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FBO DAILY - FEDBIZOPPS ISSUE OF NOVEMBER 26, 2015 FBO #5116
DOCUMENT

B -- Design/Print/Mail/Scan survey services - Attachment

Notice Date

11/24/2015
 

Notice Type

Attachment
 

NAICS

541611 — Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services
 

Contracting Office

Department of Veterans Affairs;VA Boston Healthcare System;Contracting Officer (90C);940 Belmont Street;Brockton MA 02301
 

ZIP Code

02301
 

Solicitation Number

VA24116Q0092
 

Response Due

12/9/2015
 

Archive Date

2/7/2016
 

Point of Contact

Cheri Wicks (cheri.wicks@va.gov)
 

E-Mail Address

Contract Specialist's email
(cheri.wicks@va.gov)
 

Small Business Set-Aside

N/A
 

Description

Notice of Contract Action, notice of intent to award sole source contract. This is not a solicitation. The Department of Veterans Affairs Network Contracting Office 1 (NCO 1 New England) intends to negotiate and award a contract for survey design, printing, mailing, and scanning services to Ipsos Public Affairs, LLC. No solicitation will be posted to this site. Interested persons may contact (via email) the Contract Specialist regarding this procurement and may identify capabilities for services of this kind. Contract Specialist: Cheri Wicks, cheri.wicks@va.gov. A decision not to compete this requirement is based upon this notice and the Limited Source Justification posted to this site. See below. Service Disabled and Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB and VOSB) contracting with VA are be registered and certified in VetBiz if seeking consideration under PL 109-461 (www.vetbiz.gov - Vendor Information Pages - VIP) All contractors are required to be registered in the System for Award Management (www.sam.gov). Consult your State Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) for technical assistance with these requirements. (http://www.dla.mil/db/procurem.htm). This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple Award Schedule Program. The material or service listed in par. 3 below is sole source, therefore, consideration of the number of contractors required by FAR Subpart 8.4 - Federal Supply Schedules, is precluded for the reasons indicated below. Restricted to the following source: Provide original manufacturer's name for material or contractor's name for service. (If a sole source manufacturer distributes via dealers, ALSO provide dealer information.) Manufacturer/Contractor: Ipsos Public Affairs, LLC Manufacturer/Contractor POC & phone number: Jan F. Hodes 678.896.3729 Mfgr/Contractor Address: 2020 K St NW STE 410, Washington, DC 20006 Dealer/Rep address/phone number: 0 The requested material or service represents the minimum requirements of the Government. (1) AGENCY AND CONTRACTING ACTIVITY:Department of Veterans Affairs VA Boston Healthcare System ________ Contracting Officer (90C) ___________ 940 Belmont Street Brockton, MA 02301 VISN:1 (2) NATURE AND/OR DESCRIPTION OF ACTION BEING APPROVED: Request limited source approval to award a follow-on contract to the expiring BPA No. VA241-BP-0228. This BPA was originally awarded under full and open competition. Original BPA was for five (5) years; the last year is July 29, 2015 through July 28, 2016. The government wishes to maintain continuity developed under the existing contract with Ipsos Public Affairs, LLC for an additional three (3) years. A follow-on contract is the logical course of action because it will maintain the current work flow for this vitally important work. The current contract supports the VA's Million Veteran Program (MVP), an important initiative to the advancement of precision medicine. MVP is a part of the President's Precision Medicine Initiative, a research effort to revolutionize how we improve health and treat disease. Launched with a $215 million investment in the President's 2016 Budget, the Precision Medicine Initiative aims to pioneer a new model of patient-powered research that promises to accelerate biomedical discoveries and provide clinicians with new tools, knowledge, and therapies to select which treatments will work best for which patients. The MVP provides unique insight into Veteran specific issues such as PTSD and Gulf War illness, as well as a well-characterized cohort to examine issues affecting all Americans. With the aim to obtain complete health information and conduct DNA analysis on specimens from at least one million Veterans, MVP will provide researchers a resource to better understand genetic variations within disease and health and to develop better treatments and preventative measures. Currently there are