Early Intervention Mental Health Demonstration Study

This is a Sources Sought Notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations and in no way obligates the Government to award a contract. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information, for planning purposes, regarding: (1) the availability and capability of potential sources that can provide the required services described below; (2) the size classification of the available and potential sources relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition; and (3) to seek industry comments regarding a draft version of a Statement of Work (SOW). The NAICS code for this planned acquisition is 541611. Your response to the information requested will assist the Social Security Administration (SSA) in planning the appropriate acquisition strategy. Background: Demonstrations on early intervention, defined as a policy treatment applied after the point of disability onset but before an individual is determined eligible for benefits in either the Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs, may lead to innovative approaches for assisting people with disabilities to succeed in the workforce. SSA's past demonstrations have identified certain interventions after the point of complete disability onset that can yield positive outcomes for beneficiaries, but earlier interventions, before an individual acquires DI or SSI benefits, may be more effective. While several demonstrations for existing DI beneficiaries and SSI recipients have yielded positive results, such as increased earnings, they have not identified interventions that would return beneficiaries to substantial and sustained employment. A promising area for investigation is that of mental impairment. Growth in the disability rolls on the basis of a primary impairment of mental disorder has been dramatic. Since individuals with mental illnesses often need long-term supports to maintain employment, they may be considered "hard-to-serve" by providers of employment services. However, many forms of mental illness are treatable, and there are promising research findings from research on interventions that integrate treatment with rehabilitation services. There is evidence that many applicants with mental impairments do not receive the treatment and rehabilitation services that could help them recover and enjoy a more productive life. SSA proposes to study the impact that better access to these services would have on outcomes such as eventual benefit receipt, employment, medical recovery and functioning, and employment. The purpose of this contract is to implement and evaluate this Early Intervention Mental Health Demonstration (EIMHD) which tests the extent to which establishing an accurate diagnosis and delivering appropriate mental health and employment supports will reduce participation in DI and SSI and lead to better employment outcomes and other benefits among denied applicants with an alleged impairment of mental illness (excluding intellectual disabilities). Study outcomes will assess the impact and cost effectiveness of the intervention, including, if possible, an identification of specific factors within the interventions that result in positive employment outcomes. Project Requirements: The contractor will be responsible for both the implementation and evaluation of the project, with an appropriate separation of duties. In general, the contractor shall: (1) refine the final design of the demonstration implementation and evaluation; (2) implement the demonstration in multiple sites; (3) recruit participants; (4) develop and implement a random assignment protocol; (5) recruit a network of providers to provide medical and employment supports; (6) ensure that medical treatment and employment supports are fully integrated; and (7) perform an evaluation of the demonstration and an analysis of its outcomes that will allow SSA to determine the feasibility of long-term programmatic changes. Interventions must be designed to meet the specific needs of each participant and each participant will receive a medical and employment support package designed specifically for him or her. With the exception of Individualized Placement and Support (IPS) and Systematic Medication Management, SSA does not intend to develop or require the use of a specific treatment protocol. The IPS team includes an IPS specialist, treating physicians, and a nurse-care coordinator. Additionally, The evaluation shall answer the following questions, across several evaluation reports: - How was the program implemented and what was the level of fidelity to the program design? - Who participated in the program, how do they compare with non-participants, and what were the reasons for variation in participation? - What services were provided and which services were considered by participants and staff to be most useful, and what services, if any were considered less useful? - What programmatic disincentives exist that create barriers for applicants with mental illness to return to work? - To what extent does delivering appropriate, coordinated mental health treatment and employment supports lead to better employment outcomes among people with mental illness? - What specific programmatic changes can be made to support the efforts of people with mental illness in their effort to sustain competitive employment? - What was the impact of the program for the treatment group as compared to the control group on: 1. SSA disability applications in terms of appeals, reapplications, and awards, both in terms of the proportion of appeals, reapplications, and awards and the timing of appeals, reapplications, and awards. 2. Employment, hours of work, wages, and earnings 3. Access to healthcare, health and healthcare costs 4. Wellbeing and quality of life The contract will cover six years. The first year of the contract will include all start-up tasks, as well as the recruitment of providers. Years Two through Five will include the field implementation of the project. Recruitment of participants may continue through the third year. Services will begin one year after the contract award date and shall continue for four years (through Year 5). During Year Six, the Contractor will write the evaluation final reports and deliver any data. See accompanying draft version of the statement of work (SOW) for specific information on the anticipated requirements of the contract. Response Information: In order for SSA to assess a contractor's capability, contractors must submit a response that provides enough detail to indicate that it can provide the services to meet the requirements identified above and in the draft version of the SOW. SSA also seeks industry comment on the Draft SOW, including comments on general organization and completeness of tasks. You will need to identify the applicable section and page number of the draft SOW when submitting your comments. SSA will not consider contractor submissions of simple marketing materials or brochures, incomplete responses that do not conform to the elements of this request for information, or references to vendor websites. With your response, please include: a. DUNS number b. Company Name c. Company Address d. NAICS code appropriate to this notice e. Current GSA Schedules appropriate to this notice f. Type of Company (i.e. large business, small business, small disadvantaged, women owned, HUBZone, and Service Disabled) as validated via the System for Award Management (SAM) g. Company point of contact, title, phone and email address All responses must be submitted in an electronic form via e-mail to Michele.Tubman@ssa.gov no later than May 14, 2015 at 10:30 a.m. Reponses will not be accepted after the due date. Responses must not exceed twenty (20) pages. The file size limitation for e-mail attachments is 5 MB. Faxed information will not be considered. SSA will not accept phone calls regarding this notice. Disclaimer: This notice is not to be construed as a commitment by SSA to award a contract. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with your submittal. SSA will not return any information submitted in response to this notice. Information received will be used in SSA's market research effort and for procurement planning purposes. The Government reserves the right to contact, or not to contact, any party responding to this notice in order to obtain further information for market research purposes. Respondents are advised that SSA is under no obligation to provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. Confidentiality: No proprietary, confidential, sensitive information should be included in your response. SSA reserves the right to use any non-proprietary information in any resultant solicitation.