Evidence-based Practice Centers VI (EPC VI)

The Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality established this Master IDIQ for Evidence-based Practice Centers VI on December 1, 2019, with a last date to order of November 30, 2024—the vehicle is now closed to new task orders. The contract succeeded Evidence-based Practice Centers V, awarded in December 2014, and continues AHRQ's mission to produce systematic evidence reviews and technology assessments that inform clinical practice guidelines, coverage policies, and healthcare quality improvements.

The vehicle is inactive for new ordering but remains operationally active with 76 task orders awarded over its lifetime, generating a combined potential value of $62.4 million with $58.2 million obligated (93% draw-down). Task-order volume remained steady through the ordering window—2024 saw 17 orders, following 13 in 2023, 15 in 2022, 12 in 2021, and 19 in 2020. The most recent task order award occurred on August 15, 2024.

Work contracted under the vehicle centers on systematic evidence reviews supporting the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), health technology assessments, evidence maps, technical briefs, and topic refinements across clinical domains: cancer screening and treatment, cardiovascular and metabolic health, mental health and behavioral interventions, maternal and pediatric care, pain management, emergency medicine, and healthcare delivery methods. Task orders typically firm around $500 thousand to $2.8 million, with firm fixed-price structures dominating and durations typically ranging from one to three years.

Oregon Health & Science University and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals dominate the prime-contractor base, holding $21.5 million and $19.2 million in combined potential value respectively across 25 and 11 orders. The Johns Hopkins University, Research Triangle Institute, and Emergency Care Research Institute round out the top five, collectively covering 91 percent of all task orders. The remaining one firm captures the balance. No small-business set-asides apply; all 76 orders issued under unrestricted competition.

AHRQ Headquarters placed 73 of 76 orders ($56 million potential value), with the remainder distributed to the Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration. Geographic performance centers on the prime contractors' home bases rather than a federally designated location.

Competition for successor vehicles, likely to follow a similar procurement cycle, should anticipate a consolidated academic and research organization base with demonstrated capability in evidence synthesis methodology and healthcare policy research.

Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPCs) are the cornerstone of the Effective Health Care Program (EHC). The ultimate goal of EPC work is to present the state of the science on a given topic in a manner that can be directly applied to decisions made by users of health care information. These users include clinicians, patients, policy-makers, and payers, and may be individuals or their related organizations. Specifically, evidence reports and technology assessments have been used as a scientific foundation for development and implementation of clinical practice guidelines, clinical pathways, review criteria, performance measures, and other clinical quality improvements tools, individual treatment decisions, coverage or reimbursement policies, and to develop research agendas.