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Contract Opportunity

SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE

Solicitation Number: NIMH_24-000030

Title: National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) Video and Audio Library

NAICS Code: 541512​ Computer Systems Design Services

Size Standard: $34M

Description:

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 all qualified sources to perform a potential requirement.

This notice is issued to help determine the availability of qualified companies technically capable of meeting the Government requirement, and to determine the method of acquisition. It is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotes. No award will be made as a result of this notice. The Government will NOT be responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice. This notice is strictly for research and information purposes only. Small businesses are encouraged to respond.

Background: Research data collected from human research participants may include video and audio data sets. These recordings might be longitudinal or cross-sectional. Because video and audio recordings often contain faces or capture other sensitive information such as geospatial location, sharing such data poses both technical and policy-related challenges. As a result, offerors are expected to demonstrate prior experience in the management and ethical sharing of sensitive and identifiable video and audio data sets.

The NIH’s data management and sharing policy, NOT-OD-21-013, applies to all NIH research, funded or conducted in whole or in part by NIH, that results in the generation of scientific data, including video and audio data. The objective of this acquisition is to provide support to an existing informatics infrastructure to hold video and audio data sets from human research participants of interest to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). NIMH will select the data sets to be deposited into the infrastructure. Each year, NIMH can identify up to 10 new data sets to be deposited as the data become available. NIMH expects to identify 5-10 new data sets in a typical year.

Purpose and Objectives: The overarching goal of this acquisition is to provide support to use an existing informatics infrastructure to store video and/or audio data sets collected from human research participants. The infrastructure must also allow researchers to use the deposited data (either the raw data or derived) in a way that is consistent with the expectations of those who deposited the data into the infrastructure. The contractor will also provide a help desk that can answer questions and provide support to both data depositors and data requesters.

Project requirements:

Responses should include specific information, including metrics (e.g. size of facility, staff, etc.), which demonstrate the following, based on prior experience:

8 years of experience in curating and storing video and audio data collected from NIH-funded research in the behavioral, social, educational, developmental, and neurosciences and providing the resources necessary to accomplish the tasks and deliverables described in this SOW. These include project management, providing appropriate security for the data, optimizing the infrastructure to support the needs of this acquisition, technical support for data archiving and sharing, and providing a web portal.

Able to set up a collection for a grant award in the existing infrastructure and have that collection idle for as long as four years.

Ability to handle an average number of video/audio files per grant award. Expected to be 300-500 over the course of the award. Some grant awards may have as many as 2000 video/audio files.

A process for determining that video/audio data have been obtained using appropriate informed consent. Such a process may include a data submission agreement signed by the PI and an institutional official.

Anticipated period of performance: The anticipated period of performance, including any option periods is as follows:

Year1: Base award

Year 2: Optional Performance Period

Year 3: Optional Performance Period

Year 4: Optional Performance Period

Year 5: Optional Performance Period

Other important considerations:

In case domestic sources are available and capable of fulfilling the Government’s need, and a future solicitation is published, the Government will use evaluation preferences in accordance with FAR 25.

Capability statement /information sought.

Companies that believe they possess the capabilities to provide the required services should submit documentation of their ability to meet each of the project requirements to the Contracting Officer. The capability statement must specifically address each of the project requirements separately. Additionally, the capability statement should include 1) the total number of employees, 2) the professional qualifications of personnel as it relates to the requirements outlined, 3) any contractor GSA Schedule contracts and/or other government-wide acquisition contracts (GWACs) by which all of the requirements may be met, if applicable, and 4) any other information considered relevant to this program. Capability statements must also include the Company Name, Unique Entity ID from SAM.gov, Physical Address, and Point of Contact Information. The response must include the respondents’ technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses.

Interested companies are required to identify their type of business, applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code, and size standards in accordance with the Small Business Administration. The government requests that no proprietary or confidential business data be submitted in a response to this notice. However, responses that indicate the information therein is proprietary will be properly safeguarded for Government use only. Capability statements must include the name and telephone number of a point of contact having authority and knowledge to discuss responses with Government representatives. Capability statements in response to this market survey that do not provide sufficient information for evaluation will be considered non-responsive. When submitting this information, please reference the solicitation notice number.

One (1) copy of the response is required and must be in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format using 11-point or 12-point font, 8-1/2” x 11” paper size, with 1” top, bottom, left and right margins, and with single or double spacing.

The information submitted must be in and outline format that addresses each of the elements of the project requirement and in the capability statement /information sought paragraphs stated herein. A cover page and an executive summary may be included but is not required.

The response is limited to ten (10) page limit. The 10-page limit does not include the cover page, executive summary, or references, if requested.

All responses to this notice must be submitted electronically to the Contract Specialist and Contracting Officer. Facsimile responses are NOT accepted.

All capability statements sent in response to this Sources Sought Notice must be submitted electronically via email to Michael Horn, Contracting Officer, at michael.horn@nih.gov .All responses must be received on or before 1:00 pm EST on December 4, 2023, Eastern Standard Time and reference “NIMH_24-000030” in the subject line to be considered. Facsimile responses will not be NOT 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 presolicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in www.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).”

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