“The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently released a draft request for proposal (RFP) for the Chief Information Officer – Solutions and Partners, better known as “CIO-SP4”, IDIQ procurement. This up-to-10-year Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract (five years base, with a five-year optional period) is among NIH’s largest and is expected to yield $20 billion worth of task order awards. NIH expects this procurement to be designated Best-in-Class (BIC) by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), like its previous iteration, CIO-SP3. This designation would allow it to be a preferred government-wide acquisition solution.”
“This intended multiple IDIQ award effort spans a wide variety of IT services, not just within the health space as medical systems ‘are increasingly integrated with a broader IT architecture, requiring a systems approach to their implementation and a sound infrastructure for their operation,’ the draft RFP says. It is NIH’s intention that both small and non-small businesses will have ample opportunity to get awards, and they likely will be evaluated separately…”
“The biggest point-earning opportunities will likely relate to experience and past performance. The more complex the project, the higher the likelihood that you will receive more points. If the experience was within a cost-plus contract instead of fixed-price, there may be more points for that as well. There will likely be additional points for a wider variety and separate instances of recent projects within each task area. CIO-SP3 required that contract holders have capabilities in all 10 task areas.”
“The other significant area that might be a bit more controllable for you right now is within the ‘other’ factor category, whether it’s called administration, certifications, or all the rest. This area should include point-earning opportunities for evidence of superior corporate governance and operations. They could include evidence of other adequate business systems (e.g., purchasing, estimating, earned value management), industry certifications (e.g., FedRAMP, CMMI, ISO, CMMC), and security…”
“Here is what we think any potentially interested contractors should be doing right now…” Read the full article here.
Source: Prepare to Earn Points for NIH’s CIO-SP4 RFP – By Kristen Soles, Jeff Shapiro, and Bhavesh Vadhani, April 17, 2020. CohnReznick.
