Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB) Manufacturing and Use, Chemical and Physical Properties, and Environmental Fate and Exposure Potential Information

** This is a Small Business Sources Sought Notice. The NAICS code for this Small Business Sources Sought notice is: 541620 - NAICS CODE CATEGORY. **

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 the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice.

This Sources Sought Notice is for informational and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation or commitment by the Government. This notice is intended strictly for market research. The Government reserves the right to respond to some, all or none of the questions submitted.

All responsible sources may submit a capability statement which will be considered by the National Library of Medicine. Capability statement must address the organization's qualifications and ability to perform as a contractor able to perform tasks described in the attached draft Statement of Work (SOW).

This Sources Sought Notice is not a Request for Quotations (RFQ), nor is an RFQ available. The capability statement should contain enough sufficient detail for the Government to make an informed decision regarding your capabilities; however, the statement should not exceed 10 pages (excluding attachments.)

Interested firms responding to this Sources Sought Notice must provide a capability statement that displays the following:

(a) Microsoft Word or PDF file in 12 point font;
(b) DUNS number, organization name, address, point of contact, and size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HUBZone, etc) pursuant to the applicable NAICS code);
(c) Technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses;
(d) Staff expertise, including their availability, experience, and formal and other training;
(e) Current in-house capability and capacity to perform the work;
(f) Prior completed projects of similar nature;
(g) Corporate experience and management capability; and
(h) Examples of prior completed Government contracts, references, and other related information.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) requires capability statements to be submitted via eCPS.:

1) Electronic copy via the NLM electronic Contract Proposal Submission (eCPS) website at https://ecps.nih.gov. All submissions must be submitted by 12:00 PM Eastern Time on March 27, 2019.
2) For directions on using eCPS, go to https://ecps.nih.gov and click on "How to Submit."
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. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. 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).

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DRAFT STATEMENT OF WORK

Project Title: Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB) Manufacturing and Use, Chemical and Physical Properties, and Environmental Fate and Exposure Potential Information

Background Information

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) develops and maintains the Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB) which is a part of TOXNET, a group of databases covering chemicals, drugs, and other substances (e.g., nanomaterials), diseases and the environment, environmental health, occupational safety and health, poisoning, risk assessment and regulations, and toxicology. HSDB focuses on the toxicology of potentially hazardous chemicals and other substances. It is enhanced with information on human and environmental exposure, industrial hygiene, emergency handling procedures, environmental fate, regulatory requirements, and related areas. All data are referenced and derived from a core set of websites and online databases, books, government documents, technical reports, and selected publications in scientific journals. These resources are evaluated and approved by NLM for HSDB record development.

HSDB is organized into individual substance records, currently contains about 6,000 such records, and is accessible at no cost via NLM TOXNET (https://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov). The draft records for HSDB are peer-reviewed by the Scientific Review Panel (SRP), a committee of experts in the major subject areas in HSDB.

Purpose and Objectives

The purpose of this procurement is to obtain professional services for HSDB to build new records, enhance and maintain existing records, and to obtain support for database-related activities such as attendance of one or more contractor's staff, as noted below, at the peer-review meetings associated with review of the draft records.

Proposals responding to this SOW must include approaches regarding substantially improving one or more steps of the HSDB record creation, development, maintenance, and review process. Suggestions about how the process can be enhanced to improve the speed and cost efficiency, including the number of records that are developed and reviewed each year shall be detailed.

Each HSDB record contains over 150 data fields organized in ten broad subject areas (as they appear in the Content Management System/CMS):

1. Substance identification
2. Manufacturing/use information
3. Chemical and physical properties
4. Safety and handling
5. Toxicity/biomedical effects
6. Pharmacology
7. Environmental fate/exposure potential
8. Exposure standards and regulations
9. Monitoring and analysis methods
10. Additional references

The subject categories are further subdivided into headers and data fields. Each header contains related data fields. The basic unit of information is the data field. Each data field may contain one or more occurrences of information called data statements. Each data field, header, and subject category is associated with a unique two to four letter mnemonic (e.g., HTOX is Human Toxicity Excerpts), used for searching, for contractor and SRP communications and review, and for printing. Occurrences may also have assigned sub-headers or data tags that provide specific information about the occurrence or type of data. A list of the data fields, definitions, and mnemonics is available at https://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/help/hsdbf.htm. A complete list of substances in HSDB is available at https://sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/hsdbchemicalslist.html. A sample record showing how the data fields are displayed in the table of contents is available at https://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search2/r?dbs+hsdb:@term+@na+permethrin. "The National Library of Medicine's (NLM) Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB): Background, Recent Enhancements and Future Plans" describes many aspects about how HSDB is currently developed and what it contains as records (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4195797/ ).