over 425,000 blood samples that have been collected at over 50 sites across the US. This is an on-going effort and changing vendors at this point would cause catastrophic delays and loss of project momentum. (3)(a)A DESCRIPTION OF THE SUPPLIES OR SERVICES REQUIRED TO MEET THE AGENCY'S NEED: This follow-on contract will provide the necessary continued support and resources to design and develop survey booklets, letters and other printed materials, mail such materials, track responses and returned mailings, and facilitate primary data collection for the Million Veteran Program. Vendor possess specialized knowledge, experience, and demonstrated success in survey design, execution, data collection, and response tracking. Vendor maintains highest quality of demonstrated technical approach. Vendor has established a team of the highest quality of key personnel. Vendor has been provided with personal information and access to Protected Health Information (PHI) and has maintained the security of this information over the course of the original contract. (b)ESTIMATED DOLLAR VALUE: $17,000,000 (c)REQUIRED DELIVERY DATE: July 29, 2016 (4)IDENTIFICATION OF THE JUSTIFICATION RATIONALE (SEE FAR 8.405-6), AND IF APPLICABLE, A DEMONSTRATION OF THE PROPOSED CONTRACTOR'S UNIQUE QUALIFICATIONS TO PROVIDE THE REQUIRED SUPPLY OR SERVICE. (CHECK ALL THAT APPLY AND COMPLETE) 0Specific characteristics of the material or service that limit the availability to a sole source (unique features, function of the item, etc.). Describe in detail why only this suggested source can furnish the requirements to the exclusion of other sources. 0A patent, copyright or proprietary data limits competition. The proprietary data is: (If FAR 8.405-6(a)(2)iii before posting. Do not include specific proprietary data. Only mention the type of equipment, procedure, etc. to show that proprietary supplies or services are being procured.) 0These are "direct replacements" parts/components for existing equipment. ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ 0The material/service must be compatible in all aspects (form, fit and function) with existing systems presently installed/performing. Describe the equipment/function you have now and how the new item/service must coordinate, connect, or interface with the existing system. 1The new work is a logical follow-on to an original Federal Supply Schedule order provided that the original order was placed in accordance with the applicable Federal Supply Schedule ordering procedures. The original order must not have been previously issued under sole source or limited source procedures. Original order was placed in accordance with the applicable Federal Supply Schedule ordering procedures and was not previously issued under sole source or limited source procedures. The RFQ was posted on GSA e-Buy on March 8, 2011, with a response date of March 22, 2011. There were 2 responses. The source selection evaluation panel selected Ipsos (the current vendor) due to their superior grasp of the overall project and their more efficient process for maintaining contact with the project team. 0An urgent and compelling need exists, and following the ordering procedures would result in unacceptable delays. (5) DESCRIBE WHY YOU BELIEVE THE ORDER REPRESENTS THE BEST VALUE CONSISTENT WITH FAR 8.4 TO AID THE CONTRACTING OFFICER IN MAKING THIS BEST VALUE DETERMINATION: The current vendor required approximately 6 months of ramp-up time prior to executing any of the required print/mail/scan tasks in year one (1). Associated costs incurred were considerable and included: Project Planning - $35,733 Field Control Processes - $69,163 Questionnaire Instruction and Development - $42,532 Project Management - $50,864 Project Development - $113,264 Data Cleaning - $28,437 Sample Management/Processing - $39,304 Computer Programming - $62,575 Combined, these start-up costs totaled $441,872 and represent potential savings in both time and cost by pursuing a follow-on contract. Importantly, while Ipsos was incurring these costs, VA personnel were working to get data security issues, data access, and other ramp-up issues resolved. This is valuable time that would have to be duplicated if another vendor were awarded a contract, and the intra-VA costs involved would be substantial. Due to the high visibility of the Million Veteran Program, it is critical the current work-flow continue uninterrupted and momentum maintained Any delays in mailing recruitment packets, appointment information, and other critical information to potential participants, will result in a significant decline in the current enrollment