SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE

PROJECT TITLE: Digital Mammography Services

DEPARTMENT: National Institutes of Health (NIH), Clinical Center (CC), Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences (RAD&IS)

INTRODUCTION

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), Clinical Center (CC), Office of Purchasing and Contracts (OPC) is issuing this Sources Sought Notice as a means of conducting Market Research to identify parties having an interest in and the resources to support the requirement for Digital Mammography Services for the NIH Clinical Center (CC), Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences (RAD&IS).

PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

All work shall be performed at the NIH CC located at 10 Center Drive, Bethesda, MD 20814. The Government reserves the right to change the location of the work site if necessary.

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The estimated Period of Performance for this requirement shall consist of one (1) Base Period and four (4) one (1) year Option Periods. FAR 52.217-8, Option to Extend Services, will be included and shall not exceed one hundred and eighty (180) Calendar Days.

CONTRACT TYPE

In accordance with FAR PART 16.504, a Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) Indefinite Delivery-Indefinite Quantity contract type will be utilized for this acquisition because the risk associated with this contract type for the Government is deemed minimal and can be predicted with an acceptable degree of certainty.

DISCLAIMER

This Sources Sought Notice is for informational purposes only. This Notice does not constitute a Solicitation and shall not be construed as a commitment by the Federal Government. Responses of any form are not offers and the Government is under no obligation to award a contract as a result of this announcement. No funds are available to pay for preparation of responses to this announcement. Any information submitted by Respondents to this notice is strictly voluntary. Responses will not be returned to the Responder. Not responding to this notice does not preclude participation in any future Request for Quote (RFQ), Invitation for Bid (IFB), Request for Proposal (RFP), if any issued. If a Solicitation is released, it will be released via the Government-Wide Point of Entry (GPE). It is the responsibility of potential Offerors to monitor the GPE for additional information pertaining to this requirement.

BACKGROUND

The mission of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is to uncover new knowledge that will lead to better health for everyone. The NIH accomplishes that mission by conducting research in its own laboratories; supporting the research of non-Federal Scientists in universities, medical schools, hospitals, and research institutions throughout the country and abroad; helping in the training of research investigators; and fostering communication of biomedical information.

The NIH Clinical Center (CC) is a 234-bed federally funded, biomedical research hospital located on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. The NIH CC is the delivery setting for all NIH intramural clinical research protocols. The hospital complex consists of two main facilities that are connected to each other by “bridges”. The original 14-story building is 2.5 million square feet and continues to house the clinical laboratories, imaging sciences, surgical suites, and several outpatient clinics. The new 870,000 square foot facility houses inpatient units and day hospitals. The Clinical Center accounts for about half of all NIH-funded clinical research beds in the United States and accommodates about 7,000 inpatient and 70,000 outpatient visits a year. Patients are admitted to the NIH Clinical Center from all over the world for the sole purpose of participating in a clinical research protocol.

The Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences (RAD&IS) provides imaging services to the NIH CC patients who participate in research protocols conducted by the various NIH institutes. Imaging services include X-rays, fluoroscopy, ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, computed tomography (CT) scans and interventional radiology (special procedures). Diagnostic services in ultrasound, positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT), and nuclear medicine are also provided. All these diagnostic modalities generate clinical diagnostic images that are sent to and archived on the RAD&IS’s Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS). The departmental radiologists review the diagnostic images and the findings are saved in reports, which are stored on the PACS. The reports are then automatically sent to the Clinical Center’s Hospital Information System (CRIS) where they can be reviewed by the clinicians.

Until 2011, RAD&IS offered digital mammography as a service to the various patients participating in NIH research protocols. Due to the low volume of patients on protocols requiring digital mammography, RAD&IS decided to discontinue this service.

