NIH established three Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts called (GWACs) to support IT needs across the federal government with a particular emphasis on agencies such as NIH. The purpose for this Request for Information (RFI) is to open a dialogue with industry and potential federal government customer agencies such as NIH to formulate sourcing strategies and develop an RFP for the next generation contract that will support government IT efforts on health and research IT.
Using current contracts as a baseline, the government may award one or more GWACs in several functional areas. Contractors will be given an opportunity to qualify in one or more areas. The government is also interested in ways that will maximize opportunities for small and disadvantaged business concerns.
The government currently envisions ten functional task areas to develop innovative technology and solutions to meet the future healthcare IT needs of NIH and the government-wide IT community.
Some of the Task areas included in the RFI document are:
- Task area 4—(Integration Services) To develop information systems for medical imaging systems, EHRs, patient management, clinical management, and laboratory management systems
- Task area 6—(Digital Government) To provide government services through digital electronic means. This may include business intelligence, data mining, warehousing, electronic commerce, electronic data exchanges, IT-enhanced public outreach services, knowledge management, and web development and support
- Task area 8—(Healthcare and Bioinformatics Research) To help support researchers and clinicians. This may include providing bioinformatics software, natural language processing software, services focusing on biology and medicine, biomedical information services, patient management systems, EMR software, laboratory management systems, clinical support, and medical decision software systems
- Task area 10—(Imaging) To provide for systems and services that collect, store, and retrieve digital images. Examples are PACs, geographical information systems and their applications, and computationally intensive surveillance and related systems
The RFI solicitation notice for the “New Government-Wide Acquisition Contract for CIO SP2i and Iw2nd (CIO-SPNEW)” was posted on April 30, 2008, and the response to the RFI is due on May 15, 2008. The primary point of contact is Wanda F. Russell, Contracting Officer at wr9i@nih.gov. To find the complete Solicitation, go to www.fbo.gov, click on search, type in HHS, and scroll down to the posted date of April 30, 2008.
