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INTRODUCTION

THIS IS A PRE-SOLICITATION NON-COMPETITIVE (NOTICE OF INTENT) SYNOPSIS TO AWARD A CONTRACT OR PURCHASE ORDER WITHOUT PROVIDING FOR FULL OR OPEN COMPETITION (INCLUDING BRAND-NAME).

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), Office of Acquisitions (OA) intends to negotiate and award a contract without providing for full and open competition (Including brand-name) to:

University of Maryland School of Medicine

Seema Patil, MD

22 South Greene Street, Room N3W62

Baltimore, MD 21201-1595

NORTH AMERICAN INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (NAICS) CODE

The intended procurement is classified under NAICS code 611310 with a Size Standard $34.5M.

REGULATORY AUTHORITY

The resultant contract will include all applicable provisions and clauses in effect through the Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-99-1, July 16, 2018. This acquisition is conducted under the procedures as prescribed in FAR subpart 13.5-Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Products and Commercial Services at an amount not exceeding the $7.5 million threshold.

STATUTORY AUTHORITY

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13-Simplified Acquisition Procedures, Subpart 13.106-1 (b) (1), Soliciting from a single source and is not expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold. Contracts awarded using FAR Part 13-Simplified Acquisition Procedures are exempt from the requirements of FAR Part 6-Competition Requirements.

GENERAL INFORMATION

1. Title: Gastroenterology/Hepatology Scholars Program

2. Background Information: The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) conducts, supports, and coordinates research on many of the most serious diseases affecting public health. The Institute supports clinical research on the diseases of internal medicine and related subspecialty fields, as well as many basic science disciplines.

Since 2005, NIH has been working with Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine to administer an ACGME-accredited joint Gastroenterology Fellowship Program. This program is designated the University of Maryland/NIH Gastroenterology/Hepatology Scholars Program.

The Gastroenterology Fellowship Program is part of the Digestive Diseases Branch (DDB) in the NIDDK Intramural Research Program (IRP) and consists of two medical doctors who have finished advanced training in medicine and at least one year of clinical training in gastroenterology. To justify board certification, it is required that the NIDDK component of the fellowship program be part of an accredited gastroenterology training program. Therefore, this component of the contract supports the association of the Fellowship Program with a center with an established GI training program.

The Gastroenterology Fellowship program is a subspecialty training program that was granted joint sponsorship accreditation by the National Institutes of Health Graduate Medical Education office. Establishing the GE program accreditation through the ACGME is based on published accreditation standards and was accomplished through a peer review process that took approximately 8 months for final approval. This process involved review and approval by the Executive Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Review Committee (RRC). The sponsoring institution, NIH GME office, provides training program oversight and assumes ultimate responsibility for the GE Fellowship program, which extends to fellow assignments at all participating sites. In order to maintain accreditation of this subspecialty program the GE fellowship is reviewed by the RRC site visit team which are composed of physician members who are nominated by RRC appointing organizations and confirmed by the ACGME Board of Directors. The RRC site visit teams conduct site visits approximately every two to five years depending on the strength of the program. After a program is reviewed, the RRC members vote on the appropriate accreditation action for the program. The GE program has maintained full accreditation through January 1, 2022.

ACGME accreditation letters are provided on an annual basis and accreditation is only granted for one year at a time. Site visits (required every 10-years) maintain the accreditation required as terms of the agreement between University of Maryland and NIDDK. The 10-year site visits were put on hold due to the pandemic. As a result, no site visits have been scheduled yet.

A major component of the gastroenterology fellowship training program involves participation in provision of consultation services for patients with GI disorders followed in protocols sponsored by various other NIH departments. These consultations require the constant availability of state-of-the-art diagnostic and therapeutic services.

To adequately administer this service, it requires an individual (Fellow in gastroenterology) to be available twenty-four (24) hours a day to report to the NIH. Fellows shall be directly supervised by board certified attending gastroenterologists who are members of the medical staff of the NIH Clinical Center. In addition to general consultation services, the fellows must have demonstrated proficiency for performing standard upper and lower GI tract endoscope, including colonoscopy.

Period of Performance:

Base Year: July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024

Option Year One: July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025

CLOSING STATEMENT

This synopsis is not a request for competitive proposals. However, interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this notice. Responses to this notice shall contain sufficient information to establish the interested parties' bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the requirement and include a technical proposal, a cost-price proposal, the period of performance, the Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and the certification of business size. All offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov.

A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. The information received will normally be considered solely for the purposes of determining whether to proceed on a non-competitive basis or to conduct a competitive procurement.

All responses must be received by June 5, 2023 at 9:00 AM Eastern time and must reference solicitation number NICHD-23-158. Responses may be submitted electronically to Mr. Michael Falzone, Contracting Officer at Michael.falzone@nih.gov. Fax responses will not be accepted.

"All responsible sources may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation, which shall be considered by the agency."

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