Introduction. This is a 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 sources; Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. The NAICS code for this Sources Sought Notice is: 541715 - Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) Background. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)- Influenza Division in the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), is seeking to fill critical gaps in knowledge of how to best estimate relative vaccine effectiveness (rVE) for improved, second-generation influenza vaccine options in the general adult population. Purpose and Objectives. The government seeks to obtain services for rapid estimation of relative vaccine effectiveness (rVE) of improved, second-generation influenza vaccines compared to standard egg-based vaccines, improving those data, identifying biases and limitations of the data, and producing iterative rVE estimates for available second-generation vaccine products for three successive influenza seasons (20232024, 20242025, 20252026), starting with an immediate analysis of data from the 20232024 influenza season by the end of 2024. Project Scope. Advancing knowledge of relative vaccines effectiveness (rVE) of improved, second-generation influenza vaccines compared with standard egg-based vaccines, especially in the general adult (i.e., working age) population requires existing agreements with reliable data partners and innovative approaches to data improvement and modelling. Of interest to the government are rVE estimates for a range of second-generation influenza vaccine products (compared with standard vaccines), and across different age groups. The scope of work comprises three essential government requirements (Tasks 2, 6, and 9 in Section 4) of timely rVE estimates within 6 months of the end of each influenza season. The protocols and written reports produced for vaccine product rVE during the 20232024 and 20242025 seasons will inform an initial rapid estimation of rVE for mRNA influenza vaccines (compared to standard egg-based inactivated influenza vaccines) in the general adult population for the 20252026. and the final deliverable in the project will be an initial rVE estimate for the mRNA vaccine (compared with standard vaccines) during this influenza season. As an independent organization and not as an agent of the Government, the Contractor shall furnish all necessary personnel and data use agreements to perform these services. The Contractor shall have primary expertise to advance improvements in understanding estimation of relative vaccine effectiveness of licensed and recommended improved influenza vaccines compared with standard influenza vaccines. CDC will have final approval regarding publications, presentations, and products developed as a result of this contract. The specific responsibilities regarding the development of publications, presentations and products will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis. See a draft Statement of Work (SOW) attached to this announcement. Anticipated period of performance. The period of performance will be two years. Capability Statement/Information Sought. PAGE LIMIT 10 PAGES. Interested firms are requested to submit a capability statement, which shall include documentation of the ability to perform the requirements and information on previous successfully completed contracts for the same type of work. The capability statement shall specifically address the criteria listed below ONLY. Please note that capability statements that only include marketing material will not be considered or reviewed. a. Your opinion about the difficulty and or feasibility of the potential requirement(s) or proposed acquisition, possible solutions and approaches that may currently exist in the marketplace, and information regarding innovative ideas or concepts; b. Your staff expertise, including your availability, experience, and formal and other training; include a discussion on your proven track record for the type of work as per the SOW; c. Information regarding your established data agreements for the data partners/data sources of interest, as these data will continue to be leveraged in the follow-on work. d. corporate experience and management capability; e. Provide any examples of prior completed Government contracts, reference, and other related information; f. Recommendations for a different NAICS code. If so, please explain? Information Submission Instructions: Please include a cover page with the following business information. The cover page does not count against the page limit for the capability statement. 1. Company name and address; 2. UEI number and CAGE Code, as registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) at http://www.SAM.gov/; 3. Do you have a government-approved accounting system? If so, please identify the agency that approved this system; 4. Business Size and Type of Business (e. g., small business, 8(a), woman owned, veteran owned, etc.). 5. Technical point of contact including name, title, address, telephone number, and email address of the individual(s) who can verify the demonstrated capabilities identified in the response; 6. Contracts' point of contact including name, title, address, telephone number, and email address; 7. In your opinion, can this work fit under a GSA Schedule? If so, which GSA Schedule? Please provide the schedule number. Page Limitation: Capability Statements shall be limited to TEN (10) single-spaced pages not including cover page. Pages shall be formatted as follows: MS Word, 8 x 11, 12 pitch, Times New Roman font with one (1) inch margins. Response Due Date: Submit capability statements via email to Ada C. Torres Vega, Contract Specialist at cbp0@cdc.gov. Should you have any questions concerning this sources sought, please direct your questions in writing to the Contracting Specialist Ada C. Torres Vega at cbp0@cdc.gov. The government will not respond to oral questions. Responses must be submitted no later than 5:00 pm, Eastern Standard Time (EST) by Friday March 1st, 2024. Capability statements will NOT be accepted after the due date. No telephonic or facsimile responses will be accepted. The Government will not provide feedback on capability statements, and we will not return capability statements received. 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 on sam.gov. 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). Response is strictly voluntary. It is not mandatory to submit a response to this notice to participate in any formal RFP process that may take place in the future. However, it should be noted that information gathered through this notice may significantly influence our acquisition strategy. All interested parties will be required to respond separately to any solicitations posted as a result of this Sources Sought notice. We appreciate your interest and thank you in advance for responding to the Sources Sought.
