VSCP Solicitation 2012N14240 Dec 2011.doc

SOLICITATION, OFFER AND AWARD

1. THIS CONTRACT IS A RATED ORDER

UNDER DPAS (15 CFR 700)

RATING

PAGE OF

2. CONTRACT NO.

3. SOLICITATION NO.

2012-N-14240

4. TYPE OF SOLICITATION

X

NEGOTIATED (RFP)

5. DATE ISSUED

12/29/2011

6. REQUISITION/PURCHASE NO.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Procurement and Grants Office (PGO)

2920 Brandywine Road

Atlanta, GA 30341-5539

Approved as to Form and Legality: _____________________________

NOTE: In sealed bid solicitations “offer” and “offeror” mean “bid” and “bidder.”

SOLICITATION

9. Sealed offers in original and handcarried, in the depository located in 2:00pformtext until local time 12/29/2011 CAUTION -- LATE Submissions, Modifications, and Withdrawals: See Section L, Provision No. 52.214-7 or 52.215-1. All offers are subject to all terms and conditions contained in this solicitation.

10. FOR INFORMATION

CALL:

A. NAME

Lawrence R. McCoy

B. TELEPHONE (NO COLLECT CALLS)

AREA CODE NUMBER: EXT:

(770) 488-2087

C. E-MAIL ADDRESS

GWG8@cdc.gov

11. TABLE OF CONTENTS

(x)

DESCRIPTION

(x)

DESCRIPTION

X

REPRESENTATIONS, CERTIFICATIONS, AND

OFFER (Must be fully completed by offeror)

NOTE: Item 12 does not apply if the solicitation includes the provisions at 52.214-16, Minimum Bid Acceptance Period.

12. In compliance with the above, the undersigned agrees, if this offer is accepted within period is inserted by the offeror) from the date for receipt of offers specified above, to furnish any or all items upon which prices are offered at the price set opposite each item, delivered at the designated point(s), within the time specified in the schedule.

13. DISCOUNT FOR PROMPT PAYMENT

(See Section I, Clause No. 52-232-8)

10 CALENDAR DAYS

20 CALENDAR DAYS

30 CALENDAR DAYS

CODE

FACILITY

16. NAME AND ADDRESS OF PERSON AUTHORIZED TO SIGN OFFER

15B. TELEPHONE NO.

AREA CODE NUMBER EXT.

15C. CHECK IF REMITTANCE ADDRESS

SUCH ADDRESS IN SCHEDULE.

17. SIGNATURE

18. OFFER DATE

AWARD (To be completed by Government)

19. ACCEPTED AS TO ITEMS NUMBERED

20. AMOUNT

22. AUTHORITY FOR USING OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION:

21. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION

23. SUBMIT INVOICES TO ADDRESS SHOWN IN

(4 copies unless otherwise specified)

ITEM

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Procurement and Grants Office (PGO)

Atlanta, GA 30341-5539

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (FMO)

PO Box 15580 404-498-4050

Atlanta, GA 30333-0080

26. NAME OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print)

27. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

(Signature of Contracting Officer)

28. AWARD DATE

IMPORTANT -- Award will be made on this form, or on Standard Form 26, or by other authorized official written notice.

AUTHORIZED FOR LOCAL REPRODUCTION

STANDARD FORM 33 (REV. 9-97)

PREVIOUS EDITION IS UNUSABLE

Prescribed by GSA

FAR (48 CFR) 53.214©

Section B - Supplies Or Services And Prices/Costs

Contractor will provide Vital Statistics Cooperative Program (VSCP) data in accordance with the Statement of Work and as further described in the sub-line items below. Each sub-line item under the Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contract is broken out into quantity ranges for pricing purposes.

1-12 Months Lots

1-12 Months Lots

1-12 Months Lots

1-12 Months Lots

All special project work will be done in accordance with each individual task order Statement of Work.

1-12 Months Lots

1-12 Months Lots

1-12 Months Lots

1-12 Months Lots

All special project work will be done in accordance with each individual task order Statement of Work.

1-12 Months Lots

1-12 Months Lots

1-12 Months Lots

1-12 Months Lots

All special project work will be done in accordance with each individual task order Statement of Work.

0006-5

1-12 Months Lots

1-12 Months Lots

1-12 Months Lots

1-12 Months Lots

All special project work will be done in accordance with each individual task order Statement of Work.

0008-5

1-12 Months Lots

1-12 Months Lots

1-12 Months Lots

1-12 Months Lots

All special project work will be done in accordance with each individual task order Statement of Work.

Please complete Section B.

NOTE: No funds are associated with this solicitation. Funds will be obligated upon award.

NOTE 1: No indirect cost shall be paid under this contract. Therefore, the full amount is to be spent in the vital statistics program.

