RFP_2014-N-15733__(Draft_PWS__TAMS).docx

Section C - Description/Specification/Work Statement

Technical and Management Support for Health Promotion Activities

Performance Work Statement C.1 Background and Need Chronic diseases – such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and arthritis – are among the most common, costly, and preventable of all health problems in the U.S. These diseases account for 7 of every 10 deaths and affect the quality of life of 90 million Americans. Although chronic diseases are among the most common and costly health problems, they are also among the most preventable. Adopting healthy behaviors such as eating nutritious foods, being physically active and avoiding tobacco use can prevent or control the devastating effects of these diseases.

CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) is at the forefront of the nation's efforts to prevent and control chronic diseases. The center conducts studies to better understand the causes of these diseases, supports programs to promote healthy behaviors, and monitors the health of the nation through surveys. Critical to the success of these efforts are partnerships with state health and education agencies, voluntary associations, private organizations, and other federal agencies. Together, the center and its partners are working to create a healthier nation CDC supports a variety of programs to improve the nation's health by preventing chronic diseases and their risk factors. These programs provide national leadership by offering guidelines and recommendations and by helping state health and education agencies promote healthy behaviors. These major programs include: Arthritis, Cancer Control, Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW), Community Transformation Grants (CTG), Diabetes; Epilepsy, Healthy Communities, Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL), Healthy Aging, Healthy Youth, Heart Disease and Stroke , Nutrition and Physical Activity , Oral Health, Prevention Health and Health Services Block Grant (PHHS) Block Grant, Prevention Research Centers, Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH), Reproductive Health, Tobacco, WISEWOMAN, Workplace Health Promotion.

The CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) accomplishes its mission by providing national leadership in areas of health promotion and chronic disease prevention by conducting public health surveillance, epidemiologic studies, and behavioral interventions; by disseminating guidelines and recommendations; and by assisting state health and education agencies to increase their capacity to prevent chronic diseases and promote healthful behaviors.

The mission could not be accomplished without many diverse partners: state and local health and education departments; other federal health agencies; international and national health organizations; academic institutions; philanthropic foundations; industry and labor groups; and professional, voluntary and community organizations. NCCDPHP works with partners to develop, implement, and promote effective prevention efforts nationwide.

NCCDPHP resources comprise about $900 million, more than 900 employees, and extramural expenditures totaling approximately $738 million.

C.2 Project Objective and Purpose

A. The purpose of this indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract is to provide the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Coordinating Center for Health Promotion an “as needed” mechanism to obtain required services including conducting assessments, studies, research and demonstration projects, consultation and technical assistance, health education activities and related support services.

B. Overview of contract requirements:

1) Execute awarded task orders in these areas:

a) Large-scale Evaluation Studies and Program Assessments

b) Evaluation Technical Assistance

c) Conduct Research and Demonstration Projects.

d) Economic Evaluation and Cost Modeling

2) Follow the Award of Individual Task Orders Process.

3) Provide a Project Director.

4) Meet at Task Order Award with the Government.

5) Furnish Monthly Progress Reports.

C.3 Scope of Work

The contractor shall, acting independently and not as an agent of the Government, provide all labor, supervision, equipment, materials, supplies, travel, transportation and perform all work necessary to provide public health practice, scientific, research and technical services in support of Health Promotion, as specifically outlined in individual task orders and this basic contract.

C.4 Specific Contract Requirements

1. Execute awarded task orders:

Task orders will provide services related to statistics, research design, literature review and analysis, public health practice, surveillance, epidemiology, informatics, data management, data analysis, policy analysis and assessment, formative activities, conducting program assessments, conducting evaluation studies, performing data abstraction, health education activities, providing scientific and technical support, preparation of IRB and OMB packages, serving in partner and community liaison roles, training development and presentation, and multi-site activities.

A. Large-scale Evaluation Studies and Program Assessments

(1) Evaluation studies focus on current or past programs; defined issues or problems; program management processes, procedures or intervention techniques; and program outcomes. The intended uses include providing useful information for internal decision making on effectiveness and/or replication, to inform budgetary decisions, to support program improvement, to satisfy legislative requirements, or to test theories of change. Evaluations may identify best practices or successful strategies; produce data on program performance, efficiency and effectiveness; and recommend options for program change.

