Description
The Defense Health Agency (DHA) Professional Services Contracting Division (PS-CD) Falls Church VA intends to award a sole-source Simplified Acquisition Purchase Order to the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) under the procedures at FAR 13.103-1(b)(1), for the period of 29 September 2019 to 28 September 2023 to include a 12-month base period and 3 12-month Option periods in order for the Department of Defense (DoD) Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) for Health Readiness Policy and Oversight (HRP&O) to be a voting member of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Catatstrophic Events. This is a SAP PO to purchase the annual membership fee for four years from 29 September 2019 to 28 September 2023. A cost line item will be established to purchase this annual membership fee. This purchase order will enable DoD and DASD HRP&O to meet its mission in the areas of Mission Assurance and Medicine and Public Health Preparendness. Created by a Congressional Charter signed by President Lincoln in 1863, the Academy is a federally chartered non-profit instititution dedicated to the furtherance of science and its use for the general welfare. The Congressional Charter is codified at 36 U.S.C.A. 150301-150305. Although the Academy is a private non-profit corporation, it is called upon by the terms of its Congressional Charter to act as an official, yet indepent, advisor to the Federal Government in matters of science and technology. At the request of President Woodrow Wilson, the Academy organized the National Research Council in 1916 as the means by which it secures the active participation of world-renowned experts in universities, industries, and the government. Executive Order 2859, signed by President Wilson on may 11, 1918 and reaffirmed by President Dwight Eisenhower on May 10, 1956 recognized the importance and uniqueness of the Academy's National Research Council. As further evidence of this uniqueness, President George H.W. Bush signed Executive Order 12832 on January 19, 1993. The capacity of the Academy to play a unique role in advising the Federal Government stems from the net impact of three interrelated attributes: 1. To a degree unmatched elsewhere, the Academy can elicit the participation of virtually any scientist whom it invites to serve. As a consequence, there are at any one time some 800 committees, addressing an enormous diversity of problems, peopled by 8,000 unpaid volunteers. 2. The credibility of Academy Reports is maximized by the recognized impartiality of the instititution, which manufactures no product, posssesses no funds to disperse, has no power of decision over the scientific establishment, and enjoys no executive or regulatory authority. Thus, there is no vested interest in the outcome of deliberations and the independent advice is of unparalleled objectivity. 3. Finally, for those studies that involve sharply divergent and well-fixed points of view, the Academy has repeatedly been able to bring together about its conference tables assemblages of persons who have been conspicuously reluctant to address mutual issues, in an atmosphere of comparative calm. Committees are composed of the nation's top scientists, engineers and other experts, all of whom volunteer their time to study specific concerns. Nominees for membership in committees at the Committee are subjected to rigorous procedures for appointment. These procedures ensure the selection of the most qualified scienties who represent a broad range of views and who, as a group, represent the spectrum of scientific thought in a subject area. Most importantly, for this project the Academy will partner with its national and international counterparts to provide an unparalleled opportunity for cooporation and understanding of the critical issues to be discussed. There is no other organization of its standing in the United States capable of providing such colloboration and participation. No personal remuneration is made for the services of the scientists, engineers and other experts serving on Academy committees and, by law, no fee or profit is paid to the Academy. Throughout its history, the Academy's reports have stood as authoritative resources for legistlative decisions, regulatory policiies and for the allocation of scientific resources. Therefore, it is in the public interest to receive the independent advice of unparalleled objectivity of the highest quality that provides an inherent degree of acceptability. Considering the volunteer nature of committee members as well as the independence, objectivity, quality and acceptance of Academy recommendations, the Academy represents a cost effective means for examining the critical issues of this project.