SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- NLM MedlinePlus Maintenance and Support
- Notice Date
- 4/16/2014
- 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 Library of Medicine, 6707 Democracy Blvd., Suite 105, Bethesda, Maryland, 20894, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20894
- Solicitation Number
- NIHLM2014135-MC
- Point of Contact
- Maryann Carroll, Phone: 3014517329
- E-Mail Address
-
maryann.carroll@nih.gov
(maryann.carroll@nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- Total Small Business
- Description
- This is a Small 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, 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 National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Library of Medicine (NLM) is conducting a market survey to help determine the availability and technical capability of qualified small businesses, veteran-owned small businesses and/or HUBZone small businesses capable of serving the needs identified below. This Sources Sought Notice is for informational and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation or commitment by the Government. This notice is intended strictly for market research. Background The National Library of Medicine requires assistance with the development and support of its consumer health web site, MedlinePlus.gov and MedlinePlus-branded sites and services. MedlinePlus provides accurate, authoritative and up-to-date information to the general public, allied health professionals, and health information intermediaries such as librarians, nurses, and health educators. The focus of this resource is its 950+ (and growing) topic pages that contain links to quality government information, especially NLM and NIH resources as well as other high quality information providers. MedlinePlus is a portal to highly selective links and information, representing the best in terms of quality, literacy level, and authority of authorship. Keeping the topic pages up-to-date and aggregating this content requires daily maintenance. We require staffing to maintain MedlinePlus, which includes over 950 English-language health topics linking to over 30,000 external resources. Work could also include maintenance of some content on the Spanish site, MedlinePlus en Español, and other project-based work that would support the overall maintenance and management of MedlinePlus-branded sites and services. Project Objectives The major objectives are to procure expert consumer health evaluation services that will continue the growth and development of MedlinePlus-branded sites and services. MedlinePlus currently serves over 100 million unique visitors every quarter. These visitors view over 260 million web pages of information a quarter, including the resources available on MedlinePlus topic pages. Users are primarily the general public researching health information for themselves or friends and family. The majority of users are within the United States, but MedlinePlus also serves an international community with almost every nation represented by our visitors. The accurate, authoritative, and timely information provided by MedlinePlus helps users understand their disease or condition and make decisions about their health. As a source of trusted medical information to millions of people, knowledge of health information and the principles of medicine, and the strict adherence to quality guidelines is paramount to successfully meeting the objectives of this procurement. Project Requirements Tasks under this procurement include: 1. Organization monitoring and site record maintenance: One of the key functions of the work is selecting the information displayed on MedlinePlus. Maintaining the MedlinePlus Health Topics is an ongoing process. Each link on a Health Topic page is a "site record" maintained in a MedlinePlus content management system and must meet MedlinePlus quality guidelines and its relationship to other information on a related page. The contractors' subject analysts will monitor organizations providing trusted health information to stay aware of new or changed content. a. As needed, the subject analysts will update the corresponding database record (called site records) in the content management system (the MedlinePlus input system) following the NLM guidelines and procedures. b. The contactor shall check and also provide quality control of the site record work, along with other work in the MedlinePlus input system. 2. Topic checks: Each MedlinePlus Health Topic should be reviewed at least once a year (on a mutually-agreeable schedule) to ensure the currency/appropriateness of each link and the balance of the topic page. Approximately 30% of the topics should be looked at twice a year. During these checks, the subject analysts will examine/review and edit each topic according to NLM guidelines. You can see a http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/all_healthtopics.html. 3. Maintenance and other project-based work, which could include tasks such as: a. Testing changes to the MedlinePlus input system or other systems that we use to manage the links out to health information from MedlinePlus. b. Updating or working on new MedlinePlus topics by identifying content with appropriate depth and breadth to cover a health topic. The contractor may recommend new topic pages or adjustments to existing topic pages to NLM. c. Editing existing site records within the MedlinePlus input system to comply with a new data option or procedures d. Assistance with checking or updating certain groups of content, including the multiple languages collection e. Correcting and monitoring broken links f. Researching and/or evaluating other potential sources of content g. Specific projects to enhance the responses in MedlinePlus Connect, or other MedlinePlus services. h. Analysis or research to investigate and support decisions about the health topic page content or other content on MedlinePlus. i. Contacting external sources of content about issues such as lack of dates on pages or broken links j. Other project-based requests 4. Overall management of this contract, including quality control and communication with NLM. The contactor must be able to coordinate the above-mentioned work and assure NLM that the content on MedlinePlus meets our high quality standards. General Personnel requirements include: • Knowledge of the field of medicine, consumer health, medical librarianship, medical terminology and the organization of medical information, including controlled medical vocabularies. • An understanding of the relationship between professional medical information and consumer information and how healthcare professionals and consumers use each type to meet their information needs. Also required is a deep understanding of the needs of consumers when looking for consumer health information. • Experience evaluating the quality of medical information resources, including: o Determining the authority of authors and organizations in various fields of medicine o Knowledge of health literacy issues and the ability to evaluate Web-based information for use by health care consumers. o Determining what content is written for consumers and what is written for health care providers or other health care professionals. • Experience with Web technology, including use of content management systems. • Comfort with social media and other mechanisms available for staying current with health information. • An understanding of the scope of authoritative consumer health information, including that provided by the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other key providers of information. A project manager with the Contactor will be the main point of contact for the project officer, and will update subject analysts on any changes in procedures, policy, or other significant efforts of NLM. Evaluation of Awards NLM anticipates performing an overall evaluation of the effectiveness of this procurement. All contractors are required to participate fully in this evaluation. The evaluation may take one or more of the following forms: a site visit by an NLM representative, written or verbal responses to NLM inquiries, a symposium held at NLM or other sites which will require presentations and discussions by the project directors, and others to be determined later. SECTION 508 COMPLIANCE In accordance with FAR 39.2, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act is implemented in this order. Pursuant to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d), as amended by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, all electronic and information technology (EIT) products and services developed, acquired, maintained, and/or used under this contract/order must comply with the "Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Provisions" set forth by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (also referred to as the "Access Board") in 36 CFR part 1194. Information about Section 508 provisions is available at http://www.section508.gov/section508-laws Anticipated Period of Performance It is anticipated the period of performance shall be twelve (12) months from the date of the award. An award is anticipated to be made around August 2014. The award of this requirement is subject to availability of funds. Other Important Considerations It is anticipated that the proposed acquisition will be procured in accordance with the policies and procedures under FAR 12-Acquisition of Commercial Items and FAR 15-Contracting by Negotiation. All responsible sources may submit a capability statement which will be considered by the National Library of Medicine. This Sources Sought Notice is not a Request for Proposals (RFP), nor is an RFP available. Interested firms responding to this Sources Sought Notice must adhere to the following: (a) Provide a capability statement demonstrating relevant experience, skills and ability to fulfill the Government's requirements for the above. The capability statement should contain enough sufficient detail for the Government to make an informed decision regarding your capabilities; however, the statement should not exceed 10 pages. (b) The capability statement must identify the responder's: small business type and size; DUNS number; NAICS code; and technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses. (c) All capability statements must be submitted electronically no later than 10:00am eastern time on Thursday, May 1, 2014 to Maryann Carroll at maryann.carroll@nih.gov. 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).
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