SOLICITATION NOTICE
B -- Services to design and implement a pilot program to monitor the availability of new oral tobacco products under the Tobacco Surveillance, Epidemiology and Evaluation Network (TSEEN)
- Notice Date
- 9/3/2009
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- NAICS
- 541690
— Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Office of Acquisitions, 6120 Executive Blvd., EPS Suite 600, Rockville, Maryland, 20852
- ZIP Code
- 20852
- Solicitation Number
- NCI-90242-AV
- Archive Date
- 10/3/2009
- Point of Contact
- Ashley L. Virts,
- E-Mail Address
-
virtsa@mail.nih.gov
(virtsa@mail.nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The National Cancer Institute (NCI), Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS), Behavioral Research Program (BRP), Tobacco Control Research Branch (TCRB) plans to procure on a sole source basis services to design and implement a pilot program to monitor the availability of new oral tobacco products under the Tobacco Surveillance, Epidemiology and Evaluation Network (TSEEN) with the University of Massachusetts, Center for Survey Research, 100 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, MA 02125. The services herein are being procured in accordance with the simplified acquisition procedures authorized by FAR Part 13. The North American Industry Classification System Code is 541690 and the business size standard is $7M. The period of performance shall be twelve (12) months from date of award. The Tobacco Control Research Program (TCRB) within the Behavioral Research Program (BRP) manages research grants related to the prevention, treatment, and control of tobacco use. The TSEEN network is important to the mission of TCRB because it strengthens the national capacity to monitor tobacco use behavior, tobacco products, pro-tobacco forces, and environmental influences on tobacco use. The goal of this network is to improve the national tobacco surveillance system and thereby strengthen the nation's system for monitoring and understanding factors that impact morbidity and mortality from tobacco use. In particular, there is little monitoring of new tobacco products and of industry strategies to advertise, promote, and market these new products. To this end, the TSEEN was set up over five years ago and has focused on vector surveillance (pro-tobacco forces) activities. TSEEN has already made good progress understanding the dynamics of the evolving tobacco marketplace and in demonstrating the value of standard protocols and units of measure to effective collaboration among research groups. Adding a component to TSEEN to study the availability and advertising, promotion, and marketing of low nitrosamine smokeless and spitless tobacco products is an important first step in gauging their use and their potential adverse health impact nationwide. The purpose of this project is to continue the work of the TSEEN in this area. Specifically, the contractor shall design and implement a pilot program to use the internet to monitor the availability of new oral tobacco products and the strategies being used by the tobacco industry to advertise, promote, and market these new products. A web-based network will be set up to achieve these goals. The contractor shall also identify additional content of relevance to the broader TSEEN and post this content on an existing website (the website shall be populated with content items such as tobacco survey instrumentation/questionnaires; and standardized measures along with data on their psychometric properties (reliability and validity)). The contractor shall disseminate project activities and results by publishing 1-2 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, presenting talks at one professional meeting, and conducting 1-2 webcasts with tobacco control professionals. The University of Massachusetts houses the Center for Survey Research (CSR), one of the leading such centers in the United States. This Center is unique in that it is a leading expert on both survey methodology and smokeless tobacco products. It is critical that the contractor be familiar with, and has an understanding of the tobacco industry and its marketing strategies. The University's CSR and its staff are highly qualified in this area, having been involved in the research for over 20 years and the network itself for 5 of those years. The Center, working under the direction of Dr. Lois Biener, directed the TSEEN network which has made excellent progress in studying new oral tobacco products and the advertising, promotion, and marketing strategies used by the industry to sell these products. The Center for Survey Research is the only entity which has enough familiarity with the TSEEN network and its operation to satisfactorily conduct this research. Additionally, the University of Massachusetts, Center for Survey Research is the only entity which has access to the Network and its data, making it uniquely qualified to perform this work. The Center is expert at designing and conducting online data collection efforts such as those described in this statement of work and in obtaining high response rates for research of this nature. The TSEEN has now been in existence for five years and has been led by Dr. Biener and the CSR team since its inception. The Center for Survey Research has led numerous demonstration projects (including the development and testing of new monitoring methods) related to the introduction of new spitless tobacco products as exemplars of tobacco industry activities to be monitored. Because the Center for Survey Research at the University of Massachusetts has designed and operated the TSEEN network since its inception and is the only entity with access to these data, it is uniquely qualified to conduct this research. This is not a request for competitive quotation. However, if any interested party believes it can meet the above requirement, it may submit a statement of capabilities. The statement of capabilities and any other information furnished must be in writing and must contain material in sufficient detail to allow the NCI to determine if the party can meet this requirement. One (1) original and one (1) copy of the capability statement must be received in the contracting office by 11:00 a.m. ET on September 18, 2009. All questions must be in writing and can be faxed to 301-402-4513 or sent via email to Ashley Virts at virtsa@mail.nih.gov. It is the vendor's responsibility to ensure questions have been received. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed requirement based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. No collect calls will be accepted. In order to receive an award, contractor must have valid registration and certification in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) and the Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA). Please reference NCI-90242-AV on all correspondence.
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