Pre-Solicitation Notice with Intent to Sole Source for Expert Engagement Consulting Services for the National Pain/ Opioid Consortium of Research Veteran Engagement Panels

Pre-Solicitation Notice for the notice of intent to award a sole source contract. This is not a solicitation.

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Office of Research and Development (R&D), Regional Procurement Office (RPO) East in Pittsburgh, PA intends to negotiate on a sole source basis for a one (1) year base period to include four (4) option years with GR Thomas Advisors LLC to obtain expert engagement consulting services for ongoing research projects between CORE VEPs and VA research teams conducted by the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, Research Services, Center for Care Delivery and Outcomes Research.

GR Thomas Advisors LLC is the only known vendor that can provide the specialized engagement consulting services required. Gay Thomas, owner of GR Thomas Advisors LLC has over thirty years of experience in stakeholder engagement services and developed the nationally recognized model for effective inclusion of diverse stakeholder perspectives to improve health equity, increase health research relevance, and advance translational science.

Ms. Thomas has expertise developing distinct patient and community advisory boards, including five advisory boards specifically focused on lifting up the voice of Veterans and leveraging the Veteran experience to improve research with the VA system. The Minneapolis VAMC has utilized the engagement consulting services of GR Thomas Advisors LLC for CORE VEPs through a previous federal contract and has a continuing need for these services to maintain process continuity for the continuing research projects.

Since the intent is to procure this on a sole source basis, no solicitation will be posted to Contract Opportunities. The applicable NAICS code is 541990 with a $19.5M size standard. The PSC is AN24. The authority for this action is RFO FAR 6.103-1 only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotes.

However, any responsible source who can provide an equivalent service with the features described above, may submit a capability statement to the contracting office no later than Wednesday, September 3, 2025, 3:00 PM, EDT. Interest/capability statements which specifically detail how your service meets the requirement may be sent to Shannon Hukriede at shannon.hukriede@va.gov. No telephone responses will be accepted. A determination not to compete the proposed requirement based upon the responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.