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FBO DAILY ISSUE OF JULY 10, 2005 FBO #1322
SOLICITATION NOTICE

R -- Auditing Services

Notice Date

7/8/2005
 

Notice Type

Solicitation Notice
 

NAICS

541211 — Offices of Certified Public Accountants
 

Contracting Office

Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Research Contracts Br., 6120 Executive Blvd. EPS Suite 600, Rockville, MD, 20852
 

ZIP Code

20852
 

Solicitation Number

RFQ-NCI-50074-NG
 

Response Due

8/8/2005
 

Archive Date

8/23/2005
 

Point of Contact

Malinda Holdcraft, Contract Specialist, Phone (301) 402-4509, Fax (301) 402-4513, - Renita Smith, Contract Specialist, Phone 301-496-8612, Fax 301-480-0241,
 

E-Mail Address

holdcram@exchange.nih.gov, rs442i@nih.gov
 

Description

The National Cancer Institute requires the following auditing/licensing services deliverables. This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items, prepared in accordance with format in FAR Part 12 as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. The acquisition will be made pursuant to the authority in FAR 13.5 to use simplified procedures for commercial items. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation and a separate written solicitation will not be issued. The solicitation number RFQ-NCI-50074-NG, includes all applicable provisions and clauses in effect through FAR FAC 2005-04 (6/05). The North American Industry Classification Code is 541211 and the business size standard is $7M. Background: Pursuant to the Federal Technology Transfer Act (FTTA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has a significant program in patenting and licensing inventions with commercial potential. The NIH Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) currently handles patent prosecution and licensing for the NIH and Food and Drug Administration (FDA). OTT enters into approximately 150-200 new licenses each year. Our active license load currently consists of approximately 1,200 royalty-generating licenses. The OTT has been delegated authority to grant licenses of Public Health Service owned technology (including the technologies of the NIH and FDA) and 37 CFR 404.4 establishes that federally owned technologies shall be made available for licensing as deemed appropriate in the public interest. In order to foster technology development and maintain the integrity of licenses and patents derived through technology transfer, OTT must maintain effective license monitoring procedures. This is accomplished by monitoring activities in each license through developmental stages, the review of audits required under OTT licenses, and through special reviews conducted by contractors when certain concerns arise. As part of the PHS license agreement, licensees are required to submit semi-annual or annual progress reports, which document the licensee’s progress with respect to the benchmarks. The licensing specialist reviews the reports and determines whether or not the licensee is in compliance with the terms of the executed license agreement(s). When sales are involved, the licensee must submit reports on annual sales along with payment in accordance with the terms of the individual agreements. The licensing specialists, to ensure that the amounts are in compliance with the terms of the license, review those reports. In instances where product sales are in excess of $2 million annually, the terms of most agreements provide for the conducting of audits to ensure reliability of sales figures and royalties paid to the NIH. Contractor Requirements: Contractor shall provide services from a royalty auditing firm for reviews of licensee sales and financial records in order to determine if OTT has received proper royalty payment for use of NIH technologies. In addition, the Contractor shall help ensure that the licensee is in compliance with the terms of the license agreement. The Contractor shall conduct an audit of: License #: 271-2001/1, Licensee: Millennium Pharmaceuticals (Velcade). Product: Velcade, Patent #s: 6,699,835 and 6,713,446. The base audit shall cover the period from 01/01/03 through 12/31/04. Specifically, the Contractor shall test the gross sales figures for all areas where this product was sold and shall verify that Millennium Pharmaceuticals has accounted for all the licensed product sales. A detailed calculation of royalties owed specific to this license and in accordance with the subject license agreement shall be performed by the Contractor. Specifically, using appropriate accounting and auditing procedures, the Contractor shall conduct a limited audit that includes at least the following elements: 1. The Contractor shall conduct a financial compliance review as a preliminary preparation to the actual audit. This process shall include a thorough briefing with the Government project officer prior to initiating work; a contract and license review; thorough review of the royalty statements of all previous periods; analysis of the licensee’s payment history; an interview of the licensee to determine the type of accounting system