1.PWS - Tobacco Intervention Certification Programs_Final.pdf

Performance Work Statement

Tobacco Intervention Certification Programs

SOL# 75H70424Q00041

1.1 Mission

The mission of the Indian Health Service is to raise the physical, mental, social, and spiritual health of American Indians and Alaska Natives to the highest level.

1.2 Background

The Indian Health Service (IHS), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, is responsible for providing federal healthcare services to American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN). The provision of healthcare services to members of federally- recognized tribes grew out of the special government-to-government relationship between the federal government and Indian tribes. This relationship, established in 1787, is based on Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, and has been given form and substance by numerous treaties, laws, Supreme Court decisions, and Executive Orders. The IHS is the principal federal health care provider and health advocate for Indian people and its goal is to raise their health status to the highest possible level. The IHS provides a comprehensive health service delivery system for approximately 1.9 million American Indians and Alaska Natives who belong to 564 federally recognized tribes in 35 states.

Tobacco Use Prevalence Current tobacco use amongst AI/AN adults in 2016, is 8.4% smokeless tobacco, cigars 4.1%, cigarettes 33.9% which represents self-reported consumption in the past month. The Problem:

The AI/AN population has the highest rate of nicotine/tobacco use.

The Covid-19 pandemic has increased the existing health disparities of American Indian/Alaskan Native communities. Higher rates of tobacco use were recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic of American Indians residing in various states including California and Oklahoma. During the COVID-19 pandemic, among AI/AN communities, tobacco use was identified as a mechanism to cope with stress as these communities were significantly impacted [1].

1.3 Scope

The Indian Health Service proposed to increase the number of trained and certified individuals who may conduct an intervention with a person who is willing or considering quitting commercial tobacco use. The Tobacco Dependence Treatment Certification Programs and the Basic Tobacco Intervention Skills Certification for Native Communities will teach people decision-making skills to help combat negative peer pressure, increase help-seeking skills and reduce the stigma on nicotine dependence and mental health. In addition, the training will enable patients to take the initiative to prevent substance abuse and enhance self-esteem to promote health and wellness.

1. Dang JHT, Chen S, Hall S, Campbell JE, Chen MS Jr, Doescher MP. Tobacco and marijuana use during the COVID‐19 pandemic lockdown among American Indians residing in California and Oklahoma. Tob Induc Dis. 2023 Dec 20;21:171. doi: 10.18332/tid/174819. PMID:

38125581; PMCID: PMC10731663.

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES Public Health Service

Indian Health Service Rockville MD 20857

1. Dang JHT, Chen S, Hall S, Campbell JE, Chen MS Jr, Doescher MP. Tobacco and marijuana use during the COVID‐19 pandemic lockdown among American Indians residing in California and Oklahoma. Tob Induc Dis. 2023 Dec 20;21:171. doi: 10.18332/tid/174819. PMID:

38125581; PMCID: PMC10731663.

2 General Requirements This section describes the general requirements. The following sub-sections provide details of various considerations for this effort. The following schedule of tasks and deliverables outline the requirements necessary to organize, review, facilitate, manage, and evaluate the comprehensive Tobacco Dependence Treatment Certification Programs and Basic Tobacco Intervention Skills Certifications.

The expectation is that the contractor will engage in a range of activities that will initiate and solidify all of the core training courses that meet national certification requirements and standards of national, state, and accrediting/certifying organizations.

2.1 Non-Personal Services

The Government shall neither supervise contractor employees nor control the method by which the contractor performs the required tasks. Under no circumstances shall the Government assign tasks to, or prepare work schedules for, individual contractor employees. It shall be the responsibility of the contractor to manage its employees and to guard against any actions that are considered personal services, or give the perception of personal services. If the contractor believes that any actions constitute, or are perceived to constitute personal services, the contractor is responsible for immediately notifying the Contracting Officer (CO).

2.2 Business Relations

The contractor shall successfully integrate and coordinate all activities needed to execute the requirement. The contractor shall manage the timeliness, completeness, and quality of problem identification. The contractor shall promptly identify issues, establish corrective action plans, and effectively manage any subcontractors. The contractor shall ensure customer satisfaction and ensure all contractor personnel display professional and ethical behavior.

