SMALL BUSINESS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE
FOR CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER COMMODITIES STORE THE STORE
FOR THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ACQUISITION & ASSESSMENT CENTER (NITAAC)
This is a Small Business Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to: (1) obtain information regarding the availability and capability of qualified small business manufacturers of information technology; and (2) obtain information regarding the availability and capability of qualified small business resellers of information technology commodities.
The applicable NAICS codes assigned to this procurement are 334111 and 541519.
BACKGROUND
The Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 revamped IT acquisitions and authorized the creation of Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) that could be used by all federal agencies to easily obtain IT commodities and services. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been designated as a federal Executive Agent and authorized by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to administer three Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) for information technology (IT) acquisitions. NIH established the National Institutes of Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC) to provide technical and acquisition subject matter expertise and to provide the appropriate oversight for orders issued under its GWACs. The GWACs are multiple-year Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts covering commercially available and customizable products, services, and solutions offering customers the flexibility to award task orders using a range of contract types. NITAAC is also one of three OMB mandatory sources for laptop and desktop buys through the NITAAC Government-Wide Strategic Solutions (GSS) program.
The current NITAAC GWAC for IT commodities is the Chief Information Officer Commodities and Solutions (CIO-CS) GWAC, which is set to expire in April of 2025. The planned follow-on contract will continue to support NIH's mission-critical programs and other IT-related needs across the federal government by continuing to provide the ability to quickly and efficiently procure commercial-off-the-shelf commodities and commodity enabling solutions. These IT commodities and associated commodity-enabling services will include IT equipment aligned to health and biomedical research, scientific, administrative, operational, managerial, and information management requirements. It is anticipated that the resulting GWAC will be open to all qualified contractors. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) that qualify in one or more of the Product Groups described in the draft Product Categories and Groups List provided below and Value Added Resellers (VARs) that qualify in all of the Product Groups described will be encouraged to propose under the final solicitation.
The Government is seeking information relative to small business OEM sources that qualify as OEMs and/or VARs under the applicable NAICS codes. This would include small businesses who manufacture information technology commodities as listed in the draft Product Categories and Groups List below, and who install components totaling more than 50% of the value of the end item. As defined under FAR 19.505(c)(3), a manufacturer is the concern that manufactures, processes, or produces an end item with its own facilities... transforming raw materials, miscellaneous parts or components into the end item being acquired.
PROJECT REQUIREMENTS
A copy of the Draft Product Categories and Groups List is included below for review. The Draft Product Categories and Groups List describes the commodities that are anticipated to be procured under the prospective contract. Interested organizations are to use the Draft Product Categories and Groups List to determine whether to respond to this notice.
OTHER IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS
The IT commodities and commodity enabling services that are to be included in each product category of the contract will need to adhere to regulations mandated by the Federal Government including, but not limited to:
a. Trade Agreements Act (TAA)
b. Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT)
c. EnergyStar
d. Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) compliance
e. Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FEDRAMP) compliance
f. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance
g. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1974, as amended by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-220)
Anticipated Period of Performance
It is anticipated that the proposed acquisition will consist of a base period of five (5) years with one additional five (5) year option period for a total of ten (10) years.
INFORMATION SOUGHT / SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
All interested small business sources must submit a response to the primary point of contact listed below. AT A MINIMUM, THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION MUST BE SUBMITTED TO THE POC LISTED IN THIS NOTICE:
- UEI number
- Organization Name
- Company Address
- Point of Contact (including name, title, addresses, telephone number, fax number and Email address)
- Current GSA Schedules and/or Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) appropriate to this Sources Sought.
- Business size pursuant to the applicable NAICS code(s) corresponding to your primary business activities.
- Socio-economic status pursuant to the applicable NAICS code(s) corresponding to your primary business activities (e.g., 8(a), HUBZone, VOSB, SDVOSB, WOSB, or SDB)
- Number of years in business
- Average annual sales for IT commodities over last three years
- Qualify as an OEM or Reseller
Responses should be submitted electronically to: cio-csthestore@nih.gov . Responses are requested on or before 4:30 p.m. EST, March 25, 2024. Responses received after the due date may not be included in the development of the acquisition strategy.
Responses should be typed in 12-point Times New Roman font, single-spaced submitted in Adobe PDF -searchable format and shall not exceed five (5) pages. Standard product brochures will NOT be considered a sufficient response to this sources sought synopsis. Based on the responses to this small business sources sought notice, this requirement may be set-aside for small businesses or procured through full and open competition.
TELEPHONE AND FACSIMILE RESPONSES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
Submit all questions in writing, via email to: cio-csthestore@nih.gov. All questions must be submitted no later than 4:30 p.m. EST, March 18, 2024. Telephone inquiries will NOT be accepted.
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).
Draft Product Categories and Groups to be included on The Store
Category 1, Group A - End User Hardware Commodities, Laptops
Category 1, Group B - End User Hardware Commodities, Desktops
Category 1, Group C - End User Hardware Commodities, Printers
Category 1, Group D - End User Hardware Commodities, Monitors, TVs, Displays
Category 1, Group E - End User Hardware Commodities, Accessory (Mouse, Keyboard, etc.)
Category 2, Group A - End User Software Commodities, Operating System
Category 2, Group B - End User Software Commodities, Desktop Collaboration Suite
Category 2, Group C - End User Software Commodities, Accessory
Category 3, Group A - IT Security Software Commodities, Anti-Virus Software
Category 3, Group B - IT Security Software Commodities, Accessory
Category 4, Group A - Enterprise-Wide Software Commodities, Enterprise Database Management Systems
Category 4, Group B - Enterprise-Wide Software Commodities, Enterprise Performance Management Tools
Category 4, Group C - Enterprise-Wide Software Commodities, Subscription, Licenses, Enterprise Suite
Category 4, Group D - Enterprise-Wide Software Commodities, Accessory
Category 5, Group A - Health and Biomedical Research IT Capabilities, Laboratory Information Systems
Category 5, Group B - Health and Biomedical Research IT Capabilities, Subscription, Licenses, Enterprise
Category 5, Group C - Health and Biomedical Research IT Capabilities, Accessory
Category 6, Group A - On-Premise Infrastructure, Enterprise Servers
Category 6, Group B - On-Premises Infrastructure, Subscription, Licenses, Enterprise, Service, Maintenance
Category 6, Group C - On-Premise Infrastructure, Accessory
Category 7, Group A - Infrastructure and Platform as a Service, Computing
Category 7, Group B - Infrastructure and Platform as a Service, Enterprise Storage
Category 7, Group C - Infrastructure and Platform as a Service, Service, Maintenance
Category 7, Group D - Infrastructure and Platform as a Service, Accessory
Category 8, Group A - Telecommunications Plans, Carrier Plans
Category 8, Group B - Telecommunications Plans, Subscription, Licenses, Enterprise
Category 8, Group C - Telecommunications Plans, Accessory
Category 9, Group A - Value Added Services
