SPECIAL NOTICE
R -- ARS SCIENCE COMPUTING CAPABILITIES
- Notice Date
- 8/21/2013
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 541519
— Other Computer Related Services
- Contracting Office
- Agricultural Research Service - National Capital Region Business Service Center
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- AG32SBS13TH006
- Archive Date
- 9/15/2013
- Point of Contact
- Travis Heller,
- E-Mail Address
-
travis.heller@ars.usda.gov
(travis.heller@ars.usda.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- Total Small Business
- Description
- The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), in Beltsville, MD, intends to negotiate on a sole source basis under the Simplified Acquisition Procedures with BioTeam, Inc., 7 Derosler Drive, Middleton, MA 01949, for assessing the agency's current state of ARS-wide computing capabilities. The contractor shall provide an overall documented assessment of the current state of ARS-wide computing capabilities at selected agency locations. The contractor will be visiting these sites either physically or via video conference to understand the needs of ARS scientists and resources currently available to ARS. The contractor will report on the limitations, constraints and barriers to maximize and enhance scientific productivity within the agency. The results of findings will be utilized to determine how improved computing capabilities can support ARS research in a strategic manner ARS wide. The scope of locations to be visited or contacted by phone will be specific to those that: use substantial computing or data storage resources; generate or assemble large datasets; or require significant resource enhancements. ARS will provide a list of select sites that reflect the above requirements. The contractor shall contact the supervisor of the selected locations and identify 2-5 staff members for each management unit representing diverse disciplines and responsibilities (e.g., scientists, technicians, IT staff) and to interview at least two of those staff members identified for each management unit. Prior to interviews, a brief description of the purposes of the meeting and example questions will be provided. This task requires user and system administrator interviews and surveys, historical documents, current data usage and benchmarks, and industry best practices documentation. The vendor under contract for this task may use additional tools and techniques as required. The circumstance permitting other than full and open competition is FAR 6.302-1 and 41 USC 253(c)(1), only one responsible source and no other type of supplies or source will meet agency needs. The primary reason for this contractor is the unique ability to combine strong scientific expertise with advanced information technology skills. The company is unique in employing staff who maintain industry-acknowledged expertise across multiple scientific and applied-IT domains. Other vendors can provide subject matter experts in singular areas but can rarely provide experts with knowledge spanning both the scientific and information technology domains. BioTeam Inc. is a strictly independent consulting practice devoted to applying high performance computing (HPC) methods and technologies to life science informatics research. The company is unique for several reasons: -Complete vendor independence and neutrality, the company does not sell or resell IT systems or hardware and earns no income on product referrals or vendor recommendations. -The company is unique in its ability to "bridge the gap" between science & information technology at all levels. -The company operates a well-regarded consulting practice strictly devoted to the intersection of life science research and applied information technology. -Consulting staff have strong scientific backgrounds, years of experience in demanding production IT environments and industry-wide reputation for competence and ability. BioTeam expertise includes the ability to perform: -Objective informatics needs assessment and analysis. -Application optimization and parallelization for high-performance and high-throughput production processing. -Customized and vendor-neutral IT infrastructure design & planning. -Distributed Resource Manager (DRM) Configuration and deployment. -Custom training delivered to diverse groups including end-user scientific researchers and IT systems administrators and operators. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 541519, with a small business size standard of $25.0 million, is applicable. This is a lowest price, technically acceptable procurement. Anticipated Date of Award: 09/20/2013 THIS NOTICE OF INTENT IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS. This notice is for informational purposes only and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government. Vendors that believe they can provide the services listed above are invited to submit substantiating documentation in writing to the identified point of contact. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice. A determination by the Government to compete this proposed contract based on responses to this notice is solely at the discretion of the Government.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/ec0e6f728e94939335f2ff669904bf4e)
- Place of Performance
- Address: 5601 Sunnyside Avenue, Beltsville, Maryland, 20705, United States
- Zip Code: 20705
- Zip Code: 20705
- Record
- SN03157254-W 20130823/130821235834-ec0e6f728e94939335f2ff669904bf4e (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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