SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- Feasibility study to help the NIH identify and maintain relevant sampling frames for future studies that NIH may do. - SOW
- Notice Date
- 5/4/2009
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- NAICS
- 541611
— Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Office of Administration, 6011 Executive Blvd, 5th Floor, Rockville, Maryland, 20852-3804, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20852-3804
- Solicitation Number
- NIHOD2009124
- Point of Contact
- Terita R Stevenson,, Phone: 301-402-3727
- E-Mail Address
-
stevenst@od.nih.gov
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- SOW This Sources Sought Notice is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the National Institutes of Health, NIH. The purpose of this Sources Sought is to seek the availability and capability of small business concerns, including 8(a) small business and/or small qualified small business concerns [including Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDB), Woman-owned Small Businesses (WOSB), Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) Small Businesses, Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (VOSB) and Service-Disabled Veteran-owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB] that are interested in and capable of performing the work described herein: The National Institutes of Health is soliciting bids for a feasibility study that will help the NIH identify and maintain relevant sampling frames for studies that the NIH might want to do in the future. The Government expects to award a fixed-price, definite delivery type contract for a period of one year. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 541611. The related small business size standard is $7.0 million. The capabilities statements are due on Friday, May 8, 2009 at 2:00 pm. All future information about this acquisition, including any amendments, will also be distributed through this website: www.fbo.gov. Interested parties are responsible for monitoring this site to insure they have the most up-to-date information concerning this acquisition. Capability statements must specify the offeror's business size and type, and demonstrate similar work and reports that has been performed in the past. Capability statements should also clearly demonstrate the offeror's ability to fully meet the requirements specified in the attached Statement of Work. This is not a request for proposals. The intention of this announcement is to survey the market for potential offerors. Interested qualified small business organizations should submit a tailored capability statement for this requirement. All proprietary information should be marked as such. Statements should also include an indication of current certified small business status; this indication should be clearly marked on the first page of your capability statement (preferably placed under the eligible small business concerns name and address). Responses will be reviewed only by NIH personnel and will be held in a confidential manner. In order to receive an award at NIH the contractor must have a valid registration in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) www.ccr.gov. The clauses are available in full text at http://www.arnet.gov/far. Inquiries regarding this procurement may be made to the Office of Acquisition, Office of Logistics and Acquisition Operations, 6011 Executive Blvd., Room 539C, Rockville, Maryland 20892, Attention: Terita R. Stevenson, Contract Specialist. SAMPLE SOW: Sampling Frames Project Statement of Work March 10, 2009 Background: The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting medical research. Helping to lead the way toward important medical discoveries that improve people's health and save lives, NIH scientists investigate ways to prevent disease as well as the causes, treatments, and even cures for common and rare diseases. Composed of 27 Institutes and Centers, the NIH provides leadership and financial support to researchers in every state and throughout the world. The NIH annually invests over $28 billion in medical research. More than 83% of the NIH's funding is awarded through almost 50,000 competitive grants to more than 325,000 researchers at over 3,000 universities, medical schools, and other research institutions in every state and around the world. About 10% of the NIH's budget supports projects conducted by nearly 6,000 scientists in its own laboratories, most of which are on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. NIH leadership frequently requires feedback and insights from various constituencies about the effects and operation of various NIH policies and programs. Scientific societies, professional organizations, and advocacy groups serve as useful resources when seeking the views of constituents. Additionally, the NIH has asked for input from advisory groups, has issued Requests for Information (RFI), and in cases involving the development of regulations the NIH has issued Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). These approaches, however, may tend to filter out minority opinions and observations, and miss obscure facts. Additionally, the input may not target or adequately represent the constituencies most affected by contemplated policy. Finally, the comments are always unstructured and frequently difficult to analyze. Requirement: When quantifiable input is required from individuals with different affiliations, characteristics, or roles it is sometimes useful to use well established survey methods. This has been done by the NIH in the past. One example is the report Customer Satisfaction and Research Involvement among Applicants for NIH R01 and R29 Grants (Pion, G., 1999) that explored opinions about peer review within stratified samples of NIH grant applicants. Similar surveys are currently being planned as part of the Peer Review