This Sources Sought Notice (NLM-09-182-KDP) 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. 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 and/or HUBZone small businesses capable of serving the needs identified below. Background NLM has adopted the Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce (Partners) initiative as a major program focus in public health. The mission of the Partners is to help the public health workforce find and use information effectively to improve and protect the public's health. As the coordinating unit for the Partners, NLM is responsible for overseeing implementation of the Partners' Strategic Plan, designed to fulfill this mission. This plan calls for the Partners organizations to: • Organize and deliver public health resources so they are easier to find and use. • Identify and develop collaborative projects to meet the information needs of the public health workforce. • Increase the visibility of the partnership with librarians and the public health workforce. • Strengthen the collaboration among the Partners. Public health practitioners report not having sufficient access to the scientific literature to inform their practice. Public Health Partners Steering Committee members have suggested that increasing open access to the public health literature will eliminate one of the barriers to public health practitioners' usage of the literature. Several of the Partners' organizations publish journals for which little of the current content is open access. Major funders of public health research such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have sponsored special issues of these journals; some being made open access and some not. Objectives The Contractor shall: 1) develop criteria for selecting potential open access articles and controls and make them available as open access; 2) get baseline data for the final selected articles before they go open access; 3) get and analyze statistics for experimental and control articles after 30 days of open access; 5) develop promotional materials and promote the open access articles through Partners' channels; 6) obtain and analyze statistics for experimental and control articles after 30 days of advertised/promoted open access; and 7) write up results for presentation at Partners' steering committee meeting and submit article for publication in journal or medical librarian journal. Other tasks may be assigned to the Contractor if awarded by the Government. Anticipated Period of Performance The period of performance will be for one year from the date of award. Other Important Considerations Interested parties responding to this sources sought notice must be producers of peer-reviewed public health journal content and hold copyright to this content. The interested parties must be able to provide online open access to this content and have mechanisms for tracking online usage and compiling summary statistics. The interested parties must demonstrate satisfactory work for clients of comparable size and collection complexity to NLM and its Public Health Partners. The interested parties must demonstrate the ability to provide reports and work in web-based online full-text journal databases and must supply the names of 3 references. The proposed acquisition will be procured under FAR Part 12 in accordance with the policies and procedures under FAR 13-Simplified Acquisition Procedures. 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 Quotes (RFQ), nor is an RFQ available. Interested firms responding to this sources sought notice must adhere to the following: (a) Provide a capability statement demonstrating relevant experience, skills and ability to fulfill the Government's requirements 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 10 pages. (b) The capability statement must identify the responder's: small business type and size; 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 3:00pm eastern standard time on Tuesday, August 25, 2009 to Kimberly Pringle,
[email protected] . 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.