SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- African Journal Partnership Project (AJPP) - Draft SOW
- Notice Date
- 8/13/2013
- 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
- NIHLM2013845SRE
- Archive Date
- 9/4/2013
- Point of Contact
- Sheila R. Edmonds, Phone: 3014966546
- E-Mail Address
-
sheila.edmonds@nih.gov
(sheila.edmonds@nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Draft AJPP SOW 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. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP). NO SOLICITATION EXISTS AT THIS TIME. 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. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code is 541611-Administrative Management and General Consulting Services with a small business size standard of $14.0 million. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Library of Medicine (NLM) is conducting a Market Survey to help determine the availability and technical capability of qualified small businesses, veteran-owned small businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses and/or HUBZone small businesses capable of serving the needs identified below: Background Information The National Library of Medicine (NLM) has been a significant contributor in international health information activities for at least half a century. In recent years, NLM has supported intensive capacity-building projects focused on selected developing countries. In 2004 a partnership was established as a pilot project for the purpose of improving the quality of African medical journals. Known as the African Medical Journal Partnership (AJPP), this capacity-building, was initiated by NLM, the Fogarty International Center, and the following journal partners: African Health Sciences (AHS - Uganda) with the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Ghana Medical Journal (GMJ) with the Lancet Malawi Medical Journal (MMJ) with the Journal of the American Medical Association Mali Medical (MM) with Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) The initial pilot project, administered by the Council of Science Editors (CSE), an international non-profit, membership organization dedicated to promoting excellence in the communication of scientific information, was conducted from 2004 to 2007 and expanded in 2008 to include two (2) new partnerships: Ethiopian Journal of Health Sciences (EJHS) with Annals of Internal Medicine Medical Journal of Zambia (MJZ) with New England Journal of Medicine Since the program's inception, the four (4) original journals have been accepted into MEDLINE and PubMed. EJHS was also recently accepted into MEDLINE. Its inclusion in PubMed Central is pending. OVID Technologies, a journal aggregator and online database provider, has agreed to distribute all six journals, further expanding access to these journals. Additional accomplishments include: oMore efficient journal processing times and overall journal management due to technical enhancements such as new equipment and software provided to the journals oDramatically increased submission rates and decreased acceptance rates, indicating greater selectivity. oRegular, African editor-initiated, basic and advanced training workshops for authors and reviewers In 2013, two (2) new African journals were recruited into existing partnerships: Annales Africaines de Médecine (Democratic Republic of Congo) was paired with the MM and EHP Sierra Leone Journal of Biomedical Research was paired with AHS and BMJ partnership Period of Performance The anticipated period of performance shall be a 12-month base period with (4) additional 12-month optional years. The proposed contract type will be firm fixed price. Purpose and Objectives of the Procurement The purpose of this project is to continue efforts to strengthen sub-Saharan African medical journal capacity, and to promote dissemination of research findings in scientific publications. NLM's commitment to African journal capacity building is reflected in Recommendation 2.2 of its Long Range Plan 2006-2016. Recommendation 2.2. Work selectively in developing countries that represent special outreach opportunities, such as improving access to electronic information resources, enhancing local journal publications of high quality, and developing a trained librarian and IT workforce. Continued effort is required to improve and maintain the gains achieved to date and using the Network of African Medical Librarians (NAML) and other sources to provide further training for editors in the areas of information literacy, statistics, data presentation, data interpretation, manuscript preparation, ethics in research and publication, developing business plans for editors, use of ClinicalTrials.gov; to provide updated computer hardware and software to journal editors; to survey journal activity with readers, authors, and reviewers; and to expand the number of journals as feasible. Additional efforts will also be required to develop new business models and to cultivate innovative methods, such as social networking, to disseminate scientific information to doctors, students, healthcare workers, researchers, and policy makers. The Center for Global Health Studies at the Fogarty International Center will support a 10th anniversary retrospective review and a forward-looking visioning process, which will identify overall achievements to date, lessons learned, and future strategic challenges and priorities. Contractor Requirements Independently, and not as an agent of the Government, the Contractor shall furnish all necessary labor, materials, supplies, equipment, and services needed to complete this project. All work performed under this procurement shall be monitored by the Contracting Officer's Representative (COR). The Contractor shall serve as the administrative body for this Project under the direction of two (2) Project Directors approved by the NLM COR. Contractor Tasks The Contractor shall perform the following tasks: 1.Facilitate updating of technical equipment and state-of-the-art editing, tracking, and related software 2.Arrange for training of African journal editors, authors, and reviewers including overseeing the organization, coordination, and management of partnership training sessions and the annual operational meeting, administer the project, evaluate partnership progress, plan future activities, participate in the Center for Global Health Studies' 10th Anniversary Review as needed, and assist in implementation of resulting recommendations as feasible and relevant. 3.Seek and promote appropriate collaborative activities to strengthen and expand the project. 