NOTE 2: If a state is unable to provide data for a particular event, please indicate N/A for Unit and Extended Prices.

NOTE 3: The jurisdiction must provide a cost proposal for this SOW. The proposal must show: a) the estimated price for each deliverable specified in Section VII including the datasets for each type of event; b) the methodology used to derive the estimate prices; and c) the calculations for the estimated price for each deliverable. The Government will use the estimates in evaluating the jurisdiction’s proposal, and using its own methodology and budget considerations, will establish a price for each deliverable.

NOTE 4: Because the states and territories are State government, the federal government will not ask those entities to expend time and effort to develop a technical approach to a special project unless we are reasonably sure the projects will be funded. The special projects are completely contingent upon the availability of funds. Technical proposals, if needed will be requested at the time of request for task order proposals from the states and territories.

B.1 General

The CDC Vital Statistics Cooperative Program (VSCP) Contract is a multiple award, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract to provide a broad range of national vital statistics based information and data services to support the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) mission of the CDC. The Contractors, acting as independent contractors and not as an agents of the government, shall furnish all materials, personnel, facilities, support and management necessary to provide the services as set forth below in accordance with the Statement of Work.

(a) This Indefinite Quantity Indefinite Delivery (IDIQ) Contract is effective on Date of Award, or the date signed by the Government and expires 60 months from date of award. This document does not obligate any funds.

(b) Orders issued against this IDIQ Contract will be for vital statistiscal data as described in the attached Statement of Work.

(c) Pricing to the Government for the data provided shall be determined for each delivery order based on a standardized cost funding formula for the VSCP contracts, and the scope of each delivery/task order.

(End of Clause)

B.2 Ordering of Services

Orders for services will be conducted through the issuance of individual task orders in accordance with Paragraph G.3 - Ordering Procedures, Section F.4 - Deliverables, and the Ordering Clauses in Section I.

(End of Clause)

B.3 Base and Option Periods

The term of this IDIQ contract is a one (1) year base period and four (4) one-year option periods, comprising a five (5) year ordering period if all options are exercised by the Government.

(End of Clause)

B.4 Type of Contract

The Government contemplates multiple award of an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contract resulting from this solicitation. Individual delivery/task orders may be issued against this IDIQ contract on a Fixed Price, or Fixed Price with Equitable Adjustment basis.

(End of Provision)

B.5 Minimum and Maximum Ordering Amounts

The Government shall place orders totaling a minimum of $2,500.00 over the life of the contract. The maximum amount of all orders issued and awarded under all Vital Statistics Cooperative Program (VSCP) contracts over the 5 year period of performance shall not exceed $100 million and no single delivery order should exceed $20 million, unless agreed to by both parties. This amount is estimated at the time of issuance of this IDIQ Contract and does not represent the guarantee that any purchases will be made. Neither does this estimate represent a ceiling for the amount of purchases that are made, and may be exceeded if such action is determined to be in compliance with federal law by the agency ordering official.

The maximum ceiling amount of this contract may be increased to accommodate additional needs of the Agency that are within the scope of the contract. Additionally, the CDC reserves the right to adjust the maximum values among performance periods and domains.

By signing this IDIQ Contract, the offeror guarantees to provide an uninterrupted source of supply of the originally awarded item(s) from which to satisfy the Government's requirement for the performance period of the awarded IDIQ Contract.

(End of Clause)

Section C - Description/Specification/Work Statement Statement of Work (SOW)

TITLE: Vital Statistics Cooperative Program

I. BACKGROUND

The Vital Statistics Cooperative Program (VSCP) is operated by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) to fulfill its legislatively mandated mission to produce national vital statistics based on data from the Nation’s birth, death, fetal death, marriage and divorce records. Vital records are collected from the 50 States, District of Columbia, New York City, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands. State and jurisdiction are synonymously used throughout this document and refer to one of these 57 areas.

II. PURPOSE

The purpose of this contract is to continue collection of information and data for the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program; to assure the qualitative reliability and timely availability of those data for the upcoming performance period.

States are encouraged to use VSCP funds to improve the timeliness, quality, and security of Vital Records and its facilities.

III. SCOPE OF WORK

The Contractor shall furnish the necessary personnel, materials, services, facilities, and otherwise do all activities necessary for or incidental to the performance of the work as described below:

A. In consultation with the Contracting Officer Technical Representative (COTR) (and/or the duly authorized representative), implement vital statistics systems and procedures to collect and process data for the data year funded. Procedures shall be designed to meet statistical data set and tabulation requirements of NCHS as specified in the NCHS specifications for collecting and editing the United States Standard Certificates of Live Birth and Death and the Report of Fetal Death and the Vital Statistics Instruction Manual Series (1989 revisions) see Appendix A, item 1 to access documentation. These procedures, including code structures and coding rules, must be responsive to changing data producer and user needs, revision of geographic coding rules as a result of the decennial census, changes in the ICD-10 and NCHS cause-of-death coding rules, and revisions to the standard certificates, as specified in the deliverables.

