Request for Information (RFI) for the National Cancer Institute’s Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) for Operation of the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR)

I.  BACKGROUND:

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is requesting information from all parties who may be interested in the re-competition of the NCI’s FFRDC.  The FFRDC provides rapid response capabilities and one-of-a-kind resources for the biomedical research community within NCI, NIH and other Federal Agencies. Located in Frederick, MD, the NCI’s FFRDC is a Government-Owned Contractor-Operated (GOCO) research facility with a unique array of research support and advanced technologies, whose purpose is to bridge the gaps from discovery to healthcare delivery; to accelerate the development of new technologies and prototype treatments for patients; and to pave the way for new advances to enter clinical trials for testing, approval, and delivery to patients via the commercial sector.

Entities authorized to operate, manage, or administer an FFRDC include: a university, a consortium of universities, other not-for-profit or nonprofit organizations, industrial firms as autonomous organizations (identified separately from any parent organization), or industry/academia partnerships.

For more information regarding FNLCR, please refer to the website at http://frederick.cancer.gov/.

II. PURPOSE:

The purpose of this  DRFP is to highlight some substantive changes made to the previous draft, and to obtain responses to specific questions from interested parties. Responses from interested parties will assist in refining or clarifying the Government's requirements.

Request for Information Questions

1. Sample Task Orders:
   a. Do the revisions Sample Task Orders provide sufficient details and adequate assumptions to facilitate the offeror’s ability to propose to this requirement?
    
2. Transition Task Order:
   a. Do the revisions to the Transition Task Order provide sufficient details and adequate assumptions to propose for this task order requirement?
   b.  If not, please indicate any questions and or concerns related to the Transition Task Order.
    
3. Proposal Instructions:
   a. Information regarding the contents of the Technical Proposal can be found in the following locations:
   
       i. Section L of the RFP
       ii. Attachment 1- Packaging and Delivery of Proposals for Use with the NIH eCPS Website
       iii. Attachment 12- Additional Technical Proposal Instructions

After reviewing this information and the revised Executive Summary, please provide any remaining questions regarding where specific information is found in the RFP or potential conflicts between the three sections/documents.

b. Information regarding the contents of the Business Proposal can be found in the following locations:

           i. Section L of the RFP

           ii. Attachment 1-Packaging and Delivery of Proposals for Use with the NIH eCPS Website

          iii. Attachment 19- Additional Business Proposal Instructions
 

After reviewing this information and the Executive Summary, please provide any remaining questions regarding where specific information is found in the RFP or potential conflicts between the three sections/documents.

c.  Do you have questions regarding the requirements for the following revised proposal elements?

         i. Human Subjects Protections requirements for:

             1. Sample Task Order B

             2. General Human Subjects Protections Approach (See Section L)

        ii. Vertebrate Animal Protections

4. Peer Review:

       i. Do you have questions on the information presented on the Acquisition Portal at:         https://www.cancer.gov/about- nci/contracts/fnlcr-acquisitions/resources specifically, as it relates to the requirements of 42 CFR 52h, NIH Peer Review? Are there any questions associated with this process and how technical proposals will be evaluated?

5.  Do you see any barriers to competition? If so, please specify.

III. DISCLAIMER TO PROSPECTIVE RESPONDENTS:

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI).  This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, capability statements, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this RFI is to obtain knowledge and information for project planning purposes. Interested parties are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party’s expense. 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. Those not responding to this RFI are not prohibited from participation in any future RFP, if any. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on the Beta.Sam.gov (Beta SAM) in addition to the NCI Office of Acquisition’s website under the FNLCR Acquisition Portal at https://www.cancer.gov/about-nci/contracts/fnlcr-acquisitions/fedbizopps-notices.  Information posted to Beta SAM takes precedence over information provided elsewhere and serves as the Government’s official government-wide point of entry (GPE).

IV. INFORMATION REQUESTED FROM INDUSTRY:
 

Interested parties should provide their respective answers below each stated question listed in Section II of this notice.

You must submit your response electronically in a MS Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) in no more than ten (10) single-spaced, single-sided pages, with standard 1” margins, and 12-point Times New Roman font.  Any pages exceeding the page limitation designated herein will not be reviewed.  The due date for the submission of responses to this RFI is 4:00 PM EDT on March 1, 2022. 

The RFI response must be sent via e-mail to FNLCR_ACQinfo@nih.gov with subject line “Response to RFI Notice Number: HHS-NIH-NCI-RFI-MOSB-75N91020R00062-23”.  Any questions related to this RFI should be directed to FNLCR_ACQinfo@nih.gov with the subject line entitled: “Question to RFI Notice Number: HHS-NIH-NCI-RFI-MOSB-75N91020R00062-23”.

V. CONFIDENTIALITY:

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(s) it deems necessary and legally appropriate.