Max 12 Connection
In accordance with FAR 5.101(a)(1) and 5.201, this is a Notice of Intent. The National Library of Medicine (NLM) on behalf of the Center for Information Technology (CIT), National Institutes of Health (NIH) intends to solicit and award a non-competitive fixed-price type contract to the State of Maryland - to procure an annual Max 12 membership including 2, 100g R&E network connections for the Network Support Services division of CIT. These services will be procured for a base period of 12 months with the option to continue services for 2, 12-month option periods.
The proposed contract is for IT supplies and services for which the Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under the authority of FAR 6.302-1 "Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements" as supplemented with additional information included in this notice.
In support of the NIH mission, the Contractor shall provide CIT with MAX 2- Layer 3, 100g Research and Education (R&E) Services Ports with access to Internet2. Mid-Atlantic Crossroads (MAX) is a GigaPoP (Gigabit Point of Presence) organization. MAX is a service of the State of Maryland through the Maryland State University system. MAX is located at the University of Maryland - College Park.
Internet2 is a member-driven advanced technology community founded by the nation's leading higher education institutions. Internet2 is not a for-profit service or technology. It is consortium of entities committed to research and development. This service provides a communication path that is not reliant on the commodity internet. The NIH is dependent on the I2 connection for communication with Researchers, research-partners and the academic community for uninterrupted, fast communication of large data sets that the commodity internet connection for NIH would cause delays and connection failures for this important and vital communication of data. CIT has also committed to the communication path for the NIH STRIDES initiative. "The Science and Technology Research Infrastructure for Discovery, Experimentation, and Sustainability (STRIDES) Initiative establishes partnerships with commercial cloud service providers (CSPs) to reduce economic and technological barriers to accessing and computing on large biomedical data sets to accelerate biomedical advances. A central tenet of the STRIDES Initiative is that data made available through these partnerships will incorporate standards endorsed by the biomedical research community to make data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR). The I2 link is crucial to the success of the STRIDES initiative Mid-Atlantic Crossroads (MAX) can provide high speed, low-cost MPLS traffic to STRIDES partners Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. The STRIDES initiative will take advantage of these paths. Currently, the State of Maryland through the University of Maryland at College Park is the only vendor known to the Government as having authorization to provide these R&E routes and access to I2 in the Washington DC Metro region.
This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals. A determination by the Government to not compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government, and information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.
The Government/NIH/NLM will not be responsible for paying for any of the costs incurred and associated with the development of any responses submitted to this posting. The North American Industry Classification System Code (NAICS) is 517919 and the small business size standard is $32.5 Million. Questions or capability statements submitted in consideration of this announcement must be submitted in writing by email no later than 12:00 PM Eastern Time, March 27, 2019. All responsible sources having the ability to provide the services provided by this notification should submit a comprehensive capability statement that shall be considered by the agency in determining if alternative procurement methods are appropriate.
All Capability Statements to be considered by the agency must be emailed to LaDonna Stewart, Contract Specialist at ladonna.stewart@nih.gov referencing "NLM-75N97019Q00036 - MAX Connection" in the subject line. Capability statements must also include the vendors DUNS and business size for the proposed NAICS.
FEDERAL ACQUISITION REQULATION (FAR) CLAUSES
The following provisions and clauses apply to this acquisition and are incorporated by reference. Full text may be found at https://www.acquisition.gov/Far.
FAR 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items
FAR 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items
FAR 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items
FAR 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes and Executive orders
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.
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).
LaDonna L Stewart, Phone 301-827-7681, Email lstewart@niaid.nih.gov
