Surge Operations & Analytics Support in support of MHS COVID-19 Response

TITLE: Surge Operations & Analytics Support in support of MHS COVID-19 Response INTRODUCTION: The Government intends to issue a sole-source bridge contract to extend the MHS COVID 19 Response - MEDLOG Support, to Accenture Federal Services, LLC, in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1, Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements. The contract period of performance will be from April 3, 2021, through October 4, 2021 with an option to extend for an additional 6 months depending on what the need of the government is at the end of the base period. The twelve (12) month bridge to extend performance is critical to ensure continued support to the DHA by continuing to meet critical requirements and prevent a gap in service which would affect data acquisition and distribution to all government agencies. During the performance of this bridge contract, the Government will continue to assess the ongoing need for this type of service. In the event it is determined that continued support is necessary, the Government will submit a separate Request for Information. It is our intent in the future, once the need is identified, to determine interest and input from industry by releasing a solicitation with full and open competition in accordance with policy and regulation, Background: The current urgent situation exceeds existing capacity of the DHA Medical Logistics (MEDLOG) Directorate that is responsible for orchestrating coordinated medical logistics support across the MHS. DHA MEDLOG currently serves as the host for daily data curation activities that support internal DHA MEDLOG stakeholders, as well as, DHA J5, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Joint Staff, (OSD/JS), Army G4, Air Force G2, and Defense Logistics Agency. COVID-19 data analytics, dashboards, and decision support tools require data from across different systems (JMAR DLA EBS). This drives a series of complex data curation/normalization activities that need to be accomplished outside their respective systems. Further, due to the disparate sources of data and the introduction of new policies and procedures, the associated data quality has been problematic. Currently, DHA MEDLOG leverages contracted data engineers, data scientists, data visualization SMEs to acquire, ingest, curate, visualize, and expose the data. Five of the nine team members are contractors. The intent is to obtain a six month contract, with an option for up to an additional six months, as a bridge to the end state when the program matures, COVID demand decreases and it can be internally supported. The current workload remains constant due to COVID-19 virus variance, personal protective equipment management and continued demand for MEDLOG dashboard data across the DHA Headquarters. Continuation of this contract provides a bridge to the end state at program maturity and decreased COVID demands, enabling DHA MEDLOG to develop steady state management, while maintaining COVID-19 data analytics, dashboards and decision support tools. As stated above, the Government anticipates an end state in the response to the COVID-19 Pandemic with the rollout of the vaccines; however, due to the unpredictable nature of this novel virus and the ad hoc needs for data science architecture, manipulation and data delivery, the Government is seeking information on contractor interest and industry best practices in support of future Surge Operations & Analytics Support. AUTHORITY: The Deputy Assistant Director Pricing and Contracting (DAD-P&C) is issuing this Special Notice Request for Information for the purpose of Market Research as required by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.201 and FAR Part 10. DISCLAIMER AND IMPORTANT NOTES: THIS NOTICE IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS. Any proposals submitted will not receive a response. This notice solely constitutes a market research effort, for informational purposes only, as described under FAR 10.002. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a potential contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. Responses to this RFI are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. The Government reserves the right to use results of the communications with industry for any purpose consistent with, and not otherwise prohibited by FAR Part 10. TITLE: Surge Operations & Analytics Support in support of MHS COVID-19 Response INTRODUCTION: The Government intends to issue a sole-source bridge contract to extend the MHS COVID 19 Response - MEDLOG Support, to Accenture Federal Services, LLC, in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1, Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements. The contract period of performance will be from April 3, 2021, through October 4, 2021 with an option to extend for an additional 6 months depending on what the need of the government is at the end of the base period. The twelve (12) month bridge to extend performance is critical to ensure continued support to the DHA by continuing to meet critical requirements and prevent a gap in service which would affect data acquisition and distribution to all government agencies. During the performance of this bridge contract, the Government will continue to assess the ongoing need for this type of service. In the event it is determined that continued support is necessary, the Government will submit a separate Request for Information. It is our intent in the future, once the need is identified, to determine interest and input from industry by releasing a solicitation with full and open competition in accordance with policy and regulation, Background: The current urgent situation exceeds existing capacity of the DHA Medical Logistics (MEDLOG) Directorate that is responsible for orchestrating coordinated medical logistics support across the MHS. DHA MEDLOG currently serves as the host for daily data curation activities that support internal DHA MEDLOG stakeholders, as well as, DHA J5, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Joint Staff, (OSD/JS), Army G4, Air Force G2, and Defense Logistics Agency. COVID-19 data analytics, dashboards, and decision support tools require data from across different systems (JMAR DLA EBS). This drives a series of complex data curation/normalization activities that need to be accomplished outside their respective systems. Further, due to the disparate sources of data and the introduction of new policies and procedures, the associated data quality has been problematic. Currently, DHA MEDLOG leverages contracted data engineers, data scientists, data visualization SMEs to acquire, ingest, curate, visualize, and expose the data. Five of the nine team members are contractors. The intent is to obtain a six month contract, with an option for up to an additional six months, as a bridge to the end state when the program matures, COVID demand decreases and it can be internally supported. The current workload remains constant due to COVID-19 virus variance, personal protective equipment management and continued demand for MEDLOG dashboard data across the DHA Headquarters. Continuation of this contract provides a bridge to the end state at program maturity and decreased COVID demands, enabling DHA MEDLOG to develop steady state management, while maintaining COVID-19 data analytics, dashboards and decision support tools. As stated above, the Government anticipates an end state in the response to the COVID-19 Pandemic with the rollout of the vaccines; however, due to the unpredictable nature of this novel virus and the ad hoc needs for data science architecture, manipulation and data delivery, the Government is seeking information on contractor interest and industry best practices in support of future Surge Operations & Analytics Support. AUTHORITY: The Deputy Assistant Director Pricing and Contracting (DAD-P&C) is issuing this Special Notice Request for Information for the purpose of Market Research as required by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.201 and FAR Part 10. DISCLAIMER AND IMPORTANT NOTES: THIS NOTICE IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS. Any proposals submitted will not receive a response. This notice solely constitutes a market research effort, for informational purposes only, as described under FAR 10.002. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a potential contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. Responses to this RFI are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. The Government reserves the right to use results of the communications with industry for any purpose consistent with, and not otherwise prohibited by FAR Part 10. NEXT STEPS: Interested parties with information to share must make their submittals to the Government via email to the Primary Point of Contact (below) not later than 12pm Mountain Standard Time (MST) on March 15, 2021. 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. PRIMARY POINT OF CONTACT: Please respond or submit inquiries (via email) to the Defense Health Agency, Managed Care - Contracting Division, TRICARE Support Branch, through Mr. Michael Eckstine at Michael.D.Eckstine.ctr@mail.mil. 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. CONFIDENTIALITY: No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. Industry responses will be shared with DHA staff for the purpose of market research. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s). ADMINISTRATIVE: Classification Code: Q399 - Other NAICS Code: 541611 Administrative Management Consulting