2.3 Contract Administration and Management

The following subsections specify requirements for contract, management, and personnel administration.

2.4 Contract Management

The contractor shall establish clear organizational lines of authority and responsibility to ensure effective management of the resources assigned to this contract. The contractor must maintain continuity between the support operations, the contractor's corporate offices and the Indian Health Service Division of Clinical and Community Services (DCCS).

2.5 Contract Administration

The contractor shall establish processes and assign appropriate resources to effectively administer this contract. The contractor shall respond to Government requests for contractual actions in a timely fashion. The contractor shall have a single point of contact between the Government and Contractor personnel assigned to support this contract. The contractor shall assign work effort and maintain proper and accurate time keeping records of personnel assigned to work under this contract.

1. Dang JHT, Chen S, Hall S, Campbell JE, Chen MS Jr, Doescher MP. Tobacco and marijuana use during the COVID‐19 pandemic lockdown among American Indians residing in California and Oklahoma. Tob Induc Dis. 2023 Dec 20;21:171. doi: 10.18332/tid/174819. PMID:

The contractor will meet with the Contracting Officer Representative (COR) and IHS officials within 15 days of the contract award to become acquainted with the DCCS staff, review the Performance Work Statement (PWS), discuss timelines and deliverables, and begin initial planning. The contractor and COR will hold a kick-off meeting at the beginning of each option year if exercised to revisit and make adjustments (if necessary) to the action plan, communications plan, evaluation plan, and project plan, and to discuss ongoing tasks in the PWS for the option year.

2.6 Personnel Administration

The contractor will provide the following management and support as required. The contractor shall maintain the currency of their employees by providing training as required to meet the PWS requirements. The contractor shall provide the necessary infrastructure to support the contract tasks. The contractor will provide administrative support to employees in a timely fashion (e.g., timekeeping, leave processing, pay, emergency needs, etc.).

2.7 Subcontract Management

The contractor will be responsible for any subcontract management necessary to integrate work performed on this requirement and will be responsible and accountable for subcontractor performance on this requirement. The prime contractor will manage work distribution to ensure there are no Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) considerations. Contractors may add subcontractors to their team after notification to the CO or Contracting Officer Representative (COR) if subcontracting is necessary.

2.8 Contractor Personnel, Disciplines, and Specialties

The contractor will accomplish the assigned work by employing and utilizing qualified personnel with appropriate combinations of education, training, and experience.

2.9 Location and Hours of Work

Accomplishment of the results contained in this PWS requires work at various contractor/subcontractor locations in the continental United States or identified IHS sites.

Normal workdays are Monday through Friday except US Federal Holidays. Federal Workers typically work eight (8) hours per day, 40 hours per week. Flextime workers start not earlier than 0600 and not later than 0900. Core hours of work are from 0900 to 1500 daily.

Contractor/Subcontractor employees are expected to be available to IHS staff during core hours.

2.10 Travel / Temporary Duty (TDY)

Contractor travel is required under this contract. All travel to IHS sites/locations shall be pre-approved by the federal government if the contractor travels to a facility. Costs for travel to any facility for any work completed under this PWS shall be at no additional cost to the government.

Any travel for training participants is not covered under this contract.

3. Performance Requirements This PWS describes the requirements for the contractor to provide an effective, engaging and coordinated Behavioral Health Interventions Program focusing on nicotine dependence to address the behavioral and mental health of all age groups. This two-year program will provide the American Indians and Alaska Native population a cadre of certified health care personnel to

1. Dang JHT, Chen S, Hall S, Campbell JE, Chen MS Jr, Doescher MP. Tobacco and marijuana use during the COVID‐19 pandemic lockdown among American Indians residing in California and Oklahoma. Tob Induc Dis. 2023 Dec 20;21:171. doi: 10.18332/tid/174819. PMID:

provide education on self-care responsibility and communication skills in receiving appropriate healthcare services.

The contractor will be responsible for implementing culturally appropriate in-person or web-based trainings and for coordinating the logistics of the accredited trainings courses that meet national certification and recertification requirements and standards of national, state, and accrediting/certifying organizations.

The contractor shall possess appropriate academic training, background, and certification. All instructors shall have specific experience in nicotine dependence and behavioral management.

