A. This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. B. The Great Plains Area Indian Health Service (IHS) intends to award a firm-fixed price, non-personal healthcare service, single award, purchase order for a Temporary Registered Pharmacist at the Quentin N Burdick Memorial Health Care Facility, Belcourt, North Dakota in response to RFQ 75H70625Q00222. C. This solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2025-04/2025-06-11. D. This RFQ is set aside 100% Indian Economic Enterprise Small Business (ISBEE) and the associated NAICS Code is 621399, which has a small business standard of $12.5 million. E. The quoted unit pricing must be “all inclusive” (to include but not be limited to travel, lodging, per diem, fringe benefits, federal, state and local taxes) plus all other costs pertinent to the performance of this contract. Utilize your most competitive and reasonable pricing. CLIN 0001 – Temp Registered Pharmacist – See Performance Work Statement – 3 months $____________ CLIN 0002 – Temp Registered Pharmacist – See Performance Work Statement – 3 months $____________ CLIN 0003 – Temp Registered Pharmacist – See Performance Work Statement – 3 months $____________ CLIN 0004 – Temp Registered Pharmacist – See Performance Work Statement – 3 months $____________ F. Temporary Registered Pharmacist to be provided for the duration of the contract per the Performance Work Statement (PWS) G. The period of performance will be three (3) months from date of award, with three (3) additional three-month option periods, for a total potential period of performance of twelve (12) months, if all options are exercised. H. FAR 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items and Commercial Services (Sep 2023). I. Quotes shall be submitted on company letterhead stationery, signed, dated and it shall include: 1. Solicitation number 75H70625Q00222; 2. Closing Date: September 5, 2025 at 12:00 pm CST; 3. Name, address and telephone number of company and email address of contact person; 4. Technical description of the item/service being offered in sufficient detail to evaluate compliance with the requirements of the solicitation. This may include product literature, or other documents, if necessary; 5. Price and any discount; 6. “Remit to” address, if different than mailing address; 7. A completed copy of the representations and certifications at FAR 52.212-3 (see FAR 52.212-3(b) for those representations and certifications that the offeror shall complete electronically); 8. Acknowledgment of Solicitation Amendments (if any issued); 9. Past performance information, when included as an evaluation factor, to include recent and relevant contracts for the same or similar items and other references (including contract numbers, points of contact with telephone numbers and other relevant information); 10. A statement specifying the extent of agreement with all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the solicitation. Offerors that fail to furnish required representations or information, or reject the terms and conditions of the solicitation may be excluded from consideration. In addition, Contractors shall provide the following: • Name and phone number of three (3) professional references. • Shall meet the qualifications in the Statement of Work and provide copies of requested documents. • Complete and sign Child Care Position Provisional Authorization • Complete and sign the Declaration for Federal Employment – Optional Form 306. • Complete and sign Addendum to Declaration for Federal Employment (OF306). • Complete and sign Licensure Requirement Form. • Copy of malpractice insurance coverage. • Copy a degree from a qualified medical science program. • Maintain continuing education/certification. • Copy of current Basic Life Support (BLS). • Current immunization record. DO NOT INCLUDE PERSONAL IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION (PII) on any documents that are being submitted. Attachments: • Performance Work Statement • Provisions and Clauses incorporated by reference and full text • Contractor’s Performance Conditions & Responsibilities • Mandatory Seasonal Influenza Basis of Award is Best Value. Best Value award will be made to the responsible offeror whose quotation is determined to represent the best value to the Government. The following factors will be evaluated: (1) Technical Approach, (2) Qualifications and Experience, (3) Staffing and Key Personnel, (4) Past Performance, and (5) Price; however, price will be evaluated for fairness and reasonableness and will remain a substantial factor in the selection decision. Best Value Determination: Technical factors (1-4), when combined, are more important that price. However, price will be considered in the overall best value determination and may become the deciding factor if quotations are determined to be technically equal. Technical Factor 1 – Technical Approach (a) Solicitation