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The National Institutes of Health (NIH), Intramual Research Program (IRP), Office of Logistics and Acquisitions Operations (OLAO), is providing this special notice of contract modification in accordance with FAR 5.201(b)(1)(ii) to modify and increase the contract ceiling for "Specialized and Strategic Services to Support the National Institute of Heath, Intramural Research Progrom (The NIH IRP S4 Contract) for master contract, 75N98020D00087, awarded to Axle Informatics (Axle).

The contracts were awarded for a base period of twelve months, and four twelve month option periods under PCS Code: R499, and NAICS Code 541990. The date of award was 07/27/2022, and the contract will expire on 07/26/2024, this included all option periods. This activity is conducted in pary as a requirement to raise the contract ceiling. There are no updates to the Statement of Work. This request is to increase the current ceiling of $5,000,000.00 by $2,500,000.00 to $7,500,000.00, to be awarded throughout the current remaining year option year.

This was a partial small business set aside, two contracts were awarded under the S4 contract vehicle. It is critical to maintain continuity of this contract vehicle during a challenging time of public health. It is in the best interest of the Government to have the contractor continue to provide uninterrupted specialized services.

THIS NOTICE IS NOT A SOLICITATION for competitive proposals. This ANNOUNCEMENT IS Special Notion of intent to Increase the Contract Ceiling

SPECIAL NOTICE

Ceiling Increase to Axle Informatics S4 Contract

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) hereby announces its intent to increase, on a sole source basis, the current dollar ceiling under Contract No. 75N98020D00087 that was awarded to Axle Informatics (Axle) for the requirement Specialized and Strategic Services to Support the NIH Intramural Research Program [“S4”].

The purpose of the modification to Contract No. 75N98020D00087 is to provide sufficient funds to complete a remaining set of Task Orders (TOs) that are within scope of the contract and which only Axle can perform. Axle is currently in the third year of the four-year contract. This requirement does not involve an extension to the existing period of performance under the contract which has a completion date of July 26, 2024.

Contract No. 75N98020D00087 was competitively awarded as a PARITIAL Small Business set-aside to Axile to provide the following critical specialized and strategic services to accomplish requirements within scope of Task Area 5, Operational and Management Support Services, of the S4 Statement of Work (SOW):

• Perform strategic and tactical assessments, forecasts, and plans.


• Provide business process management, reengineering, and data modeling.


• Document current processes; develop benchmarks; identify best practices and recommend changes to improve operations and efficiencies.


• Lead focused groups and conduct stakeholder meetings, often including scientist and other subject matter experts, to define and prioritize project system requirements.


• Prepare and document all functional, technical, and security requirements in enough detail to develop and test recommendations for change.


• Define, develop, and test strategies for target applications.

NIH requires Axle to perform Task Orders (TOs) that represent the continuation of work previously performed by Axle under Contract No. 75N98020D00087. Axle possesses the unique combination of experience and expertise required to successfully fulfill the work requirements. Due to an unforeseen high demand among the NIH Institutes/Centers/Offices (ICOs) to acquire strategic and specialized services under Task Area 5 of the S4 SOW.

The current total dollar ceiling for Axle’s Contract No. 75N98020D00087 will be expended before the contract completion date of July 26, 2024; and is insufficient to fund the remaining TOs that are critical to supporting the NIH Intramural Research Program (IRP). The remaining TOs will provide continued, uninterrupted support: (1) to the NIH intramural Gene Therapy Task Force (GTTR) and (2) to the regulatory process and clinical research study/trials within the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases (LID), of the Division of Intramural Research (DIR), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

As a result of Axle’s unique combination of knowledge, experience, and expertise acquired in successfully providing specialized support to the GTTR and LID, this company can continue to provide the required critical, uninterrupted support to these NIH IRP programs.

This Special Notice for award modification to Contract No. 75N98020D00087 will be posted for 15 calendar days to verify that no other sources can meet this requirement. The Government seeks to avoid substantial duplication of cost that is not expected to be recovered through competition. This 15-calendar day notice shall expire on December 16, 2022 at 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. The information received will be considered solely for market research purposes. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response.

However, if interested contractors believe that they can meet the requirements of the statement of work, for market research purposes. Interested individuals may identify their interest and capability to respond to the requirement by submitting in writing their name, address, telephone number, email, and a statement regarding capability to provide the specified requirement. Responses shall be limited to five (5) pages or less, including all attachments. Interested parties will be considered only if they respond to this notice with clear and convincing evidence that competition would be advantageous to the Government.

All capability statements, proposals, or quotes received prior to the above stated expiration date and time will be considered by the Government. The Government will not be responsible for any costs incurred by responding to this notice. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract modification based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.

If no interested parties inquire about this Special Notice to the Government, a modification to increase the ceiling Contract No. 75N98020D00087 will be awarded to Axle.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this requirement is 541990 with the size standard of $15.0 million.

The proposed modification to Contract No. 75N98020D00087 will support a continuation of critical, uninterrupted, specialized and strategic services for which the Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under the authority at FAR 6.302-1(b)(1)(i): “Unique supplies or services available from only one source or only one supplier with unique capabilities.” This SPECIAL NOTICE is not a request for competitive proposals.

Disclaimer and Important Notes.

This is not a solicitation for competitive proposals. It is emphasized that responses to this Notice are not considered offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract.

Confidentiality - No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response.

The total estimated value of this requirement is $2,500,000.

For specific questions please contact the Contract Specialist, Tednette White. All questions SHALL be submitted in writing.

Point of Contact:

Tednette White, Contract Specialist

tednette.white@nih.gov

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