NIMHD_NYC_Ghanian_Immigrant_Project_Small_Business_Sources_Sought_Notice_1.pdf

NEW YORK CITY GHANAIAN IMMIGRANT MENTAL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING STUDY

Small Business Sources Sought

CONTRACTING OFFICE

Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), Office of Acquisitions (OA), 6710-B Rockledge Dr. Bethesda, MD

INTRODUCTION

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development is conducting a market survey/sources sought on behalf of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) Division of Intramural Research (DIR) to help determine the availability and technical capability of qualified businesses including small businesses, veteran-owned small businesses, service disabled veteran-owned small businesses, and HUBZONE small businesses capable of serving the needs mentioned below. This market survey/sources sought announcement and request for information notice is not a request for proposals and the Government is not committed to award a contract pursuant to this announcement. The information from this market research is for planning purposes only and will assist the Government in planning its acquisition strategy. This is strictly market research, and the Government will not entertain questions concerning this market research. The Government will not pay for any costs incurred in the preparation of information for responding to this market survey.

Please identify what relevant NAICS codes your organization certifies as a small business. Only small businesses are requested to provide capabilities information. An organization that is not considered a small business should not submit a response to this notice. This acquisition is planned on being conducted under the procedures outlined in FAR 12 and FAR 13.

BACKGROUND

The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) Division of Intramural Research (DIR) plans and directs the Institute’s clinical, behavioral, epidemiologic, and population health intramural research programs. Its research seeks to understand mechanisms that produce and contribute to health disparities, develop socio-behavioral interventions to reduce these disparities, and promote the health and well-being of racial/ethnic minority populations. Furthermore, the NIMHD DIR:

analyzes research efforts and impact to establish intramural research program priorities; collaborates with and coordinates intramural research on minority health and health disparities conducted by the Institutes and Centers at NIH; raises awareness of health disparities research; advises the Institute Director and staff on matters of scientific interest to the Institute; and assists with development and implementation of the Institute’s Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Strategic Plan.

The processes of migration of immigrants from their countries to a new environment where they experience different values, morals, a new language, culture, can be highly disruptive and translate to a higher risk for stress-related disease and suboptimal lifestyles. According to Pew Research Center Africans account for the fastest growth in the United States (U.S.) Black immigrant population. Between 2000 to 2019, the African immigrant population grew 246% from about 600,000 over 2 million. More than half of the approximately the 2 million population reside large cities like Washington D.C., New York City, Dallas, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Atlanta. In New York City, Africans have settled in

Small Business Sources Sought

75N94023Q00010 neighborhood such as Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens and recently Staten Island. Despite the growing number of Africans, most health disparities research have focused on African Americans whose families have been living in the United States (U.S). for many generations It is essential to point out that while there are shared intra-group similarities between African Americans and African immigrants, intra-group differences (e.g., beliefs, language, food, culture) exist.; which may affect immigrants' mental health and experiences differently. A recent study on health problems among African immigrants in New York identified mental health concerns as one of the top three problems reported to community-based organizations. Studies have also shown that in coping with life stressors, many people seek help to alleviate their stress through mental health services. While there is a significant benefit from using mental health services, studies in the U.S. have shown that naturalized citizens and noncitizens were 40% less likely to use the services than U.S.-born citizens. Given the rapidly U.S. immigrant population and the known health risks associated with acculturation, it is critical to examine the complex relationships that can compromise immigrants' health. However, studying acculturation and social determinants of immigrants' health are particularly challenging due to the complex interactions of factors and their fluid nature. These factors, which are sociocultural, environmental, economic, biological, and genetic, are often interconnected, requiring interdisciplinary and novel approaches to disentangle effects. As a result, we want to apply transdisciplinary measures including community-based participatory research (CBPR) to understand the dynamic complexity underlying acculturative stress and mental well-being among Ghanaian immigrants living in New York City. The predominantly Ghanaian areas in the city are Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island.

Consequently, the Immigrant Health & Health Disparities (IHD) Research Laboratory within NIMHD is looking for a partner organization for collaborative sponsored research to provide services as outlined below to understand and reduce immigrant stress-related mental health to promote mental well-being among Ghanaian. The contracted partner will demonstrate the following: A history of successful community based participatory research and intervention in immigrant communities in the five boroughs of New York City; and within the diverse Ghanaian community in New York City the contracted partner demonstrates a high level of community trust, established partnerships with faith based and special interest organizations, and long-term collaborative relationships.

The overall objective is to use a mixed method approach including community based participatory research and qualitative interview interviews to engage with key stakeholders and community members at large to better understand the knowledge, attitudes, concerns, risk factors, and coping mechanisms relating to mental health and well-being in the Ghanaian immigrant community in New York City. The Contractor would submit Institutional Review Broad (IRB) protocol, conduct outreach, screening and recruitment of eligible participants, complete key informant interviews, conduct telephone/paper/electronic surveys, and pilot test intervention in two communities in New York. The details of the project are below.