and data availability; preparation and mailing of audit confirmation letters to the licensee; and compliance review program formulation, 2. Based on the information accumulated under the compliance review preparation, the contractor shall conduct an on and off-site compliance review; 3.Upon completion of the actual audit (within three to four work days), the Contractor shall conduct an exit interview with the licensee to present the findings and to provide the licensee an opportunity to explain and/or correct any deficiencies found during the review. In addition, a written, post-review report shall be prepared and delivered to the project officer on the final date of the period of performance with a debriefing of the findings. The debriefing and written report shall contain all relevant raw data, auditing procedures, findings, analyses of reported findings, and conclusions; at a minimum; the report shall address the following highlights: 3.1 Comparison of data submitted with the licensee’s own internal records; 3.2 Comparison of licensee inventory with reported production of licensed product; 3.3 Comparison of licensee shipping and receiving records; 3.4 Determination of methods used and analysis of licensee calculations of royalties for each licensed product; 3.5 Determination of the methods used and analysis of licensee’s input of sales data for each licensed product; 3.6 Comparison of location of licensee’s sales force with location of reporting offices; 3.7 Analysis of periodic sales fluctuation over period relative to season or period of licensee’s fiscal year; 3.8 Analysis of currency valuation versus licensee’s sales reporting for sales in foreign currencies; 3.9 Comparison of sales volume of products which are complimentary to the licensee’s product for the same reporting period. Travel: The contractor shall travel to where the sales records are kept in order to conduct this audit. It is estimated that one trip is required for three FTEs. In addition, the Contractor shall only be reimbursed for reasonable travel costs that are allowable under Government travel regulations. In addition, the travel time of employees will not be reimbursed at their hourly pay rates under this contract. Records are located at Millennium Corporate Headquarters, 40 Landsdowne Street, Cambridge, MA 02139. All travel will be in compliance with the Federal Travel Regulations. In performing the statement of work herein, the Contractor shall provide 96 direct labor hours during the period of performance. The labor hours exclude vacation, sick leave, and holiday. Deliverables: On the final date of the period of performance, the Contractor shall deliver a report as described in the scope of work herein for the stated auditing period. The Contractor shall submit one computerized disk containing the final report and two hard copies to the Project Officer at the following address: To: Project Officer, NCI, Office of Technology Transfer, 6011 Executive Blvd, Suite 325, Rockville, MD 20852. The contractor shall produce upon completion a Final Report of the results of the audit on a computerized disc and a hard copy format due August 31, 2005 and sent to the above address. The report can be written in any format but, the file shall also be in .pdf format and sent with hard copy. Period of Performance: August 15, 2005 – October 30, 2005 Minimum Requirements: The contractor shall have a minimum of ten (10) years experience performing license royalty audits and compliance reviews over a broad range of biomedical technology companies. ACCESS TO NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH) ELECTRONIC MAIL: All Contractor staff that have access to and use of NIH electronic mail (e-mail) must identify themselves as contractors on all outgoing e-mail messages, including those that are sent in reply or are forwarded to another user. To best comply with this requirement, the contractor staff shall set up an e-mail signature ("AutoSignature") or an electronic business card ("V-card") on each contractor employee's computer system and/or Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) that will automatically display "Contractor" in the signature area of all e-mails sent. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION TO QUOTERS: BASIS FOR AWARD: Award will be made, subject to available funding and quoter responsibility, to that acceptable quote, the price or cost of which is not necessarily the lowest, but which is sufficiently more advantageous to the Government than the lowest offer so as to justify the payment of additional amounts, based on the evaluation criteria described in this section. FORMAT AND INFORMATION FOR SUBMITTING A QUOTE: Please submit one (1) original plus one (1) copy of entire quotation. Please submit proposals in the following: TWO SEPARATELY BOUND VOLUMES: VOLUME 1: CONTRACT AND PRICING DOCUMENTS: - Signed 1449 (page 1, blocks 30a, 30b and 30c) and other pricing information. - Signed amendments (if applicable) - Representations and Certifications (Contractors must be registered in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) and the Online Representations and Certifications Applications (ORCA) in order to receive an award) VOLUME 2: TECHNICAL INFORMATION (70 Points): This section shall describe technical information that the offerors provides. The technical proposal should clearly and fully demonstrate the offeror's capabilities, knowledge and experience regarding the technical requirements described below. Failure to respond explicitly to each of the categories and subcategories listed below may result in the offeror's quotation being deemed technically unacceptable. Volume 2 shall include the following two subparts: 1. Technical Capability: 1. Understanding internal billing procedures, including assignment and management. 