SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- The Patient Safety Organization Privacy Protection Center (PSOPPC)
- Notice Date
- 11/2/2011
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541990
— All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Contracts Management, 540 Gaither Road, Rockville, Maryland, 20850
- ZIP Code
- 20850
- Solicitation Number
- HHS-AHRQ-SS-12-005
- Archive Date
- 12/6/2011
- Point of Contact
- Kathry W. Carr, Phone: 301 427-1151, Jessica Alderton, Phone: 301 427-1783
- E-Mail Address
-
kathryn.carr@ahrq.hhs.gov, jessica.alderton@ahrq.hhs.gov
(kathryn.carr@ahrq.hhs.gov, jessica.alderton@ahrq.hhs.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Introduction: This is a Small Business Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources; (2) whether they are small businesses; HUBZone small businesses; service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice." Background: The Agency for Health Care Policy and Research was established in 1989. Its reauthorizing legislation (42 U.S.C. 299 et seq; "Healthcare Research and Quality Act of 1999") renamed it the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and established it as the lead Federal agency whose mission was to enhance the quality, appropriateness, and effectiveness of health services and access to such services for all Americans. AHRQ's mission is to produce "measurable improvements in health care in America, gauged in terms of improved quality of life and patient outcomes, lives saved, and value gained for what we spend." Under the Healthcare Research and Quality Act of 1999 (S 580), which reauthorized AHRQ, AHRQ's reauthorizing legislation stated that, "The Agency shall promote health care quality improvement by conducting and supporting- (1) research that develops and presents scientific evidence regarding all aspects of health care, including- (2) methods for measuring quality and strategies for improving quality; and (3) initiatives to advance private and public efforts to improve health care quality." (cite http://www.ahrq.gov/hrqa99a.htm) To achieve its mission, the Agency conducts and supports a broad base of scientific research and promotes improvements in clinical and health system practices, including the prevention of diseases and other health conditions. AHRQ sponsors and conducts research that develops and presents evidence-based information on healthcare outcomes, quality, comparative effectiveness, patient safety, cost, use and access. Included in AHRQ's mandate is support of the generation, synthesis, and dissemination of scientific evidence, including effectiveness research and analytic methods. In particular, AHRQ was designated by the Secretary to implement and administer the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act. The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 (Patient Safety Act), and its regulations (the Patient Safety Rule) authorized the creation of Patient Safety Organizations (PSOs), which collect, aggregate, and analyze confidential and privileged information regarding the quality and safety of healthcare. The goals of the Patient Safety Act are to encourage the expansion of voluntary, provider-driven initiatives to improve the quality and safety of health care; to promote rapid learning about the underlying causes of risks and harms in the delivery of health care; and, to share those findings widely, thus, speeding the pace of improvement. The Patient Safety Act also authorizes the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to facilitate the development of a Network of Patient Safety Databases (NPSD), to which PSOs can voluntarily contribute non-identifiable patient safety event information. The NPSD will receive and report on non-identifiable, aggregated patient safety event information which will be included in AHRQ's annual National Healthcare Quality Report and National Healthcare Disparities Report (NHQR and NHDR). AHRQ understood the complexity of ensuring that information submitted to the NPSD was non-identifiable and the costs associated with adherence to the confidentiality provisions of the Patient Safety Rule. Therefore, AHRQ established the PSO Privacy Protection Center (PSOPPC) to assist PSOs and others with meeting the requirement that patient safety event information be made non-identifiable prior to sending to the NPSD. The PSOPPC will receive patient safety information in a standardized format (AHRQ Common Formats) and render it non-identifiable before transmitting it safely and efficiently to the NPSD. The Patient Safety Rule requires PSOs, to the extent practical and appropriate, to collect patient safety event data from providers in a standardized manner. AHRQ's common definitions, data elements, and reporting formats are known as Common Formats. The PSOPPC only accepts data represented as AHRQ's Common Formats. The PSO also delivers technical assistance to PSOs on the use of AHRQ's Common Formats. The Common Formats include event descriptions, specifications for patient safety aggregate reports, delineation of data elements to be collected for different types of events, and technical specifications for electronic data collection and reporting. The technical specifications promote standardization of collected patient safety event information by stipulating rules for data collection and submission. The PSOPPC maintains the Common Formats and the technical specifications. The Common Formats