NATIONWIDE HEALTH INFOMRATION NETWORK PRODUCTION ACTIVITIES

The Program Support Center, on behalf of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) intends to award a sole source contract to Nitor Group, Ltd. , Chester, MD, to provide support services to develop a strategy, program governance, technical requirements, program artifacts, and facilitation processes that will move the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) to production readiness and production status in order to move the Country toward the goal of assuring that every American has an electronic health record by 2014 and that the country is provided with a means to exchange health information. The current acquisition is to provide expertise to enable ONC to bridge to a full and open competition during the last part of 2009. This latter competition will result in the selection of a set of task order contractors which will provide the range of skills, knowledge, and experience to advance the work toward a full production NHIN. The ONC provides leadership for the development and implementation of an interoperable health IT infrastructure to improve the quality and efficiency of health care and the ability of consumers to manage their own health care. To achieve this goal, the NHIN is being developed to provide a secure, nationwide, interoperable health information infrastructure that will connect providers, consumers, and others involved in supporting health and health care. This critical part of the national health IT agenda will enable health information to follow the consumer, be available for clinical decision making, and support appropriate use of healthcare information beyond direct patient care so as to improve public health generally. Title XIII of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), entitled Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), mandates that by 2014 each person in the United States will be able to utilize an electronic health record; to achieve this goal, the statute directs the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology to develop a nationwide health information technology infrastructure that allows for the electronic use and exchange of information. To meet these legislative mandates, a range of programmatic, management, architecture and infrastructure expertise is needed to ensure the timely, appropriate, efficient, purposeful conduct of activities by current and future participants on the Nationwide Health Information Network, consistent with ARRA. The current award is being made as a sole source contract to assure that work of the ONC toward the national NHIN is not impaired while the agency prepares documentation to enable a full and open competition for the range of work necessary, to take place. A sole source contractor is being chosen at this time who has the requisite skill, knowledge, and direct relevant experience so as to fulfill this short term goal. In the competitive acquisition to be conducted this fall the contractors selected will need to provide specialized expertise to develop systems, procedures, and technical artifacts. Specific activities may include assisting ONC: - developing a strategy and governance structure to fulfill the vision for the NHIN, including the steps necessary to move the NHIN to production status; - evaluating, planning, implementing and deploying health information technology, with special emphasis on information networks and interoperability; - developing a portfolio to manage the assets, resources, and other materials related to the NHIN; - guiding and overseeing stakeholder and workgroup activities; and - leading a communications campaign which includes effective news messaging and communications, establishing/maintaining a product web site and method of outreach to those interested in learning more about the NHIN or coming into production. Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under authority of Far 6.302-1. Interested concerns may identify their interest and submit a capability statement that demonstrates their ability to provide the services required. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. A determination not to compete this proposed requirement is solely within the discretion of the Government. THIS NOTICE IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE PROPOSAL. NO SOLICITATION IS AVAILABLE.