EPC_VI_-_Draft_Technical_Proposal_Instructions.pdf

TECHNICAL PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS

Technical Proposal Requirements

1. Understanding and Technical Approach

The proposal shall demonstrate an understanding of the appropriate role, benefits and limitations of the evidence synthesis in relationship to improving health care practice and delivery and the role of partners and stakeholders for the EPC Program.

The proposal shall describe approaches to specific challenges in producing evidence synthesis reports that are scientifically rigorous, timely, relevant and useful to partners and stakeholders. Specifically the proposal shall address approaches for scoping, analysis, and data presentation/visualization in the following challenging situations:

• data is sparse or heterogeneous

• questions cover a very broad number of populations, interventions, comparisons, or outcomes

• questions are an update of a previous report

• other major challenges encountered when producing evidence synthesis reports

The proposal shall describe the offeror’s approach to innovative methods in searching, applying study inclusion/exclusion, and data abstraction to ensure that reports are efficient and timely.

The proposal shall provide an example of how the offeror presented information in an innovative way that was particularly easy for the intended end-user of an evidence report to understand and use.

The proposal shall select 4 of the 8 topic areas below and describe the offeror’s approach to addressing methodological challenges of synthesizing evidence on effectiveness, comparative effectiveness, harms, or comparative harms.

• Healthcare delivery or implementation approaches, such as models of care, quality improvement efforts

• Technologies

• Pharmaceuticals

• Behavioral strategies

• Nutrition, alternative therapies

• Preventive interventions (screening, behavioral counseling, preventive medications)

• Diagnostic or prognostic testing

• Multifactorial Interventions, such as screening combined with treatment/counseling/prevention, diagnosis or prognosis and subsequent management strategies

2. Personnel and Management Plan The offeror shall complete the table below with individual names, title, proposed role, and specific areas of expertise for the following core team members. Individuals shall be without conflicts of interest as defined by the EPC Policy on Financial and Nonfinancial Interests to work on specific task orders. Offerors shall include CVs in the appendices and note in the table below if there are any potential areas of Conflict of interest and any mitigation plan.

Separate from the table, the proposal shall also include a short description of the individuals’ relevant qualifications and experience.

Proposed Role Name(s) and title(s) Expertise Potential Conflicts of interest and any mitigation plan

Senior Leadership Project Management

Librarian or information specialist

Statistical/data analytic expertise

Medical editor/writer, Knowledge Translation/Data Visualization

Core team roles shall include:

• Senior Leadership o Senior leadership should demonstrate the ability and experience to provide strong direction and management to ensure consistent quality across a high volume of complex, high visibility projects with varying and pressing timelines and multiple deliverables.

o Senior leadership should demonstrate ability and experience in producing high quality evidence reports that are scientifically rigorous, clinically relevant, cohesive, well written and with clear synthesis that are relevant and useful to stakeholders.

o Senior leadership should demonstrate experience in sustaining training, mentoring, and supervising of staff and scientists to maintain currency on new evidence synthesis methods and technologies over at least a 5 year period.

o Senior leadership should have training in evidence synthesis, knowledge translation, and implementation methods; and extensive direct experience in developing evidence synthesis products that are clear and useful for implementation, decision-making, and/or knowledge translation.

o Senior leadership should also have demonstrated expertise in assessment of a broad range of clinical or healthcare delivery data, such as from randomized controlled trials, non-randomized studies, diagnostic studies, technology assessments, implementation and quality improvement studies. Evidence synthesis methods include the range of systematic reviews, different types of rapid reviews, meta-analysis, meta-regression, modelling, data visualization, predictive analytics and other qualitative or quantitative approaches.

• Project Management o Project management should demonstrate ability to ensure that deliverables meet federal Government or similarly scaled evidence synthesis program requirements for policies, procedures, and other guidance.

o Project manager(s) should demonstrate experience and expertise in the efficient and effective planning and management of a high volume of complex, high visibility projects, with varying and pressing timelines and multiple deliverables and a diverse range of project staff with varying expertise and schedules.

