Revisions to Proposed Methodology for Designating Underserved Areas

THIS NOTICE IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY'The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) intends to negotiate a contract for the Shortage Destination Branch on a SOLE SOURCE basis with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Office of Sponsored Research, 104 Airport Drive, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-1350. The purpose of this procurement is to make key revisions and update the recently proposed new methodology for designation of Medically Underserved Populations (MUPs) and Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) in response to comments received during the public comment period. A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Designation of MUPs and HPSAs was published in February 2008 and over 700 comments were received. Based on a review of these comments, the Agency plans to revise the proposed methodology. In order to do so, additional data analyzation is required to revise the statistical model and recalculate the results with updated data. The anticipated period performance is three (3) months. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this requirement is 541690. The proposed contract action(s) is for services which the Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under the authority of FAR 13.106-1. A Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition (JOFOC) is on file, which states and supports that University of Carolina at Chapel Hill is the only vendor capable of performing the tasks for this project because they developed and performed the impact testing on the original statistical model for the methodology. Additionally, no other organization has the current data files needed to conduct this testing. This notice of intent is NOT a request for competitive proposals. 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. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive requirement. The contact person for this requirement is Carolyn Cunningham, Contract Specialist, Division of Procurement Management (DPM), OFM/HRSA, Parklawn Building, Room 13A-19, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857; phone number +1 (555) 000-0000.