SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- NBS Support Services
- Notice Date
- 5/28/2010
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541611
— Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, 6707 Democracy Blvd., Suite 105, Bethesda, Maryland, 20894, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20894
- Solicitation Number
- NLM-10-126-RSH
- Archive Date
- 6/5/2010
- Point of Contact
- Raymond S Hawkins, Phone: 301-496-6546
- E-Mail Address
-
hawkinsra@mail.nih.gov
(hawkinsra@mail.nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- This is a sources sought notification for commercial services prepared in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), Part 10, utilizing FAR 13, Simplified Acquisition Procedures. 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. This is a Small Business Sources Sought Notice. 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. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 541611 - Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services. It is the intent of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), to procure operations and management support services to support resolution of NBS accounting and budget issues that may negatively impact the NIH NBS funds control implementation on behalf of the National Institutes of Health. Title: NBS Support Services BACKGROUND More than a decade ago, National Institutes of Health (NIH) was one of the first Federal agencies to consider the use of commercial enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to support Federal financial management. At the time, NIH realized that it needed to retire its then decades-old Core Accounting System (CAS) and the Administrative Database (ADB), for inventory, procurement, property management, travel, human resources and central accounting. In spite of the systems' ability to handle transactions at NIH, the systems were becoming obsolete and had to be replaced. In 1999, NIH began developing the business case for the Oracle-based system that is now the NIH Business Systems or NBS. After significant planning efforts and securing funding for the project, NBS implementation began, module by module. The system now provides tremendous capability and functionality to serve the needs of its customers in the NIH Office of the Director (OD) and across its 27 Institutes and Centers (ICs). Although NBS now serves as the system of record for the many transactions produced at NIH each day, vision for the system has yet to be fully achieved. Enhancements to the system, its environment and the financial management practices in use at NIH require renewed efforts to develop the world class management capabilities needed to support the world's leading medical research institution. At present, legacy systems are still in use and must be retired to eliminate redundancies, minimize costs and improve financial management and internal control. Other systems within NIH and at the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) have yet to have their financial transaction integrated with NBS. For example, the agency's electronic Research Administration (eRA) Information for Management, Planning, Analysis and Coordination (IMPAC II) system, which processes 55,000 grant funding transactions each year, is operated by the Office of Extramural Research (OER). Failure to integrate financial aspects of this the system with NBS perpetuates weaknesses in financial controls for the nearly $25 billion in grants payments made each year. The addition of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding - nearly $10.5 billion at NIH - has significantly increased the amount of grant funding, the number of grant payments processed and the risk associated with having a grants management system that does not have its financial transactions directly integrated with NBS. Enhancements to the system, its environment and the financial management practices in use at NIH require renewed efforts to develop the world class management capabilities needed to support the world's leading medical research institution. These enhancements are now planned as a series of projects collectively known as the NIH Healthier Financial Management Initiatives (HFMI). Recently, several driving factors have converged on the NBS Program, which together call on the NBS Program Office to pragmatically consider a number of major financial management initiatives: Audit findings have noted that the NIH continues to operate NBS without systemic funds checking enabled. Thus, the NBS Program must implement funds checking to prevent Anti-Deficiency Act violations, comply with emerging OMB and treasury requirements and ensure audit compliance. Congress has required NIH to institute reprogramming controls at the sub-mechanism level. The 2010 Congressional appropriation defined funds control/funds management requirements for NIH. The language requires funds control at the sub-mechanism level, which is a component of the NBS Account Code Structure (ACS) that is not fully enabled for NIH in that the sub-mechanism values have not been fully created or used consistently in account combinations. NIH is currently in conversation with the Appropriations Committee to set the time line for achieving business process and accounting system reprogramming controls. The efforts in this current project will consider this evolving situation and ensure that decisions in system development advance (or at a minimum do not hinder) NIH's capability to implement Congressionally directed controls. Under combined resources from the 2009 economic stimulus funding (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) and the annual appropriations provided for NBS activities, NIH determined that enhancing the integration of its independent grant and accounting enterprise systems could address these driving factors and significantly improve enterprise operations and support national goals of greater governmental transparency. This improvement effort consists of a group of interrelated projects referred to as the NIH Healthier Financial Management Integration (HFMI). HFMI consists of the following projects. o Funds Control - Implement funds management functionality to achieve Anti-deficiency Act compliance) o MAS Retirement - Retire MAS/CAN Maintenance o Grants Integration - Integrate financial aspects of IMPACII-NBS o Strategies for implementing the Common Government-wide Accounting Classification (CGAC) o Integrate Payment Management System (PMS) with NBS o Implement Oracle Projects o Integrate Payroll-NBS The HFMI design, development and implementation was procured under a separate contract and is not part of this requirement. This effort is intended to resolve accounting and budget issues that could hamper the implementation of these initiatives. Specific Tasks