New Web-Comms Strategic Support

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) wants to identify viable 8(a) small businesses that are capable of fulfilling the objectives of this requirement. 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 8(a) small businesses and (2) 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 an 8(a) small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice. BACKGROUND The Office Assistant Secretary for Health OASH oversees the Department's key public health offices and programs, a number of Presidential and Secretarial advisory committees, 10 regional health offices across the nation, the Office of the Surgeon General and the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. Communications Support: Planning and Development OASH is in the process of consolidating the web presence of the OASH public health offices into one enterprise OASH branded domain. With this challenge comes the need for premiere level expertise in Project Management and Communications to assist with maintaining the individual missions of each public health office. OASH would like to review capability statements of qualified 8(a) small businesses with proven ability to plan, develop, execute a strategic communications strategy; experience with targeting various audiences for directed materials - internal and external stakeholders (i.e., state/local public health department staff, public health organizations, policymakers, consumers, researchers, etc.,), many of whom utilize OASH data and resources. Tasks might include developing a suite of coordinated communications products to increase awareness of OASH Programs and Divisions; message research and testing of products in support of high-priority needs; and developing dissemination strategies that will promote and evaluate the effectiveness of OASH communication products. Technical and creative support from a contractor could assist OASH with dissemination of key messages to internal and external audiences that reflect strategic initiatives or mission-driven priorities. OASH would like to evaluate potential partnerships through collaborative development of content, templates, layout, graphics, etc. to promote OASH Program Office mission branded materials, data, reports etc., that will further cultivate awareness of all OASH programs, products, and services that enhance public health capacity and improve health equity. RESPONSE INFORMATION CERTIFIED 8(a) ENTITIES ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO SUBMIT CAPABILITY STATEMENTS. THE CAPABILITLY STATEMENT MUST CLEARLY DEMONSTRATE THE FIRM'S CAPABILITY AND EXPERIENCE IN PROVIDING THE LEVEL OF SERVICES DESCRIBED. In order to respond to this Sources Sought Notice, interested firms should address the depth and breadth of professional and technical capabilities, past performance and must be able to clearly convey its experience and/or ability to perform the following, which are identified as potential core services: Describe your experience or competence with the creation, development, coordination of large-scale strategic Communications support. Ability to advance the state of information science and apply digital information technologies to aid in the management of OASH products. Experience or ability to engage, collaborate, and coordinate with OASH programs and partners. Promote a multidisciplinary approach to public health surveillance practice, management, and evaluation. Anticipate and adapt to changing information needs and expectations in healthcare, technology, and policy. Support public health decision making by advancing epidemiologic methods, analytic techniques, library sciences, health equity, information dissemination and systematic literature reviews. Provide leadership in public health training and education, and manage innovative, evidence-based programs to prepare the health workforce to meet public health challenges of the 21st century. Describe your experience and proven capability in the following areas: Strategies to promote awareness and adoption of HHS Standards Strategic partnerships and collaboration Strategic marketing and promotion, including development of strategic plans, promotional materials, multimedia communications products, usability, and accessibility (508 compliance), language translation support, plain language support, and social media content Data collection & utilization of web-based tools (collect/store/analyze data) Strategies to develop intuitive products to meet the needs of various audiences Evaluation and quality improvement processes to assess resource utilization, knowledge acquisition, and adoption of HHS policies and standards Describe your proven capability to collect, integrate and analyze quantitative and qualitative data to assess the utilization of capacity-building resources. Describe your experience with developing reports, documenting key findings, and providing recommendations from those findings. Describe your proven capability of managing and coordinating processes to gather and incorporate technical expert input into products or deliverables; and Inclusion of any information submitter believes pertinent. INSTRUCTIONS TO INDUSTRY INTERESTED SOURCES POSSESSING THE CAPABILITIES TO MEET THE ABOVE REQUIREMENTS SHOULD SUBMIT A COVER LETTER ALONG WITH A CAPABILITY STATEMENT (FONT SIZE TIMES NEW ROMAN 11 OR LARGER) DEMONSTRATING ABILITY TO PERFORM AND SHOULD INCLUDE AN OUTLINE OF PREVIOUS OR SIMILAR PROJECTS SO THAT THE GOVERNMENT CAN PERFORM A PROPER EVALUATION OF THE COMPANY'S CAPABILITY. THE STATEMENT SHOULD ALSO INCLUDE AN INDICATION OF BEING A CERTIFIED 8(A) SMALL BUSINESS STATUS; THIS INDICATION SHOULD BE CLEARLY MARKED ON THE FIRST PAGE OF THE CAPABILIITY STATEMENT. This notice is for planning only. 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. Respondents will not be notified of the results of this evaluation. Capability statements will not be returned and will not be accepted after the due date. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Beta.Sam.gov, to contractor holders of a specific strategic sourcing vehicle, or otherwise. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. 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). Interested certified 8(a) small business firms are highly encouraged to respond to this notice. However, firms should understand that generic capability statements are not sufficient for effective evaluation of their capacity and capability to perform the work required. Responses must directly demonstrate the company's capability, experience, and ability to marshal resources to effectively and efficiently perform the objectives described above. The written response to this notice should consist of the following items: a. Company Name. b. Company UEI number. c. Company point of contact, mailing address, telephone and fax numbers, and website address. d. Name, telephone number, and e-mail address of a company point of contact who has the authority and knowledge to clarify responses with government representatives. e. Date submitted. f. Applicable company GSA Schedule number or other available procurement vehicle. g. Do you have a government approved accounting system? If so, please identify the agency that approved the system. h. Type of Company (i.e., certified 8(a)) as validated via the System for Award Management (SAM). All respondents must register on the SAM located at https://www.sam.gov. Responses must be submitted not later than Friday, May 5th, 2023 at 3:00pm Eastern Time. Capability statements will not be returned and will not be accepted after the due date. The maximum number of pages for submission is 10 pages (format must be double spaced and no less than 11-point font with one-inch margins). As previously stated, the Government will not entertain questions regarding this Market Research; however, general questions may be forwarded to the following: Contract Specialist: Terry Knight Email Address: Terry.Knight@psc.hhs.gov