Large scale evaluations include the evaluation of national programs or multi-state programs, evaluations that require comparison sites, evaluations that require innovative or novel techniques, evaluations that require high validity due to the high profile nature of the content or use, or evaluations of complex programs with multiple components including those that use systems concepts and methods.

(2) Evaluation purpose. The Contractor shall have the capabilities, expertise, and experience to design and conduct the following type of evaluations:

(a) Evaluability Assessment. An evaluability assessment is completed prior to the evaluation to determine if the program has the capacity for an evaluation. It is a systematic procedure for deciding whether evaluation is justified, feasible, and likely to provide useful information.

(b) Process Evaluation. Systematic assessment of the design and implementation of a program to determine if it is being executed as planned. Process evaluation may measure program activities, reach, products, quality, and fidelity using appropriate process measures. Process evaluation assesses program operations and service delivery. A process evaluation measures outputs, and identifies strengths and weaknesses for early program improvement.

(c) Outcome Or Impact Evaluation. Systematic assessment of the achievement of a program’s intended short and long term outcomes /impacts to determine its value or worth. Outcomes of interest may include policy change, attitude and behavior change, system change, health status change, and changes in mortality or disparity. Outcome evaluation will attempt to attribute outcomes to program efforts.

(3) Programs to be evaluated. The Contractor shall have the capabilities, expertise, and experience to conduct evaluation of the following types of programs:

(a) Evaluation of Programs Implemented Pursuant to CDC Recommendations or Guidelines. This includes programs implemented through federal funding announcements. Through this type of evaluation, the Government will be able to evaluate the extent to which guidelines/recommendations are reaching their intended audience, whether programs being implemented are effecting desired results, and what the success or failure of such programs says about the policies or recommendations offered.

(b) Evaluation of Existing Systems. This type of project will focus on assessment of existing systems for surveillance, monitoring, dissemination of information or implementation of programs.

(c) Evaluation of State or Local Health Programs. The evaluation of programs developed and offered by states or localities may result in the identification of public health programs that are well regarded and highly effective or furthers a public health policy or goal.

(4) Contractor shall have the capabilities, expertise, and experience to conduct evaluation tasks necessary to design and implement a complex evaluation project which may include:

a) Work with Government and other stakeholders to develop a program logic model and evaluation plan.

b) Complete an evaluability assessment.

c) Develop evaluation protocols to include the development of data collection instruments such as written surveys or interview guides.

d) Preparation an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) package when applicable.

e) Develop site visit protocols and conduct site visits.

f) Pilot test evaluation protocols and tools with intended users.

g) Identify evaluation sites and comparison sites when indicated.

h) Perform literature reviews as needed to inform the evaluation design or support findings.

i) Conduct quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis.

j) Identify and utilize expert consultants.

k) Summarize and justify conclusions drawn from evaluation activities in a manner that can be used to meet the evaluation’s purpose and users.

l) Develop dissemination products or tools.

m) Support program activities for registry programs including processing, evaluating, aggregating, analyzing and disseminating incidence data.

B. Evaluation Technical Assistance The Contractor shall have the capabilities, expertise, and experience to design and provide evaluation technical assistance.

[1] Evaluation technical assistance may be to support national programs funded by CDC. The purpose of technical assistance is to provide advice on the planning, conduct and reporting of program evaluations. This may include budgeting, development of data collection tools, and data analysis.

[2] Evaluation technical assistance may be to provide guidance and consultation to CDC in the planning, design, conduct and reporting of program evaluations that require novel or emerging techniques.

C. Conduct Research and Demonstration Projects

(1) The Contractor shall provide support services in organizing, planning, conducting and reporting on research and demonstration projects. The Contractor’s role may vary in relation to the breadth of the proposed project, i.e. it may be limited background research and identification of consultants or it may have a significant role in designing and conducting the research or demonstration project, including community intervention research.

(2) Periodically, emerging scientific and behavioral research topics, service delivery methods, program management and other issues require testing or demonstration of their efficacy for internal program management or for use by CDC constituency groups. The ability to fund selected demonstration projects in a timely manner through task orders can greatly enhance the efficiency and effectiveness by which CDC objectives can be accomplished.

