SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- Cardiovascular MRI Services
- Notice Date
- 12/18/2013
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541990
— All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Rockledge Dr. Bethesda, MD, Office of Acquisitions, 6701 Rockledge Dr RKL2/6100 MSC 7902, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892-7902
- ZIP Code
- 20892-7902
- Solicitation Number
- HHSN-NIH-NHLBI-SBSS-013
- Archive Date
- 1/17/2014
- Point of Contact
- Jonathan M. Lear,
- E-Mail Address
-
learj@nhlbi.nih.gov
(learj@nhlbi.nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- This is a Small Business Sources Sought (SBSSN) notice and is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). 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, veteran-owned 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 set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice. The purpose of this SBSS is to identify qualified small business concerns that are interested in and capable of providing support services to 1) improve the diagnostic quality and patient experience of pediatric MRI and, 2) improve the patient safety of cardiovascular interventional procedures through the use of the radiation sparing and superior tissue visualization properties of MRI in accordance with the below information. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) does not intend to award a contract on the basis of responses nor otherwise pay for the preparation of any information submitted. As a result of this Sources Sought notice, the NHLBI may issue a Request for Proposal (RFP). The NHLBI is seeking capability statements from all eligible small business concerns under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 541990, All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services, with a size standard $14.0M. Based on the responses received from this SOURCES SOUGHT announcement, the proposed acquisition may be solicited as a Total Small Business Set-Aside. All eligible small business concerns responding to this Sources Sought Announcement must have the capabilities to provide the services as stated below THERE IS NO SOLICITATION AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME. However, should such a requirement materialize, no basis for claims against NHLBI shall arise as a result of a response to this Sources Sought notice or the NHLBI's use of such information as either part of our evaluation process or in developing specifications for any subsequent requirement. Background The NIH has a long history of performing integrative clinical research. The area of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging (CMRI) is an important focus area with multiple teams based at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). These teams span several clinical areas with interests in the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary, hematological, and cardiovascular diseases. The clinical staff is complemented by engineers and physicists who are engaged in developing the next generation cardiovascular MRI. An important goal is the dissemination of new diagnostic techniques and treatments developed at the NIH. The Institute is committed to seeking out patient groups that would benefit the most from such new techniques. Since CMRI can be performed without the use of ionizing radiation it has some inherent advantages for the pediatric patient population, who are especially sensitive to radiation. However, the area of pediatric CMRI has traditionally been difficult to enter for the NHLBI due to a limited opportunity for pediatric patient recruitment at the NIH. Consequently, the NHLBI has sought to form strategic partnerships with pediatric hospital centers to provide pediatric patients with access to state of the art cardiac MRI and to provide the NHLBI scientific teams with access to a broad range of problems and cases to enable further improvements of novel treatments and techniques. The NHLBI has determined that the best setting for deployment and development of new techniques is a combined X-Ray MRI (XMR) suite located at a facility with a large pediatric patient volume. Purpose and Objectives The Contractor shall provide a facility to accomplish the specific tasks described below. The Contractor shall provide staffing and professional services needed to support the contract. As a part of accomplishing the specific tasks identified below, the contractor shall allow for designated NHLBI technical staff to come on-site to perform work in support of accomplishing the specific tasks described. Contractor Tasks 1.Provide an MRI facility to house an NHLBI provided state-of-the-art Cardiac MRI system. The MRI facility must be located adjacent to a cardiac catheterization X-ray laboratory with a convenient system for transferring patients between the two imaging systems. 2.Provide high priority access to a large group of pediatric patients eligible for participation in NHLBI research projects. 3.Provide office space for NHLBI staff on site at Contractor location. 4.Provide support services (purchasing, IT support, facilities support, etc.) for NHLBI at contractor location. 5.Provide MRI technician and nursing support for project patients. 