SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- Mentoring and Training Support for African American Researchers and Scholars
- Notice Date
- 9/5/2013
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541690
— Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Station Support/Simplified Acquisitions, 31 Center Drive, Room 1B59, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892
- ZIP Code
- 20892
- Solicitation Number
- HHS-NIH-NIDA(SSSA)-SS-2013-3129521
- Archive Date
- 9/27/2013
- Point of Contact
- Hunter A. Tjugum, Phone: 301 435 8780
- E-Mail Address
-
hunter.tjugum@nih.gov
(hunter.tjugum@nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- This is a Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation, request for proposals (RFP), proposal abstracts, nor a request for quotations (RFQ). The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of all qualified sources that includes; (1) other than small businesses (large businesses, education institutions, non-profits, etc.); (2) small business sources; (3) HubZone small businesses; (4) service-disabled small businesses; (5) veteran-owned small businesses; (6) 8(a) small businesses; (7) veteran-owned small businesses; (8) woman-owned small businesses; (9) small disadvantaged businesses; and (10) private contractors and consultants, who can perform the requirements of the size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code as specified below. This notice is issued to help determine the availability of qualified companies technically capable of meeting the Government requirement and to determine the method of acquisition. It is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotes. No award will be made as a result of this notice. The Government will NOT be responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice. The notice is strictly for research and information purposes only. The information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a small business social-economic set-aside, competitive or non-competitive method is possible, and to determine the availability of qualified companies technically capable of meeting the Government's requirement. ALL organizations with the capability and availability to perform the requirement under the applicable NAICS code are invited to submit a response to this notice. NORTH AMERICAN CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (NAICS) CODE The NAICS code applicable to this requirement is 541690 - Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services and the associated small business size standard of $14 Million. PROJECT DESCRIPTION The mission of the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) is to lead the Nation in bringing the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addiction. This charge has two critical components. The first is the strategic support and conduct of research across a broad range of disciplines. The second is ensuring the rapid and effective dissemination and use of the results of that research to significantly improve prevention and treatment and to inform policy as it relates to drug abuse and addiction. In fulfilling its mission, since 1994 NIDA has sponsored an external African American Researchers and Scholars Workgroup (AARSWG) to advise and provide recommendations to NIDA on the needs of African Americans pursuing research careers and others who conduct research on drug abuse and addiction in African American populations. Racial and ethnic minority populations have long been underrepresented in both the social and basic sciences. To help address this issue the NIDA established the Special Populations Office (SPO), to encourage and support persons from underrepresented groups to pursue careers in substance abuse and addiction research. Underrepresented minority researchers face a number of challenges that influence their success in obtaining sponsored support from NIDA/NIH and from other federal funding agencies. A recently-commissioned NIH study found that Black applicants from 2000-2006 were 10 percentage points less likely than white applicants to be awarded NIH research project grants (Ginther, et al, 2011). Some of these challenges identified in this study as well as in previous literature include limited/poor mentoring, limited access to research resources and mentoring during training, lack of knowledge of funding opportunities and requirements, and limited resources. Furthermore, declining research funds have increased competition overall resulting in fewer funded grant applications for federal support. These factors have severely impacted NIDA's efforts to increase and retain underrepresented minority investigators conducting substance abuse and addiction research. Programs that provide research support to individual investigators have benefited investigators by increasing their involvement in the sponsored research enterprise. For several years, the AARSWG, with encouragement by the NIDA Director and the SPO, has focused its major activities on mentoring and training underrepresented minorities and others interested in substance abuse and addiction research in the African American community. In July 2008, the SPO and AARSWG sponsored a one-day community symposium that addressed understanding addiction in African Americans, and in addition, convened its inaugural multi-day research training program for early career investigators. The community symposium served to educate the public, students, health practitioners, and researchers on addiction in the black population as well as associated co-morbidities. The four-day research training program provided intensive training to selected post-doctoral fellows and new investigators from underrepresented groups pursuing sponsored research in substance abuse and addiction in African American populations. This training focused on understanding the complexities of substance abuse and addiction within the Black population, conducting research in criminal justice systems, developing research concepts, understanding the NIH research grant application and review process, and selecting the most appropriate research methodologies and statistical analyses. These activities have been the foundation of the current three-year AARSWG contract activities. The African American Researchers and Scholars Work Group, through its NIDA contract, has solidified and increased these research activities and plans to build upon them with the new contract acquisition. