THIS IS A NOTICE OF INTENT, NOT A REQUEST FOR A PROPOSAL. A SOLICITATION DOCUMENT WILL NOT BE ISSUED AND PROPOSALS WILL NOT BE REQUESTED. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), Office of Acquisitions (OA), on behalf of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) intends to negotiate and award a purchase order on a noncompetitive sole source basis to Heliotext LLC, 4205 Preston Forest Dr, Blacksburg, VA 24060 for the following service: - Maintenance of GRASP System The proposed period of performance for this requirement is for a period of six (6) months. The sole source determination is based on the fact that Heliotext has developed several service lines based on their proprietary text data mining and text similarity matching tools and databases. As such, they are the sole proprietors of the turnkey hardware and software solution that has seamlessly integrated with database applications used at NIH, and CSR specifically. There are no other companies allowed to work on the proprietary systems owned by Heliotext. The delivery point is the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), Bethesda, MD 20892. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code is 541990, and the associated small business size standard is $7.0M. The acquisition is being conducted under FAR Part 13, Simplified Acquisition Procedures; therefore the requirements of FAR Part 6, Competitive Requirements, are not applicable and the resultant purchase order will include all applicable provisions and clauses in effect through the Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-44 (July 8, 2010). Interested parties may identify their interest and capabilities in response to this synopsis by September 17, 2010 at 10:00 am Eastern Standard Time. The determination by the Government not to compete the proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct future competitive procurements. Inquiries to this announcement, referencing synopsis number NHLBI-PB-(RG)-2010-318-AMB, may be submitted to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Office of Acquisitions, Procurement Branch, 6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 6151, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-7902, Attention: Aaron Blackshire. Responses may be submitted electronically to aaron.blackshire@nih.gov. Faxes will not be accepted. Responses will only be accepted if dated and signed by an authorized company representative.
