The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Division of Extramural Activities (DEA), is conducting market research for the assessment and development of administrative infrastructure for contracts and grants. The market research is to determine the capabilities of all small business sources that can assess the administrative capabilities of contract and grant awardees and develop administrative infrastructure, as needed, based on the assessment. Assessments will be performed onsite at foreign institutions worldwide, including institutions located in many developing countries in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Central America, and South America. The successful contractor must be capable of providing financial systems reviews and financial management assistance, as well as administrative technical assistance, in support of NIAID grant, cooperative agreement, and contract awardees, to operate, manage, and support best practices for managing NIAID, NIH awards abroad. The successful contractor will be required to provide technical assistance in the areas of general project oversight, finance, procurement, personnel, and travel. Activities in these above referenced areas could include, but are not limited to, staff training and the development of tracking and reporting systems. The successful contractor will establish and strengthen up to five (5) service centers to support NIAID research partners. Hosting foreign-award training workshops, as well as US-based meetings, is also required. Independently, and not as an agent of the Government, the Contractor shall furnish all the necessary equipment and facilities, services, qualified personnel, and material, not otherwise provided by the Government, as needed to perform the Statement of Work. A cost-reimbursement type contract is anticipated. All interested small businesses including veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns must provide a capability statement, of no more than 10 pages, to Wimberly King at kingwa@niaid.nih.gov on or before January 31, 2011 at 9:00 AM EST. Capability statements must reference similar work that has been performed by the offeror and the dollar value of that work. This is a market survey, not a request for proposals.