Procedures prepared for NCHS shall include conversion specifications where applicable, from State format and detail to NCHS format and detail; coding and key entry procedures; Electronic Death Registration (EDR), Electronic Birth Registration (EBR), and Electronic Fetal Death (EFDR) systems procedures where applicable; blank form/template/certificate for each event type; listing of geographic codes; a copy of all standardized worksheets; facility codes for hospitals, nursing homes, and long term care facilities; electronic file formats; and edits applied either manually or by computer.

B. Convert the source data using the applicable coding rules, code structures, formats, and instructions specified in the NCHS Specifications for collecting and editing the United States Standard Certificates of Live Birth and Death and the Report of Fetal Death (2003 revisions) and the Vital Statistics Instruction Manual Series (1989 revisions), see Appendix A, item 1 to access documentation. Data must be prepared in accordance with the coding rules and code structure given in the applicable vital statistics instruction manual.

If items are deleted from the NCHS standard format during the life of the contract, the Contractor shall have the option to include the deleted items on the file transmitted to NCHS. NCHS shall not use any deleted items without the permission of the Contractor.

The Contractor shall transmit to NCHS (a) 100 percent of the State's registered events for births, deaths, and fetal deaths, (b) monthly counts of births, deaths, infant deaths, marriages, and divorces received in the State office, (c) annual control totals for births, deaths and infant deaths, (d) and annual marriage and divorce counts by month of occurrence.

For purposes of producing the linked file, the Contractor shall include "birth/death" linkage information for all infants who died within the Contractor's jurisdiction under one year of age and were born in the U.S. or its territories. If the matching birth occurred in another registration area, the Contractor shall make a reasonable effort to secure a birth record from the place of birth and provide the registrar in the place of birth a copy of the death record.

C. Each electronic data file transmitted should contain any and all records received and initially processed in the State office since the last transmittal to NCHS regardless of the date of occurrence of the event. However, unless otherwise authorized by NCHS, data files for each event (birth, death, and fetal death) must be submitted separately for each data year. Records can and should be transmitted even if queries are pending, some records fail edits, or coding errors have not yet been completely resolved. Transmittal should not be delayed pending receipt of missing records from one or more source data providers of data outside the State Registrar’s Office.

Unless otherwise authorized by NCHS, each data file must be de-duplicated prior to submittal. If there are multiple versions of the same record with the same certificate number, then that record will be rejected and must be resubmitted.

It is expected that the quality of the initial transmittals shall vary somewhat between data files transmitted. Electronic systems, which permit point of source editing and correction, shall be a major impetus in reducing this variation, improving quality, and therefore permitting extensive use of data at a very early stage.

D. Corrections to reflect NCHS and State edits, quality control reviews, queries, and amendments shall be incorporated upon receipt in the State office. Each regular data transmittal shall contain all replacement records processed to date incorporating updated information from any source since the last data transmission. All corrections shall be transmitted in the form of an entire, complete replacement record that NCHS will use in place of the existing record. For purposes of full utilization and release of the data, the Contractor is required to transmit a final version of each record according to the relevant schedule outlined in Section IV.C.2 below.

E. The Contractor and COTR shall collaborate in the evaluation and reconciliation of classification and data interpretation differences in order to achieve a high level of data comparability. The Contractor shall provide a continuous source of consultation for the resolution of data quality problems. The Contractor is responsible for timely responses to inquiries made by NCHS for the purposes of resolving data quality problems and will respond in a substantive manner within 5 workings days of receipt of a written request.

F. To assure completeness of registration, source data accuracy, and adequate file control, the Contractor shall perform the following quality assurance activities. These activities are necessary to pass NCHS inspection and acceptance requirements given in Section IV.

1. Institute a verification program for any coding and keying operations carried out manually to assure that error limits are within the tolerances specified in Section IV.

2. Review all software used in the production of vital statistics data and assures that it: a) operates properly; b) uses at minimum the NCHS edits and specifications; and c) for EDR software, uses a spell checker in capturing the literals for cause of death.

3. Edit data files for valid codes and consistency between items using NCHS specifications. Make corrections to data file based on information provided by data providers when errors in the data file are identified.

4. Identify records having invalid codes or invalid combinations of codes, correct these errors (as determined through source document, data provider and other appropriate reviews) and transmit to NCHS a corrected replacement record.

