National Emergency Medical Services Information System (NEMSIS) Technical Assistance Center (TAC)

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is issuing this Sources Sought Notice to identify potential qualified Small Business (SB), Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB), 8(a) Certified SDB, HUBZone SB, SDVOSB, or WOSB concerns that may be interested in and capable of performing the work described herein to standardize the collection of motor vehicle crash injury data by emergency medical services (EMS) agencies. NHTSA welcomes all qualified Small Business concerns, with the appropriate NAICS Code and past experience to submit their Corporate Capability Statements that demonstrate their ability to successfully accomplish the goals of the project as listed below. NHTSA does not intend to award a contract based on responses to this notice or otherwise pay for the preparation of any information submitted. Acknowledgement of receipt of responses will not be made; no formal evaluation of the information received will be conducted by NHTSA. NHTSA may; however later issue a Request for Proposals (RFP). However, should such a requirement fail to materialize, no basis for claims against NHTSA shall arise because of a response to this notice. Background: The U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) NHTSA Office of Emergency Medical Services (OEMS), pursuant to its authority under 23 U.S.C. 401, et Seq., supports national programs and products designed to support ongoing development and enhancement of EMS systems at the State and local level. Highway safety systems across the country depend on the delivery of effective and timely post-crash emergency medical and trauma care. The nation's EMS systems are designed to provide effective emergency medical care for those injured in motor vehicle crashes, other forms of traumatic incidents and medical emergencies. The Emergency Medical Services Agenda for the Future (NHTSA, 1996) articulated the critical need for EMS data. In October 2001, the General Accounting Office published a report entitled: - Emergency Medical Services - Reported Needs are Wide-ranging, With Growing Focus on Lack of Data (GAO-02-28). This report identified the need for consistent information to: (1) improve EMS performance at the local level, (2) set and monitor national level policy, and (3) improve the ability to assess EMS outcomes. NHTSA, in cooperation with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), funded a Cooperative Agreement with the National Association of State EMS Directors (NASEMSD) to develop the National EMS Information System (NEMSIS). It was the intent of the NASEMSD that a more comprehensive and systematic approach to standardizing EMS patient care reporting across the country, through NEMSIS, would better serve local, state, and national level EMS information needs. This new effort was a huge step forward from the original 1994 Uniform Prehospital EMS Data Standard (Version 1) that had 81 data elements and no mechanism for collecting the information nationally. As a result of this Cooperative Agreement, NASEMSD developed and finalized a NHTSA Uniform Prehospital Dataset (Version 2), a comprehensive data dictionary, and a physical database schema mapped to the NEMSIS dataset, with XML linkage. This was an important first step in standardizing EMS patient care documentation nationwide. To promote national implementation of NEMSIS, in 2005 NHTSA entered into a Cooperative Agreement with the University of Utah School of Medicine (Utah) to support the NEMSIS Technical Assistance Center (TAC). Subsequently, in 2010, NHTSA awarded a second five-year Cooperative Agreement to Utah with a performance period that extended through September 2015. Since September 2015, NHTSA has funded a contract with Utah to operate the TAC and host the National EMS Database. The TAC is essential to providing technical assistance to federal, state, local, territorial, tribal, and the District of Columbia's EMS agencies and EMS software vendors. Services offered through the TAC aid EMS operational programs as they convert or crosswalk to the NEMSIS standard; execute version updates; maintain the secure infrastructure to collect and manage data submitted by the States and Territories; sustain and enhance the NEMSIS national reporting system; and successfully coordinate the NEMSIS dataset with the Health Level 7 (HL7) Standard Development Organization, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to assure interoperability with other health data systems. This - health information exchange works because software packages used by EMS clinicians to collect patient encounter information are tested for compliance to the NEMSIS data standard every year (California) or two years (all other States and territories). As a result, all collected data elements share the same definitions and values across the U.S. These software packages are also tested for adherence to a data transmission standard so that data exchange is not disrupted. Great care is taken to ensure the data collected and reported are as clean as possible. All data submitted to the national EMS dataset by States, territories, tribes, and the District of Columbia (STTDC) must comply with an XML standard and are exposed to several hundred validation rules. The NEMSIS system facilitates quality data submissions by EMS agencies through a national standardized EMS dataset. A NEMSIS dictionary describing elements contained in the NEMSD has been produced and regularly updated. A subset of the patient encounter data (in each record) is submitted to the NEMSD, including motor vehicle crash information. The NEMSD includes 155 data elements collected by EMS clinicians during the patient encounter. Elements include patient demographics (e.g., age, race/ethnicity), reason for the encounter, injury/illness characteristics, injury/illness severity, medications/procedures given, patent acuity and final patient disposition. Although protected health information (PHI) and personally identifiable information (PII) data elements are identified in the data dictionary, no traditional PHI or PII is collected at the National level, rendering it a HIPAA Limited Dataset. State EMS Offices utilize their statutory authorities to require all EMS patient care reporting software to be compliant with the NEMSIS standard. NEMSIS data are reported to NHTSA from all 50 states, three territories (Northern Marianas, Virgin Islands and Guam), tribal nations, and the District of Columbia. In 2024, more than 59 million EMS activations were submitted by approximately 15,000 EMS agencies to the NEMSD. In 2024, the total number of reported motor vehicle crash (MVC)-related EMS activations in the National Database was approximately 1.6 million. Overall, the NEMSD contains approximately 485 million records, dating back to calendar year 2010. EMS agency submissions to STTDC databases can occur within minutes after the EMS activation. At the National level, 85% of EMS activations occurring on any given day, are in the NEMSD in approximately 72 hours. An annual report characterizing the NEMSD may be found at: https://nemsis.org/using-ems-data/articles-and-publications/ . The injury-related elements in the NEMSIS data standard have been - harmonized with related elements contained in the National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB), maintained by the American College of Surgeons and the cardiac