J.1_Technical_Proposal_Template.pdf

RFP: 14-233-SOL-00119

J.1 Technical Proposal Template

FACTOR 1 – Prime Organization Qualifications

• Successfully conducting work under Federal Contracts/Task Orders.

Complete the following table for up to 6 Task Orders or Contracts1 on which you were the Lead Contractor (Use only projects completed within the past 5 years; may include up to 2 active/not yet completed projects);

Select projects that best align with the ACTION III SOW

Contract Title

Name of Principal Investigator (PI) or Project Director

(PD)

Funding Agency

Name and email of contact at funding agency

Period of Performance

Total Cost2

For three of the projects listed above, please provide the following information (maximum of two single spaced pages for all three projects, excluding table):

• Contract Title

• Contract Purpose/Objectives

• Was OMB Clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) required

(yes/no)?

• List of up to four key tasks

• List3 of up to three high level deliverables

• Did deliverables have to be compliant with Section 508 of the Americans with

Disabilities Act (yes/no)?

If none of the projects required OMB Clearance under the PRA, please provide either (a) a list of projects that you oversaw that did require clearance and brief description of one of them; or (b) 2 paragraphs demonstrating your awareness of: the conditions under which Clearance must be sought; the types of issues that OMB considers in its review;

the main components of a Clearance Package.

1 Excluding IDIQ Master Contracts 2 Minimum $500,000 total costs 3 List only – do not describe

• Successfully Performing High Quality, Field-Based Delivery System Research within Health Care Delivery Settings o Provide the following information for up to four recent, relevant projects 4 that demonstrate past performance of field-based research within health care delivery settings.

Use the following bullets as subheads; maximum three pages per project.

• Project Title:

• Project PI:

• Reason for Highlighting this Project (e.g., specific ways in which it relates to one or more ACTION III Objectives)

• Name of Funder and Contact/Reference Name:

• Total Project Cost and Period of Performance:

• Project Goal/Purpose:

• Research Setting/s:

• Research Questions:

• Methods:

• Findings

• High Level Deliverables/Products (please identify any products that had to be compliant with SECTION 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act):

• Intended Audience

• Impact on practice, policy, or patient outcomes (if known)

• Vehicles or methods used to disseminate research findings or share knowledge about tools or products that resulted from the project (e.g., Knowledge Communication/Knowledge Transfer activities only; there is a separate section below focused on experience with Spread activities) o Discuss up to three specific, unanticipated challenges that you have encountered in conducting research on at least two different projects in real world settings. For each one, provide the following information, using whatever format you find most suitable;

maximum two pages across all three challenges:

• Project Title

• Nature of the challenge (provide minimal background about the project necessary for understanding the challenge)

• Threat to project (If not clear from above)

• Steps taken to remedy the problem

4 Additional specifications:

• You may use projects identified under section 1.1

• Do not describe projects whose principal purpose was spread of findings or products; these will be described elsewhere

• You may also or instead describe projects funded by grants

• You may include no more than one project that is currently active. All other projects must have been completed within the past 5 years.

• You may list additional relevant projects on a separate page, providing only: Project title, Project purpose, Funder name, PI Name, nature of alignment with ACTION III SOW

• Results

• Generalizable lesson/s learned (if applicable)

• Steps taken to anticipate and/or prevent recurrence and mitigation strategy

• Successfully managing projects that use diverse methods, approaches, vehicles, and strategies to maximize the likelihood of broad and meaningful spread and uptake of evidence-based interventions.

a) Complete the following table for each of up to three projects that you led that included spread activities. These activities can have been tasks under projects already identified on other tables.

The spread activities can have been conducted by your own organization, or by a subcontractor whom you managed. No single table should exceed two pages.

Project Title and PI or PD Name

Funder;

Contact Name;

Total Project Cost;

Period of Performance

Organization Responsible for Spread Activities;

Name of Lead for Spread tasks

Nature of Product or Research Finding Being Disseminated/Spread

Targeted Audience/s

Spread Activities (include brief descriptions of methods, vehicles, strategies used);

Any Other Organizations involved? (if yes, name and role)

Evidence of Impact on Practice, Policy and/or Patient Outcomes

b) Describe up to three ways of challenges to achieving uptake of findings or products for improving the delivery of care and ways you would propose for addressing them. (2 pages maximum)

• Successfully managing complex projects involving coordination across multiple, diverse sites and actors.

Complete the following table for up to three projects*; table should not exceed one page:

Project Title And Name of PI or

PD

Project Purpose Funder Name and Contact Name

Project End Date

And Total Cost

Names of Collaborating or Subcontracting Organizations

Specific Roles, Responsibilities of Collaborating or Subcontracting Organizations

Locations (city/state) of Collaborating Organizations and/or Research Sites

Based on your experience with complex, cross-site collaborations, discuss in no more than a total of two pages:

• Your preferred methods and tools for project management and coordination and the benefits you have experienced of using them, citing at least one specific example for each approach

• Up to three specific challenges you have encountered in managing multi-site, multi-actor projects and methods used to address them (if these examples come from projects other than those listed above, please state the project purpose and the names and responsibilities of the collaborating or subcontracting organizations).

