Notice of Intent for NIH/NCATS Rocky Linux Subscription Renewal

THIS IS A NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD A SOLE SOURCE CONTRACT, NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE QUOTES. A REQUEST FOR QUOTE (RFQ) WILL NOT BE ISSUED AND QUOTES WILL NOT BE REQUESTED.

The National Institute of Health’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) intends to award a firm fixed price sole source contract under the authority of FAR 12.102(a), only one source being available to meet the Government's needs, to:

CIQ, Inc.

560 Mill St. Suite 302

Reno, NV 89502  

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) hereby submits a notice of intent to award a sole source firm fixed price purchase order for a Rocky Linux Subscription Renewal.  Rocky Linux is a free Linux-based open-source enterprise operating system, a downstream of Red Hat Enterprise Linux or RHEL. This request is to renew the license subscription and get high-level technical support for this operating system. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this requirement is 541511.

NCATS has several systems that use Linux-based operating systems, opposed to Microsoft Windows or Mac OS systems from Apple. The High-Performance Computing cluster at NCATS is a Linux-based system which uses Rocky Linux as operating system. As Rocky Linux is a free operating system, the required high-level support is to ensure availability of the NCATS HPC cluster.  The support for the operating system used on the NCATS HPC cluster is in support for scientific computing and a requirement to move forward with scientific analysis to be done using the HPC cluster, i.e., imaging analysis data processing, N3C data processing, Multi-Omics, Virtual Screening, Protein Folding, Docking, Molecular Dynamics Simulations, etc.

The period of performance will be for one (1) 12-month base period.

This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals, and no solicitation document exists for the requirement. This hereby constitutes a synopsis of the requirement.

CLOSING STATEMENT

The determination not to compete this proposed contract action is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. The Government will not be responsible for any costs incurred by responding to this notice. This is NOT a request for quotes or proposals.

Questions or comments to this Notice of Intent should be directed to the Primary Point of Contact

Leah L. Hinson via e-mail only Leah.Hinson@hhs.gov (no phone calls/voice mail). Messages regarding questions will not be accepted and will not receive a response). Please indicate in the subject of your email: Notice of Intent Question Submission – PCA-NCATS-06772 Rocky Linux Subscription Renewal.

Contracting Office Address:

Office of Mission Acquisition Solutions (OMAS) 

Office of Acquisitions (OA) | Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources (ASFR)

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 

Primary Point of Contact:

Leah L. Hinson- Leah.Hinson@hhs.gov