Grant Funding Analysis and Reviewer Finder

PRE-SOLICITATION NON-COMPETITIVE (NOTICE OF INTENT) SYNOPSIS INTRODUCTION THIS IS A PRE-SOLICITATION NON-COMPETITIVE (NOTICE OF INTENT) SYNOPSIS TO AWARD A CONTRACT OR PURCHASE ORDER WITHOUT PROVIDING FOR FULL OR OPEN COMPETITION (INCLUDING BRAND-NAME). The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), Office of Acquisitions (OA) on behalf of the Information Technology and Applications Center (ITAC) intends to negotiate and award a contract without providing for full and open competition to (Including brand-name) - berResearch, Inc., 214 Captains Watch, Lexington, SC 29072-6677 for NHLBI Grant Funding Analysis and ReviewerFinder. NORTH AMERICAN INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (NAICS) CODE The intended procurement is classified under NAICS code 541511 with a Size Standard of $25.5 M. REGULATORY AUTHORITY The resultant contract will include all applicable provisions and clauses in effect through the Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-79 effective on December 15, 2014. This acquisition is conducted under the procedures as prescribed in FAR subpart 12-Acquisition of Commercial Items and FAR subpart 15-Contracting by Negotiation at an amount exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold ($150,000). STATUTORY AUTHORITY This acquisition is conducted under the authority of 41 United States Code (U.S.C.) 253(c)(1) under provisions of the statutory authority of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 6.302-1-Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENT Background The intent of this contract is to reuse the existing portfolio analysis tool at NHLBI called ReviewerFinder and make enhancements to further develop NHLBI's portfolio analysis capabilities. UberResearch (formerly Collexis) personnel were the developers of the original ReviewerFinder prototype and provided significant thought leadership and development capabilities as NHLBI stood up the ReviewerFinder prototype several years ago. The company also has extensive knowledge of the NIH/NHLBI peer review process and will be able to use that expertise to help ensure the final product meets the needs of all NHLBI stakeholders involved in the process. Further, the capabilities of the UberResearch tool are unique both in terms of the functionality provided as well as the data sets it makes available. As a part of the Nature Publishing Group, they are uniquely placed to provide access to a broad range of top class peer reviewed journals and citations that are unavailable from competitors. Purpose and Objectives As part of NHLBI's portfolio analysis program, this acquisition is to provide enhancements to the portfolio analysis capabilities of the ReviewerFinder application. These enhancements will help support the NHLBI Director's goal of using data to make better decisions about funding various parts of the portfolio. Period of Performance This firm-fixed-price contract is anticipated to have a base period of six (6) months and one (1) six (6) month option to follow as listed below: Base Period: 12/31/2014 - 06/30/2015 Option Period One: 07/01/2015 - 12/30/2015 Project Description The contract will be required to utilize Agile principles to accomplish the overall scope and vision of the Grant Funding Analysis and Reviewer Finder. The Statement of Work (SOW) has been written with this in mind and provides a high level view of the scope and vision of the task order and an suggested implementation approach. Agile is a philosophy of operations that is applied throughout the Information Technology and Applications Center (ITAC) whether in software development, project management or operations. It is founded on the principles of: - High levels of customer involvement - Developing solutions in small, discrete increments - Regular and automated testing of products - Continuous integration - Recognition that requirements may change and that solutions will evolve as more information is learned Proposed Activities - Project Management - Portfolio Analysis Solution Design - Reviewer Finder Application Enhancements - Reviewer Finder Infrastructure - Reviewer Finder Data Preparation - Reviewer Finder Contribution to eRA - Reviewer Finder Technical Support Deliverables 1) Project Management Plan 2) Project Schedule 3) Risk Log 4) Reviewer Finder Design Documentation 5) Deployable Package for Release 6) Test Plan, Cases, and Results 7) System Administration/Operations Documentation Other Important Considerations UberResearch meets all Project Requirements needed to develop and modernize the Grant Funding Analysis and ReviewerFinder Application. They were able adequately to show they have scientific expertise required to develop and modernize the Grant Funding Analysis and ReviewerFinder application. The company has extensive knowledge and experience in peer review and scientific portfolio analysis on an international level. They have the unique ability to access NIH grant data, global grant award date, research expertise profiles, global clinical trials, full text journal articles, global patient data, global research outputs, and global article level metrics. They have the ability to compare and match grants data with reviewer expertise data. They also have the ability to produce a list of appropriate reviewer candidates using the data bases and comparisons stated above. They can provide both thesaurus and non-thesaurus bases indexing of grants. They can also provide disambiguation algorithms and services of people and organizations across multiple data sets. CONTRACTING WITHOUT PROVIDING FOR FULL OR OPEN COMPETITION (INCLUDING BRAND-NAME) DETERMINATION The determination by the Government to award a contract without providing for full and open competition is based upon the market research conducted as prescribed in FAR Part 10-Market Research, specifically the review and evaluation of the responses to the sources sought notice (HHS-NIH-NHLBI-HO-15-07-JT, titled Grant Funding Analysis and Reviewer Finder) published in the FedBizOpps on October 31, 2014 for seven (7) days. The NHLBI received ten (10) capability statements as a result of the sources sought notice. A panel of reviewers discussed each of the 10 statements received, and agreed that the capability statements for 9 of the 10 did not demonstrate the ability to provide the needed services outlined in the sources sought notice. Reasons are as follows: a. Responses to all requirements were not addressed b. Unable to automatically compare and match grants data c. Unable to show they had the ability to compare grants data with reviewer expertise d. Database of potential reviewers was limited to past reviewers only e. No access to international databases of funded research grants f. Unable to show scientific expertise to design and build the Portfolio Analysis application g. Did not have the technical expertise to design and build the Portfolio Analysis application h. Did not have the experience or expertise with the knowledge of management algorithms needed UberResearch was the only company that addressed and met all the requirements in the sources sought notice. They have the unique ability to access NIH grant data, global grant award date, research expertise profiles, global clinical trials, full text journal articles, global patient data, global research outputs, and global article level metrics. They have the ability to compare and match grants data with reviewer expertise data. They also have the ability to produce a list of appropriate reviewer candidates using the data bases and comparisons stated above. The company has extensive knowledge and experience in peer review and scientific portfolio analysis on an international level. They can provide both thesaurus and non-thesaurus bases indexing of grants. They can also provide disambiguation algorithms and services of people and organizations across multiple data sets. Based on the 10 responses and past performance with UberResearch, no further market research was needed. CLOSING STATEMENT This synopsis is not a request for competitive proposals. However, interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this notice. Responses to this notice shall contain sufficient information to establish the interested parties' bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the requirement and include: unit price, list price, shipping and handling costs, the delivery period after contract award, the prompt payment discount terms, the F.O.B. Point (Destination or Origin), the Dun & Bradstreet Number (DUNS), the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and the certification of business size. All offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov." A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. The information received will normally be considered solely for the purposes of determining whether to proceed on a non-competitive basis or to conduct a competitive procurement. All responses must be received by 12:00PM EST on December 31, 2014 and must reference number NHLBI-CSB-(HO)-2015-007-JT. Responses may be submitted electronically to Jenn Frazier at contact@example.gov or by U.S. mail to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Office of Acquisitions, COAC Services Branch,6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 6145, Bethesda, MD 20892-7902, Attention: Jenn Frazer. Fax responses will not be accepted. "All responsible sources may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation, which shall be considered by the agency."