Notice of Intent for NIH/NCATS Slurm Slinky Licenses

THIS IS A NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD A SOLE SOURCE CONTRACT, NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE QUOTES. A REQUEST FOR QUOTE (RFQ) WILL NOT BE ISSUED AND QUOTES WILL NOT BE REQUESTED.

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)  intends to award a firm fixed price sole source contract under the authority of FAR 12.102(a), only one source being available to meet the Government's needs, to:

SchedMD LLC

900 N 100 E

Lehi, UT 84043

NCATS hereby submits a notice of intent to award a sole source firm fixed price purchase order for Slurm Slinky Licenses and Support which includes associated maintenance, upgrades, and technical support, for a twelve (12) month period of performance commencing within thirty (30) days of award.

The purpose of this acquisition is to obtain software, support, and integration capabilities for Slurm and Slinky Bridge. Slurm is an open-source tool that manages and schedules computing workloads across large computing systems. The support includes Slurm Support Level 3 for 12 months supporting up to 256 computing nodes and graphics processing units, Slurm Slinky Bridge which provides the capability to integrate between local computing systems and cloud resources.  Also  consulting support from a senior engineer , remote support sessions (8 hours total)  and review of system setup and configuration. SchedMD is the original developer, maintainer, and sole commercial support provider for the Slurm Workload Manager. SchedMD is also the exclusive provider of Slinky Bridge, the proprietary software required to integrate Slurm-managed on-premises computing resources with cloud environments.

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences is building a modern scientific computing environment to support advanced data analysis and large-scale research. This environment is essential for accelerating the development of new treatments, improving drug discovery, and advancing scientific innovation. Researchers use advanced methods such as machine learning, large-scale data analysis, and other data-intensive techniques that require powerful computing systems. These systems include a mix of local and cloud-based computing resources that must work together efficiently. Slurm, combined with Slinky Bridge, enables this hybrid computing approach by managing workloads and allowing jobs to run seamlessly across both environments.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this requirement is 531210 Software Publisher business size $47M.

The period of performance will be for one (1) 12-month base period from date of award.

This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals, and no solicitation document exists for the requirement. This hereby constitutes a synopsis of the requirement.

CLOSING STATEMENT

The determination not to compete this proposed contract action is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. The Government will not be responsible for any costs incurred by responding to this notice. This is NOT a request for quotes or proposals.

Questions or comments to this Notice of Intent should be directed to the Primary Point of Contact

Leah L. Hinson via e-mail only Leah.Hinson@hhs.gov (no phone calls/voice mail). Messages regarding questions will not be accepted and will not receive a response). Please indicate in the subject of your email: Notice of Intent Question Submission – PCA-NCATS–06792 Slurm Slinky Licenses and Support.

Contracting Office Address:

Office of Mission Acquisition Solutions (OMAS) 

Office of Acquisitions (OA) | Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources (ASFR)

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 

Primary Point of Contact:

Leah L. Hinson- Leah.Hinson@hhs.gov