5. Using edits developed by NCHS in consultation with NAPHSIS (see Appendix A, item 2), monitor the level and type of unlikely codes, unlikely combinations of codes, and questionable linkages and correct data collection and processing errors identified through this process.

6. When rare causes-of-death are reported as a condition on death certificates (either multiple cause or underlying cause), the diagnosis must be queried and validated. Query as necessary consistent with the guidelines supplied by NCHS (see Appendix A, item 3). Copies of all certificates with rare causes of death reported should be transmitted to NCHS containing ALL the necessary information needed to code the cause-of-death for the certificate.

7. Match records of all U.S. and U.S. Territory born infant deaths with birth records (includes matching to out-of-state births) on a current receipt basis. Follow up to obtain missing records and assure complete registration of live births using procedures to preclude false matches.

8. Validate the discharge status of all infants with birth weight less than 750 grams. If an infant death has occurred, validate that the death is registered and linked to the birth record. Also, for States using the 2003 U.S. Standard Birth Certificate, where “Is Infant Living at Time of Report?” item reported as “No,” validate that an infant death has occurred, and if so, that the death is registered and linked to the birth record.

9. Match records of multiple births to assure registration of each member of the multiple birth set.

10. Establish and conduct a vital records quality assurance program designed to strengthen methods and procedures used by local registrars, hospital personnel, funeral directors, and other source record providers as appropriate to the type of record. The quality assurance program shall be designed to monitor the registration system to assure a highly acceptable level of registration and item completeness as well as timeliness and compliance with established procedures. Activities may include: trouble shooting vital registration problems; designing and conducting training programs for source data providers; maintaining liaison with professional organizations (State medical society, State funeral directors association, State hospital association, etc.); designating a principal contact person in the State office for local area personnel to contact; auditing records at the point of preparation (e.g., hospital) for registration completeness and accuracy; and developing and analyzing data generated from State data files that measure the quality and completeness of registration.

11. Review, and if appropriate, correct data records and/or procedures based on NCHS reviews and inspection for readability, file completeness, code validity, improbable codes and combinations of codes, comparability with prior year data, and consistency among items.

12. Review records with different certificate numbers that appear to be duplicates and notify NCHS of duplicate records which are to be voided. Provide an explanation for pairs that are to remain on the file.

G. The Contractor shall take the actions necessary to assure that all events occurring in the registration area are transmitted to NCHS per the timeliness criteria in Section V.C.2 below.

H. The Contractor shall notify NCHS of any unusual circumstances which may have an effect on a data file as soon as problems are discovered.

I. Each calendar year, the State VSCP Project Director or a duly authorized representative shall carry out one trip of up to 5 days to Research Triangle Park, North Carolina; Hyattsville, Maryland; or to some other location as may be designated by the NCHS COTR to meet with the State VSCP Project Director or a duly authorized representative (and meet other States' VSCP representatives as the NCHS COTR may stipulate) on policy and technical issues of the VSCP. The NCHS COTR may require up to two additional State technical staff associated with the VSCP project to attend various meetings. Failure by a State to comply shall result in the withholding of $10,000 from the annual amount.

J. Prior to implementing the 2003 revision of the U.S. Standard Certificate of Live Birth or the U.S. Standard Certificate of Death, the revising jurisdictions will collaborate with NCHS in using the test deck developed for the reengineered data systems. The test decks were developed to help detect potential data problems or inconsistencies and helps to determine whether edits are properly implemented and data are accurately captured. NCHS will work with the revising jurisdiction to review test deck output and resolve any issues identified. The test decks are available through NAPHSIS or NCHS (see Appendix A, item 4 for NCHS contact information).

IV. MINIMUM VENDOR QUALIFICATIONS

Data must be provided by State offices responsible for registering vital events. This work cannot be contracted or sub-contracted.

The revised 2003 standard certificate must be adopted for all events by January 1, 2014. Beginning in 2014, data collected using the 1989 revision will not be purchased and will therefore not be included in the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS).

States not using STEVE system to submit their data to NCHS by January 1, 2014 will not be paid for any data and will not be included in the NVSS.

Section D - Packaging And Marking

There are no clauses/provisions included in this section.

Section E - Inspection And Acceptance

E.1 Inspection and Acceptance (Jul 1999)

Inspection and acceptance of the articles, services, and documentation called for herein shall be accomplished by the Contracting Officer, or his duly authorized representative (who for the purposes of this contract shall be the Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative (COTR)) at the destination of the articles, services or documentation.

(End of Clause)

E.2 Acceptance:

Final acceptance will be based on the completion of each delivery/task order.

(End of Clause)

E.3 Specific Criteria for Aceptance of Deliverables:

NCHS has outlined the data to be furnished by the jurisdictions in Section V (Deliverables).

