SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- DISABILITY, AGING AND LONG-TERM CARE POLICY AND DATA ANALYSIS
- Notice Date
- 1/13/2009
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541618
— Other Management Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, Program Support Center, Division of Acquisition Management, Parklawn Building Room 5-101, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, Maryland, 20857
- ZIP Code
- 20857
- Solicitation Number
- 09DALTCP00001
- Archive Date
- 2/12/2009
- Point of Contact
- Marie L. Sunday, Phone: 301-443-7081
- E-Mail Address
-
MARIE.SUNDAY@PSC.HHS.GOV
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Disability, Aging, and Long-Term Care Policy and Data Analysis This SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE is to determine the availability of potential small businesses (e.g., 8(a), service-disabled veteran owned small businesses, HUBZone small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses, veteran-owned small businesses, and women-owned small businesses) to provide the following services: (1) policy development and analysis; (2) demonstration and evaluation design; (3) program assessment and evaluation; and (4) data infrastructure development and modeling in support of disability, aging, and long-term care policy development and data analysis. The information from this market research will help the Office of Disability, Aging, and Long-Term Care Policy (DALTCP) plan its acquisition strategy. DALTCP is located in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE). NAICS Code: 541618; Small Business Size Standard: $7.0 Million. THIS IS STRICTLY MARKET RESEARCH. ASPE/OFFICE OF DISABILITY, AGING AND LONG-TERM CARE POLICY WILL NOT RESPOND TO QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS MARKET RESEARCH. The Office of Disability, Aging, and Long-Term Care Policy is responsible for the development, coordination, research, and evaluation of U.S. Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) policies and programs that support the independence, productivity, health and security of people with disabilities, including children, working age adults, and older persons. DALTCP is also the lead office within HHS Office of the Secretary for policy research and analysis related to international disability, aging issues, and long-term care. Policy areas that DALTCP staff work on include: disability measurement and analysis of trends; housing, health, income supports, and education, training and employment needs of people with disabilities; population aging and aging-related services; long-term care and personal assistance services, including informal caregiving; post-acute care; palliative care; long-term rehabilitation services; linkages between the acute, post-acute and long-term care systems; long-term care quality; health information technology in long-term care; health and long-term care-related employment supports; private long-term care insurance and financing issues. Activities in these areas routinely require policy planning, policy and budget analysis, regulatory review, formulation of legislative proposals, data development and analysis, and policy research and evaluation. Potential contractors will provide expertise in policy development and analysis; demonstration and evaluation design; program assessment and evaluation; and data infrastructure development and modeling. In conjunction with these services, contractors will provide organizational and logistical support for conferences, meetings, and other events to assist in the development and dissemination of the deliverables produced under this ID/IQ. Logistical support may entail making travel arrangements, securing hotel accommodations and meeting space, editing and report formatting, and providing technical expertise in support of conferences (e.g., agenda setting, recruitment of expert presenters, and preparation of conference papers and materials). Below is a short description of the required expertise. Policy Development and Analysis: Contractors will undertake development and analysis of disability, aging, and long-term care policy options currently under consideration and/or likely to be considered in the future. Information produced by these efforts is expected to contribute to internal debate on budgetary, legislative, and program modification decisions; provide background analysis and support for major administration initiatives; support short- and long-range strategic planning; and, occasionally, produce the information base for Congressionally-mandated reports. Policy development and analysis activities will produce a wide-range of deliverables. These include: issue and discussion papers summarizing the state of knowledge on a given topic; memorandum and spreadsheets that succinctly summarize the findings from a specific policy analysis (e.g., estimated changes in coverage, cost, and impact of specific policy options); memorandum and reports identifying significant gaps in current knowledge or program effectiveness; options papers identifying the strengths and weaknesses of proposed policy initiatives or changes in disability, aging, and long-term care programs; and formal briefings for high level policy officials. Because these products are intended for a wide audience within HHS, including technical analysts and high-level policymakers, written material and briefings need to be presented clearly and concisely. Demonstration and Evaluation Design: Contractors will design demonstrations and evaluations of disability, aging, and long-term care programs and policy options. The goal of demonstrations and evaluations is to understand how modifications to existing programs or entirely new approaches impact service delivery, outcomes, and costs. Demonstration/evaluation design will frequently be iterative, requiring contractors to produce a general design with options before developing a more fully elaborated approach. As a result, contractors will frequently undertake background or preliminary work as well as formal demonstration/evaluation design. Background information will be used by program managers and policymakers to determine the feasibility and basic parameters of a design prior to full-scale development. Examples of this type of preliminary work include literature reviews, the development of issue/concept papers, primary data collection activity of limited scope, microsimulations, and secondary data analysis and tasks related to the preparation of data for analysis. Formal demonstration/evaluation design will develop specific components or the entire approach for determining the implications of changes to disability, aging, and