Att K - Statement of Work.docx

Attachment K

RFP 27-88018

Scope of Work Indiana Department of Health (IDOH)

Data Collections Services for the Indiana Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (IN-BRFSS)

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) is seeking proposals from qualified vendors to provide comprehensive Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data collection services. The selected Contractor will support the collection, management, quality assurance, and reporting of population health survey data in accordance with requirements established by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and IDOH. The Contractor shall provide all personnel, technology, systems, project management, and operational support necessary to successfully conduct statewide BRFSS data collection activities. Services will include telephone survey administration, sample management, survey programming, quality assurance, reporting, data security, and coordination with IDOH and CDC stakeholders. The goal of this procurement is to ensure uninterrupted collection of high-quality public health surveillance data that informs state and local health planning, program evaluation, and population health improvement efforts across Indiana.

The federal funding supporting this Contract must be expended within strict deadlines; therefore, failure to complete work by specified deadlines may subject this Contract to termination to ensure funds are spent in accordance with federal requirements.

Vendor Qualifications and Minimum Requirements Respondents should demonstrate experience with:

· Utilizing Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) systems

· Managing random-digit-dialing (RDD) sampling methodologies for both cellular and landline populations

· Administrating surveys requiring complex skip logic and survey routing

· Providing multilingual survey administration services, including English and Spanish at minimum.

· Complying with all applicable federal and state data security and privacy requirements

· Meeting CDC BRFSS operational and reporting requirements

· Implementing innovative survey methodologies and respondent engagement strategies

· Conducting oversampling methodologies and targeted population recruitment

· Producing complex or multi-year weighted survey datasets

· Supporting small-area estimation analyses

Minimum Requirement: At a minimum, the Respondent must have a minimum of five (5) years of experience conducting the BRFSS Survey or similar large-scale health, public health, or population-based survey data collection programs.

2. BACKGROUND AND CURRENT STATE

The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System is the nation’s premier system for collecting information on health-related risk behaviors, chronic health conditions, preventive health practices, and healthcare access among adults. BRFSS is a collaborative program between the CDC and state health departments. Indiana participates in BRFSS annually and relies upon resulting data to support:

· Public health planning and decision-making

· Chronic disease prevention programs

· Maternal and child health initiatives

· Rural health initiatives

· Federal reporting requirements

· Grant applications and program evaluation activities.

Indiana’s BRFSS program currently sets a target of 10,000 completed interviews annually using a CDC-approved sampling methodology that includes both cellular and landline telephone samples. IDOH seeks to establish a Contract with a qualified vendor capable of maintaining and enhancing current operations while supporting future modernization opportunities, including improved respondent engagement, survey administration efficiencies, and data quality improvements. This may also include the establishment of multi-modal data collection formats including web-based questionnaires and mobile applications pending national changes and direction from our federal partners.

3. SCOPE OF WORK AND SERVICE REQUIREMENTS

3.1. Survey Administration

The Contractor shall conduct all survey administration activities necessary to achieve annual data collection goals established by IDOH and CDC. Survey operations shall be designed to maximize response rates, ensure representative participation across Indiana’s population, maintain data quality, and meet annual sample size requirements established by IDOH and CDC.

Activities shall include, but are not limited to:

· Administration of the CDC Core BRFSS questionnaire, CDC optional modules selected by IDOH, and state-added questions

· Cellular and landline telephone interviewing

· Interview scheduling and callback management

· Refusal conversion activities

· Respondent support and assistance

· Multilingual survey administration, including English and Spanish at a minimum.

The Contractor shall maintain adequate staffing and operational capacity to achieve monthly and annual survey production goals. The Contractor will conduct interviews in accordance with procedures and specifications supplied by the CDC and IDOH. This will include, but not be limited to, randomly selecting an adult respondent to interview in each household and providing monthly raw data sets to the BRFSS Coordinator and CDC in the format specified.

3.2. Sample Management

The Contractor shall implement comprehensive sample management processes designed to maximize survey productivity, improve respondent engagement, reduce non-response bias, and ensure representative survey outcomes.