arrest data elements aligned to the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES). NEMSIS is critical to the EMS community, EMS researchers, other public stakeholders, and the Federal government. The collection of relevant prehospital patient care information is of value to NHTSA, and other modes of the USDOT, to enhance our understanding of serious injury following a motor vehicle crashes (MVC) and the post-crash care delivered by EMS. Objective: The purpose of this contract is to continue to support and maintain the National Emergency Medical Services Information System (NEMSIS) and the Technical Assistance Center (TAC). The NEMSIS is a framework that provides a national standard for patient care reporting by emergency services personnel in the out-of-hospital setting. The NEMSD defines data elements, values, and established a national standard for data exchange in collaboration with State, territorial, tribal and the District of Columbia (STTDC) EMS offices, software vendors, national partners, and industry experts. Data from patient care reports completed by all EMS clinicians at the point-of-care in the out-of-hospital setting are sent from their local agency to STTDC level data repositories before being submitted to the NEMSD. Data quality is maintained through electronic patient care report (ePCR) software vendor compliance testing and the adoption of national case definitions and schema language. This patient care reporting and data exchange system is maintained by NHTSA OEMS. This contract continues maintenance, further development, ongoing implementation of NEMSIS, the NEMSD, and TAC to harmonize NEMSIS with electronic health record initiatives. Integration with regional, Federal, State, and local Health Information Exchanges (HIEs), Qualified Heath Information Networks (QHINS), registries (e.g., trauma, cardiac and stroke), other national data sets such as the Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC), Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), provide information to other healthcare providers that see the patient after EMS delivers initial care, transport, and/or interfacility transfer. Capabilities: SUPPLIES/SERVICES The Contractor shall furnish the necessary qualified personnel, facilities, materials, supplies, equipment, and services to perform work associated with the requirements as stated in the Draft SOW which includes but are not limited to the following: - The Contractor shall operate the NEMSIS TAC, hosting center, NEMSD, website (www.NEMSIS.org ), and all related functions for the period of performance of the Contract. The Contractor shall begin to provide NEMSIS related technical assistance and support. This may include site visits, webinars, and other technical assistance, including programming or other special requests from system users. - The Contractor shall operate all related systems to ensure uninterrupted collection, management, and reporting of EMS data received from STTDC EMS agencies. This work shall be accomplished in tandem with maintenance of an AWS Cloud [Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) Moderate] NEMSIS information technology (IT) infrastructure instance. The NEMSIS shall be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year unless a scheduled maintenance period or mitigation of an unexpected event is required, uptime of 99.9% shall be maintained throughout the period of performance. - The Contractor shall implement all approved architecture, structure, and artifacts associated with the NEMSIS 3.5.x and future standard releases. - The Contractor shall provide support for additional tasks designed to facilitate data connectivity and stakeholder utilization of the NEMSIS standard data, to include, but not limited to, customer service and support for EMS researchers, medical researchers, DOT, NHTSA, CDC, other Federal partners, the States, and EMS software vendors. (see attached Draft SOW for more information) Format of Corporate Capabilities Statement: CAPABILITY STATEMENTS Any interested qualified Small Business firms, Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB), 8(a) Certified SDB, HUBZone SB, SDVOSB, or WOSB concerns should submit their Corporate Capability Statement, which demonstrates the firm's ability and past experience in no more than 25 pages to perform the key requirements described above to the identified NHTSA point of contact listed herein. Any proprietary information should be marked as such. All respondents are asked to certify the type and size of their business organization is in-line with the requirements of this Sources Sought Notice which must be received no later than 10 calendar days from the date of publication or by the closing date of this notice. To facilitate a timely and comprehensive review of all submitted responses, firms should respond using the format requested in this Notice. Please provide the following information for your firm and for any teaming or joint venture partners: General Information: Company name, address, point of contact name, telephone, and email address. Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number and Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) Code. Business size and classification (e.g., large, small, small-disadvantaged, SBA Certified 8(a), HUBZone, service-disabled veteran-owned, woman-owned) based on NAICS code: 541380, Testing Laboratories and Services. If applicable, potential proposed teaming arrangements to include business size and classification of prime and subcontractors. GSA Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) Number (FSS must include NAICS code 541380, Testing Laboratories and Services Identify contracts your company has been awarded under NAICS code 541380, Testing Laboratories and Services. Technical Capability: Provide a brief synopsis to support the firm's ability to perform all of potential areas of the objective/scope. Identify each task element and provide information to support the firm's experience, staffing and overall ability to perform the technical area. Evidence of experience and past performance should include contracts/task orders from the past three (3) years similar in scope to this requirement. Examples must include contract numbers, project titles, dollar amounts, periods of performance, and Government points of contact (telephone numbers or email addresses). Documented information to support the firm's ability to provide the range of research skillsets capability to quickly plan, conduct, and document studies; AND personnel required for this effort in a timely fashion. Any data on previous contracts/task orders on personnel retention and succession planning. Additional Information: Indicate if your firm will submit a proposal if a Request for Proposal (RFP) is issued, and if your firms interest is for Prime contracting, teaming agreement or Joint Venture. Validation of, or recommended NAICS codes for this effort. Validation of, or recommended contract type. Validation of, or recommended GSA vehicle In each potential areas of research, indicate any Small Business Subcontracting opportunities, as applicable. Other Recommendations Any information missing from this requirement that would provide a better understanding of the effort desired. Please submit any other questions or comments along with your response. CONTRACTING OFFICE ADDRESS Department of Transportation (DOT) Headquarters, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20590.