Certifications must be confirmed before any provision of services.

The period of performance for this contract is 12 months from the date of award with one 12-month option period. All training must be completed within the stated performance period. The IHS will provide site details to the contractor if the contractor must travel to an IHS site to provide training.

This contract will be a fixed-price contract with a cost-reimbursable contract line item number (CLIN) for travel.

The program will build upon the foundation established through past Nicotine Dependence Prevention Training and capacity-building training by evaluating, enhancing, and expanding previous intervention activities. The effectiveness of the interventions will be measured by the number of events, participants, and the participant evaluation. Outcomes are to be measured by the number of activities provided and the participant feedback surveys.

The following sections specify the Performance Objectives and Performance Elements for the contract:

Task 1: Deliver the 3 Basic Tobacco Intervention Skills (BTIS) Trainings –

1. The contractor will meet virtually with Alberta Becenti, Shawnell Damon, and the IHS Team to discuss and review curriculum content. The contractor must provide three (3) BTIS Trainings:

I. Implement a Basic Tobacco Intervention (BTIS) training to 250 students by utilizing the virtual Zoom platform.

II. Implement a Trained and Certified Basic Tobacco Intervention training to100 students by utilizing the virtual Zoom platform.

III. Implement a Treatment Specialist Instructor Certification training to 25 providers that will be certified in Treatment Specialist Instructor Certification for Nicotine Dependence utilizing the virtual Zoom platform or in-person.

2. Ongoing consultation and technical support for all three trainings.

3. Assist with planning, organizing, scheduling, marketing and implementation of the programs.

1. Dang JHT, Chen S, Hall S, Campbell JE, Chen MS Jr, Doescher MP. Tobacco and marijuana use during the COVID‐19 pandemic lockdown among American Indians residing in California and Oklahoma. Tob Induc Dis. 2023 Dec 20;21:171. doi: 10.18332/tid/174819. PMID:

4. Evaluation of the Nicotine dependence treatment/certification program.

5. Contractor shall provide a schedule of activities which will be implemented during the planning meetings.

6. The Contractor shall maintain an agenda of activities, registration of attendees, and conduct debriefing of participant learning.

7. The Contractor shall provide educational handout materials, tools and curriculum supplies.

8. The Contractor shall organize the program plans.

9. The Contractor will provide the registration, pre and post-evaluation summaries.

10. Shall submit complete and accurate invoices according to the invoicing requirements.

Task 2: Reporting:

1. Quarterly Reports. The written quarterly reports will include –

i. A course schedule report for upcoming and projected classes to include training dates, topic(s) of training, type of training (i.e. individual or instructor development), audience for training, number of participants that can be accommodated, number of participants in training courses offered, and course evaluations.

ii. Participant database/listing of students, including:

a. Number of participants (successful and unsuccessful)

b. Date and test scores of each participant

c. Participant employer/site/professional category (identification and count of program or health facility where each participant is associated)

d. Training instructors’ names and credentials.

iii. Participant evaluations of the course and instructors.

iv. Course statistics, including number of participants, number of applicants, number of approved applicants who did not attend training, and number of participants that the training could accommodate.

v. Training courses that require completing and receiving a passing grade on pre-course training modules, the contractor will include number of participants receiving the pre-course modules, scores of completed pre-course modules, and number of participants who did not complete modules or courses.

vi. Accounting of all monthly costs incurred.

vii. Provide IHS with queries when requested.

2. Annual Reports. The annual reports must include -

i. The formal outline which will be discussed in the start-up meeting.

ii. The Contractor shall provide the annual performance reports that include but are not limited to project plan status and accomplishments, fiscal accountability,

1. Dang JHT, Chen S, Hall S, Campbell JE, Chen MS Jr, Doescher MP. Tobacco and marijuana use during the COVID‐19 pandemic lockdown among American Indians residing in California and Oklahoma. Tob Induc Dis. 2023 Dec 20;21:171. doi: 10.18332/tid/174819. PMID:

evaluation data, sub-contractor performance reports (if applicable) and a contractor self-evaluation report.

6.1 Reporting

The contractor shall follow the reporting plan submitted as part of the proposal and keep the Government fully informed of status throughout the contract/agreement period. It is essential that interruptions or work in progress delays are minimized so that the mission is not negatively impacted.

