Dietary Supplements Label Database

This is a Small Business Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources; (2) whether there are small businesses; HUBZone small businesses; service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the potential acquisition. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code 541690, with a size standard of $7 milliion, should not submit a response to this notice. Background: The Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS), National Institutes of Health, seeks to obtain services related to the data population of a new, web-based application for cataloging all labels of dietary supplements marketed in the USA. From August 2008 through July 2009, the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS), in cooperation with the National Library of Medicine as specified in a memorandum of agreement, contracted with a private firm to design, develop, and demonstrate a comprehensive research database intended for public access via the internet to serve the needs of researchers and educators in accessing label data of the estimated 50,000 dietary supplement labels sold in the U.S. The resulting researcher-oriented database, called the Dietary Supplements Label Database or DSLD, was successfully demonstrated to a panel of Federal Stakeholders in May 2009. The DSLD was developed from the ground up with input from Federal stakeholders who participated on an ODS Federal Working Group during the 12-month contract. The DSLD contains the advanced functionality required to meet the needs of its targeted end-users (researchers & educators) and will be deployed on the internet for public access and use. The DSLD is intended to serve multiple research and educational needs. For example, it is frequently necessary in research studies to estimate total intakes of essential nutrients as well as other nutrients and bioactive constituents; this requires quantitative data on the vitamin, mineral, and other nutrient content of both foods and supplements. Without such information, the design of studies to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of dietary supplement ingredients can be hampered. A resource documenting information about dietary supplement ingredients and products consumed by the U.S. population and subgroups might provide useful information for the public health community in developing effective consumer educational materials and programs. Sources Sought: The Office of Dietary Supplements anticipates contracting with a vendor or vendors most capable of acquiring the data (text & images) contained on the label of each of the estimated 50,000 dietary supplements sold in the U.S. and organizing it in the format required by the DSLD database software. The data is sought in a consistent and specified electronic format to facilitate the rapid input or interface to the ODS DSLD. A detailed quality assurance plan would need to specify how data integrity will be maintained across such a large database. Services required to fully meet the goals set out for this sources sought synopsis are to be primarily associated with NAICS code 541690, Other Scientific and Technical Consulting. Secondarily, services will be required that are associated with NAICS code 518210, Data Processing, Hosting, & Related Services. Data Definitions, Business Rules, and Data Schema: Data would be required to follow the defined DSLD Data Definitions, Business Rules, and Data Schema that have been established. These rules may be seen online at: http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/ods_data_description.pdf Vendor Capabilities: ODS seeks input from vendors demonstrating the following capabilities: 1) Expertise in food & nutrition related research projects and nutrient analysis software applications. 2) Experience with all aspects of data acquisition and population of a web-based database of similar complexity and scope (preferably related to food and nutrition related topics). 3) Available project examples and client references from successful projects of similar scope (preferably related to food and nutrition related topics). 4) Familiarity with other, similar databases (preferably in the Government sector) dealing with the composition of food and dietary supplements. Innovative approaches to satisfying the anticipated requirement would be encouraged if a solicitation were issued. If your organization is a small business and has the capacity to perform these types of services, please provide the following information: 1) A detailed capability statement, not to exceed 5 pages 2) Organization name, address, email address, web site address, and telephone number 3) Size and type of ownership for the organization (i.e. small business, small disadvantaged business, 8(a) firm, etc.) Business experiences, sizes, types, and socioeconomic designations shall be included with the capability statements. Capability statements must be received by 2:00 pm (Local Time) on June 25, 2010. Please send capability statements in .pdf format to Marci Goldman at the following email address: GoldmanM@od.nih.gov A maximum of five (5) pages for the capability statements are required. Only the first five (5) pages of any submission will be reviewed! The font size shall be a minimum of 10 point. All margins shall be at least - inch.