SOURCES SOUGHT
U -- Mississippi Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) African American Outreach Project
- Notice Date
- 5/20/2009
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 611710
— Educational Support Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Contracts Management Branch, 6100 Executive Blvd., Suite 7A07, MSC7510, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892-7510
- ZIP Code
- 20892-7510
- Solicitation Number
- NIH-NICHD-09-17
- Archive Date
- 6/13/2009
- Point of Contact
- Carol T. Rimel, Phone: 301-443-7792, Marlene T. Mireles, Phone: 301-443-7795
- E-Mail Address
-
rimelc@mail.nih.gov, mirelesm@mail.nih.gov
(rimelc@mail.nih.gov, mirelesm@mail.nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE to determine the availability and capability of potential sources (including certified 8(a), Small Disadvantaged, and HUBZone firms; veteran and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, and women-owned small businesses). This notice is for planning purposes only, and does not constitute an Invitation for Bids, a Request for Proposals, Solicitation, Request for Quotes, or an indication the Government will contract for the items contained herein. This notice is not to be construed as a commitment on the part of the Government to award a contract, nor does the Government intend to pay for any information submitted as a result of this notice. The Government does not reimburse respondents for any cost associated with submission of the information being requested or reimburse expenses incurred to interested parties for responses to this sources sought. Any responses received will not be used as a proposal. The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH) is seeking to identify any sources with strong relationships and resources with the state government of Mississippi and the capabilities or prior experience in education and training services, which include curriculum development and maintenance, research program development, program evaluation, and instruction to support and further this SIDS project. STATMENT OF WORK: I. Background The national Back to Sleep public health education campaign was launched in 1994 after the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended back sleeping as the safest sleep position for infants under one year of age to reduce the incidence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). The campaign promotes placing babies on their backs to sleep and is led by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institutes of Child-Health and Human Development (NICHD) in collaboration with the campaign sponsors: Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), the AAP, First Candle/SIDS Alliance, and the Association of SIDS and Infant Mortality Programs (ASIP). Since the launch of the campaign, the SIDS rate has continued to drop. However, despite the overall success of the campaign, the SIDS rate in African American infants is still two times higher than in white infants. Several studies have shown that African American infants are placed on their stomachs to sleep more often than other infants. Stomach sleeping is a major risk factor for SIDS. The NICHD, HRSA/MCHB, and partner organizations developed the Resource Kit for Reducing the Risk of SIDS in African American Communities to help organizations initiate SIDS risk-reduction programs in their local serving communities. Many projects emerged for the African American outreach initiative as a result of the focused effort put forth by partners to reduce the risk of SIDS. These projects have included health fairs throughout the state of Mississippi, trainings in churches and community health forums, the Mississippi statewide October SIDS Awareness month and partnerships with the Mississippi SIDS Alliance and Mississippi Department of Health. “The Mississippi SIDS African American Outreach Project” intends to continue to build strategic alliances of service organizations and their community affiliates, research scientists, and public health and elected officials to achieve specific, measurable health objectives by diffusing evidence-based SIDS risk-reduction information to communities across the state. NICHD intends to grow its outreach efforts by building upon the infrastructure of the project to capitalize on the relationship with the State of Mississippi and preferably a state-supported Historically Black College/University (HBCU) in the Jackson area. II. Purpose and Objectives The purpose of this project is to expand and improve coordination and delivery of SIDS risk-reduction information to pregnant and parenting women, their families, and other care givers of infants younger than 1 year of age in the state of Mississippi; to educate and involve the community in an all-out effort to improve outcomes; and to enhance collaboration and build community-academic partnerships that will enable the expansion of both training opportunities for health educators/students and community participation in health outreach projects. III. Scope of Work/Tasks to be Performed and/or Delivered Below outlines the associated responsibilities and tasks: 1) Coordinate a trans-departmental symposium, bringing academicians from public health, communications, and social work to discuss the project’s outcomes and ways to facilitate better education and training efforts based on evidence-based research; 2) Ensure training opportunities at project events/meetings for public health faculty and students to develop and enhance the health education skills needed to undertake minority community research projects; 3) Work with the Mississippi SIDS Alliance, Mississippi Department of Health, and other local organizations to promote the use of African American SIDS risk-reduction materials including the Resource Kit for Reducing the Risk of SIDS in African American communities; 4) Use its strong relationships and resources with the African-American communities (statewide but very critical in the Jackson region) and the Mississippi Department of Health to encourage coalition building and coordination of outreach activities with the Mississippi SIDS Alliance; 5) Provide management, communication, and planning support for training and education related activities including meetings, conference calls, and other pertinent written materials; 6) Prior experience in offering awards to grantees (or financially support the grantees) in their SIDS risk-reduction activities in the nine health districts. Organizations requesting support must submit a brief proposal for their activities that the Contractor shall review with the PO; final approval for support will be given by the PO; 7) Assist grantees with the identification and implementation of effective ways to reach African American communities in Mississippi with the SIDS risk-reduction messages within the nine health districts; 8) In collaboration with partners and the Mississippi Department of Health establish which health districts may be a priority for the training sessions by determining where the highest SIDS rates are in the state; 9) Devise and carry out a plan for nine train-the-trainer workshops (one in each health district) with up to 35 participants each including SIDS Coordinators, Healthy Start program staff, counselors, social workers, health care providers, outreach workers, faith-based leaders, etc. describing facilities, equipment, services and supplies needed to conduct training sessions; 10) Conduct a minimum of one train-the-trainer sessions per health district for those