(3) The research efforts undertaken in association with these tasks will require accurate design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation. The Contractor must have the capabilities of employing both qualitative and quantitative research and evaluation methods.

(4) More specifically, the Contractor shall be required to perform the following types of research and demonstration projects:

(a) Background Analyzes and Syntheses. The Contractor shall have access to the relevant research, scientific, and behavioral literature, as well as a variety of databases for the purposes of preparing background papers on specific areas (e.g., cancer in special populations). This background information would be used to help guide the formative research process, including concept development and study design. It may also be used to assist in the development of necessary consensus to undertake research efforts, as well as provide support and background evidence for program efforts.

(b) Formative Research. The Contractor shall have the capabilities, expertise, and experience to design and conduct formative research with a variety of audiences. The purpose of the formative research will vary, depending on the purpose and stage within the process. The purpose and scope of the formative research will be specified by the individual Task Orders.

(5) comparative effectiveness analysis

(a) Study Design.

[1] As appropriate, the Contractor shall assemble and direct expert professional panels to inform research design from outside CDC, consisting of between three to five persons, with the following areas of expertise: research methodology, statistics, epidemiology, health communication, social marketing, behavioral sciences, and/or information services. In addition, the Contractor may be required to identify and hire professionals with expertise in particular health issues.

[2] The Contractor shall make recommendations concerning study design and implementation, including statistical aspects, power and sample size assessments, study populations and sites, detailed breakdown of projected costs and clearance issues.

[a] The Contractor shall develop, write, copy, and distribute study protocols, as needed, for review and to fulfill any pertinent clearance requirements. Protocols should include any and all projected data collection instruments, questionnaires, and/or consent forms. If human subjects review is necessary, the Contractor shall obtain a Federal Wide Assurance (FWA) from the Office for Human Research Protections (OHPR) and/or convene its Institutional Review Board (IRB) to review and approve the protocol(s) prior to collecting any data. In the event that data will be collected from more than nine individuals or programs, the Contractor shall be responsible for obtaining OMB clearance as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. The Contractor shall develop site visit protocols, which identify onsite data collection activities, how site visits will be scheduled, and individuals who will be contacted.

[3]

(b) Study Execution The Contractor shall have the capabilities, expertise, and experience to carry out all the tasks of the research project..

[1] The Contractor shall locate, enroll, and obtain any required informed consents from research study participants.

[2] The Contractor shall coordinate data collection activities. The Contractor shall conduct site visits (or conduct telephone discussions) according to site visit protocols developed by the contractor and approved by the technical monitor. The Contractor shall clarify information and fill data gaps to supplement site visits as necessary.

[3]

[4] The Contractor shall coordinate these research study projects with State and local health departments; national, regional, and local organizations; schools; medical care facilities; universities; businesses; and other institutions, as needed.

(c) Study Analysis

[1] The Contractor shall perform tasks that defines data elements to be examined and specifies analyzes to be performed.

[2] The Contractor shall conduct analyzes, preparing summary charts, tables, etc., as stated in the work plan. The Contractor shall prepare a summary report that integrates findings from data analyzes, briefing materials., oral presentation as required.

[3] The Contractor shall provide CDC with all primary data as a SAS data set, or in the format specified in individual Task Orders.

D. Economic Evaluation and Cost Modeling Economic evaluation is a process to identify, measure, value, and compare the costs and outcomes of programs and policies. Economic evaluation can be used to compare costs and benefits of program(s), demonstrate to decision-makers the benefits of a program are worth the costs, help prioritize resources, enhance decision-making, and help set health policy. Economic evaluation may be conducted prospectively or retrospectively.

[1] The Contractor shall have the capabilities, expertise, and experience to design and conduct a variety of economic evaluations for a variety of health audiences and purposes. Tasks will include the planning and design, data collection tools and collection, analyzing data, synthesizing results and conveying results. Economic evaluation projects may include:

(a) Cost of illness analysis: an approach to estimate the costs of a health condition, in which two type of costs are collected: the direct medical and nonmedical costs associated with the illness and the indirect costs associated with lost productivity due to morbidity or premature mortality. This may include a point in time analysis, annual analysis or trend analysis. The purpose of this analysis is to describe the economic burden of a health condition.