Enhancement evaluation process. Despite the potential value of surveys, it is often difficult to identify the entire population of a particular constituency in a way that would permit the development of a representative sample. In many cases, the NIH may have access to detailed information about certain segments of a population but may have almost no information about other segments of the constituency. For example, the NIH has a continuously refreshed list of all Principal Investigators (PIs) who apply for extramural research grants, but would have a difficult time identifying all potential PIs—those individuals in academic and other settings who might be considered qualified to manage an NIH research grant. Another example includes the population of postdoctoral scholars in this country. The NSF has a continually updated and nearly complete census of individuals who earn PhD and comparable degrees from domestic institutions (Survey of Earned Doctorates, SED), but there is no similar data collection on PhDs who have degrees from foreign institutions. Since nearly 65 percent of all biomedical postdocs in this country are here on temporary visas, the SED is an inadequate frame for the entire population of postdocs. In addition, there are other challenges associated with conducting surveys which include creating meaningful questionnaires, building suitable sampling approaches, analyzing data, developing reliable inferences about population as a whole, obtaining clearance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as required under the Paperwork Reduction Act, and obtaining reviews by Internal Review Boards (IRBs) to ensure that the subjects are suitably protected. The creation and use of online surveys to rapidly collect information from populations of interest pose their own special challenges. Project Description: Therefore, the NIH seeks guidance related to the feasibility of developing general procedures for conducting surveys and for identifying and assembling suitable sampling frames to collect structured and representative information from constituencies of interest. This feasibility study will help the NIH move quickly to identify and use existing frames or to develop and refresh sampling frames as required, and it will help the NIH assemble the resources necessary to develop and field suitable surveys that employ methodologically sound survey and sampling designs, power analyses, questionnaire construction, follow-up procedures that yield high response rates, data analytical strategies, streamlined OMB clearance procedures, and guidance on factors that will necessitate IRB review. Statement of Work The contractor will assess the feasibility of establishing resources necessary for collecting information from NIH constituencies to improve NIH decision-making. An illustrative list of such constituencies and illustrative subgroups is provided in Table 1, below. The contractor will identify similar and relevant constituencies, whose members may have opinions of interest to the NIH. After consulting with the NIH project officer to clearly define populations of interest to the NIH, the contractor will describe the process of developing a comprehensive sampling frame and representative samples for each constituency, identifying sources of information on the various subgroups where they exist. In some cases data may come from several sources and the contractor will need to describe how the data from the various sources can be assembled to complete the population. If assessment of databases will require access to the data (as opposed to information about the database), and that database requires permission for access, the contractor will work expeditiously with the project officer and other officials as necessary to apply for access. An illustrative list of such sources is shown in Table 2, below. The contractor will build upon the list and explore relevant sources of population information to describe constituencies and subgroups as needed. The contractor will then work with the NIH to identify the key subgroups and core constituencies on that list that will become the focus of the work. Three to five hypothetical policy questions would be chosen at that time to serve as case studies, demonstrating how diverse questions could be addressed using various data sources and survey methods. For each key subgroup and core constituency, the contractor will describe the characteristics of the available data, including the list of key variables included in extant data, and variables that are not available but may be of interest for NIH’s purpose. The contractor will describe the existing schedule for updates, allowable uses of the data based on existing confidentiality pledges, and potential access to the information. When overlapping databases exist, the contractor will describe the level of duplication, and the desirability of combining them. Costs associated with access to existing data will be described. Options for contacting responsible individuals in order to conduct surveys will be discussed. Survey strategies may vary with the population. In cases where a suitable sampling frame for a subgroup or a constituency is not available, the contractor will describe the proportion of data needed that is already available versus the proportion that will need to be collected anew, and approaches for creating a suitable sampling frame with estimates of costs. Attention will be paid to how well the sampling frame would represent the population of interest to NIH, and issues surrounding sample bias, sample design effects, sampling weights, and stratification variables, In addition to information about the available information on sampling units (e.g., individuals, organizations) in the frame and how contact could be made with them, it will be important for the contractor to indicate the availability of other descriptive information. Variables may be used