6.Provide ancillary clinical services such as basic radiological services (e.g. echo cardiography, chest x-ray) and anesthesiology services. 7.Participate in generation of research protocols utilizing Division of Intramural Research (DIR) technical expertise or fabrication facilities. Contractor Location The contractor shall be located within 10 miles of the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland, to allow for NHLBI employees to be in close proximity to the contractor for both routine and emergency trips to the contractor's location. The MRI scanner shall be placed in close proximity to where patients with cardiovascular disease receive care or undergo diagnostic procedures. The contractor shall provide space either close to the emergency department or close to the cardiac care units/cardiac diagnostic center. Contractor Facility The contractor shall be able to support a large pediatric patient population as follows: An annual volume of patients should be in excess of: a) 10,000 outpatient cardiology visits (pediatric or adult congenital heart disease), b) 10,000 echocardiographic exams, c) 500 cardiac catheterization procedures, and d) 250 cardiac MRI procedures. Period of Performance The estimated period of performance is September 1, 2014 through August 31, 2019. Capability Statements will be reviewed based on the following criteria: 1.Evidence of the firm's status as a small business under NAICS code 541990 with a size standard of $14.0 million; 2.Adequacy of the proposed MRI Facility. Adequacy of the location of the proposed as described in the Statement of Work. The offerors demonstrated ability to provide adequate space for the MRI facility and offices as outlined in the statement of work. Adequacy of the proposed MRI Facility with adjacent Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory. Evidence of the offerors ability to provide ancillary radiological and anesthesiological services. 3.Personnel: Appropriateness of the level of effort and qualifications of personnel needed to accomplish the services as described in the statement of work. Documented education and experience of the proposed staff indicating an understanding of the responsibilities described in the statement of work. Documented experience with clinical protocols, standing IRB related administration and prior experience with NIH or other medical facilities. 4.Administrative, Facilities, and Information Technology services: Adequacy of the proposed plan for access and direct interface with the Contractor administrative offices to facilitate purchasing of supplies, Information Technology (IT) support, etc. Documented plan to provide dedicated staff for all purchasing and administrative issues related to requirements in the contract. Documented plan to provide dedicated point of contact for all IT support issues. Documented plan to provided dedicated point of contact for any facilities issues (electrical, plumbing, AC, etc). Adequacy of proposed service level agreement (with time lines) for all purchases and IT support questions 5.Patient Volume: Documentation that supports the volume of patients. The offerors annual volume of patients, shall be in excess of: a) 10,000 outpatient pediatric (or adult congenital heart disease) cardiology visits, b) 10,000 echocardiographic exam, c) 500 cardiac catheterization procedures, d) 250 cardiac MRI procedures. Documented plan for the expected number of research procedures performed in the NHLBI MRI facility in the following categories: a) Cardiac MRI, b) X-Ray Fused with MRI (XFM), c) MRI guided catheterization. Interested qualified small business organizations should submit a tailored capability statement for this requirement, not to exceed 10 single-sided pages (including all attachments, resumes, charts, etc.) presented in single-space and using a 12-point font size minimum, that clearly details the ability to perform the aspects of the notice described above. All proprietary information should be marked as such. Statements should also include an indication of current certified small business status; this indication should be clearly marked on the first page of your capability statement (preferably placed under the eligible small business concern's name and address). Responses will be reviewed only by NIH personnel and will be held in a confidential manner. All capability Statements sent in response to this SOURCES SOUGHT notice must be submitted electronically (via email) to Jonathan Lear, Contract Specialist, at learj@nhlbi.nih.gov in either MS Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), by January 2, 2014 at 9:00AM EST. All responses must be received by the specified due date and time in order to be considered. Disclaimer and Important Notes This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in 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 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 your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/HHS/NIH/NHLBI/HHSN-NIH-NHLBI-SBSS-013/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: National Institutes of Health/NHLBI, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, United States
- Zip Code: 20892
- Zip Code: 20892
- Record
- SN03254112-W 20131220/131218235003-461992b7d1c604bbad5bd1b25f7661a1 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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