New Media Platform Advertising Services

This is a Small Business Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources; (2) whether they are small businesses; HUBZone small businesses; service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice. This notice is issued to help determine the availability of qualified companies technically capable of meeting the Government requirement and to determine the method of acquisition. It is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotes. No award will be made as a result of this notice. The Government will NOT be responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice. This notice is strictly for research and information purposes only. Background: The mission of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Intramural Research Program (IRP) is to conduct state-of-the-art research on basic mechanisms that underlie drug abuse and addiction, and to develop new methods for the treatment of drug abuse and addiction. The goal of the Neuroimaging Research Branch (NRB), a Branch within the IRP, is to better understand the neurobiological antecedents of illicit drug use and abuse, the neuronal consequences of short and long-term drug use and the potential reversibility of these neuroadaptations. Advanced MRI acquisition pulse sequences and novel analysis strategies are developed and applied in both human and preclinical models in an integrated translational approach to understand the causations of drug taking along with the acute and long-term consequences of such use. Importantly, the NRB studies both healthy, disease free individuals as well as those with various drug dependence disorders. The long-term objective of this research is to inform the development of better behavioral and pharmacological interventions to treat substance abuse and help prevent vulnerable individuals from initiating drug use. The NIDA IRP NRB conducts research studies using volunteer human participants in the greater Baltimore area. In general, the volunteers are a representative sample of adults from the region between the ages of 18 and 60 who are generally healthy (aside from specified substance use) and willing to participate in single and/or multi-visit research studies conducted on-site at he NIH Baltimore Treatment Center, located on the Bayview Medical Center campus in East Baltimore. Purpose and Objectives: The purpose of this acquisition is to launch and monitor the performance of a new media advertising campaign to recruit new, eligible volunteer participants to human research studies. The recruitment of these human participants can prove to be challenging, as more than 90-95% of initially screened participants do not meet study eligibility requirements. NIDA's goal is to obtain at least 5-6 participants/week to enter the currently active treatment protocols and be representative of the 4 targeted research populations, in addition to matched healthy controls. Project requirements: Independently and not as an agent of the Government, the Contractor shall furnish all the necessary services, qualified personnel, material, equipment, and facilities, not otherwise provided by the Government as needed to: - Work with a NIDA study team to design and implement recruitment strategies that are study specific and leverage new media platforms including but not limited to display advertising, social media, mobile, video, and email marketing messages. - Use targeted technology (e.g. behaviorally, demographically, and geographically targeted advertising messages) to identify relevant potential participant populations and new-media locations for advertisement placement - Devise an effective marketing plan(s) to reach target populations specific to individual protocol eligibility requirements and study timelines. - Track recruitment success during life of campaign. Identify recruitment strategies that prove successful/unsuccessful. Maintain flexibility with recruitment strategies in the event it becomes necessary to change on an ongoing basis, as needed to optimize success. Additionally, the Contractor should 1) have experience in providing new-media marketing and advertising services designed to attract and recruit individuals for participation in various types of research protocols; and 2) demonstrated success implementing participant recruitment campaigns for various clinical research studies with NIH (or similar clinical research within the Government sector) clients is essential. Anticipated period of performance: Twelve months from date of award. Capability statement /information sought: Respondents must provide clear and convincing documentation of their capability of providing the products specificed in this notice. Also, information must be provided in sufficient details of the respondents' (a) staff expertise, including their availability, experience, formal and other training; (b) current in-house capability to perform the work; (c) prior completed projects of similar nature; (d) corporate experience and other management capability; and (e) examples of prior completed Government contracts, references, and other related information. The respondent must also provide their DUNS number, organization name, address, point of contact, and size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HubZone, etc., pursuant to the applicable NAICS code and any other information that may be helpful in developing or finalizing the acquisition requirements. Finally, respondents are also encouraged to provide a general overview of the respondent's opinions about the difficulty and/or feasibility of the potential requirement, and any other information regarding innovative ideas or concepts that may be applicable. Submission Instructions: One (1) copy of the response is required and must be in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format using 11-point or 12-point font, 8-1/2" x 11" paper size, with 1" top, bottom, left and right margins, and with single or double spacing. The information submitted must be must be in and outline format that addresses each of the elements of the project requirement and in the capability statement /information sought paragraphs stated herein. A cover page and an executive summary may be included but is not required. The response is limited to ten (10) page limit. The 10-page limit does not include the cover page, executive summary, or references, if requested. The response must include the respondents' technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses. All responses to this notice must be submitted electronically to the Contract Specialist and Contracting Officer. Facsimile responses are NOT accepted. The response must be submitted to Megan Nathan, Contract Specialist at megan.nathan@nih.gov and Andrew Hotaling, Contracting Officer at andrew.hotaling@nih.gov. The response must be received on or before March 26, 2018 at 3:00PM Eastern Time. Disclaimer and Important Notes: This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a presolicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. Confidentiality: No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).