long-term care programs and/or policy. As part of this process, contractors may be required to convene a Technical Expert Panel and/or a Federal Advisory Panel to get feedback on proposed approaches. Program Assessment and Evaluation: Contractors will conduct program assessments and evaluations of disability, aging, and long-term care programs and policies. Program assessments and evaluations will be used to determine the effectiveness of current programs and the impact of proposed changes and/or new approaches. Program assessments may identify “best practices” in program sites, produce preliminary data on efficiency and effectiveness and recommend options for program change or subsequent evaluation. They may also involve in-depth case studies, descriptive field work on policy implementation, and limited data collection to increase our understanding of programs or service arrays in particular states or communities. Formal evaluations will typically require more extensive data collection—frequently national in scope—through the of computer assisted interviewing software (e.g., CAPI or CATI), and analysis to determine the impact of changes to programs and policy. Data Infrastructure Development and Modeling: Contractors will provide expertise to develop and improve the Department’s data infrastructure and modeling capabilities to determine trends in the use of disability, aging, and long-term care programs and services; determine the impact of policy changes, particularly those affecting the well being of children and working-age adults with chronic illness and disability, and the older population in general; and estimate costs of policy options and initiatives. Contractors will identify, develop, and prepare analytic files to support development of demographic and microsimulation models and policy analysis using national and local surveys as well as HHS administrative data. Work may include constructing analytic files, editing and manipulating data elements, and linking multiple data files to undertake cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses to determine how people are affected by broad changes in disability, aging, and long-term care policy. Estimating the net influence of major trends (e.g., changes in health and disability, changes in consumer preferences, mortality declines, etc.), some which may be interrelated may be a critical activity. In determining the impact of these trends, analyses of secondary data (e.g., national surveys and administrative data) may be required, as well as the collection of new data, to add to the capabilities of existing models and to improve estimates. Model development and policy analysis may involve merging survey data with administrative data (e.g., Medicare and Medicaid claims, enrollment records, Social Security payment and disability records, OASIS and MDS data, etc.) or the use of administrative data exclusively. RESPONSE INFORMATION: The purpose of this Sources Sought Notice is to determine the availability of small businesses to provide policy development, research and evaluation services to ASPE/DALTCP through an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity task order contract. Businesses therefore must have in-depth knowledge of disability, aging, and long-term care policy and data issues, and the ability to provide the aforementioned services. Responses must (1) demonstrate the contractor’s knowledge of disability, aging, and long-term care policy and data issues pertinent to ASPE/DALTCPs mission, and (2) describe the organization’s ability to perform the following tasks: •produce issue and discussion papers summarizing the state of knowledge on a given disability, aging, and long-term care topic •conduct policy analysis (e.g., estimate changes in coverage, cost, and impact of specific policy options); •prepare options papers identifying the strengths and weaknesses of proposed policy initiatives or changes in disability, aging, and long-term care programs; •conduct short-term policy studies and briefings for high level policy officials; •develop program demonstrations and evaluation designs; •undertake in-depth case studies, descriptive field work on how a policy is being implemented, and limited data collection; •conduct program demonstrations and evaluations requiring extensive data collection; •identify, develop, and prepare analytic files to support development of demographic and microsimulation models and policy analysis; •link multiple data files (e.g., national survey information with administrative data); •estimate the net influence of major demographic, economic, and programmatic trends through microsimulation models and other analytic approaches; •analyze secondary data (e.g., national surveys and administrative data) to add to the capabilities of existing models and to improve estimates; and •coordinate meeting and conference planning. Each response should include the following business information: a. DUNS b.Company Name c. Company Address d. Company Point of Contract: Name, Phone Number and E-Mail Address e. Does responder have a government approved accounting system? If so, please identify the agency that approved the system. f. Type of Company (i.e., 8(a), service-disabled veteran owned small businesses, HUBZone small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses, veteran-owned small businesses, and women-owned small businesses, etc.) as validated via the Central Contracting Registration (CCR). Note: All companies or individuals seeking to contract with the government must register on the CCR located at http://www.ccr.gov/index.asp. Teaming Arrangements: All teaming arrangements should also include the above cited information and certification for each entity on the proposed team. Teaming arrangements are encouraged. This Sources Sought Notice is for information and planning purposes only and should not be considered as a commitment by the government. This is not a solicitation announcement for proposals and no contract will be awarded from this notice. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information to this notice. Respondents will not be notified of the results of this evaluation. Capability statements will not be returned and will not be accepted after the due date. Responses must be submitted not late than January 28, 2009. The maximum number of pages for submission is twenty (20). As previously stated, the government will not entertain questions regarding the results of this market research; however, general questions prior to submitting a timely response may be forwarded to: Contracting Officer: Marie L. Sunday; E-Mail: MSunday@psc.gov.
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