* You may list projects identified and described in response to other requirements above;

You may list additional projects in a separate table, providing only: Project title, Project purpose, Names of Collaborating/Subcontracting Organizations

• Additional Questions o What critical questions should AHRQ be most interested in answering through delivery system research, and what does your partnership uniquely offer in this regard? (Discuss up to four critical questions that align with one or more of AHRQ’s 4 Priorities, see Section C.2 above) o Describe your Partnership’s expertise and interest in, and capacity to conduct, research relating to up to three of the topics or areas of interest described in Section C.2 above, specifying the care setting/s to which they apply o Describe the interest and capacity of your Partnership to investigate changes in insurance coverage, new models of care and other developments under health reform.

o Describe your Partnership’s experience with:

assessing business impacts (e.g. business case, ROI) for providers and for payers

(shared savings or potential cost reductions).

linking administrative data with other data sources (e.g., clinical data) research that required integration of qualitative and quantitative findings o Given that the number of TOs issued will vary considerably from year to year based on appropriations, what methods or mechanisms will you use to maintain the interest and engagement of your Member Organizations throughout the period of performance? What non-financial ways would you recommend to AHRQ to support the Partnerships and keep members engaged?

o In no more than three pages, describe what makes your Partnership qualified to support the objectives of ACTION III. Please take the opportunity to address your Partnership’s distinctive competencies, as well as: how partners’ strengths and interests support and complement each other (including strengths that have not been evident from responses elsewhere in this proposal); how the Partnership builds on existing relationships and collaborations; and what capacities the Partnership will draw on to flexibly and expeditiously respond to emergent or otherwise unanticipated needs for specialized skills or additional expertise, staffing or other resources.

Factor 2: Partnership Composition

• Partnership Composition—Total Number of Member Organizations

Member Types Total Number Members which are not Health Care Provider Organizations Health Delivery Systems/ Organizations of Affiliated Health Care Providers or Provider Organizations5

Independent Health Care Providers not affiliated with a Health Delivery System

TOTAL # MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS (including Prime)

• Partnership Composition – Non-provider organizations

Organization Type Organization Name and Location (city/state) Health Services Research Organizations, including Universities

• (Specify type) add lines as necessary Other Advocacy, Quality, Stakeholder Organizations (e.g. professional associations, patient advocacy organizations; employers;

insurers; QIOs etc.)

• (Specify type) add lines as necessary Technical Support/Other Expertise

• (Specify type) add lines as necessary

Other

• (Specify type) add lines as necessary

TOTAL # NON-PROVIDER MEMBER

ORGS (including Prime)

5 Affiliation can be functional, clinical, operational, financial, ownership

• Partnership Composition—Health Delivery Systems/ Organizations of Affiliated Health Care Providers or Provider Organizations6

Name of System/Affiliation

Headquarters Location7

Locations of all Affiliates8

# and Size of Affiliated Acute Inpatient Facilities

# and Type of Affiliated Outpatient Practices / Clinics

# and Size of Affiliated Nursing Homes

# and Size of Affiliated Home Health Agencies

# and Size of Affiliated Dental Facilities

# and Size of Other Affiliated Facilities (indicate type)

# MDs # Nurses TOTAL # Affiliated Providers

Add lines as necessary

• Partnership Composition -- Independent Health Care Providers

Type of Provider Organization Name and type of Organization;

Location (City, State)

Size (use appropriate metric—e.g. # beds, # doctors)

# patients served per year

Inpatient Health Care Providers Ambulatory Health Care Providers (specify type, e.g., Primary Care providers, Physicians Groups, public or private clinics or health center; dialysis centers;

ambulatory surgery center)

Long Term Care Providers Other - specify type TOTAL # Independent Health Care Providers

6 Numbers should represent current year or most recent year available 7 City, State 8 State names only

• Provide the following information for each healthcare provider/provider organization/delivery system listed in the Health Delivery Systems/ Organizations of Affiliated Health Care Providers or Provider Organizations and Independent Health Care Providers tables above.

Name of Provider Organization

Total # and % of Persons Served

# and % Medicare

# and % Medicaid

# and % Commercial

# and % Uninsured

# and Other

# and Rural

# and % Racial/Ethnic Minority9

# and Under Age 18

# and Age and over

Add lines as necessary

• Partnership Organizations’ Capacities, Resources and Expertise:

(In completing the following tables, unless otherwise specified, the Partnership is defined to include the Prime and Member organizations )

a) Complete the following table for each Member Organization (excluding the Prime) included in the table labeled “Partnership Composition—Total Number of Member Organizations. ” Provide up to one page for each of six Member Organizations and no more than one-half page for each additional Member Organization. Wherever possible, and for all partnerships with more than 20 Member Organizations, combine multiple organizations of the same type (e.g. hospitals; trade associations) within a single table

9 Please include definition of “minority” used

Organization Name (Indicate New (N) or Existing (E) Collaboration)

Reason for inclusion in Partnership (e.g., specific mission;

capacity to shape health care delivery; resources or capacities; skill set; area of expertise)

Describe any past involvement of the organization in:

• Developing, Implementing, or Spreading Delivery

System Interventions?

