MATLAB Institute Wide License and Software Upgrades

REGULATORY AUTHORITY:

The resultant contract will include all applicable provisions and clauses in effect through the Federal Acquisition Circular 2022-08 Effective 10/28/2022.

This acquisition is conducted under the procedures prescribed in FAR Part 13 - Simplified Acquisition Procedures at an amount not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold ($250,000).

STATUTORY AUTHORITY:

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13 - Simplified Acquisition Procedures, Subpart 13.106-1 (b)(1), Soliciting from a single source for purchases not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold.  Contracts awarded using FAR Part 13 - Simplified Acquisition Procedures are exempt from the requirements of FAR Part 6 - Competition Requirements.

INTRODUCTION:

This is a notice of intent to award without providing for full and open competition (including brand-name).

The National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), Office of Acquisitions (OA) on behalf of the National Institute of Digestive and Diabetes and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) intends to award to MathWorks, Inc. for the procurement of the MATLAB software Institute Wide License (IWL) maintenance, support, and software upgrades. The intended procurement is classified under NAICS code 513210 with a Size Standard of $41.5M.

BACKGROUND:

The mission of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) is to conduct and support medical research and research training and to disseminate science-based information on diabetes and other endocrine and metabolic diseases; digestive diseases, nutritional disorders, and obesity; and kidney, urologic, and hematologic diseases, to improve people’s health and quality of life.

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this requirement action is to purchase the IWL and software upgrades for the existing MATLAB being used by NIDDK from MathWorks, Inc. This software will continue to help multiple laboratories with their research in the furthering of NIDDK’s mission.

MATLAB is scientific software that is used to undertake numerical data analysis, mathematical modeling, simulations, real time data analysis, interfacing with other scientific applications, and m-file compilation. The software is a critical tool that is utilized for the completion of the scientific mission in several laboratories, branches, and cores within NIDDK. The software licenses associated with the various MATLAB scripts must be provided annually as either multiple individual licenses or as a single IWL. This requirement is for a single NIDDK IWL that will allow any individual within NIDDK to use MATLAB with any Toolbox. 

It is necessary and vital for MathWorks, Inc. to provide the license for MATLAB because the software is proprietary to MathWorks, Inc. and the vendor is the only company that offers the software and the necessary services required for its maintenance and upgrades.  Without this technology, the years of research that has been invested in creating scripts that work with MATLAB will no longer be accessible.

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE:

January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023

PLACE OF PERFORMANCE:

National Institutes of Health

National Institute of Digestive and Diabetes and Kidney Diseases

10 Center Drive

Bethesda, MD 20892

CONTRACTING WITHOUT PROVIDING FOR FULL OR OPEN COMPETITION (INCLUDING BRAND-NAME) DETERMINATION:

The determination by the Government to award a contract without providing for full and open competition is based upon the market research conducted as prescribed in FAR Part 10 - Market Research.  Only one source is available. Per FAR 13.106-1(b)(1), the Contracting Officer has determined MathWorks, Inc. to be the only reasonably available source to provide the MATLAB Institute Wide License maintenance, support and software upgrades required by the NIDDK.   The software licenses associated with the various MATLAB scripts must be provided annually as either multiple individual licenses or as a single IWL.  It is necessary and very important that MathWorks provide the license for the MATLAB software because MathWorks created and manage the software and are the only company that offers the software and subsequently the necessary services to MATLAB software.  Years of research have been invested in creating scripts that work with MATLAB, and no other software will satisfy the requirement. Without this technology, years of research that have been invested in creating scripts that work with MATLAB will no longer be accessible, no other software will satisfy the requirement.

CLOSING STATEMENT:

This notice is not a request for competitive proposals. However, interested parties may identify their interest and capability in response to this notice. Responses to this notice shall contain sufficient information to establish the interested parties’ bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the requirement and include: descriptive literature, delivery timeframe, warranties and/or other information that demonstrates that the response meets all the foregoing requirements, the prompt payment discount terms, the F.O.B. Point (Destination or Origin), the Unique Entity ID (UEI), the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and the certification of business size. All respondents must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.SAM.gov.”

A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed requirement based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. The information received will be considered solely for the purposes of determining whether to proceed on a non-competitive basis or to conduct a competitive procurement.

All responsible sources may submit a bid, proposal, or quotation which shall be considered by the agency. All responses to this notice shall be submitted electronically by 9:00 am Eastern Standard Time, on Thursday, December 15, 2022, to the Contract Specialist, Kerry-Ann Chisholm, at kerry-ann.chisholm@nih.gov.