Retrospective collection of child protective service reports among National Early Head Start Research and Evaluation

STATEMENT OF WORK Title of Project: Retrospective collection of child protective service reports among National Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project. Introduction: This is a Research and Development (R & D) Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of all qualified sources to perform a potential R & D requirement." The proposed NAICS code for this requirement is 541720. Background: Early Head Start was initiated in response to the 1994 Head Start reauthorization. This comprehensive, two-generation program includes intensive services that begin before the child is born and concentrate on enhancing the child's development and supporting the family during the critical first three years of life. In the authorizing legislation, Congress mandated a rigorous evaluation of the new initiative. To evaluate the impact of EHS, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) has been conducting an ongoing large-scale (3001 families), multisite (17 sites across the US ), and randomized controlled trial (National Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project). Children and families were randomly assigned to the Early Head Start program and a control group at the time they applied for program services. Children and families were followed while in the program and follow-ups were conducted in the spring prior to children's entry into Kindergarten and again in fifth grade. Findings from this trial consistently show more positive outcomes for intervention children and their parents as compared to controls that include higher mental and language development scores; a more stimulating home environment for EHS children; more emotionally supportive parenting and a reduction in spanking among EHS parents. These data suggest that the intervention has contributed to more nurturing relationships for children but there have been no assessments of actual child maltreatment collected at any time during this study. EHS offers children and family's comprehensive child development services through center-based, home-based, and a mixed program options. Although there is evidence that home-based services to parents beginning prenatally and continuing through the first two years can impact parenting and child maltreatment rates, we lack evidence of the impact of mixed home visits and center- or center-based child care with parental involvement such as that provided by some of the EHS programs. In addition to promoting nurturing relationships, mixed home-center or center-based child care might influence the occurrence of child maltreatment directly, and they might moderate or mediate individual- and family-level risk or protective factors. Purpose and Objectives: This research contract is to collect retrospective data on family involvement with the child welfare system for five sites (n=750) and to use these data to answer the following questions: - How many parents in the sample have been involved in the child welfare system (report, substantiated report, out-of-home placement)? - Does the percentage of parents involved in the child welfare system significantly differ between EHS participants and the control sample? - Was EHS involved in the reporting (potential surveillance bias)? - How does this link with other risk data? (i.e., family demographic risks, family conflict, discipline, social networks, observed parenting behaviors)? - What are the factors that increase or decrease these children's risk of maltreatment, and to what extent does EHS play a role in buffering these risks? Project Requirements: The project will require: - Number and rate of parental involvement in the child welfare system (substantiated reports and out-of-home placements) for the five National Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project sites sample and by intervention group; - Proportional likelihood (or other measure of association) of involvement in the child welfare system by intervention group, adjusted for family demographic risks and family conflict; - Risk ratios for associations between family demographic risks, family conflict, discipline, social networks, observed parenting behaviors and involvement in the child welfare system; Throughout this entire contract period CDC will provide input on the implementation of the study protocol. The contractor shall work collaboratively with CDC and be responsible for documenting progress during each phase of the contract. CDC will be intricately involved in all phases of this project and will provide leadership or collaborative input as coauthors on all presentations, publications, or manuscripts that result from this contract. Contractor should be affiliated with the National Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project; and present evidence of access to relevant child protective services databases that include reports from1996 to present. Anticipated period of performance: The period of performance shall be 24 months from the contract award date. Capability statement /information sought. Please explain, in detail, your experience, knowledge and ability to provide the following: 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. Your staff expertise, including your availability, experience, and formal and other training. Your current in house capability and capacity to perform the work. Your completed projects of similar nature. Your corporate experience and management capability. Provide any examples of prior completed Government contracts, reference, and other related information. Provide a rough order of magnitude of the effort or time that may be required for completion of the work. The Government will not return capability statements received Information Submission Instructions: Please include a cover page with the following business information: a) DUNS: b) Organization name and address c) Do you have a Government approved accounting system? If so, please identify the agency that approved the 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 541720, size standards which is $7.0 M. e) Point of Contact, phone, fax and email address of individuals who can verify the demonstrated capabilities identified in the response. Page Limitation: Capability Statements shall be limited to 6 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 and and any questions via email to Lynn Walling, Contract Specialist at lqw5@cdc.gov. Subject line shall read 80731-Early Head Start Research and Evaluation-SS. Responses must be submitted not later than 2:30 pm. Eastern Standard by March 18,2010. Capability statements will NOT be accepted after the due date. The Government 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)."