Modification to Extend Services for Scientific, Operations and Administrative Resources (SOAR) Contract Program

Amendment 1
This presolicitation notice of proposed acquisition is posted as an intent to negotiate and award Modifications to Extend Services for Scientific, Operations and Administrative Resources (SOAR) Contract Program on a non-competitive basis.

The purpose of this acquisition is to acquire a variety of task order services under the NIH Scientific, Operations, and Administrative Resources (SOAR) Support Services contract program; and this Class Justification for other than full and open competition (JOFOC) is to extend services under this program to allow sufficient time to recompete and transition services.

The SOAR contract program includes five (5) indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contracts: 75N95021D00010, 75N95021D00011, 75N95021D00012, 75N95021D00013, and 75N95021D00019, with the contract holders listed in the table below.

AXLE INFORMATICS LLC

6116 EXECUTIVE BOULEVARD SUITE 400

NORTH BETHESDA, MD 20852-4931

75N95021D00010

GAP SOLUTIONS, INC.

205 VAN BUREN STREET, SUITE 205

HERNDON, VA 20170-5348

75N95021D00011

KELLY SERVICES, INC

999 WEST BIG BEAVER ROAD

TROY, MI 48084-4716

 75N95021D00012

GUIDEHOUSE DIGITAL LLC

1676 INTERNATIONAL DRIVE, SUITE 800

MCLEAN, VA 22102

 75N95021D00013

22ND CENTURY TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

8251 GREENSBORO DRIVE SUITE 900

MCLEAN, VA 22102-4938

75N95021D00019

The SOAR contracts have a combined maximum contract ordering value of $3,600,713,546. Currently, the ordering period ends June 21, 2026, and task orders may extend up to twelve (12) months past the parent contract ordering period end, through June 20, 2027.

The purpose of this JOFOC is: (1) to extend the parent IDIQ ordering period by twelve (12) months and incorporate two six-month optional ordering period extensions; and (2) to revise FAR 52.216-22 to incorporate language to allow the period that task orders may extend past the extended IDIQ parent contract ordering period end and option extensions, if exercised, from twelve (12) months up to thirty-six (36) months.

Basic ordering period extension: June 22, 2026 – June 21, 2027 (12 months)

Optional ordering period extension 1: June 22, 2027 – December 21, 2027 (6 months)

Optional ordering period extension 2: December 22, 2027 – June 21, 2028 (6 months)

The current combined IDIQ maximum contract ordering value of $3,600,713,546 remains unchanged. This JOFOC does not increase the contract ordering value. The Estimated Total Dollar Value for Orders through end of the JOFOC Extension is $2,174,615,674, which is the remaining available value, as of January 8, 2026, under the original contract maximum value of $3,600,713,546 (unchanged).

The Government projects award of the contract extension modifications in April 2026, and subsequent task orders using fiscal year 2026 and future year funds with annual and variable types of funding being used.

Description of Supplies and/or Services:  

Under the SOAR contract program, contractors provide specialized scientific professional services from qualified and experienced contractor staff to support the NIH in meeting its operational objectives. The scientific professional services provide a full range of activities, including new and in-progress research projects, program deployment and implementation, and other activities necessary to conduct the business and fulfill the mission of NIH’s biomedical research program. Services support important medical discoveries that improve people’s health, prevent disease, and investigate the causes, treatments, and cures for common and rare diseases.

Task orders under the current SOAR contract currently provide specialized scientific services to all 29 NIH organizations, including the Office of the Director, the 27 Institutes and Centers (ICs), and the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). Task order requirements are processed in accordance with FAR 16.507. It is a technically complex and high throughput requirement that necessitates the contractor to have scientifically fluent and robust management resources to recruit and manage an ample pool of highly specialized labor categories (e.g., Bioinformatics Scientists, Statisticians, Molecular Biologists, Clinical Research Coordinators, and Registered Nurses) in a fast-paced environment.

Planning for the follow-on requirement for SOAR ramped up at the start of fiscal year (FY) 2024. During FY24 and early FY25, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) OA conducted market research, held industry days, collaborated with HHS Office of Small Disadvantaged Business Utilization, formed an Integrated Project Team with HHS stakeholders, and began developing requirements for the follow-on SOAR contract.

In the second quarter of FY25, HHS initiated a comprehensive procurement consolidation effort to eliminate waste and duplication in compliance with Executive Order "Eliminating Waste and Saving Taxpayer Dollars by Consolidating Procurement." As part of this initiative, HHS and NIH are conducting a thorough review of the SOAR follow-on contract requirements alongside HHS's broader professional service needs to identify the optimal procurement strategy for essential services.

To maintain continuity of operations while these strategic acquisition plans are finalized, NIH requires a contract extension for SOAR. This extension will provide sufficient time and resources to conduct a competitive acquisition process appropriate to the scope and scale of these requirements and will enable a seamless transition from the current contract vehicle to future procurement mechanism(s).

Statutory Authority Cited and Rationale:

RFO - FAR 6.103-1, Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. Authority: 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1). Per RFO - HHSAR 306.103-1, for acquisitions covered by 42 U.S.C. 247d-6a(b)(2)(A), “available from only one responsible source” must be deemed to mean “available from only one responsible source or only from a limited number of responsible sources.”