• Librarian or Information specialist o The librarian or information specialist should demonstrate expertise in search methods for evidence reviews.

• Statistician/Data analytic personnel o Statistician or data analytic personnel should demonstrate breadth of expertise to address the range of analytic methods needed for a scientifically rigorous evidence synthesis across the range of topic areas, types of reports, and types of data available. This may include different quantitative as well as qualitative methods, beyond meta-analysis, such as qualitative comparative analysis, network meta-analysis, predictive analytics, modelling, meta-regression, or individual patient data meta-analysis.

• Medical editor/writer, Knowledge Translation/Data Visualization o Medical editor or writer should demonstrate experience in producing clear synthesis of evidence in a way that is concise and easily understandable.

o Knowledge translation or data visualization staff should have experience working with research staff to communicate and present complex scientific information in a way that stakeholders can readily understand and use and promote translation into derivative products.

Clinical and Methodological Expertise

The offeror shall complete the table with a list of clinical and other subject matter expertise that would be available within 2-3 months to particular requests for task order by subject areas including the areas below. The proposal shall list 1-2 specific names and titles, for each clinical or methodological topic area when possible; if individuals for these roles are not known, the Offeror shall describe essential qualifications that will be sought for these roles, access to and means for recruiting persons across the various clinical and methodological areas of expertise. Individuals should be without conflicts of interest as defined by the EPC Policy on Financial and Nonfinancial Interests to work on a particular task order topic.

Offerors shall include CVs in the appendices and note in the table below if there are any potential areas of Conflict of interest and any mitigation plan.

Clinical or Methodological Topic Areas

Name and title, or description of plan for identification and recruitment

Experience or proposed qualifications

Potential Conflicts of interest and mitigation plan

Clinical Topic Areas Behavioral/mental health

Blood, heart and circulation

Bones, joints and muscles

Brain and nerves Digestive system Ear, Nose and Throat Endocrine System Eyes and Vision Female Reproductive System

Immune System Kidneys and Urinary

Lungs and Breathing Male Reproductive

Mouth and Teeth Skin, Hair and Nails

Methodological Topic Areas Healthcare delivery or implementation approaches, such as models of care, quality improvement efforts

Technologies Pharmaceuticals Behavioral Strategies Nutrition, alternative therapies

Preventive interventions (screening, behavioral counseling, preventive medications)

Diagnostic or prognostic testing or management

Multifactorial Interventions, such

The proposal shall include a management plan that describes how the offeror will structure and manage teams for individual task orders to ensure the scientific rigor, timeliness, relevance and utility of EPC product deliverables including how the Offeror will:

• ensure methodological, procedural, and presentational consistency within individual projects despite input from multiple clinical experts or particular methodological expertise who may only devote limited part-time effort to projects.

• identify problems or challenges and implement timely solutions.

• manage any subcontractors, consultants or other individuals not part of the core team, including division of roles, communication and decision strategies, and quality control measures to ensure quality and timeliness of subcontractor or consultant work.

• ensure methodological, procedural, and presentational consistency across individual projects, particularly for individual projects that may be led by investigators who work on an ad hoc basis.

• ensure continuity and timeliness for individual projects particularly given the need to incorporate multiple clinical expert perspectives or particular methodological expertise with only limited part-time effort and competing interests, or in situations where individual may become unavailable due to extraordinary circumstances.

• ensure appropriate and consistent input and review o From content and/or clinical expertise for relevant and useful EPC deliverables despite the need for multiple clinical perspectives and limited time from individual clinical experts.

o From methodological expertise for scientifically rigorous EPC deliverables, while maintaining timeliness and incorporation of appropriate clinical review.

• ensure mentoring and professional development to ensure the core team keeps up with methodological and technological advances in the field of evidence synthesis

The proposal shall demonstrate the institutional capacity to take on multiple projects and describe how the offeror will scale up personnel and management to take on multiple task orders if awarded.

as screening combined with treatment/ counseling/ prevention, diagnosis or prognosis and subsequent management strategies

Project Management