4.Identify candidate journals and facilitate their inclusion into AJPP For new African medical journal partners, the Contractor shall perform the following tasks: (1)Identify equipment, office and infrastructure needs for the new journals editors (2)Identify editorial needs (3)Provide computer hardware and software to partner journal and initial training (4)Organize training on how to manage a journal (in English and French) to include: implementing an electronic submission system (e.g., Manuscript Central), establishing a plan for succession, For all eight (8) African medical journal partners, the Contractor shall perform the following tasks: (1)Provide training on improving business plans and developing strategic plans for effective, sustainable publishing operations, including the use of innovative digital distribution models and social media. (2)Plan and coordinate the annual, operational meeting to be held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Council of Scientific Editors (CSE) in San Antonio, TX. The two-day operational meeting should include all stake-holders in Africa and the US (budget to include travel and lodging expenses for 15 African attendees and the cost of a venue that holds approximately 30 people). African editors will receive free registration for the CSE meeting and training workshops. AJPP-sponsored training sessions can also be appended, if appropriate. (3)Develop novel science communication approaches (4)Facilitate internships at African medical journals' editorial offices to mentor and train the next generation of editors (5)Help identify reliable and cost effective internet providers to host journal websites (6)Support training on managing, improving, and maintaining journal websites to include handling XML formatted material for web posting and implementing the use of digital object identifiers (DOIs) (7)Provide financial support for managing editor/business manager (8)Provide NAML-supported training for authors, reviewers, and staff in the areas of information literacy, online information retrieval methods (including the use of NLM databases), and use of ClinicalTrials.gov (9)Provide financial support for training in statistics, data presentation, data interpretation, manuscript preparation, ethics in research and publication, (10)Explore and develop a role for NAML to advance the dissemination of information and evaluate its impact (11)Provide updated computer hardware and software to African journal publishing offices as well as advanced training to editorial office personnel (12)Periodically evaluate the success capacity building efforts (13)Participate in the Center for Global Health Studies' 10th Anniversary Review (14)Implement those recommendations generated by the review as relevant and feasible; e.g., recommendations that are not extraordinarily costly or labor intensive. (15)Plan and organize frequent meetings (face-to-face and virtual) between editors (16)Promote cross-fertilization between AJPP, NAML, and the Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI). (17)Seek opportunities for collaboration with other organizations as appropriate (18)Manage project logistics and budget (19)The contracted administrator will work closely with two (2) NLM COR approved volunteer "project directors": one an African editor and the other a US or UK editor. Together, they will: oCoordinate and implement tasks as listed above oPrepare a draft budget for the period, to be tracked over time against actual expenses oSend reports of actual vs. draft expenses and revenues to the Contractor the first business day of each month oCollect and reconcile monthly reports of paid invoices from the Contractor. Send quarterly progress reports to NLM oWork with NLM to ensure that sufficient funds are advanced to the contractor to cover upcoming expenses The scope of work of the Contractor will be to: oExecute payments as appropriate to support objectives of the Project and as requested by the NLM approved Project Directors oReceive and reconcile Partnership Expense Forms with receipts from Partner editors and send summaries to the NLM approved Project Directors oCreate and/or renew membership for each African journal editors in appropriate professional organizations, such as the Council of Scientific Editors oFacilitate African journal editors' registration for, and travel to, meetings and training sessions. oMaintain financial records of AJPP program oProvide monthly reports of paid invoices to the COR Optional Contractor Tasks Additionally, the NLM may have a need for the Contractor to perform the following tasks to monitor progress, expand the partnership, and foster a sustainable business model. Below is a detailed description of the optional activities for purposes of this SOW. Any Optional Tasks will be implemented by modification and approval by the Contracting Officer. Optional Task 1: The Contractor shall be responsible for program evaluation activities, in addition or supplementary to, the annual evaluation report and 10th anniversary visioning process. These program evaluation activities might include altmetrices and readership surveys to measure journal impact. Optional Task 2: The Contractor shall be responsible for the expansion of AJPP to other journal. Additional administrative and infrastructure development and maintenance costs may be associated with the expansion. These activities might include recruitment of additional journal editors, hiring additional personnel, renting office space, and buying IT services, computers, software, and office supplies. Government Responsibilities The COR will review and approve all plans (including new partnerships), reports, and deliverables required in the Statement of Work. Deliverables: Reporting Requirements The Contractor shall submit an Evaluation Report to the COR thirty (30) days after the conclusion of the base year and all option years highlighting major accomplishments and describing in detail the tasks completed at each journal site. The Contractor shall submit a Quarterly Report to the COR highlighting program accomplishments and details of training activities. This report shall be due thirty (30) days after the end of the reporting quarter and shall accompany the invoice. The Contractor shall invoice monthly. Proper invoices submitted will be paid in accordance with the terms and conditions of the resultant contract. The proposed acquisition will be procured in accordance with the policies and procedures under FAR Part 13.5. 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 Quote (RFQ), nor is a RFQ available. (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 ten (10) pages, excluding cover page, appendices, and resumes. (b) The capability statement should include references, key personnel, and any teaming arrangements needed to fulfill the requirements. It 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 2:00 PM EST on Tuesday, August 20, 2013 to Sheila Edmonds at sheila.edmonds@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).
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