The burden of submitting the data in a timely manner rests with the jurisdictions, especially if they are using a third-party solution for handling the data, extracting the data for NCHS use, and then transmitting the data.

Additionally, the following acceptance requirements must be met by the jurisdictions.

A. All records must have been coded by NCHS approved procedures.

B. The Contractor must submit electronic birth and death records within 3 business days after registration (the Date of Registration has been added as a core item), or within 14 days from the date of event, whichever is shorter. If a state elects not to submit the date of registration, vital records are due within three business days of the date of occurrence.

C. The birth information for infant death linkages must be submitted within four weeks following the date of death for instate births, and four weeks following receipt of the birth record when the birth occurred out of state.

D. Fetal death records must be submitted within four weeks following the date of event.

E. When submitting electronic data files, allocate each data year and event to a separate file; do not combine events from different data years into a single file.

Data files must be compressed or zipped prior to transmitting using approved software.

Electronic data files must be sent using approved NCHS method. The existing approved method is through the use of the CDC Secure Data Network.

Must adhere to NCHS defined naming conventions when sending electronic data files; the VSCP website can be accessed to view the requirements. See Appendix A, item 5 for access requirements for this website.

F. Updates, corrections, amendments, including information or updates for records with pending cause of death and pending cause of fetal death, and the like should be sent to NCHS in the next transmittal after receipt and initial processing. Electronic records must be resent anytime updates, corrections, or amendments occur to core and/or enhanced data items.

G. Monthly counts of births, deaths, infant deaths, marriages and divorces/annulments must be submitted by the 25th of the following month.

H. Source documents must be submitted within 30 days following the end of the month of occurrence.

Updates, corrections, amendments, including information or updates for records with pending cause of death and pending cause of fetal death, and the like should be sent to NCHS in the next transmittal immediately following receipt of paper copy or image for applicable records.

Copies of amended records must be submitted for records that fall in the quality control sample. If NCHS performs the coding and data entry, all amended source documents must be sent to NCHS immediately following receipt of records. All source documents received must be sent in numeric order.

Documents can be submitted in paper form, on microfilm, or via CD ROM’s.

1. The following requirements must be met when submitting images saved on a CD:

a) CD ROM Data format:

(1) A CD-R 80min/700MB will be sufficient.

(2) Files must be in a multi-page format. NCHS will accept multi-page .pdf and .tif files only.

(3) Each file shall have no more than 3000 pages.

(4) It is estimated that a CD-R 80min/700MB will hold on an average 4 files containing 3000 pages each for a total of 12,000 pages per CD.

(5) There is no naming convention for the files. However, each file name shall represent its contents.

b) Packaging of CD ROM:

(1) CD’s must be sent in a protective sleeve.

(2) For identification purpose, label the actual CD using a marker with the following:

(a) State

(b) Year

(c) Event

(d) Records span

Note: A coversheet (or transmittal) must be enclosed when sending source documents, regardless of the form of transmission selected.

I. Projected control totals for births, deaths, and infant deaths must be submitted annually.

J. Birth, death (demographic and medical) and fetal death records must be complete and final with collection and processing errors so rare and random as to permit full NCHS utilization of the data. The quality of the data must be deemed acceptable by NCHS with respect to the occurrence of unknowns, invalid values, absolute errors and compound validation errors based on data dependencies. All failed edits must have been resolved by the state. The percentage of codes that are unknown or non-specific must be consistent with an active and effective quality assurance program as defined in Section III.f.; and the level of unknowns/not classifiable and non-specified for each item can be no greater than the higher of (a) 1% of the records on the file or (b) 1.5 times the median percentage for all states for the most recent “closed” year.

K. Final certificate numbers and a final list of voided records must be submitted annually for births, deaths, and fetal deaths.

L. Annual occurrence totals of marriages must be submitted annually.

M. Annual occurrence totals of divorces and annulments must be submitted annually.

N. Meeting with NCHS Project Officer/Contracting Officer Technical Representative (COTR) must occur annually, and meetings must be in-person.

O. Procedural documentation must be submitted within two months prior to the upcoming data year.

Section F - Deliveries Or Performance

F.1 Period of Performance (Task/Delivery Order Contracts) (Jul 1999)

The period of performance for the basic contract, will be for 60 months from the date of award. The period of performance for delivery/task orders shall be determined under each individual delivery/task order through mutual agreement of both parties involved. Orders under this contract may be awarded by the Contracting Officer at any time within the contract period. The actual performance period for orders may extend beyond the contract period.

(End of Clause)

F.2 Delivery Schedule

For Destination/Delivery Schedule/Dates: As negotiated on each delivery/task order. Any delivery delay will be immediately reported to the CDC Contracting Officer and Project Officer.

