services of Chairperson of the Steering Committee for the Prevention of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (PLUS) Consortium

INTRODUCTION
THIS IS A PRE-SOLICITATION NON-COMPETITIVE (NOTICE OF INTENT) SYNOPSIS TO AWARD A CONTRACT OR PURCHASE ORDER WITHOUT PROVIDING FOR FULL OR OPEN COMPETITION (INCLUDING BRAND-NAME).

The National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), Office of Acquisitions (OA) on behalf of the National Institute of Digestive, Diabetes & Kidney Diseases intends to award a purchase order without providing for full and open competition (Including brand-name) to MARY PALMER for a 1-year maintenance contract for the services of Chairperson of the Steering Committee for the Prevention of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (PLUS) Consortium.

NORTH AMERICAN INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (NAICS) CODE
The intended procurement is classified under NAICS code 541990 with a Size Standard of $15 Million.

REGULATORY AUTHORITY
The resultant contract will include all applicable provisions and clauses in effect through the Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-99.

This acquisition is conducted under the procedures as prescribed in FAR subpart 13-Simplified Acquisition Procedures at an amount not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold ($250,000).

STATUTORY AUTHORITY
This acquisition is conducted under the authority of 41 U.S.C. 253(c) under provisions of the statutory authority of FAR Subpart 6.302- FAR 6.302-1-Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(1).

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE
One year service agreement from 9/10/19-9/9/2020

Place of Performance
National Institutes of Health
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases 6707 Democracy Blvd
Bethesda, MD 20892
 

DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENT

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) conducts and supports research on many of the most serious diseases affecting public health. The Institute supports much of the clinical research on the diseases of internal medicine and related subspecialty fields, as well as many basic science disciplines. The Institute's Division of Intramural Research encompasses the broad spectrum of metabolic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, inborn errors of metabolism, endocrine disorders, mineral metabolism, digestive and liver diseases, nutrition, urology and renal disease, and hematology. Basic research studies include biochemistry, biophysics, nutrition, pathology, histochemistry, bioorganic chemistry, physical chemistry, chemical and molecular biology, and pharmacology.

The service contract shall for the period of 12 months from date of award. Contractor will perform the following duties of the Chairperson of the Prevention of Lower Urinary tract Symptoms Consortium Steering Committee:

Task Area 1 - Convene the All Consortium conference calls 3-4 times per month. Each call is expected to last for approximately 1-2 hours.

Task Area 2 - Face to face All-Consortium Meetings will last for 1 ½ to 2 days, four times a year.

Task Area 3 - Convene and run a conference call Business Meeting of the Steering Committee (clinical research center and SDCC primary investigators) approximately every month.

Task Area 4- Review recruitment data and discuss recruitment and retention strategies with the Project Scientist and Program Official.

Task Area 5- Review the proceedings and recommendations from all Subcommittees, Integrated Research Groups and discuss further plans with co-chairs and Project Scientist and Program Official, as needed.

Task Area 6- Make intellectual contributions to working groups and dissemination efforts across the Consortium.

Task Area 7- Act as a spokesperson for the Prevention of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms Consortium at major national and international meetings and will be called upon to represent and discuss the conduct of trials by the press and other community organizations, as needed.

Task Area 8- Represent the Prevention of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms Consortium at the meetings and conference calls of the External Expert Panel and/or Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB). One or two face-to-face meetings and two to three conference calls are expected during the coming year.

This acquisition was pursued on a sole source basis centered on Dr. Palmer being the Helen W. & Thomas L. Umphlet Distinguished Professor in Aging in the University of North Carolina School of Nursing. Dr. Palmer's interest in bladder conditions stemmed from an interest in improving the quality of life in older persons. She recognized early the devastating impact urinary incontinence could have on their lives and published her first book, Urinary Incontinence in 1985 while training to be a Geriatric Nurse Practitioner. She subsequently completed her Ph.D. in Behavioral Science and Health Education and has conducted research on the bidirectional relationship of bladder conditions to common comorbidities. She was one of the first researchers to study the relationship of work environments to bladder function and developed the first tool to measure women's toileting habits.

The primary objective of the Prevention of Lower Urinary tract Symptoms Consortium is to plan, perform and analyze the research studies necessary to establish the scientific basis for future prevention intervention studies for lower urinary tract symptoms and conditions in women. The consortium will develop the evidence base for normal or healthy bladder function and to identify behavioral and other risk factors for conditions associated with LUTS. Because prevention science is new to bladder conditions, the RFA required the inclusion of key investigators from scientific areas that are not traditional in bladder research (public health, behavioral medicine, social sciences) to help build our understanding of healthy and normal bladder function beyond the traditional biologic considerations.

The PLUS Consortium will be comprised of a Scientific and Data Coordinating Center (SDCC) and seven clinical centers (CC). The SDCC will be at the University of Minnesota and the CC will be at Washington University, University of Alabama, Loyola University-Chicago, University of Michigan, University of California San Diego, Yale University and University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Palmer received her B.S.N and M.S.N in Gerontological Nursing from the University of
Maryland at Baltimore, MD. She completed her Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and
Public Health. M. D. from University of Maryland, M.P. H from Johns Hopkins. She was a
Intramural Research Fellow at NIA, Staff Fellow, Senior Staff Fellow and Guest Researcher at NINR from 1990-2000. She has been on faculty at UNC School of Nursing since 2001 where she has received awards from School of Nursing, UNC and professional organizations.

Her academic training and extensive research background in bladder conditions from the perspective of behavioral science and health education provide the NIDDK Project Scientist unique support for developing the research strategy for providing the foundational evidence for future prevention trials. In addition, her previous clinical experience in working with older persons with bladder conditions provides passion and a certainty that prevention for bladder conditions is possible. Her research has been interdisciplinary from the beginning which is very helpful in living up to PLUS goal of developing into a transdisciplinary research team.

CLOSING STATEMENT
This synopsis is not a request for competitive proposals. However, interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this notice. Responses to this notice shall contain sufficient information to establish the interested parties' bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the requirement and include: descriptive literature, delivery timeframe, warranties and/or other information that demonstrates that the offer meets all the foregoing requirements, the prompt payment discount terms, the F.O.B. Point (Destination or Origin), the Dun & Bradstreet Number (DUNS), 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) www.sam.gov."

A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. 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.

All responses to this notice shall be submitted electronically by 9:00 am Eastern Standard Time, on Tuesday, July 16, 2019 to the Contract Specialist, Amber Harris, at amber.harris@nih.gov.

Assessment of Capability
Lowest Price Technically Acceptable

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