• Conducting Delivery System Research?

• Efforts or initiatives aligned with the objective of the

ACTION III SOW

Any other important information about the organization?

b) Available Data Bases—complete the following table for any available data bases (e.g., administrative; clinical; claims; survey) from Prime and Member Organizations Name of Organization Description of

Available Data Base (including whether or not data base is electronic; if electronic, indicate stage of Meaningful Use that has been certified)

Description of to 3 examples of use past or current of available data – (e.g., to support research?10 for internal Quality measurement or QI; for reporting; for P4P) -- be concrete and specific!

Up to 3 examples of a question that data base can help answer

Limitations of your available data for use in delivery system research (e.g., address issues of comprehensiveness, completeness, reliability, validity and timeliness)

Member of a Health Information Exchange? (Y/N)

Add lines as necessary

10 include citations for publications or reports as appropriate

c) Access to Diverse Target Audiences Complete the following table to indicate target audiences to whom the Partnership (Prime and Member Organizations) can provide access and outreach. Target audiences are individuals or organizations that shape and influence care delivery, and/or that can act as “spread agents” and can include, but are not limited to: providers, insurers, purchasers/employers, policymakers, or consumers/patients.

Prime or Member Organization Name

Target Audience

Relationship of Member Organization to Target Audience

Examples of past engagement of target audience by Member Organization (include purpose and vehicle/mechanism)

Add lines as necessary

d) Competency in synthesizing available evidence, experience and expert opinion on complex interventions

• Provide up to two examples of environmental scans. For each one:

o Identify the Lead Investigator/Task Leader and Date o Describe the purpose and target audience of the scan o Indicate the types of data gathering and analysis techniques used o Describe any informal interviews or focus groups that were conducted o Where available, provide a citation

• Provide up to two examples of evidence syntheses that you produced. For each one:

o Identify the Lead Investigator/Task Leader and Date o Describe the purpose and target audience of the synthesis o Describe methods used; Explain how you synthesized and reported on sources that were not amenable to meta-analysis.

o Where available, provide a citation

• Provide up to two examples of how you sought and summarized expert or stakeholder views. For each one:

o Explain the purpose of the solicitation of expert or stakeholder views o Describe methods used o Where available, provide a citation

e) Complete the following table for any Member Organizations with experience in using diverse methods, approaches, vehicles, and strategies to maximize the likelihood of broad and meaningful spread and uptake of evidence-based interventions. (Complete for a maximum of 4 projects; I page per project) (Prime Organization expertise in this area should have been included in table X; do not repeat below information included in that table)

Project Title and PI or PD Name

Funder;

Contact Name;

Total Project Cost;

Period of Performance

Nature of Product or Research Finding Being Disseminated/Spread

Targeted Audience/s

Spread Activities:

- methods, vehicles, strategies used

- Name/s and Role/s of any collaborating organizations

Evidence of Impact on Practice, Policy and/or Patient Outcomes

• Ability to Leverage Existing Collaborative Relationships

For each proposed Member Organization with whom you have a history of past collaboration, briefly discuss the nature of the most recent (within past five years) collaboration/s, describing:

o Nature of the collaboration o Funder/funding mechanism o Organizational roles and responsibilities

FACTOR 3: Personnel / Staffing

• Applicability of personnel qualifications to ACTION III SOW --For each of up to 15 CVs or resumes, provide a 1-2 page cover sheet containing the following information, presented using the following format:

Name and Credentials Area/s of Expertise Reason for Inclusion/Areas of Likely Contribution to ACTION

III

Relevant Competencies/ Skill Sets for ACTION III11 (include training and years of experience)

List up to five Projects Most Relevant12 to ACTION III; for each one include:

• Project title

• Project Purpose

• Individual Role/Title: (e.g. PI, Co-investigator)

• Brief description of contribution to project

• % time on project

List up to five relevant, recent articles, presentations, reports, other products (with citation)

11 Include specific competencies and skills described under Requirement #3, Personnel 12 Relevance can be determined by alignment with ACTION III of the research topic/project purpose, methods applied and/or skill sets utilized

Page Limits for Technical Proposal

Factor Requirement Description Page

Limit 1 Successfully conducting work under Federal Contracts/Task Orders.

1 Successfully performing high quality, field-based research within health care delivery settings

1 Successfully managing projects that use diverse methods, approaches, vehicles, and strategies to maximize the likelihood of broad and meaningful spread and uptake of evidence-based interventions

1 Successfully managing large, complex, collaborative research, implementation and/or spread projects involving coordination across multiple, diverse sites and actors.

1 Additional Questions 13 2 Partnership Composition 4 2 Member Organizations’ Capacities Resources and Expertise: 30 3 Personnel 30

TOTAL 105