Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders (WISER) and Other Related Resources
** This is a Small Business Sources Sought Notice. The NAICS code for this Small Business Sources Sought notice is: 541511 - NAICS CODE CATEGORY. **
This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources; (2) whether they are small businesses; HUBZone small businesses; service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition.
Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice.
This Sources Sought Notice is for informational and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation or commitment by the Government. This notice is intended strictly for market research. The Government reserves the right to respond to some, all or none of the questions submitted.
All responsible sources may submit a capability statement which will be considered by the National Library of Medicine. Capability statement must address the organization's qualifications and ability to perform as a contractor able to perform tasks described in the attached draft Statement of Work (SOW).
This Sources Sought Notice is not a Request for Quotations (RFQ), nor is an RFQ available. The capability statement should contain enough sufficient detail for the Government to make an informed decision regarding your capabilities; however, the statement should not exceed 10 pages (excluding attachments.)
Interested firms responding to this Sources Sought Notice must provide a capability statement that displays the following:
(a) Microsoft Word or PDF file in 12 point font;
(b) DUNS number, organization name, address, point of contact, and size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HUBZone, etc) pursuant to the applicable NAICS code);
(c) Technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses;
(d) Staff expertise, including their availability, experience, and formal and other training;
(e) Current in-house capability and capacity to perform the work;
(f) Prior completed projects of similar nature;
(g) Corporate experience and management capability; and
(h) Examples of prior completed Government contracts, references, and other related information.
The National Library of Medicine (NLM) requires capability statements to be submitted via eCPS.:
1) Electronic copy via the NLM electronic Contract Proposal Submission (eCPS) website at https://ecps.nih.gov. All submissions must be submitted by 12:00 PM Eastern Time on August, 2, 2019.
2) For directions on using eCPS, go to https://ecps.nih.gov and click on "How to Submit."
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 solicitation may be published in Federal Business 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).
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DRAFT STATEMENT OF WORK
1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The National Library of Medicine (NLM) is responsible for information coverage and services in many areas of health and biomedicine. The Disaster Information Management Research Center (DIMRC) was created after the NLM Long Range Plan (2006-2016) Committee recognized the untapped potential of libraries, librarians, and information services to aid in the nation's disaster management efforts throughout all phases of disasters. DIMRC is tasked with the collection, organization and dissemination of health information resources and informatics research related to disasters of natural, accidental, or deliberate origin. More details can be found on the DIMRC website (https://disaster.nlm.nih.gov/).
One of the disaster-related projects is the Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders (WISER - https://wiser.nlm.nih.gov/). The objective of this ongoing WISER initiative is to provide critical information quickly and conveniently on mobile technology platforms for use by emergency responders and emergency medical personnel. The application includes several hundred carefully selected chemical, biological, and radiological substances with a high likelihood of incidence occurrence and/or with a high potential level of adverse effects if emergency response-related exposures occur. The wide range of information provided via WISER includes physical characteristics, human health information, and containment and suppression advice, as well as an algorithm-based substance identification support capability, and chemical reactivity functionality. This information comes into WISER from the NLM's Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB), supplemented with information from other authoritative and peer-reviewed data sources, as well as NLM's Chemical Hazards Emergency Medical Management (CHEMM) resource integrated into WISER.
WISER is available for download or via WebWISER. WISER as a standalone application is available for iOS (iPhone/iPad), Android, and Microsoft Windows PCs. WebWISER can be used when an Internet connection is available, using a Web browser to access much of the same functionality of the standalone applications. WebWISER supports both PC and mobile browsers.
2. PURPOSES AND OBJECTIVE OF THE PROCUREMENT
The ultimate objective of the procurement is to continue the maintenance, support, and enhancement of WISER. The contractor shall perform the following tasks:
2.1 Data Updates, Additions, and Reformatting
The contractor shall reprocess the WISER data for each new release with the most current HSDB content, the latest ERG content, and updated content from the other sources of information WISER utilizes (including any new Radiation Emergency Medical Management (REMM) content, PubChem, and biological content). Not all of this content is fully-automated, and would require some human review. The contractor shall provide a spreadsheet with extracted terms from the HSDB Emergency Medical Treatment section to NLM experts for review.
The contractor shall, with the help from NLM experts, identify additional chemical, radiological, biological and explosive substances for incorporation into WISER, and will take these additional substances into consideration when enhancing WISER's capabilities to identify unknown substances.
The contractor shall reformat the information on the additional substances from HSDB and other data sources and repackage it for WISER database and platform infrastructure. It is estimated that these data updates will occur up to three times per year, depending on information sources updates.
WISER utilizes some information from other NLM tools and resources involved in disasters. Some radiological information is taken from the Radiation Emergency Medical Management (REMM) tool, and chemical information within the Chemical Hazards Emergency Medical Management (CHEMM) tool is also used within WISER. The contractor may be required to support these efforts when requested by NLM staff.
