Notice of Intent to Sole Source for Maintenance of QDS™ Source Code and Previous QDS™ Programmed MMP and NHBS Surveys

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, hereby announces its intent to issue a sole source order/contract to NOVA Research Company, 801 Roeder Road Ste 700, Silver Springs, MD, 20910. The NAICS code for this acquisition is 541715, Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology). The Centers for Diesase Control and Prevention is looking for a contractor who can provide specialized maintenance of QDS™ source code and previous QDS™ programmed MMP and NHBS surveys. The Medical Monitoring Project (MMP) and National HIV Behavioral Surveillance are CDC’s premier HIV surveillance systems for monitoring national indicators among persons with HIV and persons at risk for HIV. Since the inception of MMP and NHBS in 2003, QDS™ has been used to program the electronic data capture applications for these systems’ annual surveys. CDC invests over $23 million annually to state and local health departments to collect ongoing data for MMP and NHBS. CDC has invested in enhancements to the QDS™ software to improve the efficiency of programming and testing the MMP and NHBS survey applications. These enhancements were released in a commercial version of the QDS™ software (QDS™ 5.0) by the sole proprietary owner, NOVA Research Company. Maintenance will be needed for these CDC commissioned enhancements to QDS™ 5.0 if errors are encountered when administering MMP and NHBS survey applications. NOVA Research Company owns QDS™ (all versions) and is the only company with access to the QDS™ source code. Therefore, NOVA Research Company is the only company that can provide maintenance support for their propriety data-capture software application. CDC is currently modernizing its IT and data investments, including support servicesfor MMP and NHBS. In compliance with CDC’s IT & Data Governance (ITDG)policies, the Program Office is currently pursuing an acquisition utilizing commercially available software to develop an integrated web-based system for data collection andmanagement. During this transition, and to avoid a lapse in surveillance and risk to CDC’s $23M annual investment, CDC must maintain its MMP and NHBS survey questionnaires programmed in QDS™ as well as commissioned QDS™enhancements. Survey programming techniques vary by vendors even if they use the same software. If a different vendor were to provide maintenance survey programming using QDS™ or another software product, they would likely have to start from scratch rather than programming off the existing QDS™ codes. These unnecessary tasks would drive up the cost of maintenance, which is all that is required at this time. This action is for supplies which the Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b) and 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1). Interested persons may identify their interest and capability to respond to the requirement or submit quotations. This is not a request for competitive quotations ; however, the Government will review any/all product, capabilities, and pricing information submitted prior to the closure of this notice. 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. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Any responses should be emailed to Zachary Perez (CTR) at [email protected] by June 3rd, 2021 at 1:00 P.M. ET.