MODIFICATION
R -- Health Literacy Tool Shed
- Notice Date
- 3/28/2014
- Notice Type
- Modification/Amendment
- NAICS
- 541990
— All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, 6707 Democracy Blvd., Suite 105, Bethesda, Maryland, 20894, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20894
- Solicitation Number
- RFQ_NIHLM2014039SRE
- Archive Date
- 4/16/2014
- Point of Contact
- Sheila R. Edmonds, Phone: 3014966546
- E-Mail Address
-
sheila.edmonds@nih.gov
(sheila.edmonds@nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- AMENDMENT #1: This amendment is to extend the electronic proposal submission response deadline to no later than 2:00 P.M. EST on Monday, April 7, 2014. *************************************************** This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. This solicitation is being issued as Request for Quotations (RFQ) NIHLM2014039SRE. The resultant order will be a firm-fixed price purchase order. In accordance with FAR Parts 12 and 13, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Library of Medicine (NLM) intends to procure professional services to develop and maintain a Health Literacy Tool Shed educational and outreach website to create a unique resource center to support health literacy researchers and enhance the quality of national and international health literacy research. This acquisition is Full and Open. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code is 541990-All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services. Background Health literacy has become a well-established area of study. The National Library of Medicine (NLM) has a health literacy working group that coordinates NLM's work with similar working groups administered by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) also has an active health literacy interest group among its membership. The Health Literacy Tool Shed, a one-stop (Internet-based) location, will create an arena where researchers can obtain many of the quantitative tools needed to conduct and improve the methodological quality of health literacy research. The Health Literacy Tool Shed represents a service that provides outreach to health literacy professionals. For the first time, researchers and practitioners will be able to find many of the available constructs and quantitative tools used to measure health literacy in clinical, public health, and health campaign intervention research. Although the project's beneficiaries are health literacy researchers and practitioners, the project is designed to create a needed educational resource. The Health Literacy Tool Shed will organize constructs, measures, and instruments that are currently scattered across an array of health literacy research. There is no current resource where practitioners and researchers can consult what health literacy measurement measures, constructs, and instruments are best suited to a planned project. Since there is no repository for researchers, clinicians, and practitioners to retrieve detailed information on health literacy assessment instruments, this foundational gap inhibits the field's development as a coherent body of knowledge and practice. The end of methodological fragmentation in the health literacy field (and the availability of a website to find the best instruments for specific projects) also will assist NLM's future health literacy research and help make NLM a leader in health literacy research and practice. The Health Literacy Tool Shed will be a unique educational resource. While this type of resource often is touted by health literacy researchers and practitioners, currently the proposed educational resource does not exist nor is a similar resource under construction elsewhere. Purpose/Objective This Health Literacy Tool Shed educational and outreach project creates a unique resource center to support health literacy researchers and enhance the quality of national and international health literacy research. While the project's beneficiaries are health literacy researchers and practitioners, the current project creates an educational resource that provides outreach to a research community as well as a topic of interest to the NLM. The project will create a one-stop website, where researchers can assess many of the quantitative tools needed to conduct and improve health literacy research. The proposed Health Literacy Tool Shed educational resource will provide a vital outreach service for the health literacy research community. For the first time, researchers and practitioners will be able to identify and assess many of the available constructs and quantitative measures used to assess health literacy in clinical, public health, and health campaign intervention research in one, accessible location. Although dozens of health literacy measurement tools have been introduced and the literature has proliferated, a core problem in health literacy outreach and intervention efforts is the uneven quality of methods used by health literacy assessment teams and a confusing array of constructs, measures, and instruments. Some examples of the current methodological confusion and fragmentation in health literacy research is found in Appendix A, which suggests there are at least fifteen (15) separate measures based on the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy. Appendix A also notes there are nine different measures based in the Test of Functional Health Literacy (TOFHLA) as well as many other constructs and measures of aspects of health literacy. Despite the widespread availability of health literacy measurement tools, criticisms from independent reviewers reflect that health literacy research methodological flaws may stem from a lack of infrastructure to support health literacy researchers and practitioners. Since there is no repository for researchers, clinicians, and practitioners to retrieve detailed information about health literacy assessment constructs, measures, and instruments, the gap impedes the health literacy field's development into a more coherent body of knowledge and practice. The Health Literacy Tool Shed educational