REQUIRED CAPABILITIES

Further detail/requirement specifics are provided in the draft Statement of Work (SOW) attached to this announcement. If your organization has the potential capacity to perform these services, please provide the following information:

1. Organization Name and Mailing Address
2. Organizational Point of Contact (Include Telephone Number and E-mail Address)
3. CAGE Code and DUNS Number
4. Business Size
5. Website Address
6. Title your response with “Sources Sought Response for NIH/CC/OPC for Digital Mammography Services”
7. Tailored Capability Statements addressing the particulars of this effort, with appropriate documentation supporting claims of organizational and staff capability. If significant subcontracting or teaming is anticipated in order to deliver technical capability, organizations should address the administrative and management structure of such arrangements.

The Government will evaluate market information to ascertain potential market capacity to:

1. Provide services consistent, in scope and scale, with those described in this notice and otherwise anticipated;
2. Secure and apply the full range of corporate financial, human capital, and technical resources required to successfully perform similar requirements;
3. Implement a successful project management plan that will include: compliance with tight program schedules; cost containment; meeting and tracking performance; hiring and retention of key personnel and risk mitigation; and
4. Provide services under a performance based service acquisition contract.

ELIGIBLITY

In accordance with FAR 19.502-2, a Total Small Business Set-Aside is being considered for this requirement. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code contemplated for this project is 621512 (Diagnostic Imaging Centers), which includes corresponding index entries such as Diagnostic Imaging Centers, Mammogram Centers, Ultrasound Imaging Centers, etc. The NAICS code size standard for 621512 is $16.5 million in annual receipts to be considered a Small Business. However, Respondents may identify other potential NAICS Codes and the reasoning to support the recommendation. This Sources Sought Notice is not intended to discourage competition from any business interested in this requirement. Since the current capabilities must be confirmed, all eligible businesses are encouraged to respond. The Government is not obligated and will not pay for any information received from potential sources as a result of this Sources Sought Notice.

The Product Service Code (PSC) is Q403, Medical – Evaluations/Screening.

Potential Offerors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) in order to conduct business with the Federal Government. The registration process is free, but does take time and effort on behalf of a firm to complete. Interested parties are encouraged to start the registration process early so the firm can be considered for award.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND SUBMISSION DETAILS

Interested parties shall submit a Capability Statement of no more than five (5) pages in length, Times New Roman Font of no less than twelve (12) Pitch or Arial Font of no less than ten (10) Pitch. Files must be kept to a maximum size of 5MB.

The deadline for response to this Sources Sought Notice is No-Later-Than (NLT) 4:00 p.m. (EST) on Friday December 11, 2020. Please submit all documentation via email in PDF Format and state in the subject line “Sources Sought Response for NIH/CC/OPC for Digital Mammography Services” to Anthony Q. Hawley (Supervisory Contract Specialist) at [email protected] and Gail Akinbinu (Contract Specialist) at [email protected]. Responses received after this date and time will not be reviewed. It is your responsibility to ensure we receive your response. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted or acknowledged, and no feedback or evaluations will be provided to companies regarding their submissions.

Respondents WILL NOT be notified of the results of this Sources Sought Notice. If and when a Solicitation is issued, the Solicitation will be posted via https://beta.sam.gov under Contract Opportunities. It is the Respondent’s responsibility to monitor the aforementioned site for the release of any Synopsis or Solicitation.

The Government will not award a Purchase Order or Contract as a result of this announcement. The Government shall not assume any costs for preparing or submitting any information in response to the market survey or the Government's use of the information. Any Proprietary Information should be clearly identified as “Proprietary Information”. This Sources Sought Notice is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an Invitation for Bids (IFB), Request for Quote (RFQ), or Request for Proposal (RFP), and should not be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue an Order/Contract or otherwise pay for the information solicited. This Sources Sought Notice is for information and planning purposes only and does not commit the Government to any Contractual Agreement.

All questions must be submitted to the individual(s) identified above. The Government is not committed nor obligated to pay for the information provided, and no Basis for Claims against the Government shall arise as a result of a response to this Sources Sought Notice.