R702--Study of Post 9/11 Veterans

The Department of Veterans Affairs is seeking a contractor to conduct a longitudinal study on the long-term health outcomes of Post-9/11 Veterans through the Health Outcomes of Military Exposures Epidemiology Program. This three-year effort, running from August 3, 2026, to August 2, 2029, will follow up on two previously established cohorts of veterans—those who deployed after 9/11 and those who served during the same period but did not deploy—and will expand the sample to include service members with service after June 2015. The contractor will manage a large-scale survey cycle involving a pilot study of 100 individuals and a primary data collection effort targeting up to 109,000 veterans through web and computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) methods. All services are performed at the contractor’s location with weekly virtual meetings held with VA’s HOME program. The work includes not only data collection but also complex statistical analyses using SAS, SPSS, or SQL software, resulting in white papers, technical reports, and three specialized methods and techniques papers. The contractor must also develop accessible educational and informational materials—fact sheets, websites, smartphone apps, and brochures—that are 508 compliant, available in both English and Spanish, and written at an 8th grade reading level using plain language. The contract is structured as a Firm Fixed Price, with performance divided into four line items covering project management, data collection and reporting, and educational materials development, each spanning 36 months. Payment will be made monthly in arrears via electronic funds transfer, with strict invoicing requirements including TIN, contract number, line item details, and shipping documentation. The contractor is subject to multiple Federal Acquisition Regulation clauses including those on commercial services, labor standards, security prohibitions, and DEI discrimination, with deviations applied for certain clauses such as the Service Contract Labor Standards and Security Prohibitions. A Business Associate Agreement under VA Handbook 1605.05 is mandatory due to the handling of protected health information, and the contractor must comply with VA-specific requirements for personnel vetting, safeguarding controlled unclassified information, and reporting data breaches with potential liquidated damages. Compliance with laws regarding procurement integrity, kickbacks, contracting hours, and trafficking in persons is required, along with detailed project deliverables including a Project Management Plan, Quality Control Plan, and Risk Management Register. The source selection is based on a comparative evaluation without numerical ratings or