MARKET RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL OR SOLICITATION The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is conducting market research to support the National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) requirement for On-Site Animal Care and Technical Procedures. This is a Sources Sought Notice to determine the availability and capability of small businesses in providing On-site Animal Care and Technical Procedures as delineated in the attachments to this notice labeled draft Performance Work Statement (PWS), and Appendices (historical and estimated workloads). Though the target audience is small businesses or small businesses capable of supplying the services of a small business, all interested parties may respond. This notice is for planning purposes only, and does not constitute an Invitation for Bids, Request for Proposals or Request for Quotation, nor is it an indication the Government will contract for the items contained herein. This notice is not to be construed as a commitment on the part of the Government to award a contract, nor does the Government intend to pay for any information submitted as a result of this notice. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a small business set-aside is possible for the required services. To protect the procedural integrity of any future procurement, if any, that may arise from this announcement, information regarding the technical point of contact will not be provided and no appointments or other types of arrangements for presentations shall be made. The appropriate NAICS code for this acquisition is 541714-Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology); Small Business Size Standard is 1,000 employees. If your firm is considered a small business under this NAICS Code, and believe you are capable of providing the FDA with the supplies and/or services described within the attached PWS, you are encouraged to submit a capability statement subject to the requirements listed below to Tim Walbert at
[email protected]. A draft of the PWS and appendices for this requirement is attached for reference only. Period of Performance: Base year and up to four (4) one (1) year option periods. The Government will not review general capability statements. Respondents to this sources sought notice shall unequivocally demonstrate the corporate experience and conspicuous, proven track record necessary to delivering these highly technical services under an anticipated Labor-Hour contract, as well as the ability to recruit, relocate, and retain on-site key and professional personnel crucial to service delivery; responses shall also demonstrate the necessary financial acumen and capability to ensure delivery of nothing less than outstanding service and program support. Responses shall be electronic only and formatted as follows: Page limitation (not including cover page) is 17 single-sided 8½ x 11 pages, single-spaced, with 1 inch margins in 11-pt Times New Roman font. Although the target audience is small business(es), all interested parties may respond. At a minimum, responses shall include the following: *Business name and bio, SAM Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), business address, business website, business size status (i.e., SB, VOSB, SDVOSB, HUBZone SB, SDB, WOSB, LB), point of contact name, mailing address (if different from business address), phone number and email address; *Three (3) years of past performance information for the services of same or substantially similar projects to include date of services, description, dollar value, contract type (e.g., fixed-price, cost reimbursement, time and materials, labor hours, etc.), client name, client address, client point of contact name, client point of contact mailing address (if different from that provided for client), client point of contact phone number, and client point of contact email address; *The offeror shall furnish sufficient technical information necessary for the Government to conclusively determine that the offered services and components meet the technical requirements identified above with their experience and proven track record necessary to delivering these highly technical services, as well as the ability to recruit, relocate, and retain on-site key and professional personnel crucial to service delivery. *Section 4.1.9. (page 10) of the draft PWS emphasizes the critical value of a well cross-trained technical workforce and the importance of cross-training and states, in part, “ The NCTR expects cross-training and maximized sharing of rodent, and large animal personnel between areas (while ensuring biocontainment and biosecurity) to utilize the technical workforce most efficiently.” To this end, the offeror shall include as part of a response a concise, specific summary discussion of the strategy employed to ensure how all personnel will be cross-trained on all technical procedures. *If applicable, identification of the firm's GSA Schedule contract(s) by Schedule number and SINs that are applicable to this requirement; *If applicable, respondent shall provide origin (country) of service performance and any other applicable information to enable review and analysis pertaining to the requirements under the Buy American Act and requirements relating to Executive Order 14005 Ensuring the Future is Made in All of America by All of America’s Workers, in the event that a nonavailability waiver request submitted through the Made in America Office (MIAO) Digital Waiver Portal is required. *For responses from large businesses under the applicable NAICS Code, describe subcontracting opportunities for small business concerns. The Government encourages any comments, suggestions, and/or questions from any interested party regarding these requirements, and more specifically, the draft PWS associated with this notice. While the Government will not respond directly to you, we will consider your input as we finalize the PWS in preparation for the forthcoming solicitation. The government is not responsible for locating or securing any information, not identified in the response. Interested parties shall respond with capability statements submitted by e-mail only to the point of contact listed below on or before April 27, 2022, by 2:00 PM Central Time in Jefferson, Arkansas. Please include SSN 75F40122R1259563 in the Subject line of the e-mail and submit to: Tim Walbert, Contract Specialist
[email protected] 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 pre-solicitation synopsis and/or solicitation may be published at SAM.gov/Contract Opportunities. 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).