B -- Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration (HISPC)

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Program Support Center, Division of Acquisition Management on behalf of the Office of the National Coordinator intends to negotiate on a sole source basis, a cost reimbursement contract for a period of two years with Research Triangle Institute (RTI) under the authority of FAR 6.302-1, only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. RTI is located at 3040 Cornwallis Road, P.O. Box 12194, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2194. The anticipated award date is January 1, 2008. The sole source award is a follow-on contract to RTI to continue their work with the HISPC in the form of funding, managing and coordinating the multi-state collaborative of old and new HISPC members. Moreover, the privacy and security solutions developed by the multi-state collaboratives during this follow-on work will be necessary to enable and prepare the health care providers, other health care entities, and government initiatives of each state and territory in the HISPC to participate and integrate with the continued development of a major system, the nationwide health information network (NHIN), which currently has trial implementations underway. During the contract period of performance RTI will at a minimum, be responsible for ensuring that the states and territories: (1) implement their collaboration strategies; (2) meet the goals established by their collaboration strategies; (3) ensure cross communication between interdependent collaborative groups; (4) report on the collaborative work accomplished and its impacts; and (5) coordinate administrative and logistical activities needed by the multi-state collaboratives including bi-weekly conference calls and in-person meetings. In late 2005 HHS awarded Research Triangle Institute International (RTI) a contract to collaborate with the states, territories, and other state-level stakeholders to: (1) assess variations in organization-level business policies and state laws that affect health information exchange; (2) identify and propose practical solutions, while preserving the privacy and security requirements in applicable Federal and state laws and (3) develop detailed plans to implement solutions. Subsequently, through an open competition, RTI solicited governor-endorsed entities within states and territories to submit proposals to be part of the RTI-led Health Information Privacy and Security Collaboration (HISPC) to complete this work. A total of thirty-four state and territory based entities were selected and funded by RTI as subcontractors to be part of the HISPC. At the conclusion of the HISPC?s first phase of work, states and territories developed implementation plans to address privacy and security variations in organization-level business policies and state laws that affect health information exchange in their jurisdiction. Since July 2007, HISPC states and territories have been (1) working on a foundational piece of their implementation plan and (2) developing collaboration strategies for multi-state privacy and security solutions to foster or facilitate nationwide electronic health information exchange. Moreover, RTI has coordinated the recruitment of additional states and territories to be part of the HISPC and at last count nine states and one territory (with several more showing interest) have taken part in the initial collaborative strategy development meetings. It is clear that both old and new members of the HISPC are passionate and excited about the opportunity to work collaboratively and develop solutions to help advance the national health IT agenda. Continuing this work without delay and preserving the momentum recently achieved through the addition of new states and territories to the HISPC is of great importance. The Government is acutely concerned that any break in performance due to finding a new contractor to manage the HISPC would cause a decline in participation and put the states and territories that make up the HISPC (whose collaborative work is the main purpose of the project) at a significant disadvantage. Such a result would unravel critical connections formed over the past year and a half and pose significant challenges to those states and territories developing coordinated privacy and security solutions for nationwide electronic health information exchange. The Government has heard from a large number of current HISPC members that they would prefer to continue (and expect) to work with RTI in this next phase and that they share the same concerns as the Government noted above. As result, in addition to the requirements outlined below, which must be included in a capability statement, an interested party must provide letters of intent from all of the following current HISPC states and territories: Alaska; Arizona; Arkansas; California; Colorado; Connecticut; Florida; Illinois; Indiana; Iowa; Kansas; Kentucky; Louisiana; Maine; Massachusetts; Michigan; Minnesota; Mississippi; New Hampshire; New Jersey; New Mexico; New York; North Carolina; Ohio; Oklahoma; Oregon; Puerto Rico; Rhode Island; Utah; Vermont; Washington; West Virginia; Wisconsin; Wyoming. More information on the current HISPC states and territories can be found at [http://healthit.ahrq.gov/privacyandsecurity]. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals. Interested parties may submit capability statements with documentation supporting its ability to meet the Government's requirement that shall include letters of intent from all of the current HISPC states and territories and shall describe your: (1) ability to rapidly, within 4 weeks, establish sub-contractual relationships with all current and new HISPC states and territories; (2) ability to demonstrate a performance model that allows for the maximum amount of Federal dollars to be provided to participating states and territories; (3) capacity to maintain a high degree of cross state/territory collaboration; (4) knowledge of the project, its goals, and overall state and territory privacy and security issues related to electronic health information exchange; (5) experience in subcontracting with multiple states and territories; and (6) ability to quickly assemble an executive team or panel of privacy and security experts to advise and mentor multi-state collaboratives; No solicitation document is available. Detailed capability statements shall be submitted within 21 days from the date of publication of this synopsis to the contact point and received by 3:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.