Pilot Evalutaion of the Efficacy and Feasibility of the Essentials for Parenting Toddlers and Preschoolers Program

FedBizOpps - Small Business Sources Sought Notice Title of Project: Pilot Evalutaion of the Efficacy and Feasibility of the Essentials for Parenting Toddlers and Preschoolers Program Introduction. 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. The NACIS code for this acquisition is 541690 - Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services. Background. Child maltreatment (CM) is a significant public health problem in the Unites States as determined by the significant magnitude, related public health victims, and significant associated societal costs. CM is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as acts(s) of commission (physical, sexual, emotional abuse) or omission (neglect) by a parent or caregiver that results in harm, potential for harm, or threat of harm to a child. Data from the 4th national Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect, which includes data from child protective services and professionals in wide range of agencies in representative communities, indicated that nearly three (3) million children are abused and neglected each year. Two types of child maltreatment, physical abuse and neglect, make up over two-thirds of the substantiated cases of child maltreatment (e.g., US Department of Health and Human Services, 2012) each year and prevention of child maltreatment would have a huge impact on public health. Several parenting programs (e.g., Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, Triple P) have shown efficacy for reducing re-occurrence of maltreatment and/or for preventing abuse in families where it has not occurred. These programs, however, historically have required individual, face-to-face, repetitive contact with parents making them costly to disseminate on a wide scale. One of the goals of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC), Division of Violence Prevention (DVP) is to gentrate an impact on CM at the population level; thus, it is critical to consider how to best promote positive paranting at a national level. Over the last several years, CDC has conceptualized and developed a universal prevention approach called Essentials for Parenting Toddlers and Preschoolers that complements existing selected/indicated approaches and has the potential to reach broad audiences, promoting behavioral change, and promoting positive community norms about parenting programs and acceptable parenting behaviors. Prior work on the project included the identification of content and development of products that will engage parents and deliver the content in ways intended to maximize learning and use of positive parenting behaviors. Cosistent with other research, the approach also incorporates the elements that are characteristic of effective programs, including active rehearsal of skills, information on the correct use of time-out, emphasis on positive and nurturing caregiving-child relationships, and promotion of consistency in parenting within and across caregivers. The Essentials for Parenting Toddlers and Preschoolers program incorporates a variety of content, including written content (i.e., short "articles"/web pages focusing on parenting skills and tips), videos and vignettes that include parental demonstration of techniques, and interactive activities that include skill-building and video-based scenarios. The content covers five broad topic areas: 1) communicating with your child; 2) giving directions; 3) creating structure; 4) using discipline and consequences; and 5) using time-out. Although the content of the Essentials for Parenting Toddlers and Preschoolers program is evidence-based, the online, web-based delivery mechanism was designed to increase the reach and accessibility of the program and is different than what is typically used in evidence-based parenting programs. Thus, evaluation is essential to ensure effects on parenting are achieved using the new delivery platform. This pilot study will assist in determining whether the information contained in the program is in sufficient detail and delivered in a way for parents to acquire the skills and/or whether parenting behaviors change/improve as a result of exposure to program content. Program content and delivery strategies could be changed or modified as necessary based on data collected from the pilot study. If the Essentials for Parenting Toddlers and Preschoolers program is successful at increasing positive parenting and safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments (SSNREs) for children, then CDC has a program that can be easily and freely disseminated to communities. Purpose and Objectives. The purpose of this project is to conduct a pilot evaluation of the efficacy and feasibility of the Essentials for Parenting Toddlers and Preschoolers program. The contract will be a two year contract, with the goal of the first year being to complete OMB and IRB applications (which will be completed by CDC, with assistance, as needed, from the Contractor). Project Requirements. A single-subject repeated measures multiple-baseline design will be utilized to evaluate the Essentials for Parenting Toddlers and Preschoolers program. At least 150 mothers and fathers (50% each, if possible), ranging in age from 18 to 45 years, shall be recruited for participation in the study. Every effort should be made to ensure parents from various races/ethnicities are represented. The sample should include Caucasian, African American, Hispanic, and other races/ethnicities as appropriate to represent the general US population. Moreover, parents from varied economic backgrounds (i.e., low, middle, and high incomes) should be represented in the parent sample. If possible, parents should be recruited from different parts of the country. Parents selected to participate will have at least one child, the oldest of which is between 2 and 4 years of age, and have Internet access in the home. The potential requirement will include the following tasks: Task 1: Project Communications Task 2: Evaluation Plan Task 3: Assist CDC with Obtaining Necessary Clearances Task 4: Evaluation Implementation Task 5: Data Collection and Management Anticipated period of performance. The period of performance will be two years from date of award. Other Important Considerations. None Capability Statement/Information Sought. PAGE LIMIT 8 PAGES. Interested offerors should submit a capability statement specifically addressing the criteria listed below ONLY. Capability statements that address requirements other than what is identified below will not be reviewed. a. Your opinion about the difficulty and or feasibility of the potential requirement or proposed acquisition, possible solutions and approaches that may currently exist in the marketplace, and information regarding innovative ideas or concepts; b. Your staff expertise, including your availability, experience, formal training, and any other training; c. Your current in house capability and capacity to perform the work; d. Your prior completed projects of a similar nature; e. Your corporate experience and management capability. Provide any examples of prior completed Government contracts, reference, and other related information. Information Submission Instructions: Please include a cover page with the following business information. The cover page does not count against the page limit for the capability statement. a. DUNS Number: b. Organization Name and Address: c. Do you have a Government-approved accounting system? If so, please identify the agency that approved this system. d. Business Size and Type of Business (e. g., small business, 8(a), woman owned, veteran owned, etc.) pursuant to the applicable NAICS code 541620, size standards which is $14 millions. e. Technical point of contact including name, title, address, telephone number, and email address of the individual(s) who can verify the demonstrated capabilities identified in the response. f. Contract's point of contact including name, title, address, telephone number, and email address. g. In your opinion, can this work fit under a GSA Schedule? If so, which GSA Schedule? Please provide the schedule number. Page Limitation: Capability Statements shall be limited to EIGHT (8) (including references, appendices, charts, illustrations, diagrams, and or resumes) single-spaced pages including cover page. Pages shall be formatted as follows: MS Word, 8 - x 11, 12 pitch, Times New Roman font with one (1) inch margins. Response Due Date: Submit capability statements via email to Corina L Couch, Contract Specialist at vns7@cdc.gov. Should you have any questions concerning this sources sought, please direct your questions in writing to the Contracting Specialist Corina L Couch at vns7@cdc.gov. The government will not respond to oral questions. Responses must be submitted no later than 03:00 pm, Eastern Standard Time (EST) by Thursday, May 22, 2014. Capability statements will NOT be accepted after the due date. No telephonic or facsimile responses will be accepted. The Government will not provide feedback on capability statements and we will not return capability statements received. 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 pre-solicitation 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).