SOURCES SOUGHT
B -- NIDA ODHD Underrepresented Minority Investigator Recruitment
- Notice Date
- 12/17/2013
- 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-14-019
- Archive Date
- 1/17/2014
- Point of Contact
- John Flannery, Phone: 301 435 8782
- E-Mail Address
-
flanneryje@mail.nih.gov
(flanneryje@mail.nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Contracting Office Address: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Station Support/Simplified Acquisitions Branch, 31 Center Drive, Room 1B59 Bethesda, MD 20892. Introduction: This is a Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. 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 $14.0 million dollars. Background Information: Racial and ethnic minority populations, including African Americans, American Indian/Alaska Natives, Asian American/Pacific Islanders and Hispanics, have long been underrepresented in biomedical and clinical research. Underrepresented minority researchers face a number of challenges that influence their success in obtaining funded research 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 the 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 research funding opportunities and requirements, and limited resources. Furthermore, a decline in research funding has led to increased competition overall resulting in fewer funded grant applications for federal support. These factors have severely impacted NIDA's efforts to increase and retain independent underrepresented minority investigators conducting substance abuse and addiction research. Project Description: The Office of Diversity and Health Disparities (ODHD), Office of the Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), seeks input from established organizations or institutions on new and innovative activities and/or efforts that will effectively increase NIDA's recruitment and retention of independent funded investigators from racial and ethnic minority populations, including African Americans, American Indian/Alaska Natives, Asian American/Pacific Islanders and Hispanics into the area of substance abuse research. This sources sought notice is intended to solicit organizations and or institutions for a description of innovative activities and/or efforts to improve NIDA's recruitment and retention of independent funded investigators from all racial and ethnic underrepresented minority populations, including African Americans, American Indian/Alaska Natives, Asian American/Pacific Islanders and Hispanics into substance abuse research. Activities may include mentoring and research development programs, career development activities for early-stage investigators or assistant professors which will lead to independent grant support, or other programs which have a proven track record of success in training and developing underrepresented minorities in research careers. Information on how activities and programs will be tracked, reported, and evaluated should be included as well as details on the evaluation, success rates and documenting practices of past career development programs. Respondents should demonstrate their ability to attract each of these different population groups, sensitivity to each group's unique needs and challenges, and knowledge of health disparities research as it relates to each population. Additionally, information is sought on evaluating the current body of research and providing recommendations on gap areas requiring additional attention, as it relates to substance abuse/addiction health disparities research for each population. For example, there are differences in the consequences of drug use for racial/ethnic minorities, which creates a need to better understand the unique prevention, treatment, and health services needs of these communities through health disparities research. Understanding differences in the mechanisms of action and pharmacological effects of drugs of abuse is vital to treating different populations. Deliverables may include literature reviews or manuscripts documenting the current state of substance abuse research and/or gap areas as it relates to health disparities research, posters and/or presentations at scientific meetings, or other reports that detail and document the areas additional efforts are needed to address the specific needs of different racial or ethnic populations may be proposed. Capability Statement: Contractors that believe they possess the capabilities necessary to undertake this work should submit complete documentation of their capabilities to the Contracting Officer. The capability statement must specifically address the project requirement. The capability statement should include 1) the contractor's business size, socioeconomic status, and/or the total number of employees, 2) a demonstration of the contractor's ability to advertise and recruit appropriate populations at the national level, 3) a documented track record for training the desired populations, 4) a demonstration of the means to evaluate the contractor's activities, and have outcomes to demonstrate that they have made significant progress toward increasing the number of funded underrepresented minority scientists, 5) a demonstration of the contractor's ability to recruit and train all populations of underrepresented scientists, 6) staff expertise, including their availability, experience, and formal and other training, 7) examples of prior completed projects of similar nature and 8) any other information considered relevant to this program. The capability statement must not exceed 15 single sided pages in length and using a 12-point font size minimum. Interested organizations are required to identify their size standards in accordance with the Small Business Administration. The Government requests that no proprietary or confidential business data be submitted in a response to this notice. However, responses that indicate the information therein is proprietary will be properly safeguarded for Government use only. Capability statements must include the name and telephone number of a point of contact having authority and knowledge to discuss responses with Government representatives. Capability statements in response to this market survey that do not provide sufficient information for evaluation will be considered non-responsive. When submitting this information, please reference the solicitation notice number. All capability statements sent in response to this Sources Sought Notice must be submitted electronically (via email) to John Flannery (flanneryje@mail.nih.gov), Contracting Officer, in MS Word format no later than January 2, 2014, at 11:00AM EST. All responses must be received by the specified due date and time in order to be considered. Concluding Statement: This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in the response. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your 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 reviewed of the responses received, pre-solicitation and solicitation notices may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. The solicitation release date is pending.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/HHS/NIH/NIDA-2/HHS-NIH-NIDA(SSSA)-SS-14-019/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: 6001 Executive Blvd, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, United States
- Zip Code: 20892
- Zip Code: 20892
- Record
- SN03253326-W 20131219/131217235136-0c77526a256c832f08d82be1baaa1b52 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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