A -- State Mental Health Programs, Policies, and Epidemiology

The National Institute of Mental Health intends to conduct negotiations on a sole - source basis with the NASMHPD Research Institute (NRI) for a multi-year contract to improve data resources and knowledge regarding state-level mental health spending, health care use, epidemiology and unmet need. The mental health agencies of all 50 states, 4 U.S. territories and the District of Columbia are represented by a single organization, the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD, and the NASMHPD Research Institute (NRI: http://www.nri-inc.org/) is the only existing source of cross-state data on state mental health programs from all US states and territories, and NRI's databases are not publicly available. Also, NRI is the only organization with established relationships with all (or even most) states for collecting and analyzing mental health-related data. As such, NRI is the only viable source for conducting this work. The objectives of this contract are to 1) Develop an initial assessment of the scope and quality of data currently collected by NRI for conducting policy research, and identify priorities for strengthening and extending these data; 2) Conduct cross-state analyses of mental health-related costs, service use, epidemiology and unmet need across multiple relevant state agencies and programs, including analysis of different levels of geographic variation; 3) Work with states to build an initial consortium of states willing to pool mental-health related data for ongoing policy evaluation, and a framework for such pooling; and 4) Develop pooled data from multiple states, for potential use by states for research and policy evaluation. The authority to conduct negotiations with only one source (the NRI) is: 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(1), as set forth in FAR 6.302-1(b)(1) and HHSAR 306-302-1(b)(1) -- unique supplies or services available from only one source. This is not an announcement of the availability of a Request for Proposals, nor is an RFP available. Responsible sources that believe they posses the expertise and capabilities identified above should submit to the Contracting Officer, by the closing date listed above, their proposal and supporting information in the format they choose. All responsible sources may submit a proposal which will be considered by the NIMH. A determination not to compete the proposed work based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. See Numbered Note 22.