SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) – Household Component (HC)
- Notice Date
- 5/7/2015
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 518210
— Data Processing, Hosting, and Related 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
- HHSAHRQSBSS1510002
- Archive Date
- 6/6/2015
- Point of Contact
- Robert A Zuhlke, Phone: 301-427-1714
- E-Mail Address
-
robert.zuhlke@ahrq.hhs.gov
(robert.zuhlke@ahrq.hhs.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Household Component 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 Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) was created in 1989 "to enhance the quality, appropriateness and effectiveness of health care services and access to such services, through the establishment of a broad base of scientific research and through the promotion of improvements in clinical practice (including the prevention of diseases and other health conditions and in the organization, financing and delivery of health care services)." In 1999, Congress, in its reauthorization language, stated that the Director of the AHRQ "shall conduct and support research and build private-public partnerships to (1) identify the causes of preventable health care errors and patient injury in health care delivery; (2) develop, demonstrate, and evaluate strategies for reducing errors and improving patient safety; and (3) disseminate such effective strategies throughout the health care industry." The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component (HC), Medical Provider Component (MPC), and Insurance Component (IC), which began in 1996, is a set of large-scale surveys of families and individuals (MEPS-HC), their medical providers (doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, etc.) (MEPS-MPC), and employers across the United States (MEPS-IC). MEPS collects data on the specific health services that Americans use, how frequently they use them, the cost of these services, and how they are paid for, as well as data on the cost, scope, and breadth of health insurance held by and available to U.S. workers. For further discussion of the MEPS family of surveys as well as historical context please see: http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/about_meps/survey_back.jsp During the household interviews, MEPS-HC collects the following detailed information for each person in the household: demographic characteristics, health conditions, health status, use of medical services, charges and source of payments, access to care, satisfaction with care, health insurance coverage, income, and employment. Data collection consists of contacting upwards of 14,500 households (representing 35,000 individuals) five times over a two and a half period for face-to-face interviews. The interviewer workforce would consist of approximately 500 interviewers employed throughout the United States (approximately 180 primary sampling units to be provided to the contractor once appropriate security measures are in place). The survey itself is conducted through the use of a computer assisted personal interview (CAPI). Contact of households is a multistep process (combined phone, mail effort) designed to maximize cooperation rates (assume an expected Round 1 response rate of 80%) with regards to scheduling in person interviews. Programming the CAPI instrument consists of converting approximately 50 different questionnaire sections representing over 1,000 pages of hardcopy material into a Windows based medium. Annually, interviewers are to be recruited, hired and trained over a one week period to address attrition of current hires. Training takes place at a central location. After the initial in person training in home training materials are developed and distributed to interviewers reflecting continuing data collection efforts over a two and half year period. Additionally, all experienced interviewers will receive refresher training every third year of employment. Appropriate security measures must be demonstrated with regards to maintaining the confidential protection of data collected. This consists of, but not limited to, the encryption of interviewer laptops, the electronic transfer of data through encrypted means to a central location for data processing and the preparation of data for public release. Approximately 20 public use files are released annually representing thousands of analytical variables pertaining health care utilization and expenditures as well as demographic characteristics of the sample population. Purpose and Objectives The primary objective of the MEPS HC is to provide high quality data that can be used to produce both point estimates as well as distributional estimates of health care use, medical expenditures, health insurance status and sources of payment for medical care. In addition, the MEPS HC is designed to produce measures of health care quality associated with several high prevalence conditions. The health care services use, medical expenditures, and health insurance data can also be linked to the demographic, employment, economic, and health status of survey participants. The longitudinal feature of the MEPS HC permits analyses of transitions in health insurance coverage, health status, and other characteristics over a two year period. Project Requirements The contractor shall perform the following types of services under this contract: Survey/project management • Continue operation of MEPS-HC • Preparation of MEPS-HC documentation • Liaison with MEPS-HC principals • Cooperation and liaison with MEPS-MPC contractor assuring timely file transfers for editing/imputation work • Cooperation with AHRQ to obtain clearances • Meeting arrangements • Project closeout/transfer of operations • Reporting, work planning, management meetings Household Component • Implementation and documentation of sample • Development of weights for producing national estimates and variables for variance estimations • Imputation to correct for item nonresponse • Geocoding the database • Producing questionnaires and supporting materials • Revise CAPI instruments as requested by AHRQ • Recruiting, training, and managing interviews • Collecting data • Interviewing in Spanish and other languages • Updating the provider directory on an ongoing basis • Collecting permission forms and establishing the sample for the Medical Provider Component and providing such to the Medical Provider Component contractor Data Processing • Providing data security • Between round processing • Forms control and receipt • Data entry • Conducting training program for coders and verifiers • Benchmarking to outside data sources and previous years MEPS estimates • Developing analytic files • Production of public use data files with accompanying benchmarking and documentation The contractor shall store all necessary materials for a period of time determined by the Government and shall investigate available technology and use the most efficient means to store all the necessary materials and documents and sensitive data. The contractor shall also set up and maintain a secure encrypted data transmission line so that confidential data and documents can be transmitted from the contractor to AHRQ. The Government will provide hardware to the contractor for the encrypted line. Further discussion and detail pertaining to the MEPS-HC may be found at: http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/survey_comp/household.jsp Anticipated period of performance The anticipated period of performance: 7 Years from Award date Other important considerations N/A Capability statement / information sought Organizations who are interested in presenting their capabilities and experience regarding this potential requirement should send a capability statement describing: (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. Contractors must describe both their capabilities for performing the work as well as their experience working in all the areas and with all the professionals described above. Contractors should include organization name and address, technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses. Also, DUNS number and type of business (HUBZONE, 8(a), etc.) should be included. Information may be sent electronically or by mail but should not exceed 10 pages (not including references), must be in Microsoft WORD or Adobe PDF format and must be received by AHRQ no later than May 22, 2015, 10:30 am EST. This information should be sent electronically or by mail to: Robert A. Zuhlke Contract Specialist Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality 540 Gaither Road Rockville, MD 20850 Robert.Zuhlke@ahrq.hhs.gov 301-427-1714 (voice) 301-427-1740 (fax) Disclaimer and Important Notes This notice does not obligate the government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in the response. The government reserves the right to use any 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 maybe 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/HHSAHRQSBSS1510002/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: 540 Gaither Road, Rockville, Maryland, 20850, United States
- Zip Code: 20850
- Zip Code: 20850
- Record
- SN03723544-W 20150509/150507234912-3783571e2bbb507f38966efa49d4bae6 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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