F.3 Place of Delivery (May 1998)

Deliveries shall be made, F.O.B. Destination to the following address: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, 3210 East Hwy 54,, Durham, NC 27709.

(End of Clause)

F.4 DELIVERABLES

Release of birth, death, and fetal death data obtained under this contract is limited to NCHS and its contractors unless approval for release is granted by NCHS and the NAPHSIS committee on re-release of jurisdictional data and may only be released under the provisions specified in the Confidentiality and Re-release agreement. See Section H of this solicitation for full Confidentiality and Re-release agreement.

The deliverables for this SOW shall be electronic data files and other documentation as specified in this section.

A. Birth shall include the following:

1. Documentation of State procedures and software for coding, keying, and editing vital statistics birth data records, including code structures and format for upcoming data year events.

2. See file layout for data items to be included on the electronic birth data file (Appendix A, item 6).

3. Monthly counts of birth records received in the State office during specified periods.

4. Source documents for births are required upon request, as needed for quality control purposes. If approved by NCHS, copies of all birth records must be sent to NCHS if an electronic file is not transmitted, including amended records.

5. Projected annual control totals of births for use in preliminary report (this number is the State’s best estimate of the number of events occurring in the preceding calendar year for each event).

6. The final certificate number for births and lists of voided birth records for use in finalizing the data file.

7. Corrections needed in order to consider the birth file as final.

8. Attendance at annual meeting with NCHS COTR to discuss contract performance.

9. States shall promote birth e-learning and other training to their data providers and their own personnel as such materials become available and are provided and approved by NCHS.

10. Marriage and divorce shall include the following:

a. Monthly counts of marriage records received in the State office during specified periods.

b. Monthly counts of divorce records received in the State office during specified periods.

c. Annual counts of marriages by month of occurrence for the preceding calendar year.

d. Annual counts of divorces by month of occurrence for the preceding calendar year

B. Death

1. Demographic Information

a. Demographic information shall include the documentation of State procedures and software for coding, keying, and editing vital statistics death-demographic data records, including code structures and format for upcoming data year events.

For simplicity, NCHS will continue to accept data items collected for National Death Index (NDI) purposes on the death-demographic file. NCHS will pull these data items from the file, as well as the other agreed upon items for inclusion in the NDI.

NDI specific information can only be used by NCHS under the terms of the NDI Contract and cannot be kept within the NCHS VSCP database after being passed to the NDI database.”

b. See file layout for data items to be included on the electronic demographic death data file (Appendix A, item 7).

c. Monthly counts of death records received in the State office during specified periods.

d. Source documents for deaths are required upon request, as needed for quality control purposes. If approved by NCHS, copies of all death records must be sent to NCHS if an electronic file is not transmitted (demographic fact of death), including amended records.

e. Projected annual control totals of deaths for use in preliminary report (this number is the State’s best estimate of the number of events occurring in the preceding calendar year for each event).

f. The final certificate number for deaths and lists of voided death records for use in finalizing the data file.

g. Corrections needed in order to consider the death file as final.

h. Attendance at annual meeting with NCHS COTR to discuss contract performance.

i. States shall promote death e-learning and other training to their data providers and their own personnel as such materials become available and are provided and approved by NCHS.

2. Medical Information

a. The State shall provide documentation on State procedures and software used in the collection and keying of mortality medical information including data structures and file layouts (Appendix A, item 8).

b. See file layout for data items to be included on the electronic mortality medical data file (Appendix A, item 8).

c. Corrections, amendments and updated records must be provided to allow the data to be considered final.

d. Unless otherwise authorized by NCHS, mortality medical files must adhere to NCHS approved naming conventions and policies and provide complete and accurate identifiers of STATE, YEAR and SHIPMENT as defined in those policies.

i. For files containing any new records (those previously not submitted to NCHS) shipment numbers must follow either the Sequential or Julian scheme with no alpha characters allowed. These files may contain all new records or a combination of some new records and some updated records.

ii. For files consisting entirely of updates to previously submitted records, “AI files” the shipment number should follow the Ai scheme, starting with a single alpha character “A” and then a two-digit sequential number, such as A01, A02, A03, etc.

e. No Resends: Except by special request from NCHS staff, a mortality medical file must not have the same file name or the same State-year-shipment number as a previously submitted file. In the event that NCHS specifically requests a resend, precise instructions as to naming and transmission will be provided. This only applies to mortality medical files and not to mortality demographic files.

f. Mortality medical files must be spellchecked prior to submission and sent as one of two NCHS defined file types.

i. A Super-MICAR generated backup file (SUP type).

ii. An NCHS approved Super-MICAR import file (S10 type).

g. Mortality medical files other than Ai files must be of sufficient quality in data entry and spelling to achieve a minimum throughput in Super-MICAR processing of 70%.

h. Files sent for test purposes only, which are not to be processed and handled as data submissions, must have a shipment number beginning with a single alpha character T followed by a two-digit numeric (such as T01, T02, T03, etc). Test files should be given a file extension of SFB (either by using the Super-MICAR Backup function “Special” or by manual renaming before transmission).

i. Files being sent to NCHS for technical support purposes (such as NCHS providing assistance by attempting to repair a corrupted data file) should be given a file extension of SFB (either by using the Super-MICAR Backup function “Special” or by manual renaming before transmission).

