The purpose of this notice is to announce the implementation of the NIH electronic Contract Proposal Submission (eCPS) and the change to the electronic submission of contract proposals across NIH. Electronic contract proposal submission will enhance compliance with laws and regulations that govern the accuracy, timeliness and cost-effectiveness of the Federal Government's procurement process and will streamline the procurement process. Executive Order 13576, Delivering an Efficient, Effective, and Accountable Government, issued June 13, 2011, requires Federal Agencies to become more effective and efficient, cut waste, and streamline Government operations. The electronic Contract Proposal Submission (eCPS) was developed by the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) as a component of NIAID's integrated, secure system for the submission, capture, tracking and review of proposals submitted in response to solicitations. eCPS streamlines the proposal receipt process, eliminates paper submission, and reduces the costs associated with mailing and storing large paper proposals. eCPS provides a secure environment for proposal submission. NIAID has been using eCPS for electronic proposal submission since September 2012. NIH is expanding the use of eCPS beyond NIAID so that proposals are submitted electronically using eCPS across NIH starting in fiscal year 2017. eCPS will be used by all NIH Offices of Acquisition (OA) except for the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) OA which is using FedConnect. Proposals are submitted through the NIH eCPS public site (https://ecps.nih.gov) using a NIHEXT, eRA Commons, Google or Federated Institutions/Organizations account. The registration process for a NIH External Active Directory account may take up to three (3) days. Proposals are submitted by (1) logging into eCPS, (2) selecting the active solicitation for which the offeror is proposing on, (3) browsing and selecting the technical proposal PDF, business proposal PDF, and Excel file(s), (4) entering a name for the proposal, and (5) submitting the proposal. Once a proposal is submitted to eCPS, an offeror can revise that proposal by overwriting the previously uploaded documents. Offers have up until the closing date and time of the solicitation to make as many revisions as needed. After the closing date and time, the system prevents further proposal submissions or revisions. Please note that submissions must be received, not submitted, by NIH by the closing date/time. Offerors interested in responding to solicitations issued by the NHLBI Office of Acquisition will submit proposals and other communications (e.g., proposals, solicitation questions, amendments, negotiation questions and responses, etc.) electronically via the FedConnect web portal (www.fedconnect.net). Vendors can register with FedConnect at https://www.fedconnect.net/FedConnect/default.htm. Please note that FedConnect is used by multiple federal agencies and, therefore, FedConnect assistance will be provided by Compusearch Software Systems, not the NHLBI OA. More information about FedConnect registration requirements can be found by downloading the FedConnect Ready, Set, Go! Guide at https://www.fedconnect.net/fedconnect/Marketing/Documents/FedConnect_Ready_Set_Go.pdf. For assistance in registering or for other FedConnect technical questions, please call the FedConnect Help Desk at 1-800-899-6665 or email at
[email protected] .