to stratify for sample selection; they may be used to describe individuals in the population, or they may serve as potential covariates in any subsequent analysis. The contractor will provide information about the quality of data on these variables when it exists. An illustrative list of potential variables is shown in Table 3. The contractor also will describe critical steps in the development of surveys in general, such as when IRB or OMB approval and other steps might be required. The contractor will describe how requirements for IRB approval or OMB approval are related to the contents and structure of the survey. The contractor will describe issues with using sampling frames for cross-sectional studies, panel studies and longitudinal studies and how diverse research needs can be met, while managing sampling error, survey error, nonresponse, undercoverage and overcoverage, individuals in overlapping groups, and those who may be lost to follow-up (like temporary visas, etc.) The contractor will discuss in depth the relative values of various on-line and other survey methods for the purpose of rapidly collecting information on the involved constituencies. The value of having a pre-prepared sampling frame should be described emphasizing the value to any decision-making process (in terms of time or cost and the reliability of the findings). Deliverables: The report will describe each of the key NIH constituencies (after the list is approved by the NIH). For each constituency, the following will be included: a.The size of the population b.How best to construct a sampling frame for the population, including information on: i.The variables needed for the units to be included in the sampling frame ii.Existing data sources that are available i.Extent to which coverage error/bias exists ii.NIH access to available sources iii.Individuals in the constituencies that are not covered by existing data sources iv.(If applicable) What primary data collection will be needed to obtain information on other key variables iii.Based on existing data, descriptions of the distribution for key variables on the current population (e.g. gender, race, ethnicity, DOB, etc.) iv.The quality of the data on key variables in available data sources including the quality of contact information v.The quality and currency of the existing data vi.Potential sampling procedures that can be employed c.Estimate funds needed to support the development of comprehensive sampling frames for each constituency, i.Identify gaps ii.Estimate start-up time and costs to prepare comprehensive frames iii.Estimate maintenance costs and challenges of keeping system ready to meet emerging policy needs i.Hardware/software maintenance ii.Updates/modifications to keep the sampling frame up-to-date d.Describe the development of surveys in general for populations of interest to the NIH including on-line surveys (it may be useful to provide examples using 3-5 mutually agreeable hypothetical policy questions as case studies to explore such details as: i.How to develop representative samples for each frame ii.Required response rates and methodology iii.Reliability of inferences about the full population iv.Stratified sampling approaches v.Developing survey instruments vi.Identifying skilled survey professionals vii.Procedures for obtaining OMB clearance and IRB approvals when necessary e.Describe actual administration of surveys f.Describe the analytical procedure and interpretation of data g.Other logistical issues surrounding use of such data to assist with timely policy development Table 1: Illustrative Constituencies (and subgroups) Students Undergraduates Graduate Students NIH supported Trainees and Fellows Postdocs NIH supported trainees and fellows Postdocs on NIH research grants All other postdocs Postdocs with foreign doctorates Faculty Level Researchers NIH Principal Investigators NIH Applicants Medical School Faculty Allied Health Professional School Faculty (Nursing, Dental, Pharmacy, Public Health, etc.) Faculty in Arts and Sciences Researchers in Small Businesses Researchers in non-Academic settings Intramural Faculty Health Care Providers Physicians Pharmacists Dentists Nurses NIH Grant Reviewers Research Administrators Institutional Officials, both academic and nonacademic NIH Staff Program Officials Grants Managers Review Officials Senior Leadership Intramural Staff Advocacy groups Professional Societies Scientific Foundations Biotech, Pharmaceutical Executives Scientists Other staff General Public Participants in clinical trials Table 2 Potential Data Sources (not exhaustive): HERI, PEQIS PEQIS, NSRCG, NIH-NSF GSS NIH TFF, NIH DLR Sigma Xi, NPA, DRF/SED NIH-NSF GSS, DRF/SED DRF/SED, NIH Administrative data: IMPAC II, CGAF, NED AAMC, ADEA, AACP NIH SBIR and STTR program data DRF/SED NIH CSR, NIH OER contact lists and listserves Higher Education Directory, OER Nexus Contact List, AAMC, ADEA NIH contact lists and listserves Disease-specific organizations, American Medical/Dental Associations, Research!America AAAS, FASEB, ASCB, SfN, AAMC, ADEA, etc. PhARMA, BIO, AdvaMed U.S. Census, Research!America Table 3 Possible Variables (not exhaustive and not applicable to all constituencies): Identifying and Contact Information Name SSN DOB Gender Race/ethnicity Research Discipline Citizenship Email address Mailing address Phone number Institutional address NIH Funding Trainee Fellow PI Co-PI Other key personnel on NIH grants SBIR Applicant Employment Type of employer (e.g., university, industry, or nonprofit) Position Status (part-time, full-time, on leave, etc.) Type of Research Basic, Clinical Translational Education Doctoral Degree Medical/Dental Degree Other degrees Specialty training Scientific Support Mechanisms Grants Contracts Cooperative agreements Scientific Support Source State Federal University Industry Foundation Type of Institution
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