working in the area of reducing infant mortality as well as those working in support services (SIDS coordinators, counselors, social workers, health care providers, coroners, medical examiners, law enforcement, etc.) and ensuring that the Back to Sleep campaign messages remain consistent as a means to strengthen outreach efforts throughout the state, for a total of nine per contract year; 11) Work with the Mississippi Coroner’s Medical Examiner’s Association to establish a continuing education program for county coroners using the Back to Sleep training kits. The Contractor shall conduct up to two to three trainings during one week out of the month every three months totaling 12; 12) Possess the necessary resources and facilities to conduct additional training based on need and request from organizations at the discretion of PO; 13) Provide post-training technical assistance and training support on SIDS risk-reduction to grantees that will be conducting outreach activities within the nine health districts; 14) Develop and distribute evaluation forms, collect them and provide a summary of the evaluations in the training session’s report and periodically make contact with trained participants as a follow up to outreach activities held in various health districts; 15) Provide assistance to grantees to conduct between one to four community SIDS risk-reduction outreach activities in each of the nine health districts and document activities on the tracking form; 16) Plan and hold two grant recipient meetings per contract year at the beginning and mid-year of the contract cycle as a follow-up to discuss outreach efforts, progress of project, challenges, successes, ways to improve training and education efforts, and next steps; 17) Responsible for on-site management and coordination responsibilities at each of the training locations; and 20) Devise and carry out a plan of activities for each October, SIDS Awareness Month, collaborating with partner organizations and other local interest groups. Activities could include, but not be limited to the following: holding SIDS Sunday events in local churches, running PSAs or interviews with NICHD and other state leadership about infant mortality, and conducting outreach activities in addition to those in the nine health districts. IV. Performance Summary The period of performance for this contract is anticipated to be 12 months from the effective date of the contract with two option years. Performance for this project shall be performed in Mississippi and strong relations to the African American community are highly preferred. CAPABILITY STATEMENT INSTRUCTIONS Businesses are encouraged to respond if they have the capability and capacity to provide the identified services with little or no disruption of services to the expanding efforts of the project and relationship with the community. Interested small business potential offerors are encouraged to respond to this notice. However, be advised that generic capability statements are not sufficient for effective evaluation of respondents' capacity and capability to perform the specific work as required. Responses must directly demonstrate the company's capability, experience, and/or ability to marshal resources to effectively and efficiently perform each of the tasks described above at a sufficient level of detail to allow definitive numerical evaluation; and evidence that the contractor can satisfy the minimum requirements listed above while in compliance with FAR 52.219-14 ("Limitations on Subcontracting"). Failure to definitively address each of these factors will result in a finding that respondent lacks capability to perform the work. Interested offerors should submit their capability statement not exceeding twenty (20) pages in length, excluding standard brochures. All statements shall include the following information: 1. Company name, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone and fax numbers, website address (if available), and the name, telephone number, and e-mail address of a point of contact having the authority and knowledge to clarify responses with Government representatives. 2. Name, title, telephone number, and e-mail addresses of individuals who can verify the demonstrated capabilities identified in the responses. 3. Business size for NAICS 611710 with size limitation standards of $7.0M and status. If qualified as an 8(a) firm (must be certified by the Small Business Administration (SBA), Small Disadvantaged Business (must be certified by SBA), Woman-Owned Small Business, HUBZone firm (must be certified by SBA), and/or Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (must be listed in the VetBiz Vendor Information Pages), please submit copies of any documentation, such as letters or certificates to indicate the firm's status. 4. DUNS number, CAGE Code, Tax Identification Number (TIN), and company structure (Corporation, LLC, partnership, joint venture, etc). Companies also must be registered in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) at www.ccr.gov to be considered as potential sources. Teaming arrangements are acceptable, and the information required above on the company responding to this announcement shall also be provided for each entity expected to be teammates of the respondent for performance of this work. To the maximum extent possible, please submit non-proprietary information. Any proprietary information submitted should be identified as such and will be properly protected from disclosure. SUBMISSIONS ARE DUE no later than 3:00pm, Eastern Time, Friday, May 29, 2009. The capabilities response shall be sent to Ms. Carol Rimel, Contract Specialist at NICHD/NIH 6100 Executive Blvd., Suite 5ZOO, Rockville, MD, 20892. All information received in response to this notice that is marked Proprietary will be handled accordingly. Responses to the notice will not be returned, nor will there be any ensuing discussions or debriefings of any responses. Information provided in response to this notice will be used to assess alternatives available for determining how to proceed in the acquisition process. This notice is part of Government Market Research, a continuous process for obtaining the latest information on the commercial status of the industry with respect to their current and near-term abilities. The information provided herein is subject to change and in no way binds the Government to solicit for or award a competitive contract. The NICHD will use the information submitted in response to this notice at its discretion and will not provide comments to any submission; however, the content of any responses to this notice may be reflected in subsequent solicitation. NICHD reserves the right to contact any respondent to this notice for the sole purpose of enhancing NICHD's understanding of the notice submission. This announcement is Government market research, and may result in revisions in both its requirements and its acquisition strategy based on industry responses. It is emphasized that this is a notice for planning and information purposes only and is not be construed as a commitment by the government to enter into a contractual agreement, nor will the government pay for information solicited.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/HHS/NIH/NICHD/NIH-NICHD-09-17/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Jackson, MS, United States
- Record
- SN01824193-W 20090522/090521005704-90b9e7f4903f8facbe2370996b1aa63b (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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