Submittal Requirements: Proposals, which merely offer a statement to conduct/provide services in accordance with the requirements in the Governments SOW, will not be eligible for award. The offeror must submit an explanation that meet the requirements identified under Technical Requirements; Ability to provide AART registered contractors, Prompt and continuous coverage, Ability to timely complete the background investigation paperwork, and Electronic Health Record Experience. (b) Basis of Evaluation: This factor will be evaluated as “ACCEPTABLE” if explanation meets the requirements identified under Technical Requirements; Ability to provide AART registered contractors, Prompt and continuous coverage, Ability to timely complete the background investigation paperwork, and Electronic Health Record Experience which comply with the requirements outlined above, are submitted. If an explanation of one or more Requirements is not provided, and/or do not comply with the requirements, this factor will receive an “UNACCEPTABLE” rating. Technical Factor 2 – Qualifications and Experience (a) Solicitation Submittal Requirements: Proposals, which merely offer a statement to conduct/provide services in accordance with the requirements in the Governments SOW, will not be eligible for award. The offeror must submit an explanation that identifies the vendor and staff experience in providing pharmacy services in hospital/clinic settings; professional licensure and certifications; compliance with regulatory requirements (e.g., Joint Commission, USP / , DEA, FDA, IHS). (b) Basis of Evaluation: This factor will be evaluated as “ACCEPTABLE” if the explanation meets the requirement for qualifications and experience capabilities and responsibilities to meet the following: Tour of Duty/Schedule, Description of Services, Contractor Responsibility and Personnel Requirements, which comply with the requirements outlined above, are submitted. If an explanation of one or more of the following: Tour of Duty/Schedule, Description of Services, Contractor Responsibility and Personnel Requirements and/or do not comply with the requirements, this factor will receive an “UNACCEPTABLE” rating. IHS reserves the right to make multiple awards, which is most advantages to the Government. This is a competitive solicitation and the offer your firm submits will be used by IHS to determine, which of the quantities listed within are, “estimate only” and it is not the intent of IHS to be obligated to order the “quantities.” Technical Factor 3 – Staffing and Key Personnel (a) Solicitation Submittal Requirements: Proposals, which merely offer a statement to conduct/provide services in accordance with the requirements in the Governments SOW, will not be eligible for award. The offeror must submit an explanation that meet the requirements identified under Technical Requirements; Availability and suitability of licensed pharmacists and technicians, credentialing and privileging process, contingency/back-up plan. (b) Basis of Evaluation: This factor will be evaluated as “ACCEPTABLE” if explanation meets the requirements identified under Technical Requirements; Ability to provide an adequate and well-structured staffing plan, qualifications of key personnel including education, professional licensure, certifications, and timely availability. If an explanation of one or more Requirements is not provided, and/or do not comply with the requirements, this factor will receive an “UNACCEPTABLE” rating. Technical Factor 4 – Past Performance (a) Solicitation Submittal Requirements: Offerors do not need to provide any information under this factor as the US Government will base the evaluation on all INTERIM and FINAL Contractor Performance Assessment Reports (CPARs) that are recent and relevant. The CPARs will be retrieved from official US Government sources, including, but not limited to, the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System and the Past Performance Information Retrieval System. (b) Basis of Evaluation: Recency: For the purposes of this solicitation, a past performance record is recent if the CPAR final date of assessment listed in the “Period of Performance Being Assessed” block is within the 24-month period preceding the proposal due date. Relevancy: For the purposes of this solicitation, a past performance record is relevant if the CPAR business sector is listed as “Services”. In order to receive an "acceptable" rating for this factor, an Offer's recent and relevant CPARs must NOT include one or more INTERIM and/or FINAL CPARs with a rating of "UNSATISFACTORY" in one or more categories OR one or more INTERIM and/or FINAL CPARs with a rating of "MARGINAL" in two or more categories. If an Offeror has one or more CPARs with a rating of "UNSATISFACTORY" in one or more categories OR one or more CPARs with a rating of "MARGINAL" in two or more categories, the Offeror's past performance will be evaluated