(b) programmatic cost analysis; an approach to track the direct and indirect costs required to operate a program.

(c) benefit-cost analysis, (or cost-benefit analysis): a type of economic analysis in which all costs and benefits are converted into monetary (dollar) values and results are expressed as either the net present value or the dollars of benefits per dollars expended.

(d) cost-utility analysis: a type of cost-effectiveness analysis in which benefits are expressed as the number of life years saved adjusted to account for loss of quality from morbidity of the health outcome or side effects from the intervention. The most common measure in CUA is the quality-adjusted life year (QALY).

(e) cost-effectiveness analysis: an economic analysis in which all costs are related to a single, common effect. Results are usually stated as additional cost expended per additional health outcome achieved. Results can be categorized as average cost-effectiveness, marginal cost-effectiveness, and incremental cost-effectiveness.

(f) return on investment: assessment of the business case model for prevention; similar to a benefit-cost analysis (BCA), except only the perspective of the entity paying for the intervention is considered, rather than assessing the benefits and costs of the intervention from the societal perspective.

[2] The Contractor shall have the capabilities, expertise, and experience to design and conduct economic modeling, forecasting and simulation using multiple and varied models.

The purpose of economic simulation, modeling and forecasting is to provide decision makers with quantitative information about the outcomes they could expect from different clinical and administrative policies and programs, to forecast long-term costs of health conditions with or without intervention.

[3] The Contractor shall have the capabilities, expertise, and experience to provide technical assistance on economic evaluation, modeling, forecasting and simulation.

(b) Technical assistance includes support to national programs funded by CDC. The purpose of technical assistance is to provide advice on the planning, conduct and reporting of economic evaluations. This may include budgeting, development of data collection tools, and data analysis.

(c) Technical assistance includes guidance and consultation to CDC in the planning, design, conduct and reporting of economic evaluations that require complex, novel or emerging techniques for economic modeling, simulation or forecasting.

[4] The Contractor shall have the capabilities, expertise, and experience to develop reports for professional and lay audiences that describe the outcomes of evaluation or analyses, manuscripts for publication in a peer reviewed journal, and presentations for professional and lay audiences on the processes, methods and outcomes of economic evaluation, modeling, forecasting and simulation.

2. Follow the Award of Individual Task Orders Process.

Award of individual Task Orders will be made under competitive procedures as described Paragraph G.15 Award of Task Orders. The nature, scope, and complexity of the services to be performed will vary from task to task. Each Task Order will consist of a Statement of Work that will fall within the general work parameters described in Paragraph C.3.

3. Provide a Project Director.

Provide a Project Director to oversee the Task Orders. Project Director will address scientific issues related to individual Task Orders. Oversight includes all policy, program, evaluation design issues, assessment issues, and support services, which pertain to each new assigned task. The Project director will provide interface with the NCCD Project Officer and/or PGO Contracting Officer and be responsible for the overall oversight of all work performed under the contract. This person will serve as the quality control point for all performance under the contract. This individual will be considered to be “key personnel” for the awarded contract.

4. Meet at Task Order Award with the Government.

Meet, as required, with appropriate Government representatives to discuss activities, which pertain to each new awarded task order. The contractor shall be available to meet, as necessary, with appropriate Government representative to present and discuss the overall work plan including milestones and strategies.

5. Furnish Monthly Progress Reports.

The Contractor shall furnish monthly progress reports detailing current status of each Task Order currently awarded under the contract, in accordance with Paragraph F.1. The report shall be narrative in form and shall include a summary of progress toward completion of each Task Order and problems encountered to date, including the Contractor’s assessment of specific impact of such problems on scheduled date of completion of milestones. In addition, the contractor shall provide an overall Program Monthly Progress Report which will summarize the current status of outstanding Task Orders and provide status of contractor’s internal efforts to maintain and improve quality of work conducted on this contract and task orders.

Note: Products delivered under this Performance Work Statement shall be Section 508 compliant in these areas: Section 1194.31 Functional Performance Criteria and Section 1194.41 Information, documentation, and support.