Public Service Announcement on Mental Health Disorders

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Office of Acquisitions Station Support Simplified Acquisitions Branch on behalf of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) intends to negotiate, on a sole source basis, with The International Mental Health Research Organization, Rutherford, CA 94573, for professional services to provide support to a public service announcement on mental disorders. This acquisition will be processed under FAR Part 12 - Acquisition for Commercial Items and will be made pursuant to the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(1) and FAR 13.501 (a)(1) to use Simplified Acquisition Procedure for commercial items. The NIMH, Office of Science Policy, Planning and Communications (OSPPC) is the principal resource on national mental health policy, planning and evaluation, reporting and analysis, and communications for the NIMH. NIMH's mission is to integrate, coordinate, and communicate NIMH activities to inform key audiences and promote mental health research. To realize this mission, the immediate Office of the Director coordinates and oversees a broad range of cross-Institute endeavors as well as the activities within OSPPC's four specialized branches. OSPPC is rich with talents in mental health science policy, planning, reporting and analysis, information dissemination, and communications. PSPPC's success as a central component of NIMH reflects the understanding of the Institute's key stakeholders - patients living with mental illness, their families, health care providers, advocates, researchers, Congress, and many others - as well as the attempts to reach out to them. Within NIMH, OSPPC staff work with all Offices and Divisions to tailor the messages to these key audiences and provide important information. The International Mental Health Research Organization (IMHRO) has the experience and expertise in supporting numerous public service announcements (PSA) to the mental health research community. This public service announcement and accompanying website will combine to create a unique opportunity to reach millions of people regarding mental illness. It will encourage people to talk about their disorders, thus reducing stigma, inducing people to seek treatment, and increasing general exposure to the idea of mental disorders. Actress Glenn Close and director Ron Howard are offering their time and energies free of charge, and singer John Mayer has donated a song that will be used in the background. These major stars will create a unique, high-quality PSA and website (for which NIMH has creative input) that will have mass appeal. Time-Warner has donated advertising time during which the PSA will be played nationwide. There will be a major media push, with likely earned media write-ups in national newspapers and exposure on national shows such as Good Morning America and the Oprah Winfrey show. No other PSA can offer this degree of star-power, and thus, exposure. The website that is planned will offer additional reach, for many months, maybe even years, after the PSA. NIMH will be prominently featured on the portal website in various areas, and the portal will drive people to the NIMH website to get important information and education about mental disorders. The NIMH will contribute funds to support a public service announcement for this project. The PSA objectives are as follows: 1. To increase awareness about the stigma that exists against people with mental illness; 2. To provide a resource portal website for people affected by mental illness and direct them to relevant organizations such as NIMH and SAMHSA. NIMH will measure any increases in traffic from this portal website, such as spikes in traffic after a PSA spot airs or a story runs about it in other media. NIMH will also be able to measure increases in inquiries to its call-center and requests for publications about mental disorders. Because of the visibility of the actor and director for the spot, traffic and media coverage is expected to be high. The PSA will feature actress Glenn Close and her sister, who has bipolar disorder; Ron Howard will be directing the PSA. The website will be available on line before, during, and after the PSA runs. This is not a solicitation for competitive quotations. However, if any interested party believes it can perform the requirement as detailed the vendor may submit a statement of capabilities on or before 11:00 AM E.T., September 21, 2009 to Liem T Nguyen, contact@example.gov. All information furnished must be in writing and must contain sufficient detail to allow the NIDA/NINDS to determine if it can meet the above unique specifications described herein. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed acquisition based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. In order to receive an award from the NIDA vendor must be registered in the Online Representations and Certifications Applications (ORCA) at http://orca.bpn.gov. In addition, vendor must be registered in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) at www.ccr.gov. No collect calls will be accepted. Please reference announcement number 1011422 on all correspondence.