Notice of Intent to Sole Source - Tobacco Regulatory Science Fellowship (TRSF)

The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), intends to enter into a twelve (12) - month Cost-Reimbursement contract with three (3) 12 - month option periods, with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), Institute of Medicine (IOM), located at 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20418; pursuant to 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(3), as implemented by FAR 6.302-3 (a)(2)(ii), "To establish or maintain an essential engineering, research, or development capability to be provided by an educational or other nonprofit institution or a federally funded research and development center", for the essential development of capabilities within the field of Tobacco Regulatory Science by managing and administering the Tobacco Regulatory Science Fellowship (TRSF) Program on the Government's behalf. The goal of the program is to increase the pool of professionals actively and effectively engaged in supporting tobacco regulation and to place fellows into various CTP offices. The program will offer up to ten (10) exceptional individuals an opportunity to gain needed hands-on experience and expertise to further define and develop the field of regulatory science as it relates to the regulation of tobacco products. As a result, this will enable NAS to provide prospective fellows the opportunity to participate in the day-to-day operation of the Center, with the goal of creating a cadre of tobacco regulatory science professionals. This requirement is a continuation of services provided under Contract No. HHSF223201210029C with NAS. The solicitation number assigned to this requirement is FDA-SOL-1158215 and will be issued on or about January 12, 2016. An award date of no later than April 29, 2016 is desired. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals, however, interested firms may submit a written capability statement to the below named point of contact providing clear and convincing evidence of the firm's capability to provide the required services. Written capability statements must be submitted within 15 calendar days from the date of publication of this synopsis. Responses received after 15 calendar days or without the required documentation will be considered non-responsive and will not be considered. Such documentation will be utilized solely for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct this procurement on a competitive basis. The Government will not pay for any documentation provided in response to this synopsis and documentation received will not be returned to the sender. A determination by the Government not to compete this requirement on a full and open competitive basis, based upon responses received to the synopsis, is solely within the discretion of the Government. All responses to this notice, including Statements of Capabilities, must be in writing, and be transmitted by electronic mail. The NAICS Code/Size Standard is 541690/$15.0M. Questions/responses must be submitted to the contract specialist, at Eric.Rabinovich@fda.hhs.gov. The Points of Contact (POCs) for this action are Eric Rabinovich, Contract Specialist, Eric.Rabinovich@fda.hhs.gov, and James G. Whitt, Contracting Officer, James.Whitt@fda.hhs.gov.