AHRQ Evidence-based Practice Center Program Scientific Resource Center IV

This is a Small Business Sources Sought notice (SBSS). 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 business; 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. Project Description and Requirements: The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's mission is to produce evidence to make health care safer, and more accessible, effective, affordable and equitable, and to work within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and with other stakeholders including patients to make sure that the evidence is understood and used. To achieve this mission, AHRQ conducts and supports a broad base of scientific research and promotion of improvements in clinical and health systems practices, including disease prevention. AHRQ research develops and disseminates evidence-based information on healthcare outcomes, quality, patient safety, cost, use and access. The Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPC) Program was created in 1997 to synthesize existing scientific literature about important health care topics and promote evidence-based practice and decision-making. The program develops a range of evidence synthesis products using rigorous, comprehensive methods, emphasizing explicitly detailed documentation of methods rationale and assumptions. EPC evidence synthesis may focus on traditional therapeutics, complementary, alternative, and nutritional interventions, models of care, healthcare delivery interventions, implementation strategies to promote evidence-based practice, and quality improvement. They may also use novel synthesis methods to best address evidence review questions, such as realist synthesis, qualitative evidence synthesis, and qualitative comparative analysis. Additional information on the EPC program and descriptions of processes and evidence reports can be found at: https://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/evidence-based-reports/index.html and https://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/products. This acquisition is focused on recompeting the contract for the AHRQ EPC Scientific Resource Center, which supports the EPC program to develop timely, rigorous evidence synthesis to inform healthcare decision-making; and to invest in methods development in evidence synthesis. The Scientific Resource Center (SRC) shall support and coordinate core cross- cutting functions of the EPC program, including: Provide quality assurance by developing, leading and coordinating activities to maintain consistency of EPC products. Lead, coordinate and support evidence synthesis and other methods development to promote the rigor and utility of EPC products for healthcare decision-making. Develop topic nomination briefs, respond to nominators, and manage selection processes. Engage with stakeholders to promote innovation and the uptake and adoption of evidence reports. Support data visualization to promote engagement and use of EPC evidence report findings. Project requirements: The SRC will implement activities to meet the following requirements: Provide quality assurance by developing, leading and coordinating activities to maintain consistency of EPC products. Convene one hybrid in-person and virtual 2-day meetings yearly to discuss coordination and consistency of EPC products and methodological approaches. These meetings will be held at 5600 Fisher Lane, Rockville, MD. Convene quarterly meetings with EPC Program contractors and AHRQ staff Manage and coordinate the independent scientific review of EPC products through coordination, and training of associate editors (AE) for EPC products; and quarterly calls with AEs to improve consistency and efficiency in AE review as well as identify areas for quality improvement within the program. Manage Peer review of EPC reports using appropriate software, such as ScholarOne software. The SRC shall maintain and refine peer review processes to enhance efficient review of each EPC report. Ensure appropriate statistical review upon request of AHRQ contracting officer representative in areas such as meta-analysis, network meta-analysis, or other methods such as qualitative evidence synthesis. Maintain and keep up-to-date a secure EPC website for coordination of EPC Program activities among the SRC, AHRQ, and EPCs. This includes technical support, maintenance and support for user login and passwords, ensuring compliance with AHRQ and DHHS requirements for security and privacy, and near full-time availability of the website. Document work by the SRC, including instruction and procedure documents for tasks such as peer review, topic development, and other processes. Lead, coordinate and support evidence synthesis and other methods development to promote the rigor and utility of EPC products for healthcare decision-making. Engage EPC input on methodological priorities through assembly of and communication with an EPC Steering Group on bimonthly calls to identify areas of methodological priorities for EPC workgroup projects in light of current EPC resources and needs, external methodological efforts, and prioritize EPC methodological efforts to improve quality and consistency of EPC products. Organize and provide logistics for up to three cross-EPC methods workgroups addressing areas as determined by engagement with the EPC Steering group. Develop, pilot, and evaluate up to two pilot projects per year. These may be new and established EPC products, methods, and processes to improve the efficiency, usefulness and/or relevance of the EPC Program for various stakeholder groups, such as health systems and health system organizations. Past examples of projects include piloting a living rapid review process and format; and development of a data visualization to incorporate into the EHC website. Develop topic nomination briefs, respond to nominators, and manage selection processes. Manage EPC Program Topic Selection