This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial services prepared in accordance with the format in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 12.6 Streamline Procedures for Evaluation and Solicitation for Commercial Items, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. The procurement is being conducted under Contracting by Negotiation in accordance with FAR Part 15. This announcement constitutes the formal Request for Proposal (RFP) NIHLM2015384-UHP. The resultant contract will be a Fixed-Price. The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through December 2014 Federal Acquisition Regulation revision, which includes the consolidation of all Federal Acquisition Circulars 2005-78. This acquisition is a 100% small business set-aside and the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 519120, Libraries and Archives Services. The purpose of this contract is to obtain indexing for approximately 679,000 biomedical journal articles for MEDLINE, 75,000 MTIFL Completion articles, and creating approximately 82,000 Gene Links per year. Indexing is also sought for up to 7,800 chemical queries per year by chemical indexers, and for up to 2,100 records per year for the HSRProj database. These quantities are for the base year of a contract that is expected to have multiple annual options with the rate of growth being approximately 4% for journal articles, and a proportional number of gene links. The duration of this contract will consist of a one-year base period, followed by four option years for a total of five years. NLM expects each of these tasks: MEDLINE indexing, MTIFL Completion, Gene Links, chemicals, and HSRProj to be priced separately. It is anticipated that MULTIPLE AWARDS will be made from this solicitation. This requirement is for one base year will begin on or about April 1, 2015 through March 30, 2016 with options for four (4) successive one year periods. TECHNICAL EVALUATION FACTORS Technical factors are of paramount consideration in the award of the contract; however, price is also important to the overall award decision. All evaluation factors other than price, when combined, are significantly more important than price. The Government can make tradeoffs among price and technical factors in determining which Offeror offers the best value by awarding to other than the lowest price Offeror or other than the highest technically rated Offeror. Offerors are advised that award will be made to that Offeror whose proposal provides the best overall value to the Government. TECHNICAL EVALUATION CRITERIA In determining which proposal represents the best value and results in the lowest overall price alternative (considering price, special features, administrative costs, etc.) to meet the Government's needs, the Government shall evaluate proposals using the following technical evaluation criteria, which are listed in the order of relative importance with weights assigned for evaluation processes: FACTOR WEIGHT CRITERION A - Personnel (50%) Indexing personnel will be evaluated on: (a) Experience in indexing biomedical literature or indexing experience in other subject areas; (b) Education consisting of at least a Bachelor's degree with a major in the biological sciences, or its equivalent (in the event of a proposed indexer's demonstrated outstanding experience in a biomedical field, the requirement for a Bachelor's degree may be waived at the Government's option). CRITERION B - Understanding the requirement and technical approach (25%) The proposal will be evaluated on: (a) The offeror's demonstrated understanding of the technical requirements, including the offeror's understanding of the performance standards and quality control and the provisions for rejection of batches of journals or individual articles, and the offeror's understanding of the established procedures for training of new indexers. (b) The offeror's specific approach and strategies proposed to meet the requirement, including the approach used to assure the completion of required quantities of journals on a timely basis, the proposed procedures for shipping journals to non-local indexers, and the feasibility of estimated production level for the proposed personnel. CRITERION C - Corporate capability and successful past performance with similar projects (25%) The proposal will be evaluated on: The offeror's demonstrated record of successful technical and administrative past performance in managing a project of equal scope and complexity, including successful completion of production schedules and explanation of management participation. All proposals received by Friday, February 13, 2015 at 4:30 P.M. , EST (Eastern Standard Time) will be considered by the National Library of Medicine (NLM). Responses must be in writing, and must include pricing information and meet the criteria requirements. All responses from responsible sources will be considered. Inquiries regarding this procurement may be made to the National Library of Medicine, Office of Acquisitions, 6707 Democracy Boulevard, Suite 105, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-5488, Attention: Uyen Phuong, Contracting Officer via email at
[email protected] no later than February 6, 2015 at 12:00 P.M. EST. ** The Statement of Work (SOW) of this requirement is attached to this solicitation. ** All offerors must submit ONE (1) signed original and SEVEN (7) copies of the proposals on or before 4:30 P.M., EST, February 13, 2015 to: Uyen Phuong Contracting Officer National Library of Medicine, NIH Office of Acquisitions 6707 Democracy Blvd., Suite #105 MSC 5488 Bethesda, MD 20892-5488 All proposals received before the deadline for submission of proposals stated in this publication of solicitation will be considered by NLM. FACSIMILES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTABLE. Firms interested in responding to this notice must be able to provide the products and services described by NLM in the Statement of Work. Vendors shall comply with all applicable Federal, State and Local laws, executive orders, rules and regulations applicable to its performance under this contract.