Secure Platforms Support for the N3C Data Enclave

Acquisition Authority:  This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 6.302-1, Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements and the resultant contract award will include all applicable provisions and clauses in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2023-02 dated March 16, 2023.

Competition Status:  This requirement is posted as noncompetitive.

Description: The NCATS Secure Scientific Platform Environment (the "Environment") is a specialized cloud-based data aggregation and analytics enclave that can integrate, manage, secure, and analyze any kind of scientific data, and provide secure, controlled access to internal and external collaborators.

Within the Environment, multiple NIH institutes and centers (ICs), Federal agencies, and Federal task forces integrate, manage, secure, and analyze all types of scientific data using dedicated platforms, and, equally importantly, make that data available in specific and controlled collaborations with each other and with external collaborators.

Purpose and Objectives: The objective of this contract is to provide support for the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) Data Enclave.

The N3C Data Enclave is a secure platform through which harmonized clinical data provided by contributing members is stored. The data itself can only be accessed through a secure cloud portal hosted by NCATS and cannot be downloaded or removed. Detailed information about the Enclave can be found on the N3C website, https://covid.cd2h.org/.

Project requirements: See the attached Statement of Work for a full discussion of the requirements for this project.

Anticipated period of performance:An IDIQ contract with a three year ordering period; 9/28/2023 – 09/27/2026.

Non-Competitive (Single-sole Source (Including brand-name)) Determination:

This notice of proposed acquisition is posted as an intent to award a purchase order on a non-competitive basis to:

Palantir Technologies, Inc.

1555 Blake St, Ste 250

Denver, CO 80202-1866

Justification:

The determination by the Government to award a contract without providing for full and open competition is based upon the following rationale:

1. Sole-source award will avoid unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency’s requirements.
2. This is the continuation of a program for which Palantir was the only vendor capable of meeting all NIH requirements.
3. The incumbent has developed unique insights into the data challenges of these users that will be difficult to replicate within a reasonable period of time.
4. Palantir provides the unique capability to provide the Environment as an integrated commercial service.

Closing Statement:

THIS NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD A CONTRACT/PURCHASE ORDER ON A SOLE-SOURCE BASIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE PROPOSALS. However, interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this notice.

A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed work based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. All responsible sources may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation which shall be considered by the agency. The information received will normally be considered solely for the purposes of determining whether to proceed on a non-competitive basis or to conduct a competitive procurement.

Responses to this notice shall contain sufficient information to establish the interested parties' bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the Comprehensive Service Agreement requirements contained in this notice and include your Unique Entity ID (UEI), the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and the certification of business size. All offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) at www.sam.gov. All responses must provide evidence that they can provide the requested services immediately upon order and in accordance with all Federal information system security requirements.

All responses must be received by the closing date and time of this announcement and must reference the notice number 75N95023R00015NOI. Responses must be submitted via email to Sarah Adan, Contract Specialist at sarah.adan@nih.gov and Valerie Whipple, Contracting Officer, at valerie.whipple@nih.gov.

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 presolicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in SAM.gov. 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).