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Contract Opportunity

This is a notice of intent to solicit and award a sole source contract under the authority of FAR 6.302-1 “Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements”.

The Office of Procurement Operations (OPO) on behalf of the Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) hereby issues this notice of intent to award a sole source contract to Wellspring located at 954 W Washington Blvd. Ste 750, Chicago, IL 60607.

Background

The DHS S&T Technology Transfer and Commercialization Branch (T2C) is the designated Office of Research and Technology Applications (ORTA) for all of DHS under the Stevenson-Wydler Act of 1980, as amended. In that role, T2C manages DHS inventions and ensures that the outcomes of DHS research investments are successfully transferred into practice to benefit DHS, DHS components, the Homeland Security end-users and the public. T2C requires a system to manage inventions made by DHS employees, or on behalf of DHS. This system must permit T2C to capture inventions made by DHS employees or contractors, evaluate inventions, obtain patents or other intellectual property protection, and commercialize such inventions. T2C works closely with DHS Office of General Counsel (OGC) Intellectual Property (IP) group and other program offices within S&T to accomplish its mission.

T2C seeks to acquire an Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer System (IPT2S) that permits the creation and organization of records related to technology transfer activities and stores invention disclosures and documents related to invention disclosure evaluation and review, records related to IP (including patents, trademarks and copyrights), contractual agreements such as Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs), license agreements, records related to royalty collection and disbursement, and any other documents or special project records within a single system. The IPT2S shall also include reporting and querying tools and allow for web-based portal access for DHS staff to utilize the System.

Scope

The Vendor must have extensive experience configuring software to incorporate DHS S&T and T2C workflows. The System will be a Platform as a Service (PaaS). The Vendor shall provide a web-based application interface and can identify, modify and install the system on the S&T FedRAMP authorized environment. The Vendor must have FedRAMP experience and be able to navigate FedRAMP requirements. Domain login must require Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card authentication, however federated login can be utilized for application log in. DHS uses federated login. All services provided will be based in the US, including software development and maintenance.

System must be compatible with modern browsers, including but not limited to: IE version 11.x and later; MS Edge version 89.x and later; Mozilla Firefox version 87.x and later; Google Chrome version 87.x and later; and Safari (for Mac OS) version 14.x and later. Mobile design, while not required for this System, is desirable. System must be able to link to internal DHS SharePoint sites, and external websites, including but not limited to DHS, other government agencies, the Federal Lab Consortium (FLC) and other to be determined websites. IPT2S must support Microsoft 365 and later. DHS uses a virtual private network (VPN) for remote access to its systems. The selected System must meet all federal security guidelines, and the Vendor shall provide an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) documentation as part of their proposal. The ACR shall be created using the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template version 2.4 508 (or later). The template can be found at https://www.itic.org/policy/accessibility/vpatdo. System must be able to encrypt data during transit and at rest validated against FIPS 140-2 Security Requirements for Cryptographic Modules.

System must have the ability to auto-populate patent application and patent information from public USPTO records and iEdison data (and its future replacement) into the proposed data system and be interoperable with DHS systems. Existing data is currently maintained in Excel spreadsheets and must be migrated to the System. Existing documents may be in MS Word or Adobe PDF formats and will need to be migrated to the System.

Vendor shall also provide a multi-site or enterprise license for up to 100 named, concurrent users and allow for specifying user roles and permissions to access, view, create and/or edit different record types in the System, generate templates and forms and generate reports in multiple formats (such as: MS Word, PDF, Excel).

Vendor shall provide installation, configuration, maintenance, and training of the IPT2S, as required. All software that is part of the IPT2S shall include perpetual licenses that allow DHS to use the licensed software indefinitely. Vendor will provide in-person training as the System configuration and implementation is ending and the System is ready to go live. Vendor will provide webinar and on demand e-training for major updates to the System, and for new users on a recurring basis. The training must be supported by a user guide to the System and the guide made available to all users electronically for future reference.

The Vendor must deploy a System that satisfies all functional requirements within twelve (12) months of award. If the proposed software does not meet all requirements out of the box, then offerors must provide a plan for configuration of the software that will meet this deadline.

The contract will need to meet the following minimum capabilities:

• The System will be a Platform as a Service (PaaS) and provide a web-based application interface.


• The System will be installed on the S&T FedRAMP authorized environment.


• Domain login must require Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card authentication, however federated login can be utilized for application log in. DHS uses federated login.


• All services provided will be based in the US, including software development and maintenance.


• System must be compatible with modern browsers, including but not limited to: IEversion 11.x and later; MS Edge version 89.x and later; Mozilla Firefox version 87.xand later; Google Chrome version 87.x and later; and Safari (for Mac OS) version 14.xand later.


• Mobile design, while not required for this System, is desirable.


• System must be able to link to internal DHS SharePoint sites, and external websites, including but not limited to DHS, other government agencies, the Federal Lab Consortium (FLC) and other to be determined websites.


• The System must support Microsoft 365 and later.


• The System must meet all federal security guidelines, and Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) documentation must be provided as part of the proposal.


• The System must be able to encrypt data during transit and at rest validated against FIPS 140-2 Security Requirements for Cryptographic Modules.


• System must have the ability to auto-populate patent application and patent information from public USPTO records and iEdison data.


• The system must be interoperable with DHS systems.


• Existing data is currently maintained in Excel spreadsheets and must be migrated to the System. Existing documents may be in MS Word or Adobe PDF formats and will need to be migrated to the System.


• The System must support a multi-site or enterprise license for up to 100 concurrent users and allow for specifying user roles and permissions to access, view, create and/or edit different record types in the System, generate templates and forms and generate reports in multiple formats (such as: MS Word, PDF, Excel).


• All software that is part of the System shall include perpetual licenses that allow DHS to use the licensed software indefinitely.


• In-person training must be provided as the System configuration and implementation is ending and the System is ready to go live.


• Webinar and on demand e-training must be provided for major updates to the System, and for new users on a recurring basis. The training must be supported by a user guide to the System and the guide made available to all users electronically for future reference.


• The configured System that satisfies all functional requirements must be deployed within twelve (12) months of award.

Place of Performance: The primary place of performance will be the Contractor’s facilities with periodic visits to the Department of Homeland Security facilities in the Washington Metro Area.

Period of Performance: 60 months after date of award (12-month base period plus 12 4-month options)

A determination by the Government not to compete based upon responses to this notice is solely at the discretion of the Government.

This is a notice of the intent to award a sole source contract. It is published for informational purposes only and not a request for competitive proposals. Therefore, no solicitation document exists for this requirement. Any firm believing that they can fulfill the requirement may be considered by the agency. Interested parties may identify their interest and capabilities in response to this synopsis. All questions and/or comments regarding this notice shall be addressed in writing to the Contracting Officer, Danette.Williams@hq.dhs.gov or Contract Specialist Aleyson Huesgen@hq.dhs.gov by October 19, 2022 by 10:00 AM Eastern. Questions by phone will not be considered.

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