Activities shall include, but are not limited to:

· Receipt and management of monthly sample files

· Sample disposition tracking

· Contact attempt tracking

· Callback scheduling and management

· Sample productivity, response rate and cooperation rate monitoring

· Geographic and demographic representativeness monitoring

· Duplicate contact prevention activities

· Nonresponse bias mitigation activities.

The Contractor shall implement processes designed to minimize nonresponse bias, preserve the integrity and representativeness of the sample frame throughout all collection activities, and maximize sample efficiency. The use of disproportionate stratified random-digit duality sampling design is required to ensure that the sample represents all occupied Indiana households with telephones.

3.3. Survey Programming and Instrument Management

The Contractor shall program, test, maintain, and deploy all survey instruments necessary to support BRFSS operations. Survey programming activities shall ensure accurate implementation of CDC questionnaires, state-added questions, optional modules, and future modifications requested by IDOH.

Activities shall include, but are not limited to:

· Annual programming of CDC questionnaires including optional modules and state-added questions.

· Implementation of annual CDC questionnaire revisions

· Testing and validation of survey instruments

· Verification of skip logic and branching rules

· Maintenance of programming documentation

The Contractor shall perform comprehensive quality assurance testing prior to implementation of any questionnaire modifications. IDOH requests the opportunity to preview and review the survey before implementation. The Contractor shall provide an electronic copy of the final interview schedule in a readable, user-friendly format (e.g., an electronic copy of the questionnaire that includes skip pattern directions) and make available the entire CATI questionnaire file to the BRFSS Coordinator in a machine-readable format.

No questions may be added, deleted, or altered in any way from the BRFSS or ACBS questionnaires without prior knowledge and approval from the BRFSS Coordinator or Director, designated staff of the Office of Data & Analytics, and/or designated staff from the CDC. New questions may be added within a designated time period upon mutual agreement between the BRFSS Coordinator and IDOH staff designated by ODA and the Contractor. Cost estimates for add-on or state added questions will be provided by the Contractor at no cost to IDOH.

3.4. Change Control

All instrumental changes, including CDC revisions, state‑added items, and bug fixes, shall follow a documented change‑control process that will be defined and maintained in the Project Management Plan. The process should include change request, impact analysis, IDOH approval, change implementation, validation, and release notes.

3.5. Data Management and Reporting

The Contractor shall establish and maintain secure, reliable, and auditable processes for managing survey data throughout its lifecycle. This includes classifying data per State taxonomy (Confidential-Sensitive/Proprietary/Non-Confidential), encrypt at rest/in transit, and define retention consistent with CDC and State records schedules. Data management activities shall support data quality, timely reporting, regulatory compliance, and long-term usability of BRFSS data assets.

Activities shall include, but are not limited to:

· Data processing and validation

· Identification and resolution of data anomalies

· Production of monthly survey datasets

· Submission of required fields to CDC

· Generation of operational reports

· Maintenance of data dictionaries and metadata

· Archival and retention of project records

All data shall be maintained in accordance with applicable security, confidentiality, and records retention requirements. If the Contractor discovers problems in reviewing the BRFSS or ACBS data sets, the Contractor must notify the BRFSS Coordinator and correct errors within two (2) weeks of the discovery at no cost to IDOH. If the BRFSS Coordinator or CDC finds problems in reviewing the BRFSS or ACBS data sets, the Contractor must correct these to the satisfaction of the BRFSS Coordinator and/or the CDC within two weeks of notification at no cost to IDOH. The BRFSS Coordinator and/or CDC may require the Contractor to implement additional quality assurance tests of data at no cost to the BRFSS program at IDOH.

Following CDC BRFSS protocols, the Contractor must use CDC OneEdits program to edit and clean completed interviews, including data consistency checks, and provide the BRFSS Coordinator and the CDC a standard, reliable data set for each month’s survey by the 15th day of the subsequent month. For the purposes of transmitting data and for communication facilitation among the Contractor, the CDC and the BRFSS Coordinator’s office, the Contractor must utilize the CDC BRFSS Data Submission site to submit the monthly data files to the CDC.

