Notice of Intent - Sole Source to Executive Information Systems, LLC for Statistical Analysis System Software Renewals

THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS, AN INVITATION FOR BIDS, OR A REQUEST FOR QUOTATIONS. FURTHER, IT DOES NOT REPRESENT A COMMITMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT TO PAY FOR COSTS INCURRED IN PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION OF DATA OR ANY OTHER COSTS INCURRED IN RESPONSE TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.This is a Sources Sought Notice (PUR-22-0145) with the intent to award a firm fixed-price, open market purchase order to Executive Information Systems, LLC (EIS) for a base year and up to four (4) option years, under the authority of FAR 13.106-1 based on their unique technical qualifications as the only known company authorized to provide statistical analysis and data management software annual maintenance renewal described below. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) knows of no other sources for this requirement. Notice is provided as information to the marketplace, market research, and is an invitation for any other qualified companies to express their interest in and demonstrate their capability to

provide the required work.The NTSB is an independent Federal agency with the primary missions of investigating civil aviation accidents in the United States and significant accidents in the other modes of transportation -- railroad, highway, marine and pipeline -- and issuing safety recommendations aimed at preventing future accidents.The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has a requirement to renew seven (7) software licenses for technical support, software upgrades as appropriate and maintenance for the Statistical Analysis System (SAS) software. The NTSB has this unique requirement for the SAS statistical analysis and data management software maintenance for use in safety research and accident/incident investigations for all modes of transportation, as well as for the formulation of safety recommendations.  SAS provides a wide range of statistical analyses, graphical reports, data management tools, and data formatting capabilities.The decision to award a sole source contract is based on the fact that EIS is the exclusive known provider of the software for Version 8 and later and the only known provider of the software’s maintenance. The NTSB has made a significant investment in the SAS software, making continued maintenance of the software critical to NTSB’s safety research mission. Furthermore, the NTSB has invested significant time and resources to train its safety researchers in the SAS programming language, which best facilitates importation, preparation, management, and analysis of increasingly larger and more complex transportation accident data sources required to support NTSB safety research studies and accident investigations. The NTSB has multiple ongoing research projects that are using SAS for the above data and analysis tasks; switching to another software would have a negative impact on the workflows, milestones, and deliverables related to these projects. Additionally, retraining safety researchers and analysts to use a different software’s data and statistical analysis programming language mid-projects would also have significantly negative time and cost implications. Therefore, continuing the maintenance renewal of the SAS software, by sole sourcing with EIS, would be most beneficial to the agency.      Sources capable of fully satisfying the above requirements are invited to submit capability statements/expressions of interest providing the Government the necessary information to determine actual capability. At a minimum, this information, which must be prepared specifically in response to this notice should, must include: (1) identification of company or organization; (2) an assertion of existing, full capability to meet proposed requirements; (3) business/contracts/marketing office point(s) of contact; (4) notification of business size and /or special status; and (5) any additional information that may be useful to the successful procurement of the requirements, if solicited. These expressions of interest shall adhere to a five (5)-page submission limit plus web links and any specialized product descriptions. The statement of qualifications should include only information that clearly demonstrates the respondent's capabilities, expertise, and experience to provide the requirements described in this notice. General marketing material should not be included. The NTSB prefers that companies do not submit proprietary material. However, the Government recognizes that proprietary data may be a part of your submittal. If so, clearly mark such restricted or proprietary data and present it as an addendum to the non-restricted/non-proprietary information. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. A determination by the Government not to compete the proposed purchase order based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. All responsible sources may submit a capability statement, which shall be considered by NTSB. Parties must submit information within seven (7) calendar days of publication of this notice. NTSB will not return capability statements and the supporting documentation submitted in response to this notice. Telephone responses and inquiries will not be accepted. You may email questions regarding this notice to the issuing office to Janice R. McCoy via email at janice.mccoy@ntsb.gov.