C. Linked Birth/Infant Death data shall include the following:

1. Documentation of State procedures and software for coding, keying, and editing vital statistics records related to the linked birth/infant death data, including code structures and format for upcoming data year events.

For simplicity, NCHS will continue to accept data items collected for the linked birth/infant death data on the death-demographic file. NCHS will pull these data items from the file (including information from linked birth and death data files) to analyze and create publications.

2. Monthly counts of infant death records received in the State office during specified periods.

3. Projected annual control totals of infant deaths for use in preliminary report (this number is the State’s best estimate of the number of events occurring in the preceding calendar year for each event).

4. Corrections needed in order to consider the linked birth/infant death data as final.

5. Attendance at annual meeting with NCHS COTR to discuss contract performance.

D. Fetal death shall include the following:

1. Documentation of State procedures and software for coding, keying, and editing vital statistics fetal death data records, including code structures and format for upcoming data year events.

2. See file layout for data items to be included on the electronic fetal death file (Appendix A, item 9).

3. Source documents for fetal deaths are required upon request, as needed for quality control purposes. If approved by NCHS, copies of all fetal death records must be sent to NCHS if an electronic file is not transmitted, including amended records.

4. The final certificate number for fetal deaths and lists of voided fetal death records for use in finalizing the data file.

5. Corrections needed in order to consider the fetal death file as final.

6. Attendance at annual meeting with NCHS COTR to discuss contract performance.

E. The following are Special Project activities that may be funded through this VSCP contract in the future to improve data quality, timeliness and security of Vital Statistics, contingent upon funding:

1. Systems Development related to electronic birth files:

a) Develop a State-wide Electronic Birth Registration System to collect data that meets the 2003 Revision of the DHHS Standard Birth Certificate and NCHS edit requirements.

b) Implement a State-wide Electronic Birth Registration System to collect data that meets the 2003 Revision of the DHHS Standard Birth Certificate and NCHS edit requirements.

c) Enhance the existing State-wide Electronic Birth Registration System to collect data that meets the 2003 Revision of the DHHS Standard Birth Certificate and NCHS edit requirements.

d) Implement an enhanced State-wide Electronic Birth Registration System to collect data that meets the 2003 Revision of the DHHS Standard Birth Certificate and NCHS edit requirements.

e) Maintain a State-wide Electronic Birth Registration System to collect data that meets the 2003 Revision of the DHHS Standard Birth Certificate and NCHS edit requirements.

f) Develop web-based training and HELP functions for hospital personnel to facilitate reporting of medical/health birth certificate items.

g) Implement web-based training and HELP functions for hospital personnel to facilitate reporting of medical/health birth certificate items.

h) Marriage data supplied in format specified by NCHS may be funded through this VSCP contract in the future.

i) Divorce data supplied in format specified by NCHS may be funded through this VSCP contract in the future.

2. Systems Development related to electronic death files:

a) Develop a State-wide Electronic Death Registration System to collect data that meets the 2003 Revision of the DHHS Standard Death Certificate and NCHS edit requirements.

b) Implement a State-wide Electronic Death Registration System to collect data that meets the 2003 Revision of the DHHS Standard Death Certificate and NCHS edit requirements.

c) Enhance the existing State-wide Electronic Death Registration System to collect data that meets the 2003 Revision of the DHHS Standard Death Certificate and NCHS edit requirements.

d) Implement an enhanced State-wide Electronic Death Registration System to collect data that meets the 2003 Revision of the DHHS Standard Death Certificate and NCHS edit requirements.

e) Develop a Fax attestation system for certifying physicians on the death certificate.

f) Implement a Fax attestation system for certifying physicians on the death certificate.

g) Maintain a State-wide Electronic Death Registration System to collect data that meets the 2003 Revision of the DHHS Standard Death Certificate and NCHS edit requirements.

h) Develop strategies to maximize physician enrollment and utilization of EDR systems.

i) Implement strategies to maximize physician enrollment and utilization of EDR systems.

j) Implement Federally-approved and/or sponsored web-based systems to improve cause of death reporting.

k) Provide real-time data including cause of death to NCHS for surveillance purposes.