of approximately 100,000 Veterans per year. This would negatively impact the goals of the White House and the Precision Medicine Initiative, as well as the availability of information to our Veterans. In addition, the technical integration required between the GenISIS Study Management System and the Ipsos informatics took a significant amount of time and effort at the onset of the contract. Each mailing type, of which there are over 10, requires approximately 2-3 months to develop and test prior to implementation. If integration is needed with a new contractor, a timeline of at least one year would be needed to fully implement all mailings. In the interest of improving the continuum of care for Veterans, it is critical this project continue unimpeded and the current momentum continue to gain rather than be stalled. As the leading component of the Precision Medicine Initiative, any delay or decline in recruitment would put the program at risk, and would eventually prove very costly. FAR 8.405-6 allows that economy and efficiency are circumstances that justify limiting the source. (6) DESCRIBE THE MARKET RESEARCH CONDUCTED AMONG SCHEDULE HOLDERS AND THE RESULTS OR A STATEMENT OF THE REASON MARKET RESEARCH WAS NOT CONDUCTED: Print/mail/scan services are readily available on GSA and the original award was competed. Lack of vendors is not the reason for requesting a limited source, but rather economy and efficiency. (7) ANY OTHER FACTS SUPPORTING THE JUSTIFICATION: The Million Veteran Program has high visibility as part of the President's Precision Medicine Initiative and is an important program to support the advancement of healthcare for our Nations' Veterans. Using the combination of medical records, genetic information, and detailed health and lifestyle questionnaires, researchers can start to unravel questions about schizophrenia, PTSD, cardiovascular disease, and other ailments both unique to Veterans and those that affect all Americans and beyond. Any delays in mailing recruitment packets, appointment information, and other critical information to potential participants, will result in a significant decline in the current enrollment of approximately 100,000 Veterans per year. This would negatively impact the goals of the White House and the Precision Medicine Initiative, as well as the availability of information to our Veterans. In addition, the technical integration required between the GenISIS Study Management System and the Ipsos informatics took a significant amount of time and effort at the onset of the contract. Each mailing type, of which there are over 10, requires approximately 2-3 months to develop and test prior to implementation. If integration is needed with a new contractor, a timeline of at least one year would be needed to fully implement all mailings. In the interest of improving the continuum of care for Veterans, it is critical this project continue unimpeded and the current momentum continue to gain rather than be stalled. As the leading component of the Precision Medicine Initiative, any delay or decline in recruitment would put the entire program at risk. 8) A STATEMENT OF THE ACTIONS, IF ANY, THE AGENCY MAY TAKE TO REMOVE OR OVERCOME ANY BARRIERS THAT LED TO THE RESTRICTED CONSIDERATION BEFORE ANY SUBSEQUENT ACQUISITION FOR THE SUPPLIES OR SERVICES IS MADE: There are no actions to be taken to remove or overcome barriers to competition. The original contract was competitively awarded. Vendor proposals were evaluated against fair criteria and Ipsos won the competition. Over the last 4 years, the early promise and expertise demonstrated in their proposal has come to fruition and the contract has produced quality results. Inexcusable delays could be caused if this work were awarded to another vendor. It is in the interest of economy and efficiency that this request for a follow-on contract is made.
 

Web Link

FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/VA/BoVAMC/VAMCCO80220/VA24116Q0092/listing.html)
 

Document(s)

Attachment
 

File Name: VA241-16-Q-0092 VA241-16-Q-0092.docx (https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=2433703&FileName=VA241-16-Q-0092-000.docx)

Link: https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=2433703&FileName=VA241-16-Q-0092-000.docx

 

Note: If links are broken, refer to Point of Contact above or contact the FBO Help Desk at 877-472-3779.
 

Record

SN03954276-W 20151126/151124234946-a682283c5468f09c2c354c94ba32a6cc (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

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

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