as "UNACCEPTABLE". In the case of an Offeror without a record of recent and relevant past performance or for whom information on past performance is not available or so sparse that no meaningful past performance rating can be reasonably assigned, the Offeror may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance. Therefore, the Offeror shall be determined to have unknown past performance. In the context of acceptability/unacceptability, “unknown” shall be considered “acceptable.” An “UNACCEPTABLE” rating for a single factor will result in the Offeror’s entire proposal being rated “UNACCEPTABLE”. Factor 5 – Price (a) Solicitation Submittal Requirements: Completed Price Schedule Sheet (b) Basis of Evaluation: The Government will evaluate price based on the total proposed price calculated as the sum of bid item 0001 Base Year, item 0002 Option Year 1, item 0003 Option Year 2, item 0004 Option Year 3 and item 0005 Option Year 4 that includes Contract cost, Subcontractor cost, Overhead and Profit. Analysis will be performed by one or more of the following techniques to ensure a fair and reasonable price: (i) Comparison of proposed prices received in response to the RFP. (ii) Comparison of proposed prices with the IGE. (iii) Comparison of proposed prices with available historical information. Note: A price that is found to be either unreasonable high or unrealistically low in relation to the proposed work may be indicative of an inherent lack of understanding of the solicitation requirements and may result in the overall proposal being considered unacceptable. INTENT TO AWARD WITHOUT DISCUSSIONS The Government intends to evaluate proposals and award a contract without discussions with Offerors. Therefore, the Offeror's initial proposal should contain the Offeror's best terms from a price and technical standpoint. The Government reserves the right to conduct discussions if the Contracting Officer later determines them to be necessary. In the event discussions are held, a competitive range determination will be made. If the Contracting Officer determines that the number of proposals that would otherwise be in the competitive range exceeds the number at which an efficient competition can be conducted, the Contracting Officer may limit the number of proposals in the competitive range to the greatest number that will permit an efficient competition among the most highly rated proposals. However, The Government reserves the right to conduct discussions if the Contracting Officer later determines them to be necessary. J. FAR 52.212-2 Evaluation – Commercial Products and Commercial Services (November 2021). See attachment for full text. Technical Approach, Qualifications/Experience, Staffing/Key Personnel, Past Performance, and Price are the evaluating factors with technical factors (1-4) when combined are more important than price. However, price will be considered in the overall best value determination and may become the deciding factor if quotations are determined to be technically equal. K. FAR 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Products and Commercial Services (May 2024) (DEVIATION FEB 2025). See attachment for full text. The Offeror shall complete only paragraph (b) of this provision if the Offeror has completed the annual representations and certification electronically via the System for Award Management (SAM) website accessed through http://www.acquisition.gov. If the Offeror has not completed the annual representations and certifications electronically, the Offeror shall complete only paragraphs (c) through (p) of this provision. L. FAR 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Products and Commercial Services (November 2023). Applied to this acquisition and it’s incorporated by reference. M. FAR 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders- Commercial Products and Commercial Services (January 2025) (DEVIATION FEB 2025). See attachment for full text. N. FAR 52.217-5 – Evaluation of Options (JUL 1990). See attachment for full text. O. FAR 52.217-8 – Option to Extend Services (NOV 1999). See attachment for full text. P. FAR 52.217-9 – Option to Extend the Term of the Contract (MAR 2000). See attachment for full text. Q. Attached are the additional Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) & Health & Human Services Acquisition Regulation (HHSAR) clauses that are applicable. R. Offers will only be accepted electronically, submit via email to the following: Quentin N Burdick Memorial Health Care Facility Indian Health Service - Belcourt Service Unit Attn: Farrah Azure, Purchasing Agent 1300 Hospital Loop Belcourt, ND 58316 Email:
