Foreign Center Indexing

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with FAR Part 12. This procurement is being conducted under Simplified Acquisitions Procedures in accordance with FAR Part 13. This acquisition is NOT a small business set-aside. This announcement constitutes the formal Request for Quotation (RFQ) and no additional written solicitation will be issued. It is the intend of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), to procure on a sole source basis under FAR 6-302, with Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) / Biblioteca Regional de Midicina (BIREME), in Sao Paulo, Brazil, for continuation of indexing services for journals published in Latin American countries for citation in NLM MEDLINE/PubMed. PAHO/BIREME has provided such services to NLM for more than 25 years, and poses staff members that have been fully trained to perform MEDLINE indexing. The majority of journal articles are expected to be in Spanish and Portuguese, and translation of journal articles into English will be necessary. The Contractor will index life science journal articles by applying Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) describing the content of each article, following procedures and policies contained in established NLM guidelines, including the NLM indexing Manual, MeSH annotations, and other NLM generated indexing aids such as Technical Memoranda. Indexers will use the NLM web-based online indexing system (DCMS) to add subject headings to the online record for each article. Indexers will access the online record for each article and review the descriptive data provided for each one (pagination, language, authors, author affiliation and title). The major effort involves the intellectual analysis of the article for subject content and the application of appropriate subject headings, publication types, and qualifiers drawn from MeSH. The online indexing system contains many validation programs to detect real or potential errors. The award will be for a Base Year with four (4) consecutive one-year option periods. All proposals received by the due date of this notice will be considered. EMAILS AND FASCIMILIES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTABLE. Firms interested in responding to this notice must be able to provide professional services required by NLM. The offeror shall include all information necessary to document and/or support the qualification criteria in one clearly marked section of its quotation. All responses from responsible sources will be considered. Inquiries regarding this procurement may be made to the National Library of Medicine, Office of Acquisitions, 6707 Democracy Blvd. Suite 105, Bethesda, MD 20892, Attention: Alejandro Navas, Contract Specialist. Offerors shall comply with all applicable Federal, State and Local Laws, Executive Orders, rules and regulations applicable to performance under this order. Full text of clauses and provisions are available from the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) at http://www.acquisition.gov/far/ The following clauses and provisions shall apply to this acquisition and may be obtained in full text at FAR web site noted above: FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors - Commercial Items (November 2007) FAR 52.212 1, Instructions to Offerors Commercial Items (June 2008). FAR 52.212-2. Evaluation - Commercial Items (January 1999). FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications Commercial Items (May 2011)-With DUNS Number Addendum [52.204-6 (April 2008)]. FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions Commercial Items (June 2010) - With Addenda [Stop Work Order. FAR 52.242-15 (August 1989) and Year 2000 Compliance (July 1997)] FAR 52.212- 5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders Commercial Items (August 2011).