Security Enterprise License, Installation and Implementation services.

DESCRIPTION: The National Institutes of Health – NICHD (OD/OER/eRA) intends to procure the services of a contractor to provide Security Enterprise License, Installation and Implementation services.

This proposed procurement is for services for which the government intends to solicit and negotiate on a sole source basis to Vitrium Systems Inc., located in Vancouver, BC, Canada.  In order to comply with the requirements in this Solicitation/Special Notice # HHSNVitrium031521, the responses should be based on our interpretation of the general requirements provided below.

Special Note: The proposed contract action is for services for which the Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under the authority of FAR 6.302. Interested persons may identify their interest and capability to respond to the requirement or submit quotations. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotes. However, all quotes received within the time and date of publication of this "Special Notice" will be considered by the Government. A determination by the Government not to compete with this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.

HOW TO RESPOND: In order to compete for this project, interested parties must be registered in the Central Contracting Registration and submit a price quotation by 10 am, ET, March 29th 2021. Offerors should submit one copy of the quote to MOE FILALI via email. Electronic transmissions to Moe.Filali@nih.gov are preferable but must be timely. It is the responsibility of the Offeror to ensure the proposal is received by the date and time shown above.

 Background and Justification

  Annual subscription to Vitrium’s enterprise content protection and digital rights management (DRM) solution including 1 production license + 4 non-production licenses in support of the eRA systems. Subscription includes Vitrium Implementation & Installation Services in the base year.

 An important aspect to cybersecurity is ensuring compliance with content protection and digital rights management (DRM). In support of the eRA systems, eRA has reviewed many different tools available and determined Vitrium is best suited in meeting eRA’s needs and requirements as it relates to content protection and DRM. Specifically, eRA provides mission-critical IT infrastructure to manage the receipt, processing, review, award and monitoring of about $34 billion in research and non-research grants awarded annually by NIH and other grantor agencies in support of the collective mission of improving human health. Procuring Vitrium is critical to the success of supporting eRA systems and ensuring compliance with cybersecurity.

Vitrium is one of the leading manufacturers and key players in the Digital Rights Management market. eRA worked with CSR to evaluate leading providers with respect to capability to meet NIH / eRA business requirements. eRA business requirements are unique and necessitate specific tool capabilities to address both the data sensitivity, uniqueness of audience, and mission criticality of NIH data. eRA cannot require any applications or plug-ins to download or gain access to the content and data must be supported on a variety of devices and provide SSO capabilities. eRA also requires robust analytics, auditing, and a dashboard to provide details on document access and user activities in real-time as well as the ability to export this data for further examination. Integration with other databases and the ability to use APIs to call a DRM solution via Java, as well as the ability to configure in an enterprise, load-balanced, high-availability environment are required. eRA conducted analysis including hands-off market research and hands-on evaluation of leading contenders. The analysis and proof of concept proved that Vitrium could meet the current business needs and extend DRM protection in the future for additional materials. Other products evaluated were not adequate for all of eRA’s needs. Vitrium also provides better end-user experience for the overall solution and provided the most beneficial technical support during the proof of concept and evaluation. For all these reasons, eRA and CSR selected Vitrium for implementation.

Vitrium is the sole provider of their content protection and DRM solution software. They do not have any resellers of their software and therefore, it is necessary to procure directly through them.

The following Federal Acquisition Regulations clauses are incorporated by reference: FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items (Mar 2005), 52.212-4 (Sept 2005), 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes of Executive Orders-Commercial Items (Aug 2006). (6)(i) 52.222-26, Equal Opportunity (Apr 2002) (E.O. 11246). (18) 52.222-35, Equal Opportunity for Special Disabled Veterans, Veterans of the Vietnam Era, and Other Eligible Veterans (Dec 2001) (38 U.S.C. 4212). (19) 52.222-36, Affirmative Action for Workers with Disabilities (Jun 1998) (29 U.S.C. 793). (20) 52.222-37, Employment Reports on Special Disabled Veterans, Veterans of the Vietnam Era, and Other Eligible Veterans (Dec 2001) (38 U.S.C. 4212). (31) 52.232-33, Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer-Central Contractor Registration (Oct 2003) (31 U.S.C. 3332).  FAR: 52-204.24 and 52-204-25-26

Primary Point of Contact:

MOE FILALI Contracting Officer/Specialist
 

NIH/NICHD Office of Acquisitions

6710B Rockledge Drive, Room 1145D

Bethesda, MD 20817

(w) 301.827 7737

Moe.filali@nih.gov