The HSDB is built online in an NLM-maintained CMS. This system is also used for the editing, updating, enhancement, maintenance and review steps. The primary contractor participates in each of these activities. The CMS can be accessed and utilized only by authorized contractors, the SRP members, and NLM HSDB staff. Access will be granted post award and requires a username, password, and an additional authentication factor. NLM project staff will provide login information post award. Data may also be imported from NLM PubChem via File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

Specific Tasks/Requirements

The contractor will identify and compile all data and information necessary to populate all content for Sections 2 (Manufacturing/use information), 3 (Chemical and physical properties), and 7 (Environmental fate/exposure potential). See https://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/help/hsdbf.htm for a description of HSDB data fields; section titles are listed in boldface and may be expanded to view subsections. Coordination with the primary HSDB contractor handling toxicology data and other sections will be necessary. This information is required for new and existing HSDB records needing to be updated. Access to the NLM-maintained CMS for all data delivery will be given at time of award. To improve efficiency, searches of online resources containing these types of information shall be included, e.g., U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Computational Toxicology (CompTox) Chemicals Dashboard (https://www.epa.gov/chemical-research/comptox-chemicals-dashboard).

NLM does not furnish the necessary equipment. Access is through secured encrypted network connection.

TASK 1: Create, update, and enhance specified sections of HSDB records

1. Identify and compile all data and information necessary to populate portions of fields related to information in Sections 2, 3, and 7, such as, but not limited to, manufacturing, production, use, overviews, and export data in Section 2 (Manufacturing/use information). Coordination with the primary HSDB contractor is necessary.

2. Summarize the fate and exposure of substances in the environment. In the absence of experimental values, use estimates and calculated environmental values.

3. Efficiently retrieve full text publications (e.g., from online databases), extract portions of the publications for HSDB, and refer to the publications and the extracts during peer review meetings when consulting with subject matter experts and the NLM HSDB team.

4. Work with NLM staff to identify substances known to be, or expected to be, hazardous to the public and the environment, including those with a current public and/or Federal Agency desire or need for information. Enough information shall be sought to support having an HSDB record built or updated. Collect and maintain a database(s) for sorting and prioritizing chemicals for selection to be added or updated in HSDB and provide this information for discussion with the NLM project team.

5. Identify and provide chemical and physical properties data for related NLM databases that link to HSDB such as NLM ChemIDplus (https://chem.nlm.nih.gov/chemidplus/chemidlite.jsp)..These properties may include: boiling point, melting point, solubility, octanol/water partition coefficient, and other chemical/physical properties as specified by the Contracting Officer's Representative (COR). The information sources used for the chemical and physical properties shall be indicated in detail (e.g., the page in a journal publication or link to the section of an online database). Such sources must be those judged acceptable by the NLM project team. Identification of additional resources (online or otherwise) and more efficient ways to provide this information is needed, especially if it can increase the number of new or updated records a year from the current 350-to-400 a year to over 600 a year or more.

6. Identify and provide information that will aid users in assessing exposures. This may include identifying routes of exposure, identifying specific uses, linking specific products and general use categories. The information sources used shall be indicated in detail, e.g., the page in a journal publication or link to the section of an online database. Such sources must be judged acceptable by the NLM project team. Identification of additional resources (online or otherwise) and more efficient ways to provide this information is needed, especially if it can increase the number of new or updated records a year from the current 350-to-400 a year to 600 a year or more. For example, a database to consider in this effort is US EPA's CPDat (Chemical and Products Database) containing information mapping more than 49,000 chemicals to a set of terms categorizing their usage or function in 16,000 consumer products (e.g. shampoo, soap) types based on what chemicals they contain. The database is a part of EPA's Computational Toxicology (CompTox) Dashboard (https://www.epa.gov/chemical-research/chemical-and-products-database-cpdat).

7. Identify and provide information for alternative chemicals to consider in the interest of safety for specific uses such as information from the EPA Safer Choice Program (https://www.epa.gov/saferchoice), available in PubChem https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

8. Provide data and information for special projects related to Parts 1-7 of Task 1. Similar activities may be performed outside the usual record building schedule. This task is in support of special enhancements to HSDB to improve how current the information is and/or expand content or impact on existing or new user groups. Interactions with the contractor leading the sections other than 2, 3, and 7 of HSDB records will be needed to coordinate the completion of the special projects.

9. Provide a Senior Environmental Scientist for attendance at the SRP meetings and provide an Information Specialist or Scientist as needed at the SRP meetings, to consult with the SRP and the NLM project team regarding environmental fate and exposure data and related information. The SRP and the NLM project team normally meet for three days, twice a year.