and the associated technical specifications are available on the PSOPPC Web Site (www.psoppc.org). Purpose and Objectives: The main requirement of this contract is to provide guidance to PSOs with using the Common Formats and rendering patient safety event information non-identifiable. The PSOPPC will contract with PSOs to receive patient safety and quality data and to render patient safety work product non-identifiable and compliant with requirements of the Patient Safety Rule (Section 3.212), then transferring the data securely and efficiently to the NPSD. Specific objectives of this contract are to: 1 Maintain PSOPPC operations 2 Develop and maintain PSO PPC website and databases for receipt, analysis, and development of non-identifiable data, archive, storage, and access to data by PSOs 3 Receive information on patient safety events from PSOs 4 Apply protocols for rendering patient safety events non-identifiable 5 Transfer non-identifiable information of patient safety events to the NPSD 6 Provide technical assistance to PSOs, including training 7 Coordinate and conduct the PSO Annual Meeting, AHRQ Common Formats Software Developer's Meeting and PSO Quarterly Conference Calls Firms should have the capability to develop large scale databases for patient safety and healthcare quality data; experience with development of standardized definitions, data elements and reporting formats for patient safety event reporting; statistical analysis expertise in non-identification methods; logistical support for meetings of up to 300 attendees; and the ability to receive, process, and maintain data at FIPS category moderate. Project Requirements: AHRQ is seeking qualified firms able to optimize their technical and management resources, creativity and flexibility to achieve Agency goals. Qualified firms must demonstrate substantial experience with development of large scale databases for patient safety and healthcare quality data; development of standardized definitions, data elements and reporting formats for patient safety event reporting; statistical analysis expertise in non-identification methods; logistical support for meetings of up to 300 attendees; and the ability to receive, process, and maintain data at FIPS category moderate. Organizations that work at the national, state, regional, local or provider levels and who are engaged in these tasks are encouraged to participate in this offering. Minimum qualifications include: • A minimum of 10 years' experience working in patient safety and quality data analysis. • Demonstrated evidence of a minimum of 10 years experience in development, maintenance, and use of large databases adhering to Federal IT security standards. • Project leadership with advanced degrees such as an MD, PhD, MBA, MPH, advanced nursing or pharmacy degrees with a minimum of 10 years' experience in the development, implementation, of national healthcare quality and patient safety databases. • Staff specialized in statistical de-identification and data suppression techniques with at least 10 years experience with using these techniques with large scale databases. • Corporate experience with healthcare quality and patient safety initiatives citing a minimum of 8-10 projects over the past 10 years with evidence of knowledge, experience and infrastructure related to health care quality and patient safety related activities. • Corporate expertise in the following competency areas: analytic data capacity; statistical, methodological and healthcare quality and patient safety measurement expertise, managing subcontracts and consultants, and writing user-friendly, technically accurate reports and documentation. Anticipated period of Performance: One base year starting approximately in July of 2012, and four 12 month option periods. Capability statement: The capability statement should demonstrate the organization's ability to achieve the above stated requirements. Sources must possess, or be able to obtain the staff and other resources needed to expeditiously carry out the different types of activities listed above. Capability statements (limit of 15 numbered pages) must describe the ability to meet the above requirements and provide references for similar work of equivalent scale and complexity that the offeror has performed, or is currently performing, and the dollar value of that work, and must be submitted to Kathryn Carr at kathryncarr@ahrq.hhs.gov by 12 Noon, November 21, 2011. Please CLEARLY INDICATE IN THE FRONT COVER OF THE CAPABILITY STATEMENT, the responding entity's DUNS number, organization name, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, email addresses, point of contact, and size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HUBZone, etc) pursuant to the applicable NAICS code. The information should be provided electronically in Microsoft Word, 11pt. double-spaced format. Disclaimer and Important Notes: This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. Confidentiality: No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s)."
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/HHS/AHRQ/DCM/HHS-AHRQ-SS-12-005/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: 540 Gaither Road, Rockville, Maryland, 20850, United States
- Zip Code: 20850
- Zip Code: 20850
- Record
- SN02616865-W 20111104/111102234540-531c817a268eb617f3efd6b3c6b19b1f (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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