3.6. Data Exchange

The State has robust and comprehensive data transmission standards that operate enterprise wide. The IOT established and maintains these standards, which support IOT’s data exchange and API-led strategies for the State. The Contractor’s solution must support the State’s standard API and file transfer methods to facilitate secure data transmission. APIs shall enforce OAuth 2.0 with mTLS; gateway policies for rate limiting and schema validation; MFT folders use role‑based ACLs, AES‑256 at rest, and auditable triggers. The State’s standardized data transmission technologies are the MuleSoft API Management and GoAnywhere Managed File Transfer (MFT) services. See https://www.in.gov/iot/policies-procedures-and-standards/applications-standards/.

3.7. Quality Assurance and Quality Control

The Contractor shall establish and maintain a comprehensive Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) program designed to ensure survey administration activities consistently met established operational and data quality standards.

Activities shall include, but are not limited to:

· Interviewer certification and training

· Ongoing interviewer monitoring

· Supervisor review of interviews

· Call recording review

· Validation callbacks

· Data quality audits

· Corrective action implementation

· Continuous quality improvement activities

The Contractor shall document all quality assurance activities and make records available to IDOH upon request.

3.8. Staffing, Training, and Workforce Management

The Contractor shall recruit, train, supervise, and retain a qualified workforce capable of supporting all operational requirements associated with BRFSS data collection services.

Activities shall include, but are not limited to:

· Workforce planning

· Interviewer recruitment

· Initial and ongoing training

· Performance evaluations

· Supervisor oversight

· Staff retention efforts

· Succession planning for key personnel

· Staffing adjustments necessary to meet contract requirements

Training shall include BRFSS protocols and methodology, confidentiality requirements, cultural competency, respondent engagement techniques, quality assurance procedures, and applicable information security requirements

3.9. Stakeholder Coordination and Program Support

The Contractor shall collaborate closely with IDOH, CDC, and other authorized stakeholders to ensure successful program operations and timely resolution of issues.

Activities shall include, but are not limited to:

· Participation in regular project status meetings

· Coordination with IDOH BRFSS staff

· Participation in CDC BRFSS meetings as requested

· Issue identification and escalation

· Risk identification and management

· Support for audits and reviews

· Technical consultation regarding survey operations

· Development of recommendations for operational improvements

3.10. Performance Monitoring and Continuous Improvement

The Contractor shall continuously evaluate operational performance and identify opportunities to improve efficiency, respondent engagement data quality, and overall program effectiveness.

Activities shall include, but are not limited to:

· Monitoring key performance indicators

· Response and cooperation rate analyses

· Productivity analyses

· Representativeness and nonresponse bias assessments

· Continuous improvement planning

3.11. Special Studies, Oversampling, and Advanced Analytics Support The Contractor shall maintain the capability to support enhanced data collection and advanced analytic activities as requested by IDOH. These activities may be used to address emerging public health priorities, improve geographic representation, strengthen rural health analyses, evaluate public health programs, or provide additional analytic capabilities beyond standard BRFSS operations. This may include but is not limited to geographic or population-based oversampling.

Upon request by IDOH, the Contractor shall develop and maintain multi-year weighted BRFSS datasets designed to support longitudinal analyses, trend reporting, small-area estimations, and analyses of populations or geographic areas for which a single year of data may not provide sufficient statistical reliability.

3.12. Deliverables and Deadlines

The Contractor shall propose a detailed annual timeline with milestones and deliverables as part of the Project Management Plan (see Section 4.1). The following high-level milestones shall drive the detailed timeline

Table 1: Deliverables Matrix

· Project Management Plan

· Quality Assurance Plan One-Time / Update as Needed

· Operational Report

· Survey Data Files & CDC Submission Files Monthly

· Annual Summary Report

· Historical Dataset Documentation Updates (if applicable) Annually

· Transition Plan

· Final Transition and Knowledge Transfer Package End of Contract

· Multi-Year Datasets

· Special Studies or Projects As Requested

Resource Usage Matrix The State requests that Respondents complete Attachment O (Resource Usage Matrix Template) as part of the proposal submission. The State would like to understand the number of hours the Respondent expects to commit to the project, as well as the number of hours anticipated for State resources. Respondents are asked to base these estimates on the specific functionality outlined within this Request for Proposal (RFP), ensuring all hours accurately reflect the scope and objectives defined by the State. Providing the Resource Usage Matrix will help the State gain a clear understanding of resource commitments, supporting effective planning and alignment with the State’s needs.

