SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- An Employer's Guide to Behavioral Health Services for Children and Adolescents
- Notice Date
- 8/9/2007
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 813910
— Business Associations
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, Program Support Center, Division of Acquisition Management, Parklawn Building Room 5-101 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD, 20857, UNITED STATES
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- 07M000170
- Response Due
- 8/24/2007
- Archive Date
- 9/8/2007
- Description
- The Department of Health and Human Services, Program Support Center, Division of Acquisition Management on behalf of the Substance Abuse and Mental Heath Services Administration (SAMHSA) intends to negotiate on a sole source basis for a twelve (12) month purchase order with the National Business Group on Health (NBGH) to establish a multidisciplinary Working Committee on child adolescent behavioral health and develop an Employer Toolkit for building a benefit package for children and adolescent behavioral health. Mental health disorders and mental health problems appear in families of all social classes and backgrounds. Roughly 20% of the U.S. child and adolescent population experience behavioral health and addictive disorders. Approximately 7% are thought to have a severe and persistent mental illness that significantly impairs daily functioning. In addition, an estimated 3-5% of all school children have a serious behavioral or emotional disorder. Anxiety disorders, mood disorders (such as depression), and disruptive disorders (such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) are the most common mental disorders among children. Once a young person experiences a major depression, he or she has a greater risk of developing another depression or mental health problem within the next 5 years. An estimated two-thirds of all young people with mental health problems are not getting the help they need. According to the 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health 5.5 million youths aged 12 to 17 (21.8 percent) who received treatment or counseling for emotional or behavior problems during 2004. Untreated mental health problems can lead to school failure, family conflicts, substance abuse, violence, and even suicide. Youths with mental health problems or substance abuse disorders receive treatment from a variety of sources. Of young people aged 9 to 17 years who have a mental disorder, 27 percent receive treatment in the health sector. An additional 20 percent of children and adolescents with mental disorders use mental health services only in their schools. Similar to adults, children and adolescents receive a significant proportion of psychotropic medications from general medical clinicians, primarily primary care providers such as pediatricians. As with physical illness, when a child or adolescent has a mental illness, it does not only affect the child or adolescent, but the entire family. The stress of caring for a child with mental illness may reduce a parent or caretaker?s capacity to perform well in the workplace. Similarly, parents may be unaware of current mental health promotion efforts and treatment options. Additionally, children and other dependents who have serious mental illnesses can affect their parents' (or other family members') work attendance. Working parents of children with serious mental illnesses are sometimes absent from the workplace because they need to care for their children or to take them to mental health providers for treatment. The purpose of this purchase order is to (1) create a blueprint of actionable strategies and recommendations that will enable employers to create and implement a system of affordable, effective, and high-quality child and adolescent behavioral health practices; (2)create a working committee on child and adolescent behavioral health to address the translation of mental health and substance use needs and services along a continuum of promotion, prevention, early identification, treatment and aftercare into a comprehensive benefit design that aligns with the goals of the New Freedom Commission; and (3) develop an instructive toolkit to guide employers in the development of a benefit design that meets the needs of children and adolescents with mental health and substance use disorders. The Government knows of no organizations other than the National Business Group on Health that possess the skills and resources to perform these tasks within budget (less than $100,000) and the required timeframe. The NBGH is uniquely qualified to fulfill the tasks of this purchase order for the following reasons: It is the only national nonprofit organization devoted exclusively to the analysis of health policy from the perspective of large employers with access to Fortune 500 and large private and public sector employers. The NBGH is critical in shaping health benefits designs, and testing and implementing these with their membership. No other organization is able to access these employers and their health plans and benefit managers to help carryout the tasks of this purchase order, from the environmental scan of health benefits for children and adolescents to accessing health plans and benefit managers for information on contracting requirements, and gathering employer feedback for a toolkit on developing benefit designs for children and adolescents with mental health and substance use issues. NBGH is the only group composed of the target audience that has a track record on the analysis of health plan for its membership. NBGH is the only member organization that communicates with the senior executives who the government wants to learn about health care issues/solutions, and it has done so for over 33 years. This simplified acquisition is for services for which the Government intends to negotiate with only one source. Interested concerns may identify their interest in and capability to satisfy the requirement within 15 days after the date of publication of this notice. Capability statements may be submitted to Anthony Webb in Room 5-101, Parklawn Building, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857 or via email at awebb@psc.gov. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive acquisition. A determination by the Government not to open the requirement to competition based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.
- Record
- SN01367242-W 20070811/070809220845 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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