Contact Points
Portland, Maine 04101-3872
This notice of proposed acquisition is posted as an intent to award a computer and telecommunications license on a non-competitive basis to RockStep Solutions, 48 Free St., STE 100, Portland, Maine 04101-3872.
Other vendors of near similar product and service are unable to provide a robust, research scale sized program and storage solution, in real-time across several users on the same plate form. Rockstep Solution can meet all criteria required in their Climb 2.0 tool. Other vendors provide a product and service for animal facility organization, maintenance, but could not meet the detailed research, study and organization activities for a large-scale research project.
Currently, the STARRRS team uses Climb 2.0 to schedule and plan project assessments as well as store animal data. This purchase specifically renews this subscription including support services for this product for one year and LBN requires continuation of this same software for consistency in producing the same research data that has been captured. Additionally, the proprietary data are described as Climb 2.0 deployment and hosting package developed by RockStep. As such, Rockstep Solution is the only source that can provide this service.
In addition to the description above, RockStep can meet detailed storage and features required for a large-scale longitudinal study in the current climate of non-work site and work site access. Furthermore, Azure Cloud data storage is FedRAMP approved.
Acquisition Authority: This acquisition is being conducted under Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Part 13 – Simplified Acquisition Procedures, and the resultant contract award will include all applicable provisions and clauses in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2022-04 dated January 30, 2022.
Description: An in vivo study management tool and hosting service, along with Azure cloud storage that includes five (5) users for one year of licensing and cloud hosting service. The hosting and licenses need to include: the ability to organize, schedule, conduct physiological, behavioral, and imaging assessments across the lifetime of 500 rats in the STARRRS study. The software needs to support complicated animal research studies where frequent and large quantities of data need to be analyzed and stored for further evaluation, along with respective protocols. Furthermore, scheduling study activities, providing alerts/reminders, changes available in real-time, across media devices, providing real-time reports with user credentials is required. Storage service needed includes Azure BLOB storage of 500GB/Workgroup, HOT Zone Redundant to accommodate 5 users in real-time. Backup, Training and customer support is required, as well.
Specific Requirements/Salient Characteristics include:
- Software program designed for organizing and scheduling all procedures for a complicated animal study versus scheduling animal facility operations.
- Provide at least 5 user profiles for study management tool.
- Store and organize study protocols.
- Provide a means to plan and schedule all study activities for all animals in the study in real time so that all entries are synced immediately.
- Provide alerts/reminders to users about which assessments must be completed for each rat.
- Organize data about physiological samples collected during the study.
- Collect, organize, and store data entered by technicians about animals in the study.
- Must be accessible across media devices with user credentials.
- Provide real-time data reports.
Generic Name of Product: In vivo study management program software and cloud hosting tool.
Quantity: one (1) annual subscription
Contract Type: A Firm Fixed Price type order award not exceeding the Simplified Acquisition Threshold is anticipated to be awarded resulting from this requirement.
Quoter Terms and Conditions (To be completed by the Offeror):
1. Period of Performance OR Delivery Date After Receipt of Order:
2. Shipping Point (F.O.B. OR Destination):
3. Payment Discount Terms:
4. Open Market; GSA FSS Contract Number; Other Government Agency (OGA) Contract Number, Government-wide Agency (GWAC) Contract Number; or National Institute of Health (NIH) Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) Number:
5. DUNS No:
6. Name of Company:
7. Street Address, City, State, Zip code:
8. Name of Person Authorized to Provide Quote:
9. Telephone Number and Email Address of Person Authorized to Provide Quote:
ADDITIONAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS, PROVISIONS, AND REPRESENTATIONS
The FAR Clauses are incorporated by reference and are provided in full text at https://www.acquisition.gov/
1. FAR Provision 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items (Sept 2021) is applicable to this solicitation.
2. FAR Provision 52.212.2 Evaluation-Commercial Items (Oct 2014) is applicable to this solicitation. The Government will evaluate quotations or offers in accordance with FAR 13.106-2 and award a purchase order from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose quote conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following factors shall be used to evaluate quotes: Technical capability of the item offered to meet the Government requirement; Price; and Past performance [see FAR 13.106-2(b)(3)]
3. FAR Provision 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items (Feb 2021), is applicable to this solicitation
4. 4. FAR Clause 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items (November 2021), is applicable to this solicitation.
5. FAR clause at 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items (January 2022) is applicable to this solicitation. See attachment.
In addition, the following FAR provisions and clauses are applicable to this solicitation and incorporated by reference:
52.204-7 System for Award Management (Oct 2018),
52.204-13 System for Award Management Maintenance (Oct 2018),
52.204-16 Commercial and Government Entity Code Reporting (Aug 2020),
52.204-18 Commercial and Government Entity Code Maintenance (Aug 2020).
HHSAR 352.239-73, Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Notice (December 18, 2015).
The following provisions and clauses apply to this acquisition and are incorporated as an attachment. Offerors MUST complete the provision at 52.204-24 and 52.204-26 and submit a completed copy as a separate document with their quotation.
1. FAR 52.204-24, Representation Regarding Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment (Oct 2020)
2. FAR 52.204-26, Covered Telecommunications Equipment or Services Representation (Oct 2020)
3. NIH Invoice and Payment Provisions
All responses must be received by April 24, 2022 at 10pm EST and must reference announcement / solicitation number 22-007158. Responses may be submitted electronically to Randall Carter (Randall.carter@nih.gov). Fax responses will not be accepted.
Interested parties may identify in writing their interest and capability in response to this requirement. Responses to this notice shall contain sufficient information to establish the interested parties’ bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the requirement and include: unit price, list price, shipping and handling costs, the delivery period after contract award, the prompt payment discount terms, the F.O.B. Point (Destination or Origin), the Dun & Bradstreet Number (DUNS), the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and the certification of business size. All offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov.
All responses must be received by closing date and must reference the announcement. Responses may be submitted electronically to the attention of the contract specialist. Fax responses will not be accepted.
All responsible sources may submit a bid, proposal, or quotation which shall be considered by the agency.