Monthly Operational Report The Monthly Operational Report shall include at a minimum:

· Survey production metrics

· Sample utilization metrics

· Response and cooperation rates

· Staffing updates

· Risks, issues, and mitigation activities

· Progress toward annual survey targets.

Quarterly Performance Report The Quarterly Performance Report shall include, at a minimum:

· Key performance indicator progress

· Demographic and geographic representativeness assessments

· Quality assurance summary

· Continuous improvement recommendations (if necessary)

· Operational trends and performance analysis

Annual Summary Report The Annual Summary Report shall include, at a minimum:

· Final dataset

· Annual production results

· Performance against contract requirements

· Quality assurance activities and outcomes

· Response rate trends

· Summary of contract activities included during the reporting period

Deliverable Acceptance The State will review each deliverable within 10 business days of submission and will issue either a written acceptance or a request for corrections. If corrections are requested, the Contractor shall submit a corrected deliverable within 5 business days at no additional cost.

4. PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND COORDINATION

The Contractor shall designate an engagement manager, participate in regular status meetings, provide written progress updates, and coordinate closely with designated State staff.

4.1. Project Management/Work Plan

The Contractor shall develop an overall Project Management Plan (PMP) that addresses the approach to and execution of the Contractor’s duties. The PMP shall be submitted for approval to the State. Once approved, the Contractor shall maintain the PMP by updating it to reflect the evolving schedule, priorities, and resources (i.e., it is a living document). At a minimum, the PMP shall include:

· A Project Workplan that is attainable based on the requirements and their prior experience, including the project schedule and resource allocations.

· A Communications Management Plan that addresses communication needs for internal and external stakeholders.

· A Project Organization Chart and Staffing Plan, inclusive of the staffing requirements identified in Section 4.2.

· A Risk and Issue Management Plan that addresses how risks and issues are identified, communicated, monitored, mitigated, and resolved.

4.2. Key Persons

The Contractor shall provide adequate personnel to meet the requirements identified in this Scope of Work. The following key types of staff are required for this project:

Table 2: Key Persons

· Resource allocation and staffing oversight

· Executive stakeholder engagement and reporting

· Escalation management and issue resolution

· Extensive experience managing large-scale surveys, public health, research or data collection programs

· Experience managing government contracts of similar size and complexity

· Experience overseeing multidisciplinary teams and contract performance

· Deliverable, schedule, and risk management

· Stakeholder communications and reporting

· Issue tracking and resolution

· 5+ years of project management experience

· Experience managing survey research or public health projects

· Experience coordinating multidisciplinary teams

· Experience managing project schedules, risks, and deliverables

· Staffing, scheduling, and interviewer supervision

· Response rate and productivity monitoring

· Training and quality assurance oversight

· 5+ years of experience managing survey operations

· Experience managing CATI-based data collection activities

· Experience supervising survey staff

· Experience monitoring survey production and operational performance

· Dataset production and CDC submissions

· Metadata, reporting, and documentation management

· Data security and compliance oversight

· 5+ years of experience managing survey or research datasets

· Experience with data quality management and reporting

· Experience supporting secure data environments

· Experience managing data submissions and reporting activities

· Development of multi-year weighted datasets

· Statistical consultation and representativeness assessments

· Oversampling and advanced analytic support

· 5+ years supporting large-scale survey research

· Experience with weighting methodologies and survey statistics

· Experiencing producing weighted analytic datasets

· Experience supporting survey design, representativeness assessments, and statistical analysis

· Interview monitoring and validation

· Quality audits and corrective action management

· Continuous quality improvement reporting

· 5+ years of experience in survey quality assurance, call center quality management, or research quality control

· Experience conducting quality audits and performance monitoring

· Experience implementing corrective action processes

· Experience developing or managing quality assurance programs

*Please note that the positions and responsibilities may be shifted or shared amongst staff. The Contractor must ensure that the responsibilities outlined for each position are accounted for and fulfilled through their Staffing Plan.

