SOW_-_Scientific_Writing_and_Recording_Service.pdf

Scientific Writing Services and

Electronic Recording Services

Statement of Work (SOW)

Program Office: Division of Occupational Health and Safety, Office of Research Services, Office of the Director National Institutes of Health

I. Background The Division of Occupational Health and Safety (DOHS) facilitates innovative research at the NIH through promotion of a safe and healthful work environment.

DOHS provides leadership, management, and technical authority for comprehensive health and safety programs that collectively minimize health, safety, and regulatory risks to the NIH community. The programs and services of DOHS center on a range of health and safety issues including physical, biological and chemical safety, animal care and use policies, compliance, medical surveillance, and workplace injury and illness avoidance. Through its extensive and contemporary occupational safety and health training, education and information programs, DOHS aims to integrate safety awareness and practices into all activities at the NIH.

Supporting the DOHS are safety committees organized at various tiers within the agency. The purpose of this solicitation is to obtain transcription services for three safety committees sponsored by DOHS. Specifically, the NIH Occupational Safety and Health Committee (OSHC), the IC Safety and Health Committee Chairpersons (ICSHCC), and the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC).

II. Location of Services and Schedule

Committee meetings are held on the NIH Bethesda campus. Building location may vary between meetings, and among committees; the vendor will be notified of the location at least one (1) week prior to the scheduled date. The vendor will be notified of schedule changes by e-mail and if last-minute, they will be notified by telephone. In some cases, the vendor may be asked to schedule and reserve the NIH conference rooms where the meeting will be conducted.

The OSHC committee holds up to 4 meetings per calendar year which are scheduled from 1:30-3:30. The ICSHCC committee holds up to 4 meetings per calendar year and are scheduled from 1:30-3:00.The IBC meets monthly on the 1st Wednesday and meetings are scheduled from 2:00-5:00pm. All times are in the afternoon, eastern standard time. The proposed schedule is as follows:

OSHC ICSHCC IBC

1:30-3:30 1:30-3:00 2:00-5:00

---------- January January

---------- ---------- February

March --------- March

---------- April April

---------- --------- May

June ---------- June

---------- July July

September ---------- September

----------- October October

----------- ---------- November

December --------- December

* Please note that the schedule is subject to change.

The vendor shall arrive at least 30-minutes prior to the scheduled meeting time to ensure accommodations for recording equipment are suitable and available.

The vendor shall confirm their availability with the NIH Project Officer or their designee at least 7 days prior to the scheduled meeting date.

The vendor shall have sufficient staff to ensure coverage for each proposed meeting and have backup personnel in the event of an emergency or other unforeseen event which would delay or cause the assigned writer or recorder to be absent.

III. Contract Type and Period of Performance This will be a fixed-price contract. The period of performance will be one year from the date of the contract issuance. There will be 4 option years included.

IV. Technical Requirements

The vendor shall provide set-up and test their own equipment to ensure that it is in proper working condition in advance of the meeting or hearing. The equipment must include a recorder and microphones that will accommodate recording in rooms that range from approximately 200 to 1500 square feet.

The vendor shall attend and record all meetings, providing, operating, and monitoring all aspects of the recording equipment to ensure the meeting is being recorded at the proper level for transcription and copying purposes.

The vendor shall provide a qualified and dependable technical/scientific writer(s) at each meeting. Specifically for the IBC meetings the writer shall have at least: (1) a four-year college diploma, and (2) five years of specialized experience in the writing/recording of biological and medical research related notes. The writer’s experience must be demonstrated by analogous work with groups that review highly sophisticated molecular biological, biochemical, micro-biological, or clinical related medical research. Familiarity with the terminology and most of the current practices related to medical research is necessary: such as the principles of recombinant DNA research and molecular cloning, the use of viral vectors in research, the knowledge of in vitro and in vivo research methodologies, the creation of transgenic animals, and the basics of human gene therapy methods.

During the meeting, the vendor shall maintain a detailed log of persons speaking to be used for transcription and minute preparation purposes and to be retained with the transcribed documents.

The meeting minutes shall be detailed and capture the essence of the speaker’s comments, but not word for word.

The vendor shall produce draft meeting minutes within eight (8) business days containing all relevant discussion points for that meeting’s point of contact (POC) for preliminary review and comment. The minutes should contain all critical points and have identified areas or language that needs specific technical review by the POC. The vendor shall work to make necessary corrections with Project Officer.

After NIH review and revisions at the next scheduled meeting, the vendor shall make any additional revisions required and then submit a final copy of the meeting minutes with five (5) business days to the POC.

V. Deliverables

A draft ‘notes’ transcript for each meeting is due to the Project Officer (or POC) within 5 (5) business days after the meeting conclusion (assume 20 double-spaced pages; 15-25 pgs. For the IBC meeting). The meeting minutes will be submitted electronically in a Microsoft Word format. If a set of minutes is unacceptable, as soon as a defect is noted, the DOHS shall promptly notify the vendor in writing, or verbally with written confirmation, and will return the meeting minutes and the invoice, if an invoice was received, to the vendor. Corrected minutes shall be due within three working days after the transcript/minutes are returned to the vendor. After the initial draft, the writer will provide a refined, formatted and edited version of the meeting minutes containing all critical scientific points, in a ‘markup’ version containing ‘comment dialog boxes’ citing and describing any detail deficiencies where Executive Secretary review is critical, and also containing highlighted text areas where omissions of information are noted for attention.

Completed within five (5) business days of the meeting date.

DOHS may terminate the contract if more than one set of minutes in any six month period is not completed and/or delivered within the five day delivery, or any other time-line mutually agreed upon in with DOHS. DOHS may also terminate the contract if more than one set of minutes in a six month period is unacceptable to DOHS, if the vendor fails to correct unacceptable minutes within three working days or within a time line mutually agreed upon by the vendor and DOHS, or if the vendor fails to attend a scheduled meeting.

All deliverables (e.g., reports, presentations, training products, publications, flyers, posters, abstracts, manuscripts, transcripts, etc.) generated by this contract will be the sole property of NIH.

VI. Proposals Vendor proposals shall include; 1) a written discussion of the vendor’s understanding of the scope of work, 2) resumes of qualified personnel (minimally a scientific writer/recorder), 3) a description of company experience providing similar services to other organizations, 4) confirmation that the vendor has sufficient personnel to provide coverage for all meetings, 5) a description of the company’s plan for ensuring data confidentiality, 6) at least two references, 7) sample minutes for similar projects, 9) a list of proposed equipment to be used by the vendor, and 10) a cost per meeting (including costs for 4 option years).