SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- Epidemiologic Studies of Radiation and Cancer Risk
- Notice Date
- 10/15/2008
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541712
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Office of Acquisitions, 6120 Executive Blvd., EPS Suite 600, Rockville, Maryland, 20852
- ZIP Code
- 20852
- Solicitation Number
- SS-ETSB-91011-53
- Archive Date
- 11/14/2008
- Point of Contact
- Kenya C. Crawford,, Phone: (301) 435-3787
- E-Mail Address
-
crawfordke@mail.nih.gov
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- This SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE (SS) IS FOR INFORMATION AND PLANNING PURPOSES as a part of Market Research and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The purpose of this SS is to see if there are qualified small business concerns [including Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB); Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB); Historically Underutilized Business (HUBZone); Small Business; Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB); and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)] capable of performing work described herein. The NCI does not intend to award a contract on the basis of responses nor otherwise pay for the preparation of any information submitted. There is no solicitation available at this time. However, should such a requirement materialize, no basis for claims against NCI shall arise as a result of a response to this SS notice or the NCI’s use of such information as either part of our evaluation process or in developing specifications for any subsequent requirement. The Radiation Epidemiology Branch of the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) is seeking capability statements from all eligible small business concerns. Based on the responses received from this SS notice, the proposed acquisition may be solicited as a Total Small Business Set-Aside. THIS IS NOT AN RFP AND DOES NOT COMMIT THE NCI, NIH TO AWARD A CONTRACT NOW OR IN THE FUTURE. No RFP package is available at this time. This project will provide support services for the conduct and management of epidemiologic investigations of cancer directed by the Radiation Epidemiology Branch alone or in collaboration with other investigators. The principal activities can be classified as follows: 1) management and coordination of multiple, large-scale population-based single or multi-center studies in various both nationally and internationally and helps facilitate cooperation between NCI and its collaborators; 2) development of study materials, including questionnaires, interviews, abstract forms, coding forms, manuals of field procedures, and other documents; 3) identification of study subjects, including location of cancer patients and/or their relatives, selection of appropriate controls and acquisition of appropriate study population rosters or files; 4) hiring and training of interviewers, abstractors, and other field personnel in multiple sites; 5) field supervision and management; 6) interviewing of study subjects; 7) abstracting and coding relevant medical and other records; 8) validation of cancers reported on interviews; 9) obtaining biologic specimens and arranging for shipping and sending to appropriate laboratories for testing; 10) data preparation and processing, including editing and preparing information in a format suitable for computer analysis and computing support, including to maintain software relation to radiation risks; 11) quality control and standardization, to ensure that appropriate and valid data are obtained; 12) tracing and mortality follow-up; and 13) translation and communication of study results to the affected study populations through websites and newsletters. Although REB receives substantial support for our studies, Branch epidemiologists are in complete control of all scientific aspects of each project. As described earlier, each project conducted under our support services contract requires protocol development and review by several DCEG and NCI committees. REB investigators are very attentive to the need for quality control measures and carefully supervise the field management of their studies. The branch is very attentive to the oversight of the support services contract. Currently there are two support services contracts, each of which is monitored by two-three REB project officers who are in frequent contact with the contractors and get together monthly at meetings with the contractor. Other investigators utilizing the contracts participate at these meetings for overall scientific project and budget review, resolution of outstanding problems, and setting of priorities. We are planning to require tenure track investigators to attend meetings with the support services contractor within one year of joining REB and to become assistant project officers on the contract within two years. Detailed monthly reports are written by the contractor, describing progress on a study-by-study basis and are critiqued by NCI investigators. In addition, individual projects have weekly meeting between the support services contractor and the REB investigators.).In addition to frequent telephone and e-mail contact, individual contract personnel meet weekly with Branch investigators, and multiple members of both staffs meet monthly for overall scientific project and budget review, resolution of outstanding problems, and setting of priorities. Detailed monthly reports are written by the contractor, describing progress on a study-by-study basis, and are critiqued monthly by NCI investigators. All individual steps undertaken in a study are documented by the contractor, including a log of decisions made which affect study design, conduct or analysis. Verifications, discrepancies and error rates for data collection, preparation and entry are reported to Branch investigators. Branch members accompany contract personnel to field operations and frequently participate in pre-testing of data collection forms, evaluation of quality of medical or other records, and the quality control re-abstraction or re-interviewing process. Required annual site visits are conducted to evaluate further contract personnel, resources, and performance. We also have a budget specialist who attends meetings with the support services contractor, reviews monthly cost reports, has found several errors in the reports and been instrumental in revisions in the reports and the methods of preparing the reports. Project officers have actively consulted with the contracts office to help assess options, both in terms of use of subcontracts and in terms of how best to provide incentives to the support services contractor for optimal performance. We are strongly considering use of options recommended by the contracts office to provide efficiency incentives in the next contract proposal, such as rewards for noncompetitive extensions of the contract dependent on continuously improving performance. We also intend to raise efficiency issues in the contract process, such as billing time units, which could potentially reduce the cost of services to REB (and other branches). It is anticipated that a level of effort of 81,848 hours over a five-year period will be required to perform this requirement. Small businesses possessing experience and demonstrated capability to accomplish the aforementioned requirements and level of effort are to supply pertinent information in sufficient detail to demonstrate their ability to successfully perform the required services. Information furnished must not exceed 20 pages (12-point font minimum), including all attachments, resumes, charts, etc.; and should include an outline of previous or similar projects performed. All responses must include an indication of current certified small business status, and clearly marked on the first page of the capability statement. All proprietary information should be marked as such. In the event an RFP is issued, NAICS code 541712 with a size standard of 500 employees is being considered. All capability statements sent in response to this SOURCES SOUGHT notice must be submitted electronically (via e-mail) to Kenya Crawford, Contract Specialist, at crawfordke@mail.nih.gov in either MS Word, WordPerfect or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), by October 30, 2008, 3:00 PM, EST. All responses must be received by the specified due date and time in order to be considered.
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