Individuals designated for these roles will be appointed during the development of the PMP. Any substitution of key persons must be approved in writing by the State. The Contractor shall ensure that any proposed replacement meets or exceeds the qualifications of the originally designated individual. The State reserves the right to request the replacement of any key person if, in the State’s judgment, the individual does not meet performance expectations or project needs. Additionally, the State shall have the opportunity to interview any proposed replacement prior to approval to ensure suitability for the role.

5. OWNERSHIP

All deliverables and work products first created under this Contract (including data, datasets, reports, codebooks, metadata, weighting algorithms created under this Contract, programming scripts created under this Contract, survey instruments, documentation, recordings) shall be owned by the State of Indiana. Contractor‑pre‑existing materials, tools, platforms, and know‑how shall remain Contractor’s property; however, for any customizations or code developed for the State, Contractor grants the State a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty‑free license to use, copy, modify, and create derivative works for State purposes.

6. COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENTS

The Contractor shall:

· Abide by all applicable State and federal laws.

· Maintain compliance with:

· All State policies and procedures.

· Indiana Office of Technology’s RAMP policy: Contractor shall achieve RAMP verified status, if applicable, per policy matrices/timeline; meet WCAG 2.1 AA, and report Critical incidents within 4 hours, High within 24 hours, to Security & IDOH, including containment/remediation plan.

· Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA): Contractor shall notify the State within 24 hours of discovery of any actual or suspected security incident or breach affecting State data and shall provide incident details, containment steps, and planned remediation.

· Accessibility: Any materials the Contractor develops in partnership with the State for public distribution and/or to be published on State websites must comply with the State’s Assistive Technology standards and architectural standards, and Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act. The Contractor specifically agrees that all hardware, software and services provided to or purchased by the State shall be compatible with the principles and goals contained in the Assistive Technology Standard, within the State’s Information Security Framework (https://www.in.gov/iot/iot-vendor-engagement/), State Assistive Technology (https://www.in.gov/core/accessibility), and the State’s architectural standards. Any deviation from these requirements must be approved in writing by IOT in advance.

6.1. Backup and Disaster Recovery

The Contractor shall maintain daily backups, verify restores weekly, and maintain a documented disaster‑recovery plan capable of restoring operations within 48 hours of a major outage.

6.2. Infrastructure

The State strongly prefers a cloud-based service offering. Solutions must comply with Indiana RAMP. Hosting may be either: (a) in the State’s AWS/Azure Gov tenants per IOT onboarding, or (b) vendor‑hosted cloud that meets RAMP verified status within policy timelines and continuous monitoring obligations. This section provides details on infrastructure and support requirements, outlining the State’s minimum requirements. Review and complete Attachment M – Infrastructure Overview for more detailed information.

6.3. Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The State of Indiana has adopted an enterprise-level policy governing the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within state government. The State of Indiana AI Policy is issued and monitored by the Office of the Chief Data Officer (OCDO), in cooperation with the Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) and the Management Performance Hub (MPH). In complement the AI Policy, the State Agency Artificial Intelligence Systems Standard outlines the rationale behind the AI Readiness Assessment process required for the implementation or any use of AI by a state agency. The standard outlines the requirement for the submission of a Readiness Assessment Questionnaire prior to implementation or use of an AI tool or system. Any proposed solution meeting these requirements must support the State’s AI Policy and follow the AI Readiness Assessment Process. See https://www.in.gov/mph/AI/ for more detailed information. Review and completed Attachment L – Artificial Intelligence for more detailed information.

