HHS eyes wider scope for small biz professional services recompete
The entrance to the Health and Human Services Department's headquarters building in Washington, D.C. Photo by J. David Ake / Getty Images
By
Ross Wilkers
The current iteration focuses on support for the National Institutes of Health, while the new version will be for the entire Health and Human Services Department.
The Health and Human Services Department has started to give industry an idea of how it plans to structure a new contract vehicle for acquiring professional services from small businesses.
In releasing the sources sought notice Friday, the department spells out how it plans to set up the HHS One Professional Services Solution vehicle as a main procurement mechanism for supporting its fiscal year 2022-26 strategic goals.
HOPPS will be a multiple-award contract and succeed the current iteration awarded in 2021 for work supporting the National Institutes of Health.
Five companies are competing for task orders under the NIH contract called SOAR, short for Scientific Operations and Administrative Resources.
GovTribe data indicates NIH has obligated approximately $1 billion of the $3.6 billion ceiling to-date, while Kelly Services has received roughly 74% of that spend.
As opposed to SOAR being focused on one agency, HHS appears to be designing HOPPS to support the entire department and other federal agencies on a “case-by-case basis.”
HHS plans to divide the new contract into a pair of task areas with one focused on science, technology, engineering and math activities. The second will concentrate on the business and operational services that support STEM activities.
Responses to the request for information are due by Nov. 26. An industry day is scheduled for Nov. 19.