resource will create for the first time: 1) access to health literacy assessment tools; 2) a health literacy tool selection process for investigators; 3) an overview of researcher adherence to various health literacy instruments; and, 4) background information about a construct/measure's validity or empirical validation. The Health Literacy Tool Shed will be a virtual indexing system for health literacy methods with specific information on the following: ●Administration instructions (how long it takes to administer, number of questions, languages, method of administration, etc.) ●Constructs measured (i.e. numeracy, word pronunciation, problem solving, general health maintenance, etc.) ●Links to the instruments (or information on how to obtain the instrument when the Contractor has not secured permission to post the instrument) and to validation articles ●Expert commentary on strengths and limitations and on how to select instruments in various research and practice contexts. The Health Literacy Tool Shed also could identify some gaps in the current array of health literacy instruments and provide a venue for users to discuss the development of further health literacy research assessment tools. In addition, the Health Literacy Tool Shed provides an excellent complement to NLM's Consumer Health Informatics Research Resource (chirr.nlm.nih.gov), which provides general information about common constructs used in consumer health informatics assessment, including health literacy. Mandatory Criteria 1)The Contractor must possess extensive academic knowledge and expertise in the field of health literacy research and extensive experience in health literacy practice in both health care delivery and public health. 2)The Contractor must display a track record of national and international leadership in evaluating health literacy research. 3)The Contractor's subject matter experts (health literacy researchers and practitioners) must possess a Ph.D. or M.D. degree and publish regularly in a refereed academic journal. Contractor Requirements Independently, and not as an agent of the Government, the Contractor shall furnish all necessary labor, materials, supplies, equipment, and services needed to complete this project. All work performed under this procurement shall be monitored by the NLM Contracting Officer's Representative (COR). General Contractor Tasks The Contractor shall provide an education resource that encompasses many of the existing research measures, constructs, and instruments listed in Appendix A. The Contractor shall create a website that provides interactive guidance to enhance the use of health literacy research constructs, measures, and instruments. The guidance should include specific information such as: what the construct/measure/instrument's assess, the time to administer the construct/measure, the number of questions needed to assess the construct, links to articles regarding the instrument's validation, as well as expert commentary on what instrument best fits different health literacy research and practice contexts. The Contractor shall develop the project's educational and training materials in consultation with the NLM COR. The Contractor shall provide a brief report of the resource's development, diffusion, and possible expansion in an executive summary to the NLM COR. The executive summary shall introduce the educational materials developed within the proposed contract and should assess user feedback and provide some suggestions for the further development/expansion of the resource. Upon completion of the contract, it is possible the Contractor may have opportunity to conduct additional outreach and educational activities, based on its findings, which may result in presentations, reports, or publications. After contract expiration, Government funds will not be utilized to support the Contractor's possible additional presentations, reports, or publications. The Contractor shall obtain the approval and cooperation of health literacy researchers who have developed constructs and measures to display and assess these contributions. The latter approval and cooperation will include copyright reproduction permission. The Contractor shall update the Health Literacy Tool Shed website as new developments warrant throughout the term of the contract. The Contractor shall prepare the Health Literacy Tool Shed's materials so they are accessible and understandable to health care professionals, health literacy practitioners, and the NLM. All documents shall be written in a Microsoft Word compatible format and shall be Section 508 compliant. The Health Literacy Tool Shed, an educational website, shall be developed by the Contractor in consultation with the NLM COR. The Health Literacy Tool Shed shall provide user access to health literacy constructs, measures, and instruments. The website shall be interactive or encourage discussion between developers of health literacy constructs, measures, and instruments, the actual experiences of website users, and the Contractor's staff. The Contractor's staff shall be health literacy domain experts with the knowledge and experience to curate, monitor, and contribute to the proposed Health Literacy Tool Shed website. The Health Literacy Tool Shed education resource website shall be Section 508 compliant. The Contractor shall develop an interactive website that focuses on (and explains the use of) health literacy measurement constructs, measures, and instruments. The Health Literacy Tool Shed website shall provide user access to updated health literacy measurement constructs, measures, and instruments. The website shall encourage discussion between developers of health literacy constructs, measures, and instruments, the actual experiences of website users, and the Contractor's staff. The Contractor shall obtain the approval and cooperation of health literacy researchers who have developed constructs and measures to display and assess these contributions. The latter approval and cooperation may include copyright reproduction permission. Required Contractor Tasks: The Contractor shall complete the