Online Continuing Education Series I Modules

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality established this Master IDIQ on September 1, 2012, to maintain, disseminate, and award CME/CE credit for online continuing education modules in health care. Ordering closed on August 31, 2017—this vehicle is no longer active and cannot accept new task orders.

The vehicle supported 11 delivery orders through July 2016 with a combined potential value of $19.4 million, of which $17.3 million (89%) has been obligated. Order volume declined sharply over the vehicle's life: five orders in 2013, three in 2014, two in 2015, and one in 2016. The most recent award was issued in July 2016 for training the next generation of patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) investigators, completing in February 2017.

Scope centered on healthcare quality and safety training delivery. Representative orders funded TeamSTEPPS online training ($3.8 million ceiling), technical assistance for grantees under AHRQ's Accelerating the Dissemination and Implementation initiative ($4.9 million ceiling), national webinars on health information technology implementation ($460 thousand ceiling), and hospital patient safety programs ($2.1 million ceiling). Orders ranged from firm-fixed-price formats for module development to cost-plus-fixed-fee structures for technical assistance and dissemination work.

Afya Inc. dominated the prime base with four orders totaling $7.7 million combined potential value, followed by Crosby Marketing Communications Inc. ($5.3 million on two orders) and J.R. Reingold & Associates, Inc. ($4.3 million on two orders). Five distinct primes shared the awards. All 11 task orders funded the same customer: AHRQ Headquarters.

The set-aside mix was split between competitive unrestricted and small-business awards: 55% of orders carried no set-aside designation, while 45% were designated Total Small Business. Task orders ranged from $205 thousand to $4.9 million in potential value, with typical durations between 18 and 36 months. The vehicle carried a $10 million shared ceiling.

The purpose of the project is to maintain, disseminate post, collect evaluation metrics data, and award CME/CE credit to health care professionals for online continuing education modules that were created under contract.