Special Notice of Intent to Sole-Source TrialTrove Licenses for Access to Clinical Trial Information

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Cancer Institute (NCI), Center for Cancer Research (CCR) plans to procure, on a sole source basis, TrialTrove licenses from:

Caerus US 1 Inc.
One Pennsylvania Plaza, Suite 2505
New York, NY 0119

The response close date of the notice for this requirement is in accordance with FAR 5.203(b). This acquisition will be processed under FAR Part 12 – Acquisition for Commercial Items and will be made pursuant to the authority in FAR Part 13.106-1 (b)(1), and is exempt from the requirements of FAR Part 6.

TrialTrove is the only software which NCI can use to fulfill its current requirements, and Caerus/Citeline is the sole publisher and owner of TrialTrove software. The CDSL has invested considerable effort in using TrialTrove since 2021. This effort has resulted in four major publications. These publications include topics such as personalized oncology, strategies for designing better oncology clinical trials in the future and reducing health disparities in oncology.

Research that is expected to lead to additional papers is underway based on TrialTrove data. In the course of doing the research underlying these publications, CDSL has developed substantial software specific to analysis of data downloaded from TrialTrove. Switching to a new software now would necessitate development of new internal analysis software that is compatible with the new external commercial software. NCI/CDSL do not currently have the personnel resources to develop or modify internal software. As a result, acquiring any other software would prevent new research using this type of analysis for the foreseeable future. Additionally, new external commercial software would disrupt existing, ongoing research using data from TrialTrove, and may make that research impossible to complete and ultimately publish.

This notice is not a request for competitive quotations. However, if any interested party, especially a small business, believes it can meet the Government’s needs, it may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quote for the Government to consider. The response and any other information furnished must be in writing and must contain sufficient details to allow NCI to determine if the party can perform the requirement. Responses to this notice shall be submitted via email to Contract Specialist, Renee Jones-Chuang (renee.jones-chuang@nih.gov) no later than the date specified in this notice. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed requirement based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.The Government reserves the right to use the information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. To receive an award, Contractors must be registered and have valid certification through SAM.GOV. Please reference the notice number on all correspondence.

***Please reference attached Statement of Work for more details pertaining to the nature of the work to be performed.***