following tasks as outlined. The professional services to be performed consist of the delivery of hours of professional services in support of the following tasks. All phases and subtasks described below shall be completed in monthly, iterative states with reports provided to the NLM COR. Task Descriptions Task 1: Phase 1 Subtask 1-The Contractor shall organize the Health Literacy Tool Shed website's development and implementation. Subtask 2-The Contractor shall initiate the process to hire website design consultant and secure a web domain. The Contractor will hire a website designer to create the Internet site of the Health Literacy Tool Shed website and provide quarterly website maintenance which updates the Health Literacy Tool Shed use assessment. Subtask 3-The Contractor shall initiate the process to obtain copyright permission for non-public domain constructs and measures. Subtask 4. The Contractor shall initiate the process to identify and involve key stakeholders, or experts in health literacy research and practice, to review the materials developed for the Health Literacy Tool Shed website. Subtasks 1-4 shall be completed within the 1st three (3) months after contract award. Task 2: Phase 2 Subtask 1-The Contractor shall initiate the Health Literacy Tool Shed website's development and implementation. Subtask 2-The Contractor shall begin work with a website design consultant and secure a web domain. Subtask 3-The Contractor shall obtain copyright permission for non-public domain constructs and measures. The Contractor shall obtain copyright permissions from publication companies to disseminate non-public domain tools and measurement validation articles to populate the Health Literacy Tool Shed website. Subtask 4-The Contractor shall identify and involve key stakeholders, or experts in health literacy research and practice, to review the materials developed for the Health Literacy Tool Shed website. The Contractor will invite the creators and authors of the featured health literacy measurements on the Health Literacy Tool Shed to review the information collected and provide feedback. Subtask 5-The Contractor shall identify key stakeholders, or experts in health literacy research and practice, to be active participants, to interact with Health Literacy Tool Shed website users. Subtasks 1-5 shall be completed within the 3rd through the 8th eighth month after contract award. Task 3: Phase 3 Subtask 1-The Contractor shall receive copyright permission for non-public domain constructs and measures. Subtask 2-The Contractor shall ensure the previously identified key stakeholders, or experts in health literacy research and practice will complete their reviews of the materials developed for the Health Literacy Tool Shed website. Subtask 3-The previously identified key stakeholders, or experts in health literacy research and practice (as well as the Contractor) shall become active participants and interact with Health Literacy Tool Shed website users. Subtask 4-The Contractor shall open the Health Literacy Tool Shed website to health literacy researchers and practitioners. Subtask 5-The Contractor shall prepare an executive summary about the Health Literacy Tool Shed's development, diffusion, future plans, and challenges. The executive summary shall introduce the educational materials developed within the proposed contract and should assess user feedback and provide some suggestions for the further development/expansion of the resource. Subtasks 1-3 shall be completed within the 7th to the 10th month after contract award. Subtask 4 shall be completed within the 11th-12 month after contract award Subtask 5 shall be completed within the 12th month after contract award. Contractor Dissemination of Findings The Contractor shall develop an interactive website that focuses on (and explains the use of) health literacy measurement constructs, measures, and instruments. While the Health Literacy Tool Shed website's development will be the primary dissemination activity developed by the Contractor, the website might be supplemented by other outreach efforts. For example, the Contractor might demonstrate the resource at conferences that emphasize health literacy research and practice. The Contractor shall be responsible for all expenses involving conference attendance. The Contractor is expected to obtain the approval and cooperation of health literacy researchers who have developed constructs, measures, and instruments to display and assess their contribution. The latter approval and cooperation will include copyright reproduction permission. The Contractor shall update the Health Literacy Tool Shed website with new developments. The Contractor may develop some additional presentations, reports, or publications about the Health Literacy Tool Shed which could possibly occur after the contract has been completed. Government funds will not be utilized to support the Contractor's possible additional presentations, reports, or publications after contract expiration. The Health Literacy Tool Shed's materials should be prepared so they are accessible and understandable to all possible website users including health literacy researchers and practitioners. Deliverables Task 1: Phase 1-Subtasks 1-4 will be completed within the 1st three (3) months after contract award. Task 2: Phase 2-Subtasks 1-5 will be completed within the 3rd through the 8th month after contract award. Task 3: Phase 3-Subtasks 1-3 will be completed within the 7th to the 10th month after contract award. Subtask 4 will be completed within the 11th-12th month after the contract award. Subtask 5 will be completed within the 12th month after contract award. FAR 52.227-14, Rights in Data - General (DEC 2007): As a result NLM will have exclusive ownership of all deliverables and products developed under the resultant purchase order. Reporting requirements The Contractor shall provide reports about the project's progress. These informal monthly progress reports (by teleconference or email) should be provided to the NN/LM, and NLM's designated CORs. Based on the SOW requirements and tasks described