6.4. Statewide IT Policies, Procedures, and Standards

The State has robust and comprehensive security standards that permeate all levels of the organization. The Indiana Office of Technology (IOT) has been tasked with establishing and maintaining these security standards. The security standards include assessing security risks, developing, and implementing effective security procedures, and monitoring the effectiveness of those procedures. If the proposed solution involves information technology-related products or services, all such products or services are to be compatible with any of the technology standards found in the Statewide IT Policies, Procedures, & Standards (https://www.in.gov/iot/policies-procedures-and-standards/) that are applicable, including the assistive technology standard. The Contractor will be required to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) to access the more sensitive standards and policies. The Contractor should review the Statewide IT Policies, Procedures, & Standards and ensure their proposed solution meets all standards therein.

7. KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

The State will use Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure performance and outcomes of the Contract. The specific KPIs and their targets will be defined and agreed upon by the State and the Contractor during the initial phases of the requirements under the Contract. At a minimum, on time delivery at quality standards of the scope provided within the budget set forth in the Contract will each be measured. Additionally, the State will collect a modified Net Promoter Score from customers to this Contract in its discretion. Low ratings on the modified Net Promoter Score or failure to meet any other KPIs may be deemed, at the discretion of the State, to constitute default under the Contract.

The Contractor shall report on the following KPIs in quarterly Performance Reports. The Contractor shall provide full transparency to access all materials and associated work products included in this Contract if requested. The proposed KPI targets may be subject to change based on conversations between the State and the selected Contractor during the contract execution process. The KPIs for this contract are:

Table 3: Key Performance Indicators

The Contractor shall accurately track and report on performance against KPIs in monthly Status Reports. If the Contractor fails to meet requirements set forth in the Contract, then the State will provide the Contractor with a written notice of non-compliance and may require any of the corrective actions or remedies discussed below.

Corrective Actions. If the Contractor does not meet the threshold for compliance for the KPIs defined in this section, or if the State determines that the Contractor is not performing to the satisfaction of the State, the Contractor shall submit, within ten (10) business days of the State’s written notice of non-compliance, a written Corrective Action Plan (CAP). The nature of the corrective action(s) will depend upon the nature, severity, and duration of the deficiency and repeated nature. Severity shall be determined by the State, in its sole discretion.

At a minimum, the CAP shall address the causes of the deficiency, the impacts and the measures being taken or recommended to remedy the deficiency, and whether the solution is permanent or temporary. It must also include a schedule showing when the deficiency will be remedied, and when the permanent solution will be implemented, if appropriate. Including specific dates is recommended.

The Contractor and the State shall schedule regular meetings to discuss the Contractor’s performance on the CAP. The Contractor is required to show satisfactory progress towards milestones and otherwise provide information that can be used to show that performance is satisfactory. Scheduling of review meetings shall be agreed upon mutually between Contractor and the State.

Payment Withholds. The State may elect to withhold up to ten percent (10%) of the invoice amount associated with the deliverables or milestones identified in the CAP until CAP completion. When the CAP is completed and the proposed remedy to all deficiencies are completed to the satisfaction of the State, the withheld amount shall be returned to the Contractor within 30 days. Should the CAP not be submitted as required or should the remedy not be implemented within the time frame specified by the CAP, the Contractor shall forfeit the withheld amount. In addition, the State reserves the right to pursue appropriate legal recourse for any damage sustained because of this failure to perform.

8. END OF CONTRACT TURNOVER

The Contractor shall develop a turnover plan within six months of Contract execution, detailing activities for transferring responsibilities, non-proprietary components, data, and operational documentation to the State or its agent. The turnover plan shall be mutually maintained throughout the term of the Contract. The Contractor shall maintain mutually agreed upon staffing levels during turnover and commence training and shadowing four months prior to contract end for staff who will assume operations. The State will approve the designated Turnover Manager. The Contractor shall provide a knowledge transfer checklist (for example procedures, contacts, training materials) and deliver a data disposition certificate confirming deletion or return of State data within six months after contract completion unless otherwise agreed.