Inactive

This is a Sma ll 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 ava... This is a Sma ll 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, veteranowned 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 setaside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice. This notice is issued to help determine the availability of qualified companies technically capable of meeting the Government requirement and to determine the method of acquisition. It is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotes. No award will be made as a result of this notice. The Government will NOT be responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice. This notice is strictly for research and information purposes only. North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) CODE: The NAICS code applicable to this requirement is 611310 - Colle ges, Universities, and Professional Schools and the associated business size standard of $27.5 million. Background and Objective: The 2022 Scientific Research Preparatory Summer Course is a two-year program to prepare students from traditionally underserved populations to be competitive applicants for the NIH Summer Internship Program (SIP). As current NIH policy dictates that students under 18 years old are no longer eligible for the SIP program unless accompanied by a legal guardian, many students, especially those from underserved areas, can no longer make arrangements to attend the program. Therefore, NINDS is taking this opportunity to approach this significant part of the NIH mission from a different tact. NINDS, in collaboration with the NIH Tribal Health Research Office, will provide a program that will continue to provide an opportunity for underserved students to have a science research experience and prepare these students so that once able to attend, the students will be competitive with their peers. Moreover, the mission of the NIH is to develop, maintain, and renew scientific human resources that will ensure the Nation's capability to prevent disease. Therefore, encouraging the enrollment of new trainees in the NIH program would align with the mission. This program aims to expose diverse students to basic laboratory procedures, including planning experiments, evaluating data, keeping a laboratory notebook, reading, and evaluating journal articles, and understanding basic laboratory techniques. Each program will also include a medical or clinical component exposing the students to opportunities and research in the medical field and a Traditional Knowledge component and internship and college application preparation. This contract aims to provide comprehensive summer training to AIAN students in support of and preparation for attending the NIH in the next few years. This SOW includes strategic planning and program development to support Scientific Research Preparatory Summer Course. Contractor Requirements (Scope of Work): General Requirements: Independently and not as an agent of the Government, the Contractor shall furnish all the necessary services, qualified personnel, material, equipment, and facilities, not otherwise provided by the Government as needed to perform the Statement of Work. Specific Requirements: Level of Effort: The contractor will be expected to conduct a seven (7) to eight (8) week summer internship program. The base period summer program will be based on the attached curriculum and schedule. The internship participants will number between 10-15 rising junior AIAN high school students for an introductory to research session (base period summer program) and a one day fall activity that will build off of the summer program for the students. Option Period One will have a one-day spring of 2023 activity building off of the prior summer curriculum and fall activity for the same group of students. The contractor is expected to develop their own curriculum for option period one summer program which is more advanced and builds off of the lessons learned in the base period summer program. In Option Period One, the contractor will utilize best efforts to retain the same group of students who participated in the Base Period. In the event a student who participated in the base period summer program elects to not participate in the option period one summer program, the contractor shall recruit and replace the departing student with a rising senior student capable of meeting the requirements of the more advanced curriculum in the option period summer program. This requirement is specific to AIAN students, therefore any recruitment of students who are not specifically AIAN are subject to approval from the Contracting Officer's Representative. The Contractor shall Furnish services, qualified personnel, material, equipment, and facilities, not otherwise provided by the Government under the terms of this contract. The Contractor must have demonstrated extensive experience providing program support services, working with underserved populations, specifically AIAN populations, and coordinating programs to increase scientific experience. The contractor must have evidence of an ongoing relationship with the tribal community for whom they will provide training. The contractor shall oversee a developing summer science curriculum for underrepresented individuals living on an AIAN reservation or living near the tribal community. The base period summer curriculum is provided by NINDS and is attached. The contractor will develop their own option period one summer program curriculum. Government Responsibilities Review individual’s credentials before the final selections are made for all levels of the required personnel. No access to government facilities required. Government will not provide any space or equipment to contract personnel. Delivery or Deliverable Task 1: Identify qualified key personnel for the program; travel personnel as needed. Coordinate with universities, colleges, local tribal colleges, medical schools in the region to help locate qualified personnel. Task 2: Coordinate with local universities to provide oversight for a Traditional Knowledge activity. Task 3: Define and identify the supplies (both administrative