SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPC) VI
- Notice Date
- 11/1/2018
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541715
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Contracts Management, 5600 Fishers Lane, Mailstop: 06N34B, Rockville, Maryland, 20857, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20857
- Solicitation Number
- HHS-AHRQ-SBSS-19-10001
- Archive Date
- 12/4/2018
- Point of Contact
- Megan L Osele, Phone: 3014271460, Erin B. Mills, Phone: 3014271169
- E-Mail Address
-
megan.osele@ahrq.hhs.gov, Erin.Mills@ahrq.hhs.gov
(megan.osele@ahrq.hhs.gov, Erin.Mills@ahrq.hhs.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Introduction: This is a Small Business Sources Sought notice (SBSS). This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources; (2) whether they are small business; HUBZone small businesses; service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice. Project Description and Requirements: A multiple award IDIQ type contract is anticipated. An Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC)/IDIQ contract holder responds to requests for task order from AHRQ to conduct various types of evidence synthesis using a scientifically rigorous, transparent, and unbiased approach. The evidence synthesis products are clearly written and useful for various end-users. Background: The core work of the EPC Program is to present the "state of the science" on a given topic in a manner that can be directly applied to decisions made by users of health care information. EPCs produce various types of evidence reports, all based on the methodology of systematic review. EPCs synthesize evidence for partners to translate into practice and policy to improve patient care and outcomes. End-users of EPC reports include guideline developers, clinicians, patients, policy-makers, research funders, knowledge translators, learning health systems, and purchasers and payers of healthcare. Key principles of the EPC Program are: Stakeholder-driven, Scientific Rigor and Independent and Unbiased. The EPC program is also committed to producing timely products that are relevant and useful to partners and stakeholders. EPCs engage directly with stakeholders to determine the most relevant questions for topic development and topic refinement phases prior to the actual systematic review process. The EPC Program has established systematic review methods that raise the scientific rigor, transparency, and consistency of reviews by EPCs. The EPC Program has a rigorous editorial and peer review process to ensure the production of quality, unbiased reports. A hallmark of EPC program products is the strict conflict of interest policy that AHRQ upholds. EPC authors and all persons involved in the production, writing, or review of an EPC report are assessed for financial and non-financial conflicts of interest. Any conflicts or perceived conflicts may exclude participation or must be managed appropriately. Under the Effective Health Care (EHC) program, EPCs synthesize evidence, usually through systematic reviews (including comparative effectiveness reviews) and other evidence synthesis reports. EPCs, under the EHC program, may synthesize evidence for: • healthcare delivery or implementation approaches; • comparative effectiveness or harms of technologies, pharmaceuticals, nutrition or behavioral strategies, across a variety of clinical areas; • Preventive (screening, counselling and preventive medications), or diagnostic, or prognostic testing or management. EPCs support work of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) by presenting rigorous, impartial assessments on specific topics in clinical prevention that serve as the scientific basis for an independent body to make informed evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services and health promotion. These recommendations for adults and children address screening tests, counseling about healthful behaviors, and preventive medications. The USPSTF is a major customer of the EPC program. Through the Technology Assessment (TA) Program, EPCs conduct focused systematic reviews of the literature, along with appropriate qualitative and quantitative methods of synthesizing data from multiple studies or sources. Systematic reviews conducted under the TA program are termed Technology Assessments, and are used by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to inform its national coverage decisions for the Medicare Program as well as provide information to Medicare carriers. EPCs synthesize evidence, primarily through conduct of systematic reviews and other evidence synthesis products. Some of AHRQ's partners include the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), or other Federal branches of government such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute. Overview of project tasks and requirements: EPCs must be able to address both healthcare delivery as well as clinical topics across the range of clinical specialty care areas that address partner needs. Reports must consider the relevant clinical, policy, and implementation decisional contexts. EPCs must be able to synthesize evidence on a diverse range of topics, including healthcare delivery or implementation; comparative effectiveness or harms of clinical interventions such as pharmaceuticals, devices, or behavioral or nutritional interventions; or preventative, diagnostic, or prognostic testing or management. EPCs must be able to respond to multiple Requests for Task Order (RFTOs) for the full complement of EPC report types, including but not limited to: • Topic Development Brief After a topic is nominated, the EPC shall evaluate the topic against established criteria. The EPC shall prepare a topic development brief describing the nomination, the clinical decisional dilemma, and how it fits in the current clinical and research context along with how it fits with established criteria. • Topic Refinement The EPC shall identify the decisional dilemma and area of greatest uncertainty to focus and refine the systematic review questions. The EPC shall develop focused key questions that address the decisional dilemma(s) which are amenable to a systematic review. The EPC shall describe the specific Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome, Timing, and Setting (PICOTS) and an analytic framework through working with partners and Key Informants to identify the decisional dilemma. A preliminary literature search shall inform and augment key informant discussions. • Surveillance for Systematic Reviews The EPC shall assess the currency of the questions and findings of an existing systematic review. Similar to the topic refinement