SSEUS Maintenance

This is a Small Business Sources Sought Notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources; (2) whether they are small businesses; HUBZone small businesses; service- disabled , veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Library of Medicine (NLM) is conducting a market survey to help determine the availability and technical capability of qualified small businesses, veteran-owned small businesses and/or HUBZone small businesses capable of serving the needs identified below. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code is 541511 with a small business size standard of $25.5 million. This Sources Sought Notice is for informational and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation or commitment by the Government. This notice is intended strictly for market research. Background The SIS SQL Entry and Update System (SSEUS) software system is a multi-targeted, wide-area, Internet-based update system used by the Specialized Information Services (SIS) Division of the National Library of Medicine for editing and emending TOXNET and other related biomedical and toxicological databases. SSEUS permits the updating of data on MySQL and other ODBC-compliant relational database systems by file builders and SIS staff working from a variety of Microsoft Windows, Sun Solaris, and Linux computers connected to the Internet. The core software is written in the UNICON programming language. The SSEUS suite of programs manages the transformation, formatting, importing, editing, and exporting of data and databases from continually evolving, externally provided sources. These data are critical elements of SIS's Toxicology and Environmental Health program; they are designed for the use of toxicologists, hazardous substance responders, and chemical-based scientific and medical research. SSEUS provides a system for reviewing and editing these data and for exporting the results according to multiple print and database formats. The software underlying SSEUS includes UNICON, MyODBC, OpenSSH, MySQL, C, SPITBOL, and standard UNIX and Microsoft utilities. SSEUS has both interactive and automated batch components. Purpose and Objectives The purpose of this acquisition is to obtain the services of software development support for the SSEUS, to provide maintenance programming support for the SSEUS wide-area update system, modify modules so as to accommodate the changing characteristics of data sources, and to restructure presentations to the databases on-line to be included in the SSEUS system. Project Requirements The scope of the project will include: 1. The contractor shall respond to problems encountered by users of the SSEUS system by making corrections to the SSEUS source code, by providing documentation, and by consulting with users and SIS staff. 2. The contractor shall be available for prompt response to emergency problems on an as-needed basis. 3. The contractor shall be available for one to two weeks a year on site in order to assist SIS programming staff in the on-going modification and design of the SSEUS system. 4. The contractor shall create programming guides and user documentation as requested by the COR. 5. The contractor shall show familiarity with the structure and update practices of Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB), Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology (DART), Chemical Carcinogenesis Research Information System (CCRIS), Directory of Information Resources Online (DIRLINE), and LactMed databases. 6. The contractor shall undertake modification and extension of the minor database version of SSEUS to generalize its support for ad hoc inspection and manipulation of occasional databases. 7. The contractor shall provide support for Scientific Review Panel members. This includes system installation and configuration, modification of data fielding, printing support, data import and export, and documentation. 8. The contractor shall provide programming and procedural documentation for SIS programmers working on the SSEUS system. Anticipated Period of Performance It is anticipated that the period of performance shall be September 1, 2013-August 31, 2014 plus the possibility of two option years. Other Important Considerations The proposed acquisition will be procured in accordance with the policies and procedures under FAR 13-Simplified Acquisition Procedures. All responsible sources may submit a capability statement which will be considered by the National Library of Medicine. This Sources Sought Notice is not a Request for Quotes (RFQ), nor is an RFQ available. Interested firms responding to this Sources Sought Notice must adhere to the following: (a) Provide a capability statement demonstrating relevant experience, skills and ability to fulfill the Government's requirement. The capability statement should contain sufficient detail for the Government to make an informed decision regarding capability; however, the statement should not exceed 10 pages. (b) The capability statement must identify the responder's: small business type and size; DUNS number; NAICS code; and technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses. (c) All capability statements must be submitted electronically no later than 3:00 pm eastern standard time on Wednesday, August 14, 2013 to Kimberly Pringle, pringlek@mail.nih.gov. Disclaimer and Important Notes: This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. Confidentiality: No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).