Services for Women Living with HIV / AIDS in Puerto Rico

The Department of Health and Human Services, Program Support Center (PSC), Division of Acquisition Management (DAM) intends to negotiate on a sole source basis for a 12 month contract Iniciativa Comunitaria de Investigaci'n, Inc (ICI). ICI will assist The Office on Women's Health (OWH) within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) with its mission to provide leadership to promote health equity for women and girls through sex/gender specific approaches. The OWH has established public/private partnerships to address critical women's health issues nationwide. These include designing and implementing training and education programs to target groups; identifying information gaps and designing and developing educational materials to better respond to public, health care professional and researcher needs on women's health issues; and disseminating educational products developed on women's health concerns. ICI shall facilitate development and capacity for HIV/AIDS service organizations and clinical providers to increase effectiveness and understanding of gender specific approaches and interventions in serving women living with HIV/AIDS and women at risk for HIV infection. To this end the contractor shall complete the following tasks: 1. The contractor shall develop and sustain collaborative community partnerships, linkages, networks, and coalitions (domestic violence centers, homeless shelters, drug residential treatment centers, STD clinics, adult entertainment venues, etc). 2. The contractor shall build a coalition of providers offering services to HIV infected women in Puerto Rico for collaboration and strengthen/expand the capacity of organizations to practice gender responsive strategies in service delivery of HIV prevention, reproductive health, and care/treatment services. 3. The contractor shall facilitate provider collaboration to enhance and improve services to HIV infected women and engage local organizations to create sustainable health promotion and prevention programs. 4. The contractor shall provide training opportunities on gender awareness to ensure proficiency of health and social services providers in addressing co-occurring issues such as partner violence, substance use/abuse and STD infection, economic dependency, etc. 5. The contractor shall increase provider use of gender specific secondary prevention education in working with HIV infected women. 6. The contractor shall create materials to enhance and support coalition activities and to increase awareness on gender specific awareness. 7. The contractor shall promote the Coalition online, in print and other media as approved by OWH. 8. The contractor shall draft and publish a women's health resource directory, which includes comprehensive services delivered for women, to be distributed, free of charge, to participants and HIV care and education providers that are represented at Iniciativa. 9. The contractor shall coordinate a minimum of six (6) meetings of coalition partners. 10. The contractor shall coordinate six (6) community events targeting women living in communities experiencing high incidence of HIV/AIDS, substance-use abuse, domestic violence, etc. 11. Conduct local evaluation of performance activities. The statutory authority for other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(1), only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. ICI is uniquely qualified for the following reasons: ICI offers an audience of representatives from priority populations and communities disproportionately burdened with health disparities. ICI is the only entity capable of performing this work in Puerto Rico, due to their extensive reputation for innovation and leadership in approaching women's health as it relates to HIV, STDs, reproductive health and other intersecting areas. ICI, having worked with the OWH in the past, is the only contractor with special familiarity of OWH and how gender-specific work is performed via the OWH model. In addition, ICI's unique capabilities include vast experience, keen knowledge of the intended population to be served and exceptional understanding of the specific needs for this effort. Furthermore, the Government will be damaged due to funding being diverted from one of the most at risk populations within the US territories. While the federal government's investment in treatment and research is helping people with HIV/AIDS live longer and more productive lives, HIV continues to spread at a staggering national rate of over 56,000 new infections per year. In 2006, the rate of new HIV infections in Puerto Rico was 45 per 100,000 people, two times higher than in the 50 states and Washington, DC. In the United States, women are among the fastest growing groups infected with HIV. According to recent CDC reports, HIV/AIDS the leading cause of death for black women (including African American women) aged 25'34 years. The 3rd leading cause of death for black women aged 35'44 years. The 4th leading cause of death for black women aged 45'54 years. The 4th leading cause of death for Hispanic women aged 35'44 years. The only diseases causing more deaths of women were cancer and heart disease. Therefore, girls and women are the new face of HIV/AIDS and the fastest rising infected population. Puerto Rican women must not be omitted from assistance in this epidemic. This notice is not a request for competitive proposals. Vendors who are interested in this acquisition must demonstrate in writing their capability to meet the Governments requirements. Responses must include a written narrative statement of capability, including detailed technical information and other technical literature demonstrating the ability to meet the Government's requirements. In addition to cost, the Government shall consider the impact to the OWH mission. Failure to submit adequate documentation will result in the Government proceeding with a sole source award to ICI. A determination by the Government not to open the requirement to competition based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. No solicitation package is available for this requirement; therefore, requests for such documents will be considered invalid responses.