Sole Source Notice of Intent - Multimedia Support Services

THIS IS A NOTICE OF INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE AND NOT A REQUEST FOR QUOTATION. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, intends to negotiate on a sole source basis and award a contract to Image Associates Incorporated (5475 Lumley Road, Suite 102, Durham NC 27703-8073) for Multimedia Support Services. This acquisition is being conducted using the procedures under Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Subpart 13.5, "Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items" in accordance with 41 U.S.C. 1901. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this requirement is 541430 -- Graphic Design Services with a size standard of $8M. The Contractor shall provide all qualified personnel, labor, products/materials, and non-personal services necessary to provide multimedia support services to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The Contractor shall provide the NIEHS with support to achieve and maintain high quality services in the areas of graphic arts, desktop publishing, photography, videography, and audio/video event planning. The basic service objective is to fulfill the NIEHS's communications mission through graphic arts, desktop publishing, photography, videography, and audio/visual event planning services. The contractor shall provide customer service support, consultation, graphic design/illustration, scientific/medical illustration, document layout and design (desktop publishing), PowerPoint creation and editing, quality control/proofreading/copy editing, purchase of images, scientific poster layout, printing and binding, exhibit and display design and production, photography, video production and editing, audio production and editing, audiovisual meeting planning and event support. The purchase order has an anticipated period of performance of 3 months and 10 days. The purchase order is required to allow for continued support as Image Associates has the resources already in place to prevent any disruption of services and to avoid any unforeseen complications. The required services are available only from the incumbent, Image Associates, for the continued provision of services as it is likely that award to any other source would result in substantial duplication of costs to the government which is not expected to be recovered through competition and unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency's needs. Moreover, with another contractor, it would take 15 days to transition over, with up to 8 weeks for employee background checks and badging requirements. Conducting a limited competition among possible quoters and awarding a bridge contract to any other contractor other than Image Associates for the period of October 2, 2019 through January 12, 2020 presents significant challenges which would cripple the NIEHS's mission. Conducting any limited competition and transitioning to a new contractor would not be practicable given the limited time based on the October 2, 2019 need date. Implementing a new standalone contract with any firm other than Image Associates will cause duplication of costs associated with transitioning to a new contractor. Based on the transition time and added costs, only the incumbent, Image Associates, can meet the requirements for the bridge contract services required under this contract, discontinued use would result in substantial duplication of cost to the government that is not expected to be recovered through competition and will result in unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency's requirements. This is NOT a solicitation for quotations, quotation abstracts, or a request for competitive quotations. However, all responses received within 1 day from the date of publication of this synopsis will be considered by the Government. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed action based upon responses to this notice is solely with the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Information received on this notice must completely eliminate the government's concerns and addressed how services can be provided with absolutely no disruption to service and will avoid duplication of costs and/or heightened increase in costs to the government. If no affirmative responses are received within 1 day of this notice to determine whether a qualified source is more advantageous to the Government, a contract will be issued to Image Associates Incorporated. There is no solicitation package available. The Contracting Officer for this requirement is Ms. Onyenauch Washington. All questions or concerns relating to this notice shall be submitted by e-mail to uche.washington@nih.gov.