above, the Contractor shall develop an interactive Health Literacy Tool Shed website. The Contractor shall provide an executive summary of these activities to NLM and NN/LM. The executive summary should be written in a Microsoft Word compatible format. If the Contractor prepares a paper for refereed academic meetings or journals based on materials developed in conjunction with the contract, the Contractor is expected to cite the NLM contract. All instruments, publications, and presentations should be section 508 complaint. The Contractor shall deposit any future publications resulting from this work in PubMed Central. Period of Performance: The period of performance shall be a 12-month base period with one (1) additional 12-month option period. Requirement to Notify Government of Proprietary Work Dependencies Offerors are required to notify the Government in writing of any dependencies of the deliverables under this contract on proprietary, copyrights, or patented work that potentially inhibits, restricts, or requires permission for the dissemination of the deliverables to the public, other governmental agencies or research groups, or any other parties whatsoever.   Appendix A Some currently utilized health literacy constructs/measures that may be included in the Health Literacy Tool Shed: REALM-based measures: Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (128 words); Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (66 words); Turkish REALM, REALM short form (REALM-SF; seven words), REALM Short form (8 words), Hong Kong Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Dentistry (HKREALD-30), Medical Term Recognition Test (METER), Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Genetics (REAL-G), Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Vascular Surgery (REALM-VS), Short Assessment of Health Literacy - Spanish and English (SAHL-S&E), Short Assessment of Health Literacy for Spanish-speaking Adults (SAHLSA-50), REALM-Teen, Test of Health Literacy in Dentistry (REALD-99), REALD-30, Validation of REALM in an UK population with Coronary Health Disease. TOFHLA-based measures: Functional Health Literacy Tests (FHLTs), Health Literacy Test for Singapore (HLTS), Hebrew Health Literacy Test (HHLT), Literacy Measure of Patients with HIV, Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (S-TOFHLA), Test of Functional Health Literacy in Dentistry (TOFLiD), Validation of a German, Italian, and French version of the S-TOFHLA to be used in Switzerland and neighboring nations, TOFHLA (in Serbian), Computerized Validated Version of the S-THFHLA Numeracy measures: Diabetes Numeracy Test (DNT), Diabetes Numeracy Test short version (DNT-15), Numeracy Understanding in Medicine Instrument (GHNT), Asthma Numeracy Questionnaire (ANQ). General Literacy assessments: PIAT-R, WRAT-R, SORT, Functional Health Literacy Tests (FHLTs), Spanish Parental Health Literacy Activities Test (PHLAT), Spanish Parental Health Literacy Activities Test short version (PHLAT-8), Health Literacy Assessment Test using Talking Touchscreen Technology (Health LiTT), Talking Touchscreen (TT), Dutch Translation of Health Literacy Scales from Ishikawa et. al., Health Literacy Skills Instrument (HSLI), Korean Health Literacy Scale (KHLS), HBP Health Literacy Scale (HBP-HLS), All Aspects of Health Literacy Scale (AAHLS), Health Literacy Management Scale (HeLMS), Medication Literacy Assessment in Spanish and English (MedLItR xSE), Validation of Self-reported Health Literacy Questions among Diverse England and Spanish-speaking Populations, Evaluate the Validity of Cancer Message Literacy Test-Listening (CMLG-Listening), Cancer Message Literacy Test-Reading (CMLT-reading). Subjective measures of health literacy: Single Item Literacy Screener (SILS), Chew Questions Validated against the REALM and TOFHLA, Subjective Numeracy Scale (SNS) NVS type assessments: Newest Vital Signs Measure (NVS), Food Label Literacy for Applied Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire (FLLANK), Turkish NVS SECTION 508 COMPLIANCE In accordance with FAR 39.2, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act is implemented in this task order. Pursuant to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d), as amended by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, all electronic and information technology (EIT) products and services developed, acquired, maintained, and/or used under this contract/order must comply with the "Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Provisions" set forth by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (also referred to as the "Access Board") in 36 CFR part 1194. Information about Section 508 provisions is available at http://www.hhs.gov/od Mandatory Criteria Firms that do not complete and return the required Section 508 documentation with proposals will be considered non-responsive. The Section 508 mandatory criterion will be non-point scored. Section 508 Evaluation Factors Responses to this solicitation will only be considered for award after it has been determined that the proposal adequately addresses the requirements for Section 508. Only proposals which contain adequate information to document their responsiveness to the Section 508 requirements (e.g. a completed GPAT, VPAT or equivalent and supporting documentation) will be eligible for any additional merit consideration. Section 508 Acceptance Criteria The "Health Literacy Tool Shed" delivered as a result of this solicitation will be accepted based in part on satisfaction of identified Section 508 requirements for accessibility. The "Health Literacy Tool Shed" delivered must include a completed GPAT, a sample of which is included as a part of this solicitation. TECHNICAL EVALUATION FACTORS Technical factors are of paramount consideration in the award of the purchase order; however, price is also important to the overall award decision. All evaluation factors other than price, when combined, are significantly more important than cost. The Government can make tradeoffs among price and technical factors in determining which Offerer provides the best