SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- Predictive Validity of DEC Tests
- Notice Date
- 11/13/2009
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541720
— Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities
- Contracting Office
- Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration HQ, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, District of Columbia, 20590
- ZIP Code
- 20590
- Solicitation Number
- 2010-0004
- Archive Date
- 12/17/2009
- Point of Contact
- Lloyd S. Blackwell, Phone: 202-366-9564
- E-Mail Address
-
lloyd.blackwell@nhtsa.dot.gov
(lloyd.blackwell@nhtsa.dot.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- This Sources Sought Notice is for planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The purpose of this Notice is to identify potential sources that may be interested in and capable of performing the work described herein. NHTSA welcomes Corporate Capability Statements from all individuals and organizations. NHTSA does not intend to award a contract on the basis of responses nor otherwise pay for the preparation of any information submitted or NHTSA’s use of such information. Acknowledgement of receipt of responses will not be made, nor will respondents be notified of NHTSA’s evaluation of the information received. As a result of this Notice, NHTSA may issue a Request for Proposals (RFP). However, should such a request fail to materialize, no basis for claims against NHTSA shall arise as a result of a response to this Notice. Scope: The U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Office of Behavioral Safety Research (OBSR) directs a national behavioral research, test, demonstration, and technology development program to build a scientific information base supporting the development and implementation of programs to prevent or reduce unsafe behaviors of road users and to promote safe driving behaviors. Research areas include: alcohol-impaired driving, drug-impaired driving, non-use of occupant protection restraints, speeding and unsafe driving behaviors, pedestrian safety, motorcyclist safety, novice drivers, older drivers, driver education and training, enforcement, prosecution and judicial services, and emergency medical services. The Office of Behavioral Safety Research conducts research in the development of promising countermeasure programs to determine effectiveness and evaluates selected State and local countermeasure programs and NHTSA demonstration programs aimed at reducing or eliminating unsafe actions and crash-generating situations. Examples of these studies can be found at: http://ntlsearch.bts.gov/tris/ntlc/nhtsa/index.shtm. Research investigating the impairing effects of various drugs on a driver’s ability to safely operate his/her car have not provided definitive outcomes. Law enforcement officers who are certified as Drug Recognition Experts (DREs) are trained to utilize a variety of readily observable signs and symptoms that are accepted in the medical community as reliable indicators of drug influence. The program enables officers to determine whether a suspect is under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs; and if so, the DRE combines basic medical knowledge about drug pharmacodynamics with the administration of psychomotor tests to determine the category of drugs. This form of training is costly in time (it is a 9-day course) and resources. The evaluation is very extensive, and therefore time-consuming for the officer. The DRE collects information on the suspect’s current condition, a brief medical history, and also assesses the suspect’s pulse, blood pressure, body temperature, pupil size and reaction to light, and psychomotor function. The DRE also examines the suspect’s visual tracking, visual convergence, smooth pursuit and Horizontal and Vertical Gaze Nystagmus (HGN and VGN, respectively). This information is documented consistently on a form, the Drug Influence Evaluation (DIE) “Face Sheet”, by all DREs. Using the DIE, the DRE captures about 60 different elements, in numerical, pictorial and narrative form. The DRE also summarizes his or her account of the evaluation in a descriptive statement. Based on the information gathered, the DRE determines whether the subject is under the influence of drugs, the specific category of drugs, and requests that the suspect provide a biological specimen for confirmation. There has been no systematic investigation of whether it is necessary for the DREs to collect all of the information or whether a core set of the measures is more directly relevant. In order to determine the most efficient approach to assessing drivers for recent drug use, it is imperative to ascertain the most critical elements needed to perform the evaluation. Therefore, the OBSR is interested in conducting a study to collect and code all the information found on a large sample of DIE data sheets to determine which combination(s) of elements coalesce to predict the toxicology-confirmed results of the evaluation. The objectives of this study are to: (a)gather a sample of DIE Face Sheets from several Law Enforcement Agencies that participate in the DEC Program along with the corresponding toxicological test results based on blood samples; (b)code the numerical, pictorial, and narrative information found on the data sheets and the confirmation results, and create a database of measures from the sample; and (c)analyze the data to identify groups of interrelated variables to see how they are correlated to each other and the drug class confirmed by blood samples. Capability The corporate capability statement is expected to address the capabilities required to support the Scope section above. The Offerors should have: (a)experience in research methodology and design; (b)experience making contacts to obtain local, state, and federal data; (c)experience working with Institutional Review Boards; (d)experience in obtaining traffic safety data, including archival and observational data (e.g., DWI arrest records; enforcement activity; police stops; license suspense records; seat belt observations; speed measurement; underage drinking behavior; public attitudes concerning laws, sanctions, or traffic safety programs; public awareness of enforcement programs; crash and fatality data); (e)experience with and knowledge of research on the incidence of drug use/abuse, the impairing effects of alcohol and other drugs, and the impact of drug use on driving; (f)experience with statistical analyses (especially multivariate analyses and statistical modeling), using the types of data noted above; (g)experience with drawing appropriate conclusions based on available data, and ability to describe study limitations; (h)experience working with Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and other confidential materials; and (i)report writing that is appropriate for both researchers and non-researchers. Format of Corporate Capabilities Statement: Any interested organizations should submit the Corporate Capability Statement which demonstrates the Offeror’s ability, in no more than 10 pages, to perform the key requirements described above. All proprietary information should be marked as such. All respondents are asked to indicate the type and size of their business organization, for example, Large Business, Small Business, Small Disadvantaged Business, Women-Owned-Business, 8(A), Historically Black College or University/Minority Institution (HBCU/MI), educational institution, profit/non-profit organization, in their response. Interested Offerors shall respond to this Sources Sought Notice no later than 15 calendar days from date of posting. E-mail is the preferred method when receiving responses to this Notice.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOT/NHTSA/NHTSAHQ/2010-0004/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Washington, District of Columbia, United States
- Record
- SN02003626-W 20091115/091113235935-beeb933dc645e12408a8f09d88240ca1 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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