Request for Information/Sources Sought Notice HHS-NIH-NIDA-SSSA-SBSS-17-303 Transportation Support Services for Participants in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) Contracting Office Address: Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Station Support Simplified Acquisitions, 31 Center Drive, Room 1B59, Bethesda, MD 20892, UNITED STATES. Introduction: This is a 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 large business and 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) large and small business 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. Background: Since 1994 the National Institute on Aging (NIA) Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) Neuroimaging Study has relied on transportation services to transport participants to and from the study site at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Transportation is provided for elderly participants who are unable to drive themselves either from their home or from the NIA BLSA facility located at the Medstar Harbor Hospital in Baltimore, to the Johns Hopkins Hospital PET Center in Baltimore Maryland. Purpose and Objectives for the Procurement: The purpose of this requirement is to procure transportation support services for National Institute on Aging (NIA) Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) participants. Transportation services shall be provided to and from the participant's home (or other identified location in the MD-DC-PA-VA area) to a designated location. Project Requirements: The Contractor shall provide the following transportation support services within the Baltimore- D.C. Metro region including the states of Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania: 1. Provide safe and courteous sedan transportation service to BLSA participants in a clean and well-maintained vehicle. 2. Accommodate participants using collapsable wheelchairs, if necessary. Contractor drivers shall lift wheel chairs in and out of the trunk for participants when necessary. 3. Drive participants to and from the study site located at Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) Outpatient Center (JHOC), 601 N. Caroline Street, Baltimore, MD 21287, as well as Medstar Harbor Hospital, 3001 South Hanover Street, Baltimore, MD 21225. 4. Sedan service shall be available for scheduling Monday through Friday between the hours of 7:00 AM EST and 7:00 PM EST. 5. The contractor shall provide the Government official with a cell phone number or other means of direct contact for reaching each driver providing transportation services. The contractor shall notify the Government of which drivers will be performing each pick up or drop off in advance of the service. 6. The contractor shall provide a valid email address and telephone number that the Government may use to communicate transportation requests to the contractor. Transportation requests shall be made via email or by phone followed by an email confirmation. The participant will be notified of the date and times of pick ups and drops offs. 7. The contractor shall acknowledge transportation requests by sending a confirmation email within four (4) business hours from time of request from the government official. The four business hour time frame shall be applicable Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM EST to 5:00 PM EST. 8. Approximately 35 participants shall require transportation support services within each contract period of performance. The contractor will be expected to pick up and/or deliver approximately 1 participant each week Monday through Friday between the hours of 7:00-a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 9. Please estimate that each participant will require a minimum of 3 hours for round trip service to and from their home or other designated location. One way trips may also be required within the same region with a minimum drive time of 1.5 hours. 10. The contractor shall not transport participants anywhere other than to and from the pick up and drop locations identified by the Government, unless approved in advance by the government official. 11. Location Specific Instructions: a. Home/Other Specified Location & Medstar Harbor Hospital Pick ups and drop offs: i. When picking up participants from their home or other specified location, the contractor shall be required to knock on the participant's front door and escort them to the vehicle, if neccesary. The participant will be told what time the driver is expected to arrive for transport to JHOC. ii. For pick ups at Harbor Medstar Hosptial, the contractor shall pick-up participants in person and escort them to the vehicle. Pick up shall be made in person from the BLSA Unit on the 5th floor of the Medstar Harbor Hospital in Baltimore, MD located at 3001 South Hanover Street, Baltimore, MD 21225. iii. Pick ups and drop offs at Medstar Harbor Hospital may require the driver to park in the visitor parking lot before retrieving/delivering them from the 5th floor BLSA suite. b. Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center (JHOC) Study Site drop offs and pick ups: ii. For Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) drop offs and pickups, the contractor will drop off and/or pick up the participant at the entrance to the JHH Outpatient Center (JHOC). Contractor parking will not be necessary for JHOC drop offs and pick ups. For JHOC pickups the government official will notify the driver 5 minutes before arriving at the JHOC entrance because cars are not permitted to wait for long periods of time at the entrance. iii. Participants must be picked up and dropped off at the JHOC study site entrance within no more than fifteen minutes before or after the planned time; it is critical for the BLSA study that participants arrive on schedule. The Contractor shall ensure that adequate travel time in all traffc conditions is allowed for timely pick-up and drop-off of participant. iv. Participants being dropped off at JHOC shall be instructed to wait inside the JHOC lobby if a government official is not present to meet them at the entrance at the time of drop off. In the event a Government official is not waiting to receive a participant or to escort him for pick up, the driver shall call the government point of contact to notify him or her that the participant has been dropped off or picked up at the JHOC entrance. The driver shall open the vehicle door for the parcticipant, and also assist them into the vehicle if necessary. v. The driver will not be required to wait for the participant at the JHOC study site from time of drop off until time of pick up. However, the contractor will typically be required to pick up the participant for the return trip home, or to another designated location, from JHOC on the same day at a designated time, as requested. Time between JHOC drop offs and picks ups are typically 3 hours or more. vi. After the participant's visit is over the government official will call the contractor approximately five minutes before a participant is ready to be picked up at the JHOC entrance. The Contractor shall provide the driver's phone number for the purposes of making these calls. The Contractor must arrive for the JHOC pick up within fifteen minutes from the pick up time requested during the pick up request call. Please note that vehicles are not permitted to sit or stand at the JHOC entrance; if a participant is not waiting at the door for the contractor, the contractor shall circle around the JHOC entrance and come back. Level of Effort: The anticipated level of effort is 140 hours of transportation support services annually. Government Responsibilities: The Government will submit email requests for services which include the name, address, and requested date and time of pick up and drop off for each participant. The contractor must ensure the confidentiality of all information provided. Requests for services shall typically be submitted to the contractor with 48 hours notice but may be submitted within 24 hours prior in some exceptional cases. Anticipated Contract Type: A firm fixed price purchase order is contemplated. Invoicing shall be on a NET30 basis and payment shall be made via Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). Period of Performance: The period of performance for this requirement shall be August 17, 2017 through August 16, 2018 plus four (4) subsequent one-year option periods. Capability Statement: Contractors that believe they possess the ability to provide the required taxi/sedan transportation services should submit documentation of their ability to meet each of the project requirements to the Contract Specialist. The capability statement should include 1) the total number of employees, 2) documentation of ability to provide the required services, 3) any contractor GSA Schedule contracts by which all of the requirements may be met, if applicable, and 4) any other information considered relevant to this program. Contractors must also provide their Company Name, DUNS number, Physical Address, and Point of Contact Information. Interested organizations are required to identify their type of business, applicable North American Industry Classification System Code, and size standards in accordance with the Small Business Administration. The government requests that no proprietary or confidential business data be submitted in a response to this notice. However, responses that indicate the information therein is proprietary will be properly safeguarded for Government use only. Capability statements must include the name and telephone number of a point of contact having authority and knowledge to discuss responses with Government representatives. Capability statements in response to this market survey that do not provide sufficient information for evaluation will be considered non-responsive. When submitting this information, please reference the solicitation notice number. All capability statements sent in response to this Sources Sought Notice must be submitted to Lauren Phelps, Contract Specialist, via email at
[email protected] before the closing date and time of this announcement. All responses must be received by the specified due date and time in order to be considered. Note: This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in the response. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your 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 review of the responses received, pre-solicitation and solicitation notices may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. The solicitation release date is pending. The Government anticipates negotiation of a fixed price purchase order.