Technical Assistance for the Indian Health Service, Maternal and Child Health Program

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) intends to negotiate with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH), on a sole source basis, to assist the Indian Health Service (IHS) Maternal and Child Health Program (MCH) in providing eleven grantees from American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) communities funded under the Child and Youth Projects (CYP) Cooperative Agreements (CA), technical assistance (TA) with an emphasis on program evaluation. The Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(1). The anticipated contract period will be for a base period of 12 months from the date of award, and one 6 month option period. This procurement including the base year and option year is under the Simplified Acquisition threshold and will be awarded as a Simplified Acquisition. The purpose of this requirement is to assist the Indian Health Service in providing technical assistance for the Maternal and Child Health Program. The four vehicles of technical assistance shall include: 1) conduct three remaining grantee project site visits (UNC-CH has already conducted 8 site visits) and compile a detailed report of findings; 2) maintain individual and group grantee conference calls arranged around common and unique issues; 3) synthesize and integrate findings from site visits, other communications and grantee reports such that it will further technical assistance, and inform during an all-grantee meeting (situated at the end of grant year II or III); and 4) develop and handle logistics and facilitate a listserv, additional conference calls, updates, group discussions, site visit follow-up, and all manner of project-to-grantee communications support. The goal of the technical assistance is demonstrable success of the individual projects, development of group dynamics, and collaboration and achievement of the stated goals and objectives of the individual projects. Specifically, the contractor must be able to: 1) demonstrate a working relationship with the eleven grantees and show knowledge of their Child and Youth Project grant activities over the past 2 years; 2) plan, develop, and convene a face to face all grantee meeting in Summer of 2008 utilizing contact information, site visit findings and summaries, conference calls conducted in the past year; 3) draw from site visits, conference calls, listserv discussions and all grantee meeting summary information and individual grantee program evaluation information and data to assist all eleven grantees in developing their year two final report, year three mid-year report, and year three final report due December 1, 2009; and 4) provide a summary report of all technical assistance conducted throughout the grant project period. The office of Clinical and Preventive Services (OCPS), Division of Clinical and Community Services (DCCS), Maternal and Child Health Program provides preconception, infancy, child and youth health coordination to the 12 IHS regions and urban Indian program. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has visited over 90 Tribes and has developed working relationships with over 100 Tribes in all 12 IHS Areas. The 11 grantee projects awarded across the US represent a cross-section of Tribes and urban Indian programs. They include Alaska Area, Phoenix Area, Portland Area, Oklahoma Area, Bemidji Area, and the Aberdeen Area. UNC-CH has provided 5 years of service to the MCH program, and also 8 years of service to the IHS Injury Prevention Program. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is considered the sole source for satisfying this requirement because of their knowledge, experience, and unique capability. UNC-CH possesses: (1) knowledge gained in the extensive retrospective analysis conducted for the IHS, Maternal Child Health Program of the unmet needs of children and youth, as exhibited in previous applications that no other contractor has the core knowledge of; (2) ability to apply this knowledge in formulating the required technical assistance for both the site visits and face-to-face awardees meetings exhibited in 2005; (3) demonstrated expertise in providing training in the refinement of objectives and meaningful and measurable evaluation specific to the IHS, and Tribal and Urban organizations; (4) capacity to engage a cross-section of Tribes and Urban Indian programs effectively (understanding the culture and value system); and (5) a proven record in providing timely and comprehensive reports and substantive feedback during both site visits and face-to-face meetings during FY 2005. UNC-CH has extensive experience with American Indian and Alaska Native programs in the areas of program evaluation and monitoring. The purpose of this synopsis is to determine whether there may be other sources with the necessary expertise and qualifications to perform the work described above. Any source capable of performing the work should submit a statement of capabilities with documentation supporting its ability to meet the Governments requirement as articulated above. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals. No solicitation document is available. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Capability statements should be submitted within 15 days after the date of publication of this notice to Derek.Davis@psc.gov.