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Request for Information For Meeting, Programmatic, and Administrative Support Services THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) OR A REQUEST FOR QUOTATIONS (RFQ); IT IS STRICTLY A REQUEST FOR INFORMA... Request for Information For Meeting, Programmatic, and Administrative Support Services THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) OR A REQUEST FOR QUOTATIONS (RFQ); IT IS STRICTLY A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI). NEITHER UNSOLICITED PROPOSALS NOR ANY OTHER KINDS OF OFFERS WILL BE CONSIDERED IN RESPONSE TO THIS RFI. NO CONTRACT WILL BE AWARDED PURSUANT TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. 1.0 DISCLAIMER: This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation. Neither unsolicited proposals nor any other kind of offers will be considered in response to this RFI. Responses to this notice are not offers and will not be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. All information received in response to this RFI that is marked Proprietary will be handled accordingly. Responses to the RFI will not be returned. At this time, questions concerning the composition and requirements for a future RFP will not be entertained. 2.0 SUBJECT: The Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) is conducting market research to assess commercial availability to provide biomedical research application evaluation support services (also known as programmatic review support services) for the CDMRP and other subordinate organizations. In-line with the above goal, the CDMRP wishes to obtain information from commercial sources that possess the capability to provide biomedical research application evaluation support services for current and future research programs. The anticipated contractor support duties are attached via a draft copy of the Performance Work Statement (PWS) (Attachment 1). 3.0 BACKGROUND: The United States Congress directed the Department of Defense (DOD) to manage appropriations totaling over $17.8 Billion, since fiscal year 1992 (FY92), for peer reviewed competitive programs directed toward targeted medical research initiatives. The USAMRDC is responsible for administering these targeted research program appropriations. The CDMRP is an office within the USAMRDC that implements funding and serves as the executive management agent for a majority of the biomedical research programs directed by Congress, in addition to providing support for the core (presidential budget) DOD and Army medical research program areas. The DOD Breast Cancer Research Program was established in FY92 by Appropriations Conference Committee Report No 102-328, which provided $25 Million (M) for research on breast cancer screening and diagnosis for military women and their family members. In 1993 grassroots efforts by the breast cancer survivors and advocacy communities led to a FY93 congressional appropriation of $210M for peer reviewed breast cancer research. The CDMRP sought the advice of the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine (IOM) on how to best invest the $210M congressional appropriation. While the IOM made several important recommendations, a pivotal one outlining a two-tier review process for evaluating and selecting research applications has become a cornerstone within CDMRP. This novel two-tiered process involves reviewing every research application for scientific merit as well as programmatic relevance. The first tier of the two-tier review process is peer review. Peer review is a criteria-based process where applications are evaluated based on their scientific and technical merit. Applications are evaluated by scientific discipline, specialty area, or award mechanism by scientific, technical and consumer peer reviewers. The second tier of review is programmatic review. Applications are programmatically reviewed by members of the programs’ Programmatic Panel. Programmatic review is a comparison-based process in which applications from multiple research areas compete in a common pool. Programmatic review balances the potential outcomes and risks of scientifically meritorious applications. Support for the programmatic review is a major aspect of this contract solicitation. (https://cdmrp.army.mil/about/2tierRevProcess.) Note that programmatic review is a wholly separate requirement; this information is included only to provide a clearer understanding of the CDMRP Processes. For more information on the office of the CDMRP, go to http://cdmrp.army.mil and review materials provided on the website. 4.0 RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS: Respondents must address the following in their submission: Name and address of company. Any small business designation as certified by the Small Business Administration. If the responder is a small business, it is anticipated that the small business prime contractor must perform at least 51% direct support without pass through or assistance from subcontractors or partners. As such, provide documentation to support sufficient in-house resources to accomplish 51% or greater performance related to this requirement. Provide a thorough description of experience in providing support of this nature and magnitude to include all tasks included in Attachment 1. Demonstrate the ability to provide scientific, technical, and administrative personnel in the following key tasks (as outlined in Section 4.0 of the attached draft PWS): Provide Meeting Support (4.1 of attached draft PWS) Programmatic Support Services (4.2 of attached draft PWS) Administrative Support Services (4.3 of attached draft PWS) Provide Publicity and Public Affairs Support Services (4.4 of attached draft PWS) Demonstrate that the contractor has an existing contractor-owned, contractor-operated, web-based electronic system capable of providing support activities to include meeting facilitation, scoring, review, individual and panel voting, with capabilities to capture live notes, allow for virtual meetings, enable document sharing, and conduct a minimum of five concurrent reviews in multiple meetings and/or panels. The system must be electronic and web-based because the data must flow automatically between government-owned eBRAP and the Electronic Grants System (EGS) due to high volume (no human data entry permitted). For additional information about the Electronic Grants System, please see number 5.0 below. The electronic, web-based programmatic review system must also be contractor-owned, contractor operated. The system must also interface with Grants.gov formatted data schema to retrieve the data and files. Demonstrate the ability to propose personnel who are United States citizens and have the ability to obtain a favorable National Agency Clearance with Inquiries. This is necessary for those staff members requiring access to Army installations, facilities, or controlled access areas and/or requiring access to a government information system. The baseline certification as stipulated in DoD 8570.01-M must be completed upon contract award. Personnel who are required to have privileged level access to perform their duties must have the IAT Level 1 commercial certifications listed below at time of hire. In order to meet IAT Level 1 requirements, the proposed personnel must have one of the following CompTIA CE certifications to meet the Baseline Certification requirements: A+, Network+, or Security+ certification. Personnel proposed must also enroll in the continuing education program for those commercial certifications required in the IA Baseline Certification. Proposed personnel are also required to have a Computing Environment (CE) commercial certification (list of certifications that fulfill this requirement is extensive but most commercial certifications suffice). Note that the same IA Baseline Certification cannot fulfill the CE certification requirement. Costs for these certifications shall be the responsibility of the Contractor. NOTE: All “attachments” mentioned in PWS are marked as “TBD” and should be disregarded at this time. The attachments will be provided when the full solicitation is released. Capability statements shall be no more than ten (10) pages and content shall be no smaller than Times New Roman font 12 pitch. Exhibits, graphics, charts, captions, etc., shall be no smaller than 10 pitch. 5.0 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Electronic Grants System (EGS): The EGS system is a government-owned, contractor-operated, mission-critical business processing system designed to address core functions of CDMRP business needs as well as other USAMRDC organizations. It stores numerous elements of research proposal and award data including contracting, regulatory, administration, and program information. EGS has many functional components designed to automate administrative processes and include research proposal management, grants management, program management, and program evaluation. A number of system-to-system interfaces facilitate interactions with other databases, including those of off-site contractors and on-site systems. It houses a number of electronic processes, including progress report reviews, grant/contract negotiations, regulatory review and approval, product management, and website management. EGS is a web-based application supported by a database back-end. Support for this system is supported by a separate contract. 6.0 CONTACT INFORMATION: Any and all questions related to this RFI shall be directed to Lance Nowell at lance.l.nowell.civ@mail.mil. All information regarding Capabilities Statements or any other proprietary information relative to this RFI shall be submitted via email to lance.l.nowell.civ@mail.mil no later than 4:00 PM EDT on 31 August 2021. Attachment 1: Draft Performance Work Statement (PWS)