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have actively engaged senior research and medical faculty and administrators in activities sponsored by the AARSWG, resulting in exceptional access to research knowledge and institutional resources that otherwise might not be obtainable for new minority investigators. Ginther, DK, Schaffer, WT, Schnell, J, Masimore, B, Liu, F, Haak, LL, and Kington, R. Race, ethnicity, and NIH research awards. Science 333 (6045): 1015-1019 (2011). The purpose of this requirement is to build on NIDA's interest in supporting the AARSWG's activities that focus on training underrepresented minority investigators and others who are interested in conducting research in African American and other minority populations through continued development and support of the annual research training opportunities, as well as through dedicated grant writing activities and other African American community-based activities. Specifically, this requirement will provide: (1) Periodic conference calls between AARSWG members and NIDA staff, and between AARSWG members, NIDA staff, and participants in selected planned contract activities; (2) A comprehensive annual research training activity for early career minority investigators that will provide training and support of their career development in pursuing research careers in substance abuse and addiction research in African American populations. The offerer should consider convening a multi-day activity for this purpose; (3) An annual grant writing session that will provide a small, intensively-focused opportunity for early career investigators to prepare and finalize research grant applications (with the assistance of selective faculty) just prior to submission to NIDA/NIH; (5) An annual meeting of NIDA African American Researchers and Scholars Work Group (if desired, offerer may convene annual meeting at one of the planned AARSWG's annual early career investigator activities); (6) Establish an annual collaborative drug abuse research-related activity with other established NIDA ethnic minority workgroups; and (7) Provide annual evaluation of research training and other activities delivered through the contract. Specifically, evaluation report will contain the following: identification of participants and the specific research training activity attended; participants' status as early career investigators since participation in AARSWG activity; number of and type(s) of research grant applications actually submitted by participants, including submission date(s) and current status of; number and type (s) research grant applications in current development; any stated barriers/challenges to submissions of grant applications or further pursuit of research careers and opportunities; publication submissions, papers and posters presented at scientific meetings and conferences, stated additional technical and mentoring support needs from AARSWG-sponsored activities and from NIDA. CAPABILITY STATEMENT /INFORMATION SOUGHT Interested parties are expected to review this notice to familiarize itself with the requirements of this project. Failure to do so will be at your firm's own risk. Respondents must provide, as part of their responses, clear and convincing documentation of their capability of providing the services specified in this notice Respondents must provide a general overview of the respondents' opinions about the difficulty and /or feasibility of the potential requirement, and any information regarding innovative ideas or concepts. Also, information must be provided in sufficient details of the respondents' (a) staff expertise, including their availability, experience, and formal and other training; (b) current in-house capability and capacity to perform the work; (c) prior completed projects of similar nature; (d) corporate experience and management capability; and (e) examples of prior completed Government contracts, references, and other related information. The respondent must also provide their DUNS number, organization name, address, point of contact, and size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HubZone, etc.) pursuant to the applicable NAICS code and any other information that may be helpful in developing or finalizing the acquisition requirements. All responses to this sources sought notice must be submitted electronically (via email) to Hunter Tjugum, Contract Specialist @ Hunter.Tjugum@nih.gov on or before September 12, 2013, 4:30 p.m. eastern time. Facsimile responses will be accepted at 301-480-1358. The response must be in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format using 11-point or 12-point font, 8-1/2" x 11" paper size, with 1" top, bottom, left and right margins, and with single or double spacing. CONCLUDING STATEMENTS 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).
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