MODIFICATION
R -- Sign Language Interpreting Services - PWS
- Notice Date
- 2/27/2017
- Notice Type
- Modification/Amendment
- NAICS
- 541930
— Translation and Interpretation Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Office of Administration, 6011 Executive Blvd, 5th Floor, Rockville, Maryland, 20852-3804, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20852-3804
- Solicitation Number
- SS-NIHOD2017134
- Point of Contact
- Terita R Stevenson, Phone: 301-402-3727
- E-Mail Address
-
stevenst@od.nih.gov
(stevenst@od.nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- Woman Owned Small Business
- Description
- PWS This sources sought notice is amended to attach the corrected PWS to remove the following language "preferably deaf-owned sign language interpreting service providers", extend the due date to Tuesday, March 7, 2017 at 1:00 pm eastern standard time, and to set the requirement aside for woman-owned small businesses. Introduction This is a Woman-owned 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: the availability and capability of qualified woman-owned small businesses and 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 NAICS code 541930, with a size standard of $7.5 million should not submit a response to this notice. Background NIH prides itself on being an inclusive and collaborative agency and is committed to meeting the diverse needs of its staff, patients and visiting family members, and visitor/guests. Members of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing (D/HH) community consider NIH a workplace of choice for providing quality sign language interpreting services that enable them to perform the essential duties of their job, fully participate in social activities, trainings a seminars; and enjoy full access to all the benefits of working at NIH. These essential services also allow patients and visitors/guests to engage in all that NIH has to offer. Program Requirements See attached: NIH Sign Language Interpreting Services PWS Capability Statement Content Woman-owned small business owners capable of meeting the Government’s requirements for providing interpreting services to the NIH community are encouraged to submit a capability statement to the Contracting Officer. The capability statement must specifically address each of the following performance requirements listed below and included in the attached Performance Work Statement (PWS): ¾ Describe relevant experience of similar scope at Federal agencies or other biomedical/scientific research institutions, preferably in the Washington DC metro area or mid-Atlantic region, providing the following services: Basic sign language interpreting, scientific interpreting, CART, and VRI services. ¾ Demonstrate capability to accommodate high volume SL, CART, and VRI service requests in excess of 3000 hours per month, and ability to adjust staffing as demand increases. ¾ Provide a dedicated emergency phone number that is answered by a live person 24 hours/day, seven days/week, 365 days/year and guarantee emergency requests will be filled immediately and a qualified interpreter dispatched to arrive onsite ready to work within 60 minutes of the call. ¾ Describe working knowledge of the Federal Government vernacular and understanding of Deaf culture. ¾ Demonstrate how you can meet all deliverables detailed in PWS. Evaluation Metrics detailed in PWS, manage future growth through innovative solutions and collaborative efforts. ¾ Identify key personnel by name and role, as described in PWS, and provide the following: contact information, qualifications, experience, and designated role under this contract. Resumes NOT required at this time. ¾ Describe your plan to partner with the ORS on community building initiatives, described in PWS. ¾ Describe how you will meet requirements for reporting, described in PWS. ¾ Describe your plan to connect with the NIH D/HH culture and community at large to ensure a seamless and sustainable transition of services, in compliance with Continuity of Operations; Transition Plan; and Extension of Services Plan. ¾ Describe your communication plan to routinely measure and ensure customer satisfaction for handling complaints and emergencies. ¾ Demonstrate how you will manage and maintain records of staffing personnel assigned to work on the requirement. ¾ Demonstrate your understanding and ability to comply with the Standards of Conduct, and use of Government property in PWS. ¾ Provide detailed staffing plan, as described in PWS. ¾ Demonstrate ability to employ certified, experienced, and competent interpreters to provide basic sign language interpreting services, with diverse language abilities in ASL, Cued Speech, Oral, Certified Deaf, etc., and nationally certified interpreters with advanced skills to interpret scientific and technical content PWS. ¾ Describe how you will guard against any actions or perceptions of providing “personal services” to employees, as described in PWS. ¾ Demonstrate your understanding of the national standards and certification requirements, as described in PWS, for: ¾ Education and training standards for SL, CART, and VRI services. ¾ How employees will be compensated during designated Government non-work days or other periods where Government offices are closed due to weather or security conditions. ¾ How staff orientation and training will be performed. ¾ How travel arrangements for employees will be handled. ¾ Describe your plan for providing/acquiring CART and VRI, as described in PWS. ¾ Describe your Information Security System Plan (ISSP) to deliver a reservation system that meets all the requirements detailed in PWS. ¾ Describe in detail how you can meet each security requirement, detailed in PWS including FISMA requirements, data encryption, 508 compliance, and fully articulate how your system meets the following requirements : ¾ Describe security controls that limit or restrict access to the system. ¾ Describe your IT systems change management process. ¾ Describe your patch management, antivirus and vulnerability remediation process. ¾ Describe process to collect, protect and dispose information gathered by the proposed application. ¾ Describe how your platform can be customized to integrate with other systems, and can be scaled up quickly to accommodate growth and increased demands. ¾ Describe level of system reliability to keep performing (not crash) during peak use or while running multiple applications at the same time. ¾ Describe system recovery capability for potentially lost data due to system error or power outage. ¾ Describe how your system securely protects Personally Identifiable Information (PII), how/where data is stored, used, archived, and safely removed when no longer needed. ¾ Describe in detail your VRI platform, capabilities, features, scalability, data storage, requirements for user access, relationship to main system; listing each agency where VRI is in use. Instructions for Submitting Capability Statements 1. Statements must not exceed 10 pages double sided (including cover and TOC); use 12-point font size standard font style. 2. DO NOT include proprietary or confidential business data/information when responding to this notice, unless properly identified as Proprietary Information for Government Use Only. 3. Identify your business size standards, in accordance with the Small Business Administration. 4. Reference the solicitation number on all documentation submitted. 5. Include the name, phone numbers, and email address of a point of contact having authority and knowledge to discuss responses with Government representatives. Failure to provide sufficient information for evaluation will be considered non-responsive. 6. Submit your capability statement by email as an MS Word or PDF attachment to: Terita Stevenson, Contract Specialist, at stevenst@od.nih.gov. 7. All responses must be received by 1:00 pm EST, Tuesday, March 7, 2017 to be considered. 8. All questions and/or comments regarding this REQUEST FOR INFORMATION notice must be in writing and may be emailed to Terita Stevenson at Stevenst@od.nih.gov. Comments and questions will NOT be answered, but may assist in creating a solicitation for this requirement. Disclaimer 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, pre-solicitation and solicitation notices may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. The solicitation release date is pending. The Government intends to negotiate an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) performance-based contract to provide centralized sign language interpreting services for NIH staff, patients, and visitors who are deaf/hard of hearing (D/HH), in accordance with the terms and conditions specified herein, and in compliance with all applicable Federal laws. It will be for a base plus four (twelve month) option years with an approximate award date of June 1, 2017. All information pertaining to this procurement will only be posted and made available for viewing and downloading on the Government Electronic Posting System (FBO) site at https://www.fbo.gov. It is the responsibility of interested concerns to review this site frequently for updates.
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