National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Contracts Operations Branch, 6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 6100, MSC 7902, Bethesda, MD 20892

R -- MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SERVICES SOL NHLBI-PS-99-451 DUE 051899 POC Cecilia D. Morales, Purchasing Agent, (301)435-0369, Debra C. Hawkins, Chief, Procurement Section, (301)435-0366 E-MAIL: moralesc@gwgate.nhlbi.nih.gov, moralesc@gwgate.nhlbi.nih.gov. Synopsis Number NHLBI-PS-99-451, published May 4, 1999, is hereby amended to read as follows: The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), intends to negotiate on a non competitive basis with Group Decision Support Systems, Inc. (GDSS), 1000 Thomas Jefferson Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20007, to provide an organizational assessment of the Referral function for the Division of Receipt and Referral (DRR), Center for Scientific Review (CSR), National Institutes of Health (NIH). Through competitive procedures GDSS was issued a purchase order to provide an organizational assessment of the DRR's, Project Control and Receipt activities. GDSS successfully completed the organization assessment of the Project Control and Receipt activities thereby gaining a in-depth knowledge of the DRR's mission and operation within the CSR. In order maintain continuity of the methodologies used for the assessment of DRR's function and due to the knowledge gained by GDSS in the initial competitive acquisition, an award to any other source for this follow-on contract would result in a substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition. The Statement of Work for the assessment of the referral function is as follows: BACKGROUND: The Center for Scientific Review (CSR) has begun the process of reducing the transit time for Grant Applications (the time required to process Applications and provide the results of their assessment to the scientific communities) from 10 months to 5 months. This improvement effort will require a thorough assessment of most of the processes within CSR. The initial series of assessment will focus on those portions of the process that have been previously identified' as being time-intensive, as sources of inefficiencies and as providing little value to CSP, or to the scientific community at large. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this assessment for the CSR is to examine the optimal structures, functions and relationships they ought to adopt in their pursuit of reducing the Grant Application processing time and increasing the value to both the NIH and external scientific communities. SCOPE: The scope and focus of this assessment is the referral function of DRR. Specifically the assessment will explore the items below and make specific recommendations to the Director, CSR, about both: 1.The organizational options available for the Division of Receipt and Referral (DRR) in light of their recent decision to out source the "factory" component of their work. 2. The organizational options available for DRR in their relationship with the Print Shop. 3. Personnel, process, and structural changes that may improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the referral function in DRR. 4. Mechanisms that may improve internal and external customer satisfaction. SPECIFIC TASKS: The contractor shall perform the following tasks (in context to the referral function in DRR): 1. Provide Contract Level Program Management. Provide the technical and functional activities at the contract level needed for program management of this SOW. Provide centralized administrative, clerical, documentation and other related functions. 2.Task Order Management. Prepare a Project Plan describing the technical tasks, organizational resources and management controls to be, employed to meet the cost, performance and schedule requirements throughout task order execution. The contractor will participate in frequent periodic informal reviews with the COTR relating to ongoing efforts, with an emphasis on progress with respect to the Project Plan, interim results and potential problems. 3. Analyze the Current Referral Process. The contractor shall define, describe and analyze the current operating procedures, policies, work-flows and time allocations of the Referral Process, As a part of this task, the contractor shall: a. Address personnel and staffing issues (number of people and Government Service grades) necessary to expedite the assignment of Grant Applications, This portion of the assessment should answer the question, "How should we be staffed?" b. Address functional issues appropriate to the staffing alternatives, This portion of the assessment should answer the question, "What functions should the Government retain?" c. Address organizational issues appropriate to the staffing alternatives, This portion of the assessment should answer the question, "Where should this organization be governed within CSR? 4. Expand the RPM Simulation to include the Referral function. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE Work will be performed at the Government buildings on Rockledge Drive and at the contractor's site. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: The period of performance is forty-five (45) days from the date of a contract award. This acquisition is being conducted under simplified acquisition procedures and is exempt from the requirements of FAR Part 6. The Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code is 8741, Size Standard $5.0M. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals. Interested parties may identify their interest and capabilities in response to this requirement. The determination by the Government not to compete the proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct future competitive procurement. Responses to this announcement, referencing synopsis number NHLBI-PS-99-451 may be submitted to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Contracts Operations Branch, Procurement Section, Building RKL2, Room 6149, 6701 Rockledge Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892-7902, Attention Cecilia D. Morales, Purchasing Agent. All responsible sources may submit a quotation, which if timely received, shall be considered by the agency. Posted 05/13/99 (W-SN331129). (0133)

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