and scientific) as well as all curriculum needs for the entire program. Task 4: Coordinate with local universities and/or medical schools in region to provide a laboratory environment to host the summer program. Task 5: Coordinate local travel for students to summer program, if needed. Task 6: Coordinate with local high schools and selected personnel to recruit and identify 10-15 rising high school junior AIAN students capable of participating in the base period summer program and fall activity. Students recruited shall be capable of returning for the Option Period 1 spring activity and summer program. Suppose a student participant from the base period does not return for the summer program in Option Period 1. In that case, the contractor shall coordinate with local high schools on a rising senior student capable of meeting the more advanced summer curriculum of Option Period 1. Option Period 1 is a government option and is not guaranteed. Task 7: Develop and oversee an eight-week summer curriculum and schedule with selected personnel, including a list of seminar and workshop titles and speakers for Option Period 1 that is more advanced and builds off of the seven (7) or eight (8) week base period curriculum and contract activities. The contractor will utilize best efforts to maximize retention of student participation. Task 8: Coordinate with selected personnel to provide a list of the activity for the spring and fall semesters. The one-day fall activity in the base period should develop from the student lessons learned in the base period summer curriculum. The one-day spring activity within option period 1 should be built from the student lessons learned in the base period summer curriculum and fall activity. The contractor shall coordinate with students’ participants for scheduling that works best to maximize participation for the fall and spring activities. Task 9: Provide an agenda for both the summer welcome and farewell ceremonies to the COR. Task 10: Provide certificates for students for closeout ceremony. Task 11: Create weekly and/or final evaluations for the summer program for participant feedback, collecting data on the effectiveness and areas of improvement of the program, student learning outcomes, the satisfaction of training activities offered (both scientific and professional development), the quality of teaching/classroom environment, administrative processes, student demographics, etc. Also, students are expected to record their weekly thoughts of the program; what information was valuable for them both personally and professionally. It should be submitted to the COR at the end of the summer program. Task 12: Track all participants’ academic progression and successes for at least 3-5 years after completing the program. This could include if the student consistently had a strong GPA throughout high school and college academic years (3.0 or above). Also, if the student enrolled and pursued a science major after graduating from High School and/or participated in the NIH Summer Internship Program (SIP) or an equivalent summer research training program after leaving the program. Reporting Requirements The following documents must be provided to the COR for review within a month after the completion of the summer component of the program: A list of student participants, Finalized selected personnel with CVs attached, All training and courses materials used in the program, Finalized detailed schedule/curriculum for both the summer and academic year activities, Evaluation/survey results for both period programs, summary of student weekly comments (in the event data is to be published prior Tribal and IRB approval is required), and Student tracking data Anticipated Period of Performance: Base Period: 4/15/2022– 1/18/2023 Option Period 1: 1/19/2023 – 9/16/2023 The Base Period includes a seven (7) or eight (8) week summer program provided with the attached schedule and curriculum. The base period will also include a one-day activity to be held during Fall of 2020 for the same students who participated in the summer program. The Option Period 1 will include a one-day activity to be held during the Spring of 2021 and a seven (7) or eight (8) week summer program. Capability Statement: Contractors that believe they possess the ability to provide the required services should submit documentation of their ability to meet the project requirements to the Contracting Officer. Contractors should also provide their Company Name, DUNS number, Physical Address, and Point of Contact Information. Capability statements should address a Contractor's relationship with an AIAN tribe. Interested organizations are required to identify their Federal Supply Schedule contract number, type of business, applicable North American Industry Classification System Code, and size standards in accordance with the Small Business Administration. The government requests that no proprietary or confidential business data be submitted in a response to this notice. However, responses that indicate the information therein is proprietary will be properly safeguarded for Government use only. Capability statements must include the name and telephone number of a point of contact having authority and knowledge to discuss responses with Government representatives. Capability statements in response to this market survey that do not provide sufficient information for assessment will be considered non-responsive. When submitting this information, please reference the sources sought notice number. All capability statements sent in response to this Sources Sought Notice must be emailed to Sneha Singh, Contracting Officer, at sneha.singh@nih.gov, in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format. All responses must be received by the specified due date and time in order to be considered. Note: This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in the response. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your 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 review of the responses received, a solicitation may be published. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. The solicitation release date is pending.