Note: The information collected will be entered into the CMS for these tasks. This may occasionally require submission via email in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF files for review/discussion by the NLM project officer and/or NLM project team. There are no structured or hierarchical lists. The data for some of the special projects may be images, e.g., gif, png, jpg, or bmp files. The contractor shall provide alternative text to the images to make the content accessible.

TASK 2: Quality Control Review of HSDB Records

1. The contractor shall be responsible for assembling a group of scientists with professional backgrounds in the various technical disciplines represented in HSDB, to serve as a Quality Control (QC) staff. This QC group shall respond to questions by the data extraction staff and review all input by the data extraction contractors for Sections 2 (Manufacturing/use information), 3 (Chemical and physical properties), and 7 (Environmental fate/exposure potential) of the HSDB unit record. The HSDB Data Extractor's Manual describes the different data elements (fields) and provides examples of how data are presented in HSDB. This manual can be requested from NLM.

The contractor's QC group shall respond to questions and review all input before the information is reviewed by the SRP and transferred into the public version of HSDB. The contractor's QC staff shall include experienced scientists with appropriate qualifications in environmental toxicology, exposures, etc. The content review shall be for the scientific reasonableness, completeness, and validity of the data, unnecessary duplication of information, and data placement in the record, adherence to HSDB rules and procedures, and gaps and deficiency in coverage. If necessary, HSDB records shall be cycled back to whichever contractor's staff (primary or secondary is responsible for that specific subject area for corrective action. Questions that cannot be resolved by the QC group, the data extraction staff, and NLM project staff shall be directed to the SRP for clarification and resolution. The CMS provides commenting capability allowing reviewers to indicate how the information needs to be modified, enhanced or deleted. Emails and phone interactions between the SRP reviewers and contractor are encouraged when more details are needed to take corrective action relating to a data statement.

Transition Requirement

To minimize the disruption of service for any follow-on contract, the incumbent, if not selected, will participate with the new Contractor and the Contracting Officer Technical Representative (COTR) in an orderly transfer of services for any follow-on contract. It is anticipated that a 30-day transition period is set aside at the end of the routine performance period for the phase-out of the Contractor's performance. Any resulting contract from the Statement of Work (SOW) will include the phase-out transition period in the established completion date. All electronic and print documentation and materials developed under the contract shall be transferred, as directed by the COTR, to the successor for the NLM.

Period of Performance

The NLM anticipates making an award in April 2019. This task order will include a 12-month base year with two 12-month option periods.

Place of Performance

Work is to be accomplished at the contractor's site except for the SRP meetings that take place at locations determined by NLM, e.g., a hotel in Bethesda or Rockville, Maryland.

Equipment and Facility

The contractor shall provide equipment, software, and supplies except for the CMS that will be provided and maintained by NLM along with user support.

Deliverables

The information for Sections 2 (Manufacturing/use information), 3 (Chemical and physical properties), and 7 (Environmental fate/exposure potential) for the substances assigned by NLM.

1. After each SRP meeting, corrected records in the CMS based on SRP comments in final format after peer review.

2. All additional related data as described in Parts 1-8 of Task 1 in electronic format.

3. Information for Sections 2 (Manufacturing/use information), 3 (Chemical and physical properties), and 7 (Environmental fate/exposure potential) as requested in a specified electronic format.

4. Monthly status reports electronically to the NLM COR(s) and include the following:

a) Number of HSDB records completed
b) Summary of costs and labor hours associated with tasks
c) Description of special information provided, i.e. physical/chemical data
d) Number of submission abstracts
e) General description of any activities performed

Monthly reports and documentation shall meet Section 508 compliance guidelines

Billing

The contractor will bill monthly and send an electronic invoice via email to the COR and CO and a hardcopy to NIH Commercial Accounts.

Level of Effort

1. LABOR CATEGORIES/GOVERNMENT ESTIMATE

NLM estimates that the equivalent of about two Full-Time Equivalent employees (FTEs) will be required each year. The offeror shall suggest a labor mix based on the technical approach described in the proposal. The labor mix may include scientists with varying levels of expertise.
The following is a sample of positions, labor hours, and experience levels that would be appropriate for performance of this requirement. The vendor may propose other labor categories and experience levels, if they would contribute to a better, more efficient solution. However, the vendor must demonstrate that the personnel and proposed experience level meet the Government's requirement.

a. Project Manager - Minimum education: master's degree with significant project management experience with large-scale scientific database multi-year projects.