The NIH has an ongoing critical need for scientific professional services under the SOAR contract program and requires an extension to the ordering period and period for task order services. Only the current contract-holders under this multiple-award contract program can provide the task order services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized.

The current contract-holders are uniquely qualified to seamlessly provide these specialized services for the extended ordering period, without disruption to the programs, while the larger follow-on acquisition is competed. If NIH were to compete and award new contracts to any other contractor, it would be inefficient, disrupt research services, incur more costs, and negatively impact ongoing NIH programs and biomedical research.

Specifically, the loss of these services would jeopardize NIH’s ability to maintain up-to-date compliant policies and delegations of authority, creates the loss of critical benchmark studies, and impacts NIH’s ability to protect current and past investments in research. Furthermore, it will negatively impact NIH’s ability to fulfill essential responsibilities, directly impacting patient diagnostics and treatments. This will cause scientific staff to re-prioritize and adjust their scientific research pursuits to manage these functions, as well as additional costs to provide required training. Additionally, loss of these services will result in delays and other negative potential impacts, such as compromising scientific productivity, delaying critical milestones, and jeopardizing the return on existing investments in ongoing research efforts focused on advancing the mission of NIH. Without the requested services, both clinical and translational science would be severely disrupted, and in some cases, cease to progress. In conclusion, if the services under this task order are interrupted or do not continue, it would lead to a disruption in essential research activities, a loss of investment in the studies, wasted research funds, and potential delays in critical scientific advancements. The financial and reputational impacts would be significant, and the research may not reach its intended outcomes, ultimately affecting the mission of HHS to advance scientific knowledge and improve public health. Extending the ordering period and task order services period under the current SOAR contracts efficiently allows continuity of critical tasks necessary for advancing the scientific goals of the NIH while ensuring continuity and integrity of the ongoing biomedical research programs.

Special Considerations:

HHS and NIH are in the process of defining their needs and finalizing strategic plans for a competitive follow-on requirement(s), and the extensions to the SOAR contract is an interim solution to ensure continuity of services. The 12-month ordering period extension is the minimum time needed for HHS and NIH to finalize its strategy, re-procure, and transition the services. The two 6-month ordering period extensions are included as options to allow for unknown contingencies. The revision to allow new orders to extend up to 36 months past the end of the extended ordering period and options, if exercised, will provide the OA with the flexibility necessary to transition orders to the new vehicles in an organized and phased approach.

It would be neither cost effective nor realistic to expect another contractor to perform these specialized services during the interim period, considering the start-up costs, phase-in, transfer of Government furnished property, recruitment and staffing requirements. Instead, the Government intends to allow time for the follow-on requirement(s) to be fairly competed, properly evaluated, and successfully awarded.

In the interim, the current contract-holders are uniquely positioned to meet NIH’s wide-ranging needs with minimal staffing disruptions and without compromising ongoing research. Attempting to transition these requirements to new vendors for such a short duration would be highly inefficient, likely resulting in widespread service disruptions and jeopardizing millions of dollars in active and completed research efforts. NIH is the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting medical research and is helping to lead the way toward important medical discoveries that improve people’s health. NIH scientists rely on these services in their endeavor to investigate ways to prevent disease, as well as the causes, treatments, and cures for common and rare diseases that have a direct effect on American citizens and the global population.

The contract period extensions are the minimum acceptable and necessary to meet mission requirements. Additionally, this extension of services does not exceed the time necessary for the agency to award another contract program(s) for the required services using competitive procedures.

Procurement History:

Current Multiple Award IDIQ Contract Holders: (1) Axle Informatics LLC, (2) Gap Solutions, Inc. , (3) Kelly Services, Inc., (4) Guidehouse Digital LLC, and (5) 22nd Century Technologies, Inc.

Contract or Order Numbers: 75N95021D00010, 75N95021D00011, 75N95021D00012, 75N95021D00013, 75N95021D00019

Award Date and Period of Performance: April 19, and July 6, 2021; with ordering period of July 8, 2021-June 21, 2026

Value (including all options): $3,600,713,546

Competitive Status: Competitive

Authority formerly relied upon if Not Competed: N/A

Summary Statement:

This is a notice of intent to negotiate and award contract modifications to extend services under the existing SOAR contracts, on a non-competitive basis, on or about March 6, 2026.

This is not a request for competitive proposals, and the Government is not committed to award a contract action pursuant to this announcement. However, interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this notice.

A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract action based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. All responsible sources may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation which shall be considered by the agency. The information received will normally be considered solely for the purposes of determining whether to proceed on a non-competitive basis or to conduct a competitive procurement for this extension period.
 

Responses to this notice shall contain sufficient information to establish the interested parties' bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the requirement and include: unit price, list price, shipping and handling costs, the delivery period after contract award, the prompt payment discount terms, the F.O.B. Point (Destination or Origin), the Dun & Bradstreet Number (DUNS), the Unique Entity Identifier Number (UEIN)), and the certification of business size. All offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov.www.sam.gov.
 

All responses to this pre-solicitation notice must be received by 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, on March 5, 2027 and must reference the announcement number specified above. 
 

Responses may be submitted electronically to Robin Knightly (Robin.Knightly@nih.gov) and Kyle Miller (Kyle.Miller2@nih.gov)
 

Fax responses will not be accepted.