability statement shall not exceed 10 single-sided pages (including all attachments, resumes, charts, etc.) presented in single-space and using a 12-point font size minimum, in either Microsoft Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), with 8-1/2 by 11-inch paper size, and 1-inch top, bottom, left and right margins.

10. Statements should also include an indication of current certified small business status; this indication should be clearly marked on the first page of your capability statement (preferably placed under the eligible small business concern’s name and address). Responses will be reviewed only by IHS personnel and will be held in a confidential manner.

Disclaimer and Important Notes. This notice does not obligate the Government to award contract. Any information provided by industry to the Government as a result of this sources sought synopsis is strictly voluntary. Responses will not be returned. No entitlements to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges to the Government will arise as a result of contractor submission of responses, or the Government's use of such information 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 on a government GPE. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.

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).

How to respond: Please include the notice IHS-SS-24-00042 IHS Early Talent Platform in the subject line. Responses must be submitted via email to the Contract Specialist, Colleen Henry at colleen.henry@ihs.gov no later than 2:00 PM PST on June 21, 2024.

Capability statements will not be returned and will not be accepted after the due date. The maximum number of pages for this submission is ten (10) pages.

THERE IS NO SOLICITATION AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME. However, should such a requirement materialize, no basis for claims against IHS shall arise as a result of a response to this notice or IHS’s use of such information as either part of our evaluation process or in developing specifications for any subsequent requirement.