b. Senior Information Specialist - Minimum education: bachelor's degree with significant experience directly related to the project tasks. Master's degree preferred with significant experience directly related to the project tasks. Skills related to the project tasks include: experience reviewing and interpreting scientific literature based on content; knowledge of, and experience with, authoritative environmental science, exposure science, and toxicology-related online resources (databases and web sites) and publications; experience categorizing scientific information for large-scale databases.

c. Mid-level Scientist - Minimum education: bachelor's degree with significant experience directly related to the project tasks. Master's degree preferred with significant experience related to project tasks. Skills related to project tasks include: experience reviewing, interpreting, calculating, and managing scientific information from online resources (databases and web sites) and literature for large-scale databases; experience writing summaries of the environmental fate of chemicals; experience in physical/chemical properties of chemicals and their relation to the fate of chemicals in the environment; experience reviewing and interpreting biodegradation and related environmental science information; experience researching environmental science data within authoritative sources; experience reviewing and interpreting exposure information, and experience consulting with PhD level scientists in environmental science, exposure science, and government guidelines and regulations.

d. Senior Environmental Scientist - Minimum education: master's degree with significant experience directly related to the project tasks. PhD preferred with significant experience directly related to the project tasks. Skills related to project tasks include: conducting environmental science and/or exposure science research that has been published in peer-reviewed journals and/or books; ability to predict the environmental fate of chemicals based on experimental or estimated physical/chemical properties; experience reviewing and interpreting biodegradation and related environmental science information; experience researching environmental science data within authoritative sources; experience reviewing and interpreting exposure information, and experience consulting with mid- and high-level scientists in environmental science, exposure science, and government regulations related to the field.

Section 508 Compliance:

Section 508 Evaluation Factors
Responses to this solicitation will be evaluated based in part on the responsiveness to the identified Section 508 requirements and consideration for accessibility. If requested deliverables are commercially available that meet some but not all of the applicable Section 508 standards, proposal evaluation will favor the response that best meets the identified standards, in the greater context of selecting the proposal that represents the overall best value. Responses to the "Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB) Manufacturing and Use, Chemical and Physical Properties, and Environmental Fate and Exposure Potential Information" solicitation must include vendor responses to applicable Section 508 elements identified in the Government Product Accessibility Template (GPAT) attached as Attachment 02. See instructions on how to complete the GPAT below.

Section 508 Acceptance Criteria
The "Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB) Manufacturing and Use, Chemical and Physical Properties, and Environmental Fate and Exposure Potential Information" delivered as a result of this solicitation will be accepted based in part on satisfaction of identified Section 508 requirements for accessibility.

Section 508 Annual Report
The contractor shall submit an annual Section 508 report in accordance with the schedule set forth in the ELECTRONIC AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ACCESSIBILITY Article in SECTION H of this contract. The Section 508 Report Template and Instructions for completing the report are available at: http://www.hhs.gov/web/508/contracting/technology/vendors.html.
How to Complete a GPAT
The attached Section 508 Government Product/Service Assessment Template (GPAT) consists of a series of tables. Section 508 provisions are separately listed by row in tables grouped by their category (i.e., Section 1194.xx). To complete the GPAT, you are asked to complete entries in two columns (labeled How does the EIT meet this Requirement? and Please Explain) for every provision considered applicable. Where Section 508 has been found to be applicable to this requirement, "yes" and/or "maybe" entries will be listed under the Applicable column in the GPAT tables. You are not obligated to respond where the Applicability finding is either blank or a "no" value for that Section 508 provision. Please answer honestly and be prepared to work with HHS to improve accessibility for your product/service if it is acquired.
For each applicable provision, you are asked to identify the level of support your product/service provides for this provision in the "How does the EIT meet this requirement?" column. In relation to this response, elaborate in the "Please Explain" column. A response of "Fully" is understood to mean the product/service fully meets the letter and intent of the Section 508 provision described in that table row. Along with this response, you are asked to list exactly what features of the product/service do meet and describe how they are used to support the provision. A response of "Partially" is understood to mean that the product/service does not entirely meet the letter and intent of the provision but does provide some level of accessibility. In conjunction, you are asked to explain exactly what features of the product do meet and describe how they are used to support the criteria, as well as explain exactly what parts of the product do not meet and describe how they fail to support the provision's criteria. You may also list what other methods exist in the product/service and describe how they are used to support the criteria. A "no" response is understood to mean that the product/service does not meet the letter and intent of the provision. In the 'please explain' field, elaborate on how the product does not support the provision's criteria.
Further References
www.Section508.gov
http://www.access-board.gov/508.htm
http://www.hhs.gov/web/policies/standards/index.html

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