3. Systems Development related to electronic fetal death files:

a) Develop a State-wide Electronic Fetal Death Reporting System to collect data that meets the 2003 Revision of the DHHS Standard Fetal Death Report and NCHS edit requirements.

b) Implement a State-wide Electronic Fetal Death Reporting System to collect data that meets the 2003 Revision of the DHHS Standard Fetal Death Report and NCHS edit requirements

4. Implement a State-wide data transfer system for vital records, such as STEVE (State and Territorial Exchange of Vital Events), that is PHIN compatible and meets NCHS data standards that can be used to transfer data within and between States and with NCHS.

5. Possible special projects related to data quality:

a) Implement data quality programs for outreach to certifying physicians, funeral directors and hospital personnel for births, deaths, and fetal deaths.

b) Develop and implement a web-based training program for data providers of birth and death records.

c) Implement an Industry and Occupation (I&O) coding capability based on NIOSH standards and systems.

d) Undertake pilot projects to link electronic medical records with web-based vital records systems (births and deaths) using American National Standard Institute (ANSI) approved Health Level-7 (HL-7) standards.

e) Undertake pilot projects to collect detailed marriage and divorce data to better understand what is possible and appropriate to collect on from a national perspective.

6. Possible special projects to improve data security:

a. Match death records for deaths that occur after initiation of the project to birth records for births occurring after 1944, and flag the birth records as Deceased.

b. Support development and implementation of a single database birth certificate issuance system for States with local issuance.

c. Support development and implementation of secure birth certificate issuance systems and procedures.

d. Implement real-time data transfer of death information to States of decedent’s birth for linkage to their birth certificates.

e. Support jurisdictions in adopting paper and electronic security features used to issue birth records in compliance with Federal specifications.

7. Possible special projects using vital registration and statistics to improve:

a. Emergency Response reporting capabilities

b. Public Health program evaluation

c. Accreditation practices

d. Epidemiologic surveillance activities

e. Measurement of health reform outcomes

f. Utilization and transfer of electronic medical record information

V. SPECIFIC CRITERIA FOR ACCEPTANCE OF DELIVERABLES

NCHS has outlined the data to be furnished by the jurisdictions in Section VII (Deliverables).

The burden of submitting the data in a timely manner rests with the jurisdictions, especially if they are using a third-party solution for handling the data, extracting the data for NCHS use, and then transmitting the data.

Additionally, the following acceptance requirements must be met by the jurisdictions:

P. All records that require coding by the State must have been coded by NCHS approved procedures as specified in Section III.A above with proper documentation from the Contractor as defined in IV.O.

B. All the jurisdictions NOT using the revised 2003 certificates must:

1. Implement the 2003 standard birth certificate by December 31, 2013. Only 2003 standard birth certificate data will be accepted as of January 1, 2014.

2. Implement the 2003 standard death certificate by December 31, 2013. Only 2003 standard death certificate data will be accepted as of January 1, 2014.

3. Implement the 2003 standard fetal death report by December 31, 2013. Only 2003 standard fetal death report data will be accepted as of January 1, 2014.

C. All the jurisdictions must meet the timeliness objectives using the consensus definitions. These are:

1. Definitions:

a. All references to “number of days” represent “number of calendar days”.

b. A file is called “complete” if all of the records registered by the jurisdiction have been submitted to NCHS by that jurisdiction.

c. A file is called “final” if all the corrections have been submitted to NCHS by the jurisdiction, and no more quality issues exist with that jurisdiction’s file.

d. Corrective Action Plan (CAP) is a plan that will be applied to help States that are not meeting contract requirements. This process will include, but not be limited to, monitoring deliverables continually to identify States in need, communicating directly with State technical staff, conducting site visits that include briefing senior State management, and reporting to the health officer or other executive management. Further, States shall notify NCHS if problems arise such that they anticipate not meeting contract requirements for an extended period.

e. The Date of Registration is the Month, Day and Year a record is incorporated into the official records of the State. The Date of Event will be used if the State does not submit the Date of Registration.

2. Timeliness Objectives:

a. Birth event submission shall be:

1) 1st year: For events occurring from January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2012 – 25 days

a) A minimum of 85% of all records are due to NCHS within 25 days after the Date of Registration.

b) All the remaining records are due to NCHS within 50 days after the Date of Registration.

2) 2nd: For events occurring from January 1, 2013 through December 31, 2013 – 20 days

a) A minimum of 85% of all records are due to NCHS within 20 days after the Date of Registration.

b) All the remaining records are due to NCHS within 40 days after the Date of Registration.

3) 3rd year: For events occurring from January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2014 – 15 days

a) A minimum of 85% of all records are due to NCHS within 15 days after the Date of Registration.

b) All the remaining records are due to NCHS within 30 days after the Date of Registration.

4) 4th year: For events occurring from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015…