task, the EPC shall engage stakeholders to identify the questions for systematic review and conduct a brief literature search. • Systematic Reviews EPCs shall use rigorous, comprehensive methods to address the type of question and decisional dilemma, volume and type of literature available and to maximize efficiency and rigor. The methods used for individual systematic reviews are generally established by the EPC Methods Guide and more specifically by the individual protocol. Systematic reviews include qualitative and/or quantitative analysis, such as with meta-analysis or meta-regression. Other emerging qualitative or quantitative approaches may also be appropriate, such as network meta-analysis or qualitative comparative analysis. • Systematic Review Updates When an update is deemed appropriate, the EPC shall update the previous review protocol; conduct an updated search; and provide an updated report that includes a summary of the updated evidence and a description of what it adds to the original review. Software tools and other innovative methods to increase the efficiency of systematic review updates include machine learning software, re-use of data through SRDR, crowdsourcing or other approaches may allow for more efficient living reviews. • Technical Brief Through a Technical Brief, the EPC provides an overview of key issues related to an emerging medical technology or healthcare intervention, such as current indications, relevant patient populations and subgroups of interest, outcomes measured, and contextual factors that may affect decisions regarding the intervention, but does not synthesize studies or grade the strength of evidence of findings. Technical Briefs gather information from interviews with Key Informants and the gray literature, as well as from the published literature. • Rapid Response A rapid response provides a summary of the best available evidence, usually from guidelines or systematic reviews. The approach and scope of this product is similar to that of a topic development brief. • Rapid Review A rapid review is a type of systematic review that provides an answer to a question around where there is an urgent decisional need. However, the methods may be adapted, or the scope may be restricted to produce a report that can be completed more rapidly. This is done with close communication with the nominator. • Decision-analysis, modelling, or economic studies The task of decision-analysis, modeling, and clinical economic studies in the context of systematic review involves the identification of key research and decisional questions in the analytical framework that need to be answered by the modeling effort, the extraction and integration of relevant data and parameters from various literature sources obtained in the systematic review process, and the identification of additional data and parameters that may be specific to the modeling process (e.g. resource utilization associated with a clinical intervention being studied in the SR). EPCs must be able to perform methodological work to improve the validity and utility of evidence synthesis methods for decision-making and practice. EPCs work in collaboration on methods projects, and participate in the editorial and peer review process to promote the consistency and quality of EPC review products. EPCs meet regularly through in person and virtual meetings, as well as through workgroup calls to collectively identify challenges and areas for improvement and work collaboratively to improve methods and consistency across the EPC Program as a whole. Anticipated Period of Performance: November 2019 - November 2024 Other Important Considerations: EPC reports are complex, requiring familiarity and adherence to AHRQ policies and procedures, including a range of procedural and methods guides for the EPC program and the USPSTF. This IDIQ will have a high volume of requirements and potential respondents will need to have the capacity to respond to RFTOs released simultaneously or within a short period of time and respond to those requests within a short period of time. Information Sought: The tailored response to this Small Business Sources Sought notice should describe the requested information below. Respondents must provide, as part of their response, information concerning: a) Understanding of the appropriate role and limitations of evidence synthesis in relationship to improving health care practice and delivery for the EPC program; b) Staff expertise in the following areas, including their availability, experience, and formal and other training: • Senior leadership with expertise in evidence synthesis, evidence-based practice, and guideline development • Project Management • Librarian or Information Specialist • Statistical/Data Analytics expertise • Medical writer/editor/knowledge translation/data visualization • Clinical and other methodological expertise; c) Current in-house capability and capacity to perform the work; d) Corporate experience and management capability; and e) Prior completed projects of similar size; f) Examples of prior completed contracts, references, and other related information. Contractors must describe their capacity and experience as it relates to the project requirements described above. Information Submission Instructions: Interested qualified small business organizations should submit a tailored capability statement for this requirement. The cover page must include the following: • DUNS number • Organization name • Organization address • Size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HUBZone, etc.) pursuant to NAICS code 541715. • Technical point(s) of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone, and e-mail addresses. All Capability Statements sent in response to this SMALL BUSINESS SOURCES SOUGHT notice must be submitted electronically (via e-mail) to Megan Osele, Contracting Officer, megan.osele@ahrq.hhs.gov in MS Word, or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), no later than 10:00AM EST on November 19, 2018. Responses should not exceed 15 single-sided pages (including the cover page, all attachments, resumes, charts, etc.) presented in single-space and using a 12-point font size minimum, that clearly details the ability to perform the aspects of the notice described above. Disclaimer and Important Notes: This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation will be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. Confidentiality: No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).
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-
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- Record
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