value by awarding to other than the lowest price Offerer or other than the highest technically rated Offerer. Offerers are advised that award will be made to that Offerer whose quote provides the best overall value to the Government. Technical Evaluation Criteria (Total 100 Points) In determining which quote represents the best value and results in the lowest overall price alternative (considering price, special features, administrative costs, etc.) to meet the Government's needs, the Government shall evaluate quotes using the following technical evaluation criteria, which are listed in the order of relative importance with weights assigned for evaluation processes: Technical Approach/Understanding of Requirement (40 Points) ●Quality and clarity of the methodological approach involved in accomplishing the objectives of the statement of work to coordinate the overall project and assist in providing the requested one-stop (Internet based) educational and outreach resource. ●Evidence of ability to accomplish the specific tasks described in the statement of work. ●Understanding of the Government's intent for this procurement and the feasibility of approach to address its overall goals. ●Demonstrate evidence of Contractor's expertise and capability to select high quality health literacy instruments from diverse research and practice contexts ●Demonstrate evidence of Contractor's expertise and capability to discern and critique the reliability and validity of current health literacy measures ●Demonstrate evidence of Contractor's expertise and capability to identify and critique the research constructs frequently used within health literacy research and practice Personnel/Staff Qualifications (30 Points) ●Proposed personnel/staff must demonstrate a history of working directly with health literacy researchers and practitioners around the world who work in public health, medical practice, health care organizational, and university settings ●Proposed personnel/staff must demonstrate extensive experience and familiarity with diverse health literacy assessment tools ●Proposed personnel/staff must possess a M.D., or Ph.D. degrees, and several years of health literacy research experience ●Proposed personnel/staff must demonstrate several, recent years of national and international leadership in health literacy research ●Proposed personnel/staff must demonstrate experience in developing health care websites and/or websites that provide public access to evidence-based health information ●Proposed personnel/staff must demonstrate a track record of refereed publications about health literacy Organizational Capabilities/Experience (30 Points) ●Demonstrate evidence of Contractor's extensive academic expertise in the field of health literacy research and extensive experience in health literacy practice in both health care delivery and public health ●Demonstrate evidence of Contractor's experience with similar projects that focus on health literacy research and/or practice ●Demonstrate evidence of Contractor's expertise and capability to obtain copyright permission in order to provide user access to health literacy constructs, measures, tools, and instruments ●Demonstrate evidence of Contractor's experience, expertise, and capability to provide information about health literacy instruments and research that is accessible to a diverse range of health care practitioners and health literacy researchers, including higher education students. Section 508 Compliance (0 Points) •Firms that do not complete and return the required Section 508 documentation with proposals will be considered non-responsive. The Section 508 mandatory criterion will be non-point scored. •Responses to this solicitation will only be considered for award after it has been determined that the proposal adequately addresses the requirements for Section 508. Only proposals which contain adequate information to document their responsiveness to the Section 508 requirements (e.g. a completed GPAT, VPAT or equivalent and supporting documentation) will be eligible for any additional merit consideration. FEDERAL ACQUISITION REQULATION (FAR) CLAUSES The following provisions and clauses apply to this acquisition and are incorporated by reference. Full text may be found at https://www.acquisition.gov/Far FAR 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items FAR 52.212-2 Evaluation-Commercial Items FAR 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items FAR 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items FAR 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes and Executive orders FAR 52.227-14, Rights in Data - General All interested parties shall submit electronic responses to Sheila Edmonds at sheila.edmonds@nih.gov. Responses must be received no later than 3:00 P.M. EST on Tuesday, April 1, 2014, and shall not exceed 10 single-sided pages in length, exclusive of the cover page and letter, table of contents, appendices, and resumes. Please reference solicitation number RFQ-NIHLM2014039/SRE on all correspondence to this notice. Inquiries regarding this notice shall be submitted electronically to sheila.edmonds@nih.gov and shall be received by 12:00 NOON EST on Tuesday, March 25, 2014. The proposal submitted in response to this RFQ shall be prepared in two (2) parts and be clearly identified as a "Technical Proposal" and "Business Proposal." Proposals shall be in sufficient detail to permit proper evaluation, negotiation and/or acceptance thereof. The technical proposal must not contain reference to price; however, resource information (such as data concerning labor hours and categories, materials, subcontracts, etc.) must be contained in the technical proposal so that the Contractor's understanding of the Statement of Work may be evaluated. In order to receive an award, Contractors must have valid registration and certification in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) and the Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA) through the System of Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov.
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