process to identify topics for evidence review development by the EPC Program, from receipt of nominations from the EPC Program website. This includes engaging stakeholders in the nomination process; clarifying nominations with stakeholders as needed; assessing each topic nomination against prespecified selection criteria; soliciting input from a topic selection group; managing the prioritization process of topic nomination with up to three prioritization meetings per year; and finalizing documents that describe the disposition and rationale (topic briefs). Address and answer concerns of a nominator through the development of up to 10 adapted topic briefs, similar to a rapid response Maintain databases for EPC program nominations, about 60 per year. This searchable database will be used for tracking and reporting. Develop and maintain documents for EPC program including templates and process guidance for the Topic Briefs. Assist in developing and performing searches of the published literature, and provide up to 4 consultations per year as requested for refining search strategies. 4. Engage with stakeholders to promote innovation and the uptake and adoption of evidence reports. Convene up to three virtual meetings per year for a stakeholder panel for input and feedback on EPC products Convene and lead up to four 2-hour virtual scientific meetings per year with external stakeholders and potential collaborators to foster scientific discourse and learning Maintain a searchable database of EPC Program stakeholders to track and manage contacts and outreach with contacts. The database shall be available on an EPC Program secure website for use by AHRQ and the EPCs. 5. Support data visualization to promote engagement and use of EPC evidence report findings. Refine and update current interactive web-based visualization of EPC report data on the EHC website for living reviews. Develop data visualization for five reports in consultation with EPC report authors for posting on the EHC website. 6. Conflicts of Interest Reliability and use of EPC review products may only be established if both the processes and individuals conducting the research maintain no conflicts of interest. The AHRQ EPC program separately provides guidance and oversight on the processes and individuals conducting EPC reviews. The SRC will also identify and manage conflicts of interest for SRC staff conducting work for AHRQ. The SRC shall also establish a formal conflict of interest mitigation plan for identifying, disclosing, and managing institutional conflicts of interest for all SRC staff, and implement this plan when the need arises. 7. Communication Set an agenda and convene biweekly status calls throughout the project to update the COR about the status of tasks in the project, to discuss the needs of the program, to monitor processes, and to refine processes. Convene monthly calls to update AHRQ on the status of topic development activities. Through an annual report, provide a summary of key challenges for each year, and include a high- level summary of activities, such as updated processes to optimize efficiency or utility, changes to databases, and outputs of methods work. Recording and transcription for webinars and meetings Anticipated Period of Performance: The anticipated period of performance for this proposed acquisition will be from August 15, 2022, through August 14, 2027, for a base period of one year and 4, one-year option periods. Important Considerations: Sources are expected to have personnel, corporate history, and facilities adequate for promoting scientific rigor through methodological work for systematic reviews and evidence synthesis, promoting transparency and trust through managing topic selection and review processes, promoting quality assurance through collaborative efforts, mutual learning, and peer review, engaging with stakeholders for innovation, and promoting effective communication through data visualization. Information Sought: The tailored response to this Small Business Sources Sought notice should describe the requested information below. Respondents must provide, as part of their response, information concerning: a) Staff expertise, including their availability, experience, and formal and other training; b) Current in-house capability and capacity to perform the work; c) Corporate experience and management capability; and d) Prior completed projects of similar size; e) Examples of prior completed Government contracts, references, and other related information. Contractors must describe their capacity and experience as it relates to the project requirements described above. Information Submission Instructions: Interested qualified small business organizations should submit a tailored capability statement for this requirement. The cover page must include the following: DUNS number Organization name Organization address Size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HUBZone, etc.) pursuant to NAICS code 541990. Technical point(s) of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone, and e-mail addresses. All Capability Statements sent in response to this SMALL BUSINESS SOURCES SOUGHT notice must be submitted electronically (via e-mail) to Sarah Chace, Contract Specialist, sarah.chace@ahrq.hhs.gov in MS Word, or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), no later than 12:00 PM on December 29, 2021. Responses should not exceed 15 single-sided pages (including the cover page, all attachments, resumes, charts, etc.) presented in single-space and using a 12-point font size minimum, that clearly details the ability to perform the aspects of the notice described above. Disclaimer and Important Notes: This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in 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 a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation will be published in SAM.gov. 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).