WISER also utilizes some information from other governmental agencies, such as the Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG) from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). In addition to incorporating these information sources into NLM products, the contractor may also be tasked with performing tool or app development for such agencies as they pertain to WISER, CHEMM, REMM & related products.
The contractor shall perform sizing and performance evaluation to ensure that the list of substances will fit on handheld/mobile devices, and that the performance will be acceptable.
2.2 Enhancement & Maintenance in Functionality Across Platforms/Devices
The contractor shall maintain the WISER software, architecture/infrastructure, problem reporting/tracking process, and data import/review process. The NLM does not expect the contractor to host the system 24/7 - the system will be hosted and deployed by NLM's systems. The contractor will be required to deliver the package in a format that NLM can utilize. The contractor shall deliver Window executable installation file for the Window Desktop version. The contractor shall deliver HTML files with associated Javascript and style sheet files, and Perl scripts for the WISER web site. The contractor shall submit OS-specific files to the NLM iPhone and Android development portal for submission to the iOS App Store, and Google Play Store (for Android), and other equivalent stores when new platforms are added. The contractor shall submit Web Application Resource (WAR) file for WebWISER deployment. Due to the fact that disasters can happen at any given time, there may be times when the contractor will be required to perform data updates on demand.
The contractor shall keep current on trends in handheld/mobile devices and platforms that the WISER community currently uses and are likely to use in the near future. The contractor shall work with NLM staff to project which platforms WISER should be implemented on as resources and funding allows.
2.3 Work with NLM to investigate and implement: a) additional functions and b) technology integration opportunities
The contractor shall investigate and incorporate functions and outside (non-NLM) technologies as defined and approved by NLM staff, as identified by NLM staff and feedback from the user community. When proposing new functionality/features, the contractor shall provide a cost & time estimate. This includes, with the approval and help of NLM, investigation of key technology integration opportunities.
The contractor shall work with NLM staff to prioritize which WISER feature/functionality should be available on a particular platform or handheld/mobile device, taking user feedback into consideration.
2.4 Mobile Apps and Tools for Related Resources
The contractor may, at times, be tasked with separate work on the Radiation Emergency Medical Management (REMM) and Chemical Hazards Emergency Medical Management (CHEMM) projects. These projects are covered under a different support mechanism through an Inter Agency Agreement with the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The Contractor shall develop mobile apps for Mobile REMM on iPhone, Windows Mobile, and Android. The contractor shall build downloadable REMM and CHEMM for Windows and Mac. Work will also involve the development of specialized tools and resources. This will include, but not be limited to the CHEMM Intelligent Syndromes Tool (CHEMM-IST) for CHEMM, and keep in mind the usability across mobile platforms for CHEMM, since it has been integrated into WISER.
In addition, the contractor may be required to help develop or conduct work on applications or tools for other NLM or DIMRC resources, and those for other agencies, as discussed with NLM.
2.5 Meeting and Presentation Support
The contractor shall do and/or support presentations, documentation, demonstrations and training support of WISER as requested by the NLM project manager (approximately 3-5 per year). These can include annual meetings and other gatherings of key communities of first responders and others.
3. CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS
The contractor will implement specific tasks as defined above during the period of performance. The contractor shall implement these tasks with minimal direction, but in close collaboration with the government.
Experience in working with the first responder user community, handheld/mobile devices, and various computer operating systems is required. To support future areas of WISER development, expertise in emerging or evolving WISER-relevant handheld/mobile devices, Web browsers, and computer operating systems will be required, especially if they are seen to be relevant to current and/or reasonably foreseeable usage by the first responder and emergency management communities.
Contractor resumes must be supplied to the NLM, and contract personnel assigned to this project should not be changed without NLM's approval. The contractor shall supply a succession plan with names of possible alternates who could take over the project duties.
4. GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBILITIES
The government shall provide the contractor access to relevant NLM information, data and staff time.
5. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS AND DELIVERABLES
The contractor shall maintain the WISER operational systems. Upgrades and enhanced versions must be fully tested and submitted to NLM staff for loading and customer testing on the staging server.
The contractor shall deliver the detail concept, requirements, and design documents of WISER as needed.
The contractor shall meet with selected members of NLM on an as need basis. Meetings will be held at the NLM site, and/or via teleconferencing or web meeting. All resulting data, documents, reports, and software will become the property of the United States (U.S.) government.
The contractor shall perform work offsite and may be asked to perform work onsite from time to time.
The contractor shall provide NLM biweekly updates of Project Status via conference calls or web meeting. The report should include:
• Accomplishments
• Plans for the next two weeks
• Near term plans
• Current issues and complications
6. INSPECTIONS AND ACCEPTANCE REQUIREMENTS
All deliverables produced by the contractor will be reviewed and approved by the Project Officer upon delivery by the contractor.
Markita S. Simmonds, Contract Specialist, Phone 301-827-6469, Email markita.simmonds@nih.gov - Robin Hope, Contracting Officer, Phone 301-496-6546, Email robin.hope@nih.gov
