Travel Services for Non-federal Peer Reviewersview on SAM.gov

Introduction This is a Small Business Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources; (2) whether they are small businesses; HUBZone small businesses; service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice. The applicable NAICS code for this acquisition is 561510 – Travel Agencies, with a small business size standard of $22.0M. Background The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is one of the world's largest biomedical research organizations and is the focal point for funding medical research. The Center for Scientific Review (CSR) is the portal for NIH grant applications and is the central receipt point for most Public Health Service applications. As such, CSR is responsible for assigning applications it receives to scientific review groups for scientific review to funding components for award considerations. CSR also carries out peer review for the majority of research and research training applications submitted to NIH. The Scientific Review Evaluation Activity (SREA) Management and Service Center (MSC) coordinates review activities for the Center for Scientific Review (CSR). The SREA MSC is a key component of the NIH extramural biomedical research program, providing centralized administrative and operational support for the scientific peer review process. This support includes coordinating approximately 1,700 peer review meetings annually, supporting the review of approximately 92,000 grant applications each year, and providing administrative and travel support for approximately 28,000 domestic and foreign scientific non-federal reviewers annually. Because grant applications must be processed within very specific time frames, to avoid missed funding opportunities by researchers, flexibility in travel support services is essential. Travel tickets and travel support services must meet the NIH timeframes and coincide with the high demand of volume. Purpose and Objectives The specific objective of this requirement is to provide a range of travel support services to the NIH Scientific Review Evaluation Activities Management and Service Center (SREA MSC), which supports the centralized NIH peer review process through the Center for Scientific Review (CSR). These services include, but are not limited to, issuing airline, …