Independently and not as an agent of the Government, the Contractor shall provide expert Information Technology Professional Services to the NIH Business System (NBS) Project for systems analysis, design, programming, conversion and implementation support. These services relate specifically to the analysis and resolution of existing NBS accounting issues identified in NIH Remedy Help Desk System that could negatively impact NIH ability to institute full systemic funds control to begin FY2011 and/or close/open the books for FY2010/2011. DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES TO BE PERFORMED The specific current tasks include assistance on the following: Assessment of the NIH Remedy Help Desk System tickets that are NBS accounting related to determine impacts on full systemic funds control implementation. For Remedy tickets that may negatively impact the full systemic funds control implementation; analyze, develop and implement appropriate accounting resolutions to eliminate or mitigate the accounting deficiencies. Assessment of the NIH Remedy Help Desk System tickets that are NBS Budget related to determine impacts on full systemic funds control implementation. For Remedy tickets that may negatively impact the full systemic funds control implementation or Oracle Federal Administration budget initialization activities; analyze, develop and implement appropriate resolutions to eliminate or mitigate the budget process identified deficiencies. Support the analysis, development and implementation of any new activities necessary to support the NBS Annual Close processes and procedures that are related to the implementation of HFMI. This includes participation in the NIH NBS annual close internal and external meetings. Conduct unit and integration testing of all identified tickets and follow normal NBS CR-MOP migration activities. The contractor shall follow all NBS Program Practices and Procedures in the execution of their tasks. REQUIREMENTS MANAGEMENT The contractor will provide program management, project control, and contract administration necessary to manage the contract process to ensure that cost, schedule and quality requirements are tracked, and communicated to the COTR and his Federal designee(s). The Contractor's Project Manager, or appropriate designee, will meet bi-weekly with the COTR and his Federal designee(s). In accordance with the NBS Risk Management Plan and the NBS Issue Management Plan, the Contractor will record any risks and issues identified and discussed in the meeting, the decisions rendered, and the action items for each meeting member to address within two (2) working days after each meeting. The Contractor will submit monthly written status reports. Each status report will provide the status of each task area that was worked on or was scheduled to be worked on during the reporting period. Each status report will document any problems encountered and how they were, or will be, resolved. Each report will document the Contractor's plans for the next reporting period, including expected accomplishments, anticipated problems, and mitigation strategies. Unless directed otherwise by the COTR and his Federal designee(s), the Contractor will prepare all documentation specified in this SOW in accordance with the NBS document standards. All documentation will be stored on the NBS Program's document management site. All materials developed will be Section 508 compliant, as applicable. Personnel The Contractor will provide personnel experienced and qualified to perform tasks in accordance with the SOW and in conjunction with the COTR and/or his Federal designee(s), and other contractors related to accomplishing this SOW. The Contractor will propose TWO (2) Personnel to support the tasks related to this SOW. The Contractor shall not substitute Key Personnel during the course of executing this requirement without prior permission from the COTR and his Federal designee(s). The following type of Subject Matter Experts (SME) is considered Key Personnel. These individuals include but are not limited to: Senior Enterprise Resource Planning Analyst The Government reserves the right to review resumes and interview potential staff to verify that potential staff has the skills, experience, and knowledge required for their proposed labor category. Government review of resumes and interviewing of potential staff does not in any way determine employment by the contractor or in no way will delay or hamper the contractor's written hiring policy. This award requires the contractor to develop or access Federal automated information systems; therefore, the contractor shall comply with the DHHS Information Security Program Policy (See Appendix B). The Contractor will complete an NBS Contract Employee Separation Checklist for each employee that leaves the contract during the period of performance of the award. The completed checklist will be provided to the NBS Administrative Officer in a sealed envelope within two (2) working days of the employee's departure. This document will be used to facilitate the NBS Off-Boarding process Period of Performance: It is anticipated that the period of performance for this requirement will be for approximately 60 days from the date of award. The award is anticipated to be made on July 1, 2010. Place of Performance: Primarily on-site at the following location - 6707 Democracy Blvd, 10TH Floor, Bethesda, MD 20817 Other Considerations: The proposed acquisition will be procured in accordance with the policies and procedures under FAR 13-Simplified Acquisition Procedures. All responsible sources may submit a capability statement which will be considered by the National Library of Medicine. This Sources Sought Notice is not a Request for Quotes (RFQ), nor is an RFQ available. Interested firms responding to this Sources Sought Notice must adhere to the following: (a) Provide a capability statement demonstrating relevant experience, skills and ability to fulfill the Government's requirements for the above. 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. (b) The capability statement must identify the responder's: small business type and size; DUNS number; NAICS code; and technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses. (c) All capability statements must be submitted electronically no later than 5:00pm eastern standard time on Friday, June 4, 2010 to Raymond Hawkins, hawkinsra@mail.nih.gov. 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). Any organization interested in responding to this sources sought notice must provide a statement of capabilities by e-mail and include your organizations business size by 5pm EST on Friday, June 4, 2010. Information may be requested from Raymond Hawkins at hawkinsra@mail.nih.gov. NO TELEPHONE REQUEST WILL BE ACCEPTED.
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