[email protected] Questions in regards to this solicitation shall be submitted in writing by email no later than Monday, September 5, 2025, 12:00pm CST. SECURITY CLEARANCE A security pre-clearance must be performed for any employees referred to IHS through this contract. Fingerprints must be completed and adjudicated prior to services being performed under this contract. No contract award shall be made to any vendor or provider listed on the OIG Exclusion List http://exclusions.oig.hhs.gov throughout the duration of the contract. It shall be the responsibility of the contractor to notify the acquisition official if there is a change in provider. Performance of this contract will require routine access by employees of the Contractor or its subcontractors to facilities or systems controlled by the Indian Health Service (I.H.S.). Before starting work requiring routine access to I.H.S. facilities or systems each person must complete a FBI National Criminal History Check (Fingerprint Check) adjudicated by an I.H.S. employee using the Office of Personnel Management Personnel Investigations Processing System. Contractors shall allow five business days for I.H.S. processing of fingerprints taken electronically at an I.H.S. site and thirty business days for non-electronic processing of fingerprints using FBI Form FD-258. A list of I.H.S. sites with electronic fingerprint capability is available from the Contracting Officer. In addition, no Contractor or subcontractor employee shall be permitted to perform work under this contract if listed on the HHS Office of Inspector General List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE), http://exclusions.oig.hhs.gov. As soon as practicable prior to the start of work, the performance of the work the Contractor shall provide to the Contracting Officer the names of all individuals to be used in performance of work for screening against the LEIE. During the performance, the Contractor shall provide the Contracting Officer the names of any additional or substitute employees for screening before they begin work. The Contractor is responsible for conducting security preclearance investigations in sufficient depth to ensure that each Contractor or subcontractor employee referred to I.H.S. is not on the LEIE and can obtain a favorable fingerprint clearance. Each security preclearance shall be conducted sufficiently in advance of the start of performance to avoid delays caused by denial of access. If this is a Time and Materials, Labor-Hour or Cost Reimbursement contract, the contractor shall not charge for or be reimbursed for labor hours or other costs incurred for employees who are unable to perform due to denial or access or the excess time required to resolve and clear unfavorable security clearance findings. If this is a Fixed Price contract, denial of access due to security clearance findings shall not be a basis for excusable delay or an increase to the contract amount. Government will pay for the cost to process the contractors suitability clearances. However, multiple investigations for the same position may, at the Contracting Officers discretion, lead to reduction(s) in the contract price of no more than the cost of the extra investigation(s). Employees that DO NOT have access to LMS, contractors, volunteers, or IHS employees with IPA’s or MOA’s to tribal organizations please, click here IHS Sexual Abuse Prevention website. When the contractors have completed and passed the training, please have them send a copy of the last page of the training with Name, Date, and Time to their Supervisor, COR, and Kimmen LeBeau, e-mail:
[email protected]. Invoice Processing Platform (IPP) The Indian Health Service (IHS) is in the process of implementing an electronic invoicing system In compliance with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) M-15-19 memorandum “Improving Government Efficiency and Saving Taxpayer Dollars Through Electronic Invoicing” directing Federal agencies to adopt electronic invoicing as the primary means to disburse payment to vendors. Invoices submitted under any award resulting from this solicitation will be required to utilize the Invoice Processing Platform (IPP) in accordance with HHSAR 352.232-71, Electronic Submission and Processing of Payment Requests. IPP is a secure, web-based electronic invoicing system provided by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service, in partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRSTL). Respondents to this solicitation are encouraged to register an account with IPP if they have not already done so. If your organization is already registered to use IPP, you will not be required to re-register- however, we encourage you make sure your organization and designated IPP user accounts are valid and up to date. The IPP website address is: https://www.ipp.gov If you require assistance registering or IPP account access, please contact the IPP Helpdesk at (866) 973-3131 (M-F 8AM to 6PM ET), or
[email protected] “Should the contractor feel that use of the IPP would be unduly burdensome, their response to this solicitation should include an explanation of this position for a determination by the contracting officer”.