This notice is for information and planning purposes only. This is not a request for proposal and does not commit the government to award a contract now or in the future. No solicitation is available at this time. Based on capability statements received in response to this sources sought announcement this acquisition may be solicited as a 100% small business set-aside. All small business organizations (SB, SDB, WOSB, HUBZONE, VOSB, and SDVOSB) are encouraged to respond to this notice. Small business organizations must have their size status certified by the small business administration. All small businesses are encouraged to respond. The NAICS code is 519190 with a size standard of $6.5M. On March 15-16, 2010, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Transplantation (DAIT), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and other NIH Institutes and Centers organized a two-day workshop entitled "Developing Standardized Definitions and Methodologies for Outcome Measures for Asthma Clinical Research." The purpose of the workshop is to develop standardized definitions and Data Collection Methodologies for established and validated outcome measures in asthma clinical research. In addition the Workshop aims at identifying promising outcomes that will require future validation research. The NIAID is seeking a Contractor to perform literature reviews and prepare summary reports in support of the Workshop. These reviews and reports will focus on, but shall not be limited to, the definition of and the determination of the validity, reliability, sensitivity to change and ease of use of selected asthma clinical research outcomes that will be identified by the Chairs of the Workshop sub-committees and approved by the Workshop Chairs. The reviews and reports that will be generated, in conjunction with the consensus expert opinion of the Workshop's participants, will be used for the development of standardized definitions and methodologies for outcome measures in asthma clinical research. These reviews and reports will also be used for the prioritization of these outcomes based on clinical and scientific importance and on their validity. The Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation Research Contract Branch (AIT RCB), NIAID Office of Acquisitions is seeking capability statements from small business organizations with the technical expertise to provide literature reviews on the definition, methodology and validation (validity, reliability, sensitivity to change and ease of use) of selected asthma clinical research outcomes. The Contractor shall be responsible for developing and documenting detailed methods, rationales and assumptions. Following each literature review, the Contractor shall analyze and synthesize the data into charts and reports to address the required outcome validation elements based on a model to be described in the Contractor proposal. The reports shall include a summary of the state of the science, including knowledge gaps and areas in which consensus has not been reached. The Contractor shall only use Workshop sub-committee members as expert consultants for the purposes of developing a literature search strategy and an evidence grading scheme, but these experts shall not be involved in analyzing the data or writing the reports. Offerors shall not name specific consultants in their response to this solicitation. NIAID/CONTRACTOR COMMUNICATION: Within seven (7) calendar days of the award date of the contract, the Contractor shall convene a conference call with the NIAID Project Officer to clarify outstanding questions and confirm the schedule, budget and plan for the literature reviews. Within 30 calendar days of the award date of the contract, the Contractor shall participate in up to three (3) conference calls of up to one (1) hour duration each with the Workshop Planning Committee and/or the Workshop Chairs to receive debriefing on the status of the Workshop and its sub-committees and to present plans on literature review methodology. The Contractor shall provide monthly status updates to the Project Officer, verbally via telephone (calls not to exceed 30 minutes each). Topics to be covered in the monthly status updates include, but are not limited to progress and timelines of ongoing literature searches and reviews. The Contractor shall initiate additional communication with the Project Officer should developments arise that may affect the schedule of this Contract or any of the tasks outlined in it. LITERATURE REVIEW: The Contractor shall perform a series of up to seven (7) scientific literature reviews, including development of bibliographic search terms, bibliographic database searches for literature identification, confirmation of search hits relevance, data extraction and analysis. DRAFT REPORT OF THE LITERATURE REVIEW: The Draft Report will serve as a largely complete draft of the final literature review and shall be completed within 2 months from topic assignment. A separate Draft Report shall be prepared for each asthma outcome literature review. FINAL REPORT ON THE LITERATURE REVIEW: The Final Reports shall be based on the Draft Reports and shall address all the questions and requests raised by the Workshop sub-committees in their review of the Draft Reports. Each Final Report shall be written in manuscript form, shall be no longer than 12 single-spaced typed pages in length (including Tables). The final report shall address the topics and questions outlined by the NIAID in the RFQ. The Contractor shall incorporate any editorial comments or changes suggested by the NIAID into the final report. WORKSHOP ATTENDANCE: The Contractor shall send 1-2 key personnel to the Asthma Outcome Measures Workshop March 15-16, 2010 to respond to comments/questions from the Workshop participants. The Government anticipates making a single award. It is anticipated that the duration of the contract will be a maximum 7 months; however, the length of time for which funds is requested should be consistent with the nature and complexity of the proposed research. Capability statements submitted as a result of this announcement should demonstrate the offeror's qualifications and experience, specifically providing evidence as to their capability to perform this requirement. Any proprietary information should be so marked. Capable small businesses should submit two (2) copies of their capability statement addressing the areas cited above. Submitted capability statements should include the following: (1) Name of vendor; (2) Contact information (address, telephone, facsimile, e-mail); (3) Technical description of capabilities in meeting the requirement; (4) Documented experience in performing scientific literature reviews or similar documents (include examples of such reviews); and (5) Business status of the organization (i.e. small business , 8 (a), HUBZone, Service Disabled Veterans, etc.) Written capability statements should be received by the Contracting Officer by June 2, 2009, 3:00 p.m., local time. Please reference the solicitation number on all related correspondences. No collect calls will be accepted.
