Inactive

This notice shall not be construed as a Request for Proposal (RFP) or as any commitment or obligation on the part of the Government to issue a solicitation. The Government does not intend to award a c... This notice shall not be construed as a Request for Proposal (RFP) or as any commitment or obligation on the part of the Government to issue a solicitation. The Government does not intend to award a contract based on this request, so proposals will not be considered. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this synopsis or any follow-up information requests. As permitted by FAR Part 10, this is a market research tool being utilized for informational and planning purposes. Your responses will assist the Government in the development of its acquisition strategy for a possible Request for Proposal (RFP), to be issued later, and in determining whether any type of small business set-aside is possible for this procurement or whether full and open competitive procedures should be utilized. This is strictly market research, and the Government will not entertain any questions. Background and Need The Division of Global HIV and TB (DGHT) is a key U.S. Government implementer of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). It provides direct peer-to-peer technical, financial, and program service delivery assistance to: 1) build sustainable public health information, laboratory, and management systems and local workforce capacity; 2) expand quality care and treatment service delivery, and transition these services to local host government ownership; 3) implement effective and evidence-based HIV/AIDS prevention programs that build synergies between prevention, and care and treatment programs; and 4) conduct, translate, and operationalize research on program impact and cost effectiveness. DGHT embraces a sustainable, “government-to-government” approach, providing direct funding and technical assistance to Ministries of Health and other local partners to coordinate and implement national AIDS strategies, and to build local technical, financial, and managerial leadership and research capacity. DGHT global programs conduct surveillance, operational research, and program monitoring and evaluation through partnerships with other countries’ ministries of health, international nongovernmental organizations, and civil society organizations to improve the quantity and quality of critical public health data for strategic use in policy, planning and program improvement. Additional information about the Division is available at https://www.cdc.gov/globalhivtb/index.html. In January 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued the Policy on Public Health Research and Non-research Data Management and Access that requires public health research and non-research data collected or generated using CDC funds or data reported to CDC as part of a data collection system to be made available for public use. This policy ensures that CDC is in compliance with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memorandum titled “Open Data Policy – Managing Information as an Asset” (OMB M-13-13); Executive Order 13642 title “Making Open and Machine Readable the New Default for Government Information”; and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) memorandum titled “Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research” (OSTP Memo). The underlying principle is that “Public health and scientific advancement are best served when public health data are released to, or shared with, other public health agencies, academic researchers, private research and other partners in an open timely, and appropriate way.” With the release of data, quality standards, privacy and confidentiality, proprietary interests, intellectual property rights, ethical matters and impartiality of sharing are to be maintained. The policy also stipulates that all stages of data management (collection, transmission, editing, processing, analysis, and storage) must be evaluated for quality. Under the policy, DGHT has responsibility to ensure discoverability of data, i.e., that users know that the data exits and where and how to access it. Specific objectives for such a project may include: The project objective is to support compliance with the CDC policy on Public Health Research and Non-research Data Management and Access. Specific tasks to be performed will enable the management and facilitation of public access to DGHT funded public health data. The release of this data shall be in alignment with security requirements and will be timely, in a nonproprietary format, and in accordance with quality data standards. This must be accomplished while balancing associated costs and administrative burden, applicable restrictions (legal, proprietary, or confidential information, security) and discoverability (knowledge of data availability). The scope of work covers support to the DGHT’s compliance with the CDC policy on Public Health Research and Non-research Data Management and Access. The Contractor will provide data curation support for data sets of varying complexity and size identified by DGHT and previously collected by DGHT staff and/or externally through cooperative agreements with foreign governments, international NGOs, universities, researchers, and civil society organizations. Provide technical assistance and, with Government approval, support to investigators with data sets already collected to assist in preparing their data for archiving. Ensure that archived data are discoverable and, in part by devising an implementing strategy to ensure HIV research fields are aware. Provide technical assistance to investigators at the inception of research projects determined by the COR to be a high priority to datasets. Track and monitor advances in the field of data management and curation including the integration of cutting-edge strategies. Advise the Science Integrity Branch regarding strategic planning activities. Suggest additional information technology solutions to meet other Science Branch needs identified during current system evaluations or through other meetings/suggestions. The CDC is conducting this Sources Sought to identify contractors who possess the capabilities to provide services as specified in the objectives above and to determine their availability and capability. If your firm may be interested in this requirement and has performed similar projects, please submit your response in accordance with the submission instructions below. Based on the responses to this Sources Sought Notice, this requirement may be set-aside for small business or procured through full and open competition. Submission Instructions: Responses via electronic mail (email) are due on or before 2:00pm ET Thursday, 31 March 2022 to Ms. Lee Catherine Kennedy (vhg0@cdc.gov) and must include the information requested below. Only emailed responses will be accepted. Responses greater than 15 pages, including all attachments, will not be considered. Late responses will not be accepted. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code for this Sources Sought Notice is 541990 – All Other Professional, Scientific and Technical Services. Size Standards in millions of dollars: $16.5M. Qualified firms shall submit a statement of interest on company letterhead demonstrating the firm’s qualifications to perform the defined work. Responses must be complete and sufficiently detailed to address the specific information. The documentation shall address, at a minimum, the following: Company Profile to include: Company Name and Address; Two Points of Contact (names, titles, phone numbers and email addresses); DUNS Number and CAGE Code, as registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) at SAM.gov: Business Designation/Status (must correlate with SAM.gov registration): ? Small Business ? HUBZone ? WOSB ? 8(a) Program ? VOSB ? SDVOSB ? Small Disadvantaged Business ? Large business Documentation, in detail, of the company’s capability: Staff expertise, including availability, experience, and formal and other training; Completed projects in the last 5 years of similar size and scope; Corporate experience and management capability; Examples of prior completed Government contracts, reference, and other related information; Staff expertise, including availability, experience, and training; Comments or opinions pertaining to the difficulty and/or feasibility of the potential requirement or proposed acquisition, possible solutions and/or approaches that may currently exist in the marketplace, and information regarding innovative ideas or concepts; Proposed NAICS code: Recommendations for a different NAICS code. If so, please explain? This notice shall not be construed as an RFP or as any commitment or obligation on the part of the Government to issue a solicitation. The Government does not intend to award a contract based on this request, so proposals will not be considered. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this synopsis or any follow-up information requests. 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 and capabilities 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 the response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s). Response is strictly voluntary — it is not mandatory to submit a response to this notice to participate in any formal RFP process that may take place in the future. However, it should be noted that information gathered through this notice may significantly influence the Government’s acquisition strategy. All interested parties will be required to respond separately to any solicitations posted as a result of this Sources Sought Notice. CDC appreciates your interest and thank you in advance for responding to the Sources Sought.