Medication Safety Program Subscription and Distribution of Pharmaceutical Publications

This is a PRE-SOLICITATION NOTICE issued as required by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 5.204. The Department of Defense (DoD) Patient Safety Program has a requirement for subscription services to pharmaceutical publications with educational articles on medication errors based on standards and guidelines associated, accredited, or developed in collaboration with national institutions or national reporting on medication errors; based upon current and valid concerns within the healthcare industry; issued in a format that may be reproduced and distributed and circulated electronically via email in whole or in part within Military Health System (MHS) healthcare facilities to 186 acute care military treatment facilities (MTFs), ambulatory care clinics, and patients and beneficiaries that use these MTFs; and, addressed separately to the following: (1.) medical personnel within acute care hospital systems; (2.) communities and ambulatory care (physicians, nurses, pharmacists, pharmacy staff, and other healthcare team members); and, (3.) consumers (patient and family oriented).

The Proposed Solicitation Number is HT0011-17-R-0015. The due date and time for submission of proposals will be specified in the solicitation. The solicitation will be posted to Federal Business Opportunities, the Government- wide point of entry, via the Internet website at (http://www.fedbizopps.gov). The solicitation must be retrieved and downloaded from FedBizOpps website at (www.fbo.gov). The Offeror shall be responsible for monitoring the website for amendments to the solicitation until it closes. All solicitation amendments will be posted and must be retrieved from this website.

The proposed contract type is Firm-Fixed-Price for commercial services for a base period from 3/30/2017 to 3/29/2018 and four option years.

The intended source is the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), under FAR Subpart 6.3 (Other Than Full and Open Competition) for the acquisition of commercial items using FAR Subpart 13.5 (Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items).

The reason justifying the lack of competition is there is no other known source capable of providing the required subscription and distribution services within the field of patient safety services in order to meet the agency's needs. ISMP is currently the only source for subscription and distribution of pharmaceutical publications on medication safety based on national standards, and based on current and valid healthcare concerns, and that may be reproduced and distributed within MHS healthcare facilities on a biweekly basis for medical personnel within acute care hospital systems, on a monthly basis for community and ambulatory healthcare professionals, and every other month for consumers.

All responsible sources may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation, which shall be considered by the agency. All interested firms must register in the System for Award Management (SAM) website at (www.sam.gov) to be eligible for award of a Government contract. The SAM registration must reflect the required North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition. The required NAICS code is 813212 Voluntary Health Organizations and the small business size standard is 27.5 million dollars. Vendors must also be registered at the Wide Area Work Flow (WAWF) website (https://wawf.eb.mil/) to receive payment through electronic funds transfer.