Health Care Financing Administration; 7500 Security Blvd.; Baltimore, MD 21244

R -- RESEQARCH, ANALYSIS, DEMONSTRATION, AND SURVEY DESIGN TASK ORDER (RADSTO) CONTRACT SOL HCFA-00-0037/PK POC Edwiena Edwards, Contracting Officer, (410) 786-1607 The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) is soliciting proposals for general Research, Analysis, Demonstration, and Survey Design Task Order (RADSTO) contracts. HCFA?s mission is to promote the timely delivery of appropriate, high quality, cost-effective health care to program enrollees, who include the nation?s aged, disabled, special needs groups, low income families and children. The use of these Task Order Contracts is expected to assist HCFA in carrying out its mission by facilitating expeditious initiation of research, analysis, demonstration, and survey activities. Five different ?Specialty Areas? will be established under this contract. Each specialty area requires a different set of skills and expertise. The five specialty areas are:Medicare Research & Demonstrations, Medicaid Research & Demonstrations, Design and Conduct of Surveys, Analysis of Large Data Sets, and Policy Analysis. An offeror/organization may submit a proposal for the example task for each specialty area in which they wish to qualify and may receive a contract for more than one specialty area. Organizations interested in submitting proposals for more than one specialty area are required to submit ?a separate and complete proposal? for each specialty area of interest. Typically, a Medicare or Medicaid research and demonstration project involves any or all of the following categories of work functions and activities: (1) Research Planning and Design -- framing of the basic concept and technical approach; meeting with appropriate individuals to solidify the technical approach; and other activities, such as literature reviews, expert consultation, and administrative approvals (e.g., Privacy Act Systems Notices/Paperwork Reduction Clearance Act/data clearances), may also need to be addressed; developing a detailed data acquisition plan; and refining of the resources (costs) that will be incurred; (2) Research Performance and Analysis -- the work involved in this category relates to the actual performance of the particular activities described in an approved work/analysis plan(s) and/or research project design; performing such studies, briefings, data acquisition, data analysis; convening expert panels; designing or conducting surveys; conducting interviews; performing simulations; conceptually analyzing issues or policies; statistically examining issues; or performing other functions and tasks that are required by a particular project's research design and work/analysis plan(s); (3) Research Reporting and Dissemination -- technical reporting includes the design itself, work plan, analysis plan, data acquisition plan, Technical Advisory Meeting reports, case study reports, interview reports, other meeting reports, issues/options papers, survey reports, data files, interim reports, final reports, briefing materials, articles, etc.; management reporting includes the monthly and/or quarterly progress reports and any necessary supporting documentation required under the particular task order project. Dissemination includes activities that are intended to inform researchers, policy makers, or other audiences of the status, content, or meaning of a particular project or set of projects. Demonstration activities can involve any or all of the following categories of work functions and activities: (1) Demonstration Design and Development -- these activities establish the foundation of a demonstration by obtaining information necessary to conceptualize or plan the proposed demonstration; activities include: development of concept papers, primary and secondary data collection and analysis; (2) Project Implementation and Monitoring -- development, preparation and implementation of the plans and strategies necessary to operationalize a demonstration project or evaluation, activities include: defining site recruitment, eligibility criteria and procedures, site selection, preclearance approval for project implementation; (3) Demonstration Evaluation Activities -- activities include steps needed to plan, develop and carry out evaluation of HCFA-sponsored demonstration; activities include: development of a detailed evaluation design, actual data collection, quantitative and qualitative analyses to answer the research questions are the focus of the demonstration. A Policy Analysis task may involve the analysis of policy questions, often within short timeframes, to provide the Government with information and options to guide decisions related to important or urgent policy issues. This work may involve data collection, data analyses, or research activities. Research techniques used are varied, but rely strongly on formal analytical methods, including information theory, cost benefit analysis, statistical estimation and simulation. Design and Conduct of Survey activities will be more limited in function (i.e., survey research) and more detailed in application than the work undertaken in the Medicare or Medicaid General Research and Demonstration Design/Evaluation areas. The work may involve general survey design and planning, data collection, and methodological research. The contractor shall have the ability to conduct general population surveys, multi-lingual surveys, collect data from difficult respondents and design and conduct probability samples for surveys of rare populations. Data Analysis activities will be more limited in function and more detailed in application than the work undertaken in the Medicare or Medicaid General Research and Demonstration Design/Evaluation areas. A contractor may be be responsible for performing work with respect to data acquisition, data manipulation, and data analyses. The data acquisition function includes all activities that are related to obtaining the data including, among other things, the purchase of data, negotiations and discussions with various potential suppliers of the data, and completing necessary access and release of data form(s). It may involve the original collection of data or the assembly of already existing data, or both. It can be as narrow as obtaining data in a computerized format or as broad as the original measurement of, and recording of, previously nonexistent information. Some examples of the specific work functions and activities that the RADSTO contractor may be required to perform under this task order contract are: acquiring and analyzing data; designing and/or evaluating a demonstration; designing and performing simulations; preparing "waiver" cost estimates; assisting in demonstration site selection; providing technical assistance or training for demonstration sites and/or other groups or individuals; preparing demonstration and/or project phase-out plans; marketing research, social marketing; performance measurement and monitoring (measuring quality across long term care and managed care); environmental scanning; pilot testing; devising or conducting surveys (e.g., special needs populations -- poor, uninsured, HIV/AIDS, minorities); framing and designing a project (research study or analyses); convening technical expert groups or panels; developing options or issue papers with interim and final reports; conducting actuarial, statistical, policy and other analyses; preparing administrative clearance packages; developing conference materials; meeting with government and nongovernment groups; abstracting records and other claims/forms; participating in the development of conferences, seminars, or workshops and making presentations at these events; preparing papers and articles; disseminating findings; conducting case studies and literature reviews; policy analysis; etc. HCFA expects to encounter requirements for research and demonstration studies, policy and data analysis and survey design for the Medicare, Medicaid, and Child Health programs whose results must be available in a relatively short period or which must be initiated rapidly in order to have information available for program decisions by the Administration and/or Congress. To avoid the use of noncompetitive procurements and to meet the rapid timeliness requirements for certain studies, a contracting vehicle will be established (Task Order Contracts) under which the preliminary screening of multiple awardees of high caliber will be accomplished as part of the original award process. The contractors are then asked to undertake individual projects. We believe the use of a Task Order Contract provides a solution which resolves the conflict between the need to move rapidly to accomplish high quality research and the requirement to preserve competition. The approach we have adopted in this procurement vehicle has the following characteristics: ?the use of multiple Task Order Contracts -- task orders would normally be about 12 months in length and involve two to three person-years of effort. Contractor team arrangements are encouraged. This announcement has been done in a level of detail sufficient to inform the marketplace of all the types of studies that would be acquired under this procurement. No further announcements will be made as the individual project tasks are initiated with the Task Order Contractholders. Award of contracts will be made pending the availability of funds and receipt by HCFA of required internal/external clearances. Requests for the RFP must be in writing and must be received within 15 days of this notice. Telephone requests will not be honored. The RFP will be available on a first come first serve basis until the supply is exhausted. Please mail requests to Edwiena P. Edwards, Health Care Financing Administration, 2-21-15 Central Building, 7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 21244-1850 and refer to RFP-HCFA-00-0037/PK. Posted 12/21/99 (D-SN410382). (0355)

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