R -- Training & Technical Assistance for Teens Linked to Care; A Group Level Intervention for HIV-Positive Youth

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is contemplating the award of a contract on a Sole Source basis to the University of California - Los Angeles Neuropsychiatric Institute, in accordance with FAR part 6.302-1(b). The basis for this contemplation is that only one responsible source and no other services will satisfy agency requirements. The requirement is as follows: The CDC has endorsed Teens Linked to Care (TLC) as the only effective intervention for HIV-positive adolescents in the scientific literature of the past 22 years. TLC was included as the only intervention that addresses the prevention needs of HIV-positive youth for which Community Based Organizations (CBOs) directly funded by the CDC could apply in Program Announcement (PA) 04064. TLC was featured in the main text of PA 04064 and as an attachment to PA 04064 because it was the only intervention for HIV-positive adolescents in the scientific literature. Applicants were informed that agencies chosen for funding would receive intervention materials, training, and ongoing technical assistance related to the projects for which they were funded. The TLC intervention, a group-level intervention has been adapted and tailored by behavioral scientists at the Center for Community Health (CCH) to be delivered as an individual-level intervention. This intervention, called Choosing Life: Empowerment, Action, Results (CLEAR) is the only manual-driven individual-level intervention for YLWH that is science-based. Thus, in this sole-source contract, CDC will be procuring TLC, a group-level intervention for HIV-positive adolescents and CLEAR, an individual-level intervention for HIV-positive adolescents. These will target effectively two programmatic objectives of PA04064. The University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA), Neuropsychiatric Institute (NPI) Center for Community Health (CCH) designed and conducted the original field research on TLC from 1991 to 1996. The purpose of this contract is to procure the services and technical expertise from the only qualified contractor who will partner with the CDC to provide training and technical assistance on TLC to directly-funded CBOs who are awarded funds to implement this intervention through Program Announcement 04064 and to adapt the CLEAR intervention to a PCM model so that agencies funded for PCM under PA 04064 will have a structured, evidence-based approach to use in their programs. The TLC intervention materials are copyrighted by the University of California - Los Angeles. These proprietary materials comprise the TLC intervention kits to be further refined and provided by CCH to be used by CBOs funded to implement the TLC intervention. Therefore CDC believes that CCH is the only resource that has this unique program. The anticipated performance period is from June 15, 2004 through September 30, 2005. It is believed that University of California possesses the capability and is uniquely qualifed to perform this requirement as stated above. All responsible sources that feel they should be considered qualified to provide the foregoing services may submit a response by 3:00pm EST, June 10, 2004 by e-mail to Lisa Lombard at LPL0@CDC.GOV (LPL ZERO). See Note 22.