The Contractor shall provide status reports to the COR to include but not be limited to expense variance to budget, logistical updates, attendee metrics, attendee training evaluations, project plan tracking, evaluation data, and other items as determined by the COR and approved by the CO. The Contractor shall deliver status reports by email or postal service no less than every month but may be adjusted as determined necessary by the COR throughout the course of the project. Electronic reports shall be presented in Microsoft Office format and approved by the COR. The monthly status reports shall be discussed at the Start-Up meeting.

The Contractor shall provide the COR annual performance reports that include but are not limited to project plan status and accomplishments, fiscal accountability, evaluation data, sub-contractor performance reports (if applicable), and a contractor self-evaluation report. The Contractor shall provide a written outline of the annual report to the COR for approval according to the deliverable schedule. The annual reports shall be delivered by e-mail and postal service according to the deliverable schedule before the end of the contract period. The annual report shall be discussed at the Start-up meeting.

6.2 Storage and Disposition of Materials

The disposition of any national training and marketing materials will be determined in the Start- Up meeting. Storage should be available as soon as national materials are generated. A disposition schedule will be discussed with the COR during the Start-Up meeting.

6.3 Government-furnished information, materials and services

Any and all government-unique information required by the Contractor to provide services will be made available. The Contracting Officer (CO) or Contracting Officer Representative (COR) will be the Point of Contact (POC) for required information. The Contractor and Government will review and determine the best evaluation tools, pre and post surveys to assess participant knowledge, skills, and attitudes about the treatment of nicotine dependence.

6.4 Correspondence and Conference Calls

The Contractor shall provide quarterly updates and correspondence as determined necessary by the COR. The quarterly conference call schedule may be adjusted as determined by the COR.

Training updates and correspondence include but are not limited to training summaries, conference call agendas and minutes, and any other items deemed necessary by the COR.

6.5 Deliverables

The contractor shall provide deliverables as described below and in subsequent requests within the scope of this contract. The CO must be notified of any issues or questions regarding scope before any action is taken. The format and delivery schedule for deliverables shall be discussed during the kick-off meeting and at other times during the performance period as needed.

1. Dang JHT, Chen S, Hall S, Campbell JE, Chen MS Jr, Doescher MP. Tobacco and marijuana use during the COVID‐19 pandemic lockdown among American Indians residing in California and Oklahoma. Tob Induc Dis. 2023 Dec 20;21:171. doi: 10.18332/tid/174819. PMID:

6.7 Deliverables Table

Deliverables

Frequency, Date, or Timeframe

Medium and Format Submit to

Contract Kick-Off Meeting Once, within 15 working days after contract/agreement execution

Teleconference, IHS will schedule and provide the teleconference information

N/A

Implement the Basic Tobacco Intervention curriculums:

1. Implement Basic Tobacco Intervention (BTIS) training for 250 students.

2. Implement the Trained and Certified Basic Tobacco Intervention to 100 students.

3. Implement the Treatment Specialist Instructor Certification to the 25 providers that will be certified in Treatment Specialist Instructor Certification for Nicotine Dependence.

In the base year and the option year.

Virtually or in-person N/A

Completed Student Evaluations Within 15 days after the conclusion of the course

Evaluation forms must be submitted electronically by email. Microsoft Word or PDF files are acceptable

IHS COR,

Shawnell

Damon, & Dr.

Loretta

Christensen

Quarterly Report of Activities Quarterly Quarterly reports must be submitted electronically by email. Microsoft Word or PDF files are acceptable

IHS COR,

Shawnell

Damon, & Dr.

Loretta

Christensen

1. Dang JHT, Chen S, Hall S, Campbell JE, Chen MS Jr, Doescher MP. Tobacco and marijuana use during the COVID‐19 pandemic lockdown among American Indians residing in California and Oklahoma. Tob Induc Dis. 2023 Dec 20;21:171. doi: 10.18332/tid/174819. PMID:

Annual Report Annual Annual Report must be submitted electronically by email. Microsoft Word or PDF files are acceptable

IHS COR,

Shawnell

Damon & Dr.

Loretta

Christensen