2. Methodology used during the initial evaluation and in determining if further investigation is necessary. 3. Assurance that no conflict of interest persist and that such conflicts are avoided throughout performance of the requirement. 2. Personnel: 1. Qualification of proposed staff. 2. Suitability and adequacy of each auditor (provide names, telephone numbers and contact persons for each auditor as well as other supporting documentation) proposed with regard to education, training, and years of experience in conducting royalty audits. 3. Availability of proposed personnel for assignment to this project. PAST PERFORMANCE (30 Points): This volume shall demonstrate the contractor’s background and experience of the organization in performing similar services. 1. Experience in conducting previous royalty reviews to ensure compliance with licenses. 2. Administrative support of such auditing. 3. Assurance that no corporate conflict of interest existed. The Evaluation Process: The government will award a contract resulting from this quotation to the responsible contractor whose quote conforming to the quotation will be the most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following evaluation factors shall be used to evaluate the prospective contractors. 1. Technical Capability (Subfactors) a. Technical Capability b. Personnel 2. Past Performance 3. Price (Price will be evaluated separately but will not be scored.) Of the three (3) technical evaluation factors listed above, factor one (1), Technical Capability, is considered to be more important than factors two (2) and three (3), Past Performance and Price. PROVISIONS AND CLAUSES: The following FAR provisions and clauses apply to this acquisition: FAR 52.212-1, INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS-COMMERCIAL ITEMS FOR SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION; FAR 52.212-3 OFFEROR REPRESENTATIONS AND CERTIFICATIONS -- COMMERCIAL ITEMS; FAR 52.212-4, CONTRACT TERMS AND CONDITIONS REQUIRED TO IMPLEMENT STATUTES, OR EXECUTIVE ORDERS-COMMERCIAL ITEMS-FOR SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION. The following FAR clauses cited in paragraph (b) of the clause at FAR 52.212-5 are also applicable to this acquisition; 52.217-8 Option to Extend Services; FAR 52.222-26; EQUAL OPPORTUNITY; FAR 52.222.35, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION FOR DISABLED VETERANS AND VETERANS OF THE VIETNAM ERA; FAR 52.222-36, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION FOR WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES; FAR 52.222-37, EMPLOYMENT REPORTS ON DISABLED VETERANS AND VETERANS OF VIETNAM ERA; FAR 52.225-3, BUY AMERICAN ACT SUPPLIES; AND 52.232-34, PAYMENT BY ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER-OTHER THAN CENTRAL CONTRACTING REGISTRATIONS. Full text copies of the FAR Terms and Conditions and other cited provisions may be obtained on line at the NCI website at http://amb.nci.nih.gov or from Malinda Holdcraft, Contract Specialist at holdcram@exchange.nih.gov or (301) 402-4509. Please note: All contractors must be registered in the Online Representations and Certifications Applications (ORCA) in order to receive an award. Please refer to http://orca.bpn.gov in order to register. Also, in addition, contractors must be registered in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) www.ccr.gov. OFFERS: As stated above under the BASIS FOR AWARD, Offers must be submitted on an SF-1449. Please provide a copy of the contractor ORCA validation/registration when submitting your offer. Offers/Quotations must be received in the contracting office on or before 1:00 PM (Washington, DC, local time) on August 8, 2005. Please refer to the solicitation number RFQ-NCI-50074-NG on all correspondence. NOTE: THIS NOTICE WAS NOT POSTED TO WWW.FEDBIZOPPS.GOV ON THE DATE INDICATED IN THE NOTICE ITSELF (08-JUL-2005); HOWEVER, IT DID APPEAR IN THE FEDBIZOPPS FTP FEED ON THIS DATE. PLEASE CONTACT fbo.support@gsa.gov REGARDING THIS ISSUE.
 

Web Link

Link to FedBizOpps document.
(http://www.eps.gov/spg/HHS/NIH/RCB/RFQ-NCI-50074-NG/listing.html)
 

Place of Performance

Address: Cambridge MA.

Zip Code: 02139

Country: USA
 

Record

SN00844032-F 20050710/050708212006 (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)

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