SCOPE

The Contractor will be required to perform the following:

PHASE I – BASELINE

• Community-Based Participatory Research Information Gathering and Synthesizing (Formative Research)

75N94023Q00010 o Recruit a total of 100 key community stakeholders and “invisible leaders” (adults aged 18 years & older) from Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island (Ghanaian enclaves); and Organize and coordinate meeting to introduce the study.

o Conduct 5 2-hour community listening sessions in each Ghanaian enclave, stratified religious affiliation (Christians & Muslims), and recruit 250 to 500 adult (aged 18+ years) participants.

o Conduct 45-60 minutes (n=90) one-on-one interviews.

o Compensate interview participants.

o Provide verbatim transcripts and audio-recordings of all listening sessions materials and one-on-one interviews to the NIMHD IHD Research Lab.

o Establish a community advisory board and convene meetings.

PHASE II - SURVEY DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION

• Sponsor will develop survey in collaboration with Contractor o Build survey in Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap).

o Recruit a total of 300 community members to respond to surveys.

PHASE III - DESIGN AND PILOT TEST INTERVENTION

o Identify 2 communities for intervention (1 as Case and 1 as Control).

o Exact details to be determined based on community-based participatory research process and data collection in Phase I and Phase II.

PHASE IV – Community Sharing of Findings o Conduct 5 2-hour community presentations in each Ghanaian enclave, to share study findings and discuss future implications.

o Prepare final report of entire project

TASKS:

The Contractor will be required to perform the following:

o Ongoing Tasks:

▪ Submit Project Institutional Review Board (IRB) Protocol for each project phase.

▪ Weekly Project meeting NIMHD Sponsor.

▪ Community Advisory Board Council quarterly meeting.

▪ Create screener and recruitment materials for NIMHD review.

▪ Hire at least one experienced community liaisons to organize community activities (“Ghanaian Community Gatekeepers”).

▪ Identify potential participants.

▪ Contact potential participants by word of mouth, telephone, etc., to explain study to potential participants and screen them for study eligibility. Track screening results.

▪ Be point-of-contact for participant questions for all study activities

75N94023Q00010

▪ Monitoring all study phases and ensure the accurate completeness of each study phase and protocol in timely manner.

▪ Fulfill incentives for all participants that completed their interview, survey and intervention. Document social, behavioral, structural, environmental, and economic factors that lead to wellbeing/poor health in the Ghanaian immigrant community in New York City.

▪ NIMHD and contractor will collaborate and share authorship on manuscript preparation and submission to peer reviewed journals.

o Phase I Tasks:

▪ Read background materials to learn about the study purpose and aims and study procedures.

▪ Attend contract kickoff meeting via teleconference.

▪ Recruit and organize Key Stakeholder Engagement Meeting (ZOOM or in person).

▪ Recruit and set up project Community Advisory Board Council in consultation with Project Sponsor

▪ Work with NIMHD Project Sponsor on authored protocols for community listening session and interview guides and execute them appropriately.

▪ Rental space for community events in Ghanaian enclaves.

▪ Organize Community Listening Sessions on mental health in each of 5

Ghanaian enclaves.

▪ Schedule eligible individuals for one-on-one interview session.

▪ Send eligible individuals study confirmation including informed consent statement, instructions, and confirm scheduled interview and community events.

▪ Schedule eligible individuals for one-on-one interview session.

o Phase II Tasks:

▪ Work with NIMHD Project Sponsor on the development of survey instrument and execute them appropriately.

▪ Collect 300 survey responses from participants o Phase III Tasks:

▪ Work with NIMHD Project Sponsor on the development of intervention materials and execute them appropriately.

▪ Identify Community Wellness Facilities for intervention implementation o Phase IV Tasks:

▪ Organize community sessions to dissemination of results at the end of the study to the Ghanaian community in New York City.

▪ Write summary report

75N94023Q00010

CONTRACT TYPE

This acquisition is intended to be a Time and Materials with Labor Hours contract.

PERFORMANCE PERIOD

The resultant contract will be a contract broken down into four phases structured as one base period (Phase I) with three option periods (Phases II-IV). The length will vary depending on the determined approach, but the overall project is anticipated to take approximately 36 months.

CAPABILITIES/REQUIREMENTS

Capability statements will be evaluated based on the following:

i. Demonstrates a history of successful community based participatory research and intervention in Ghanaian immigrant communities in the five boroughs of New York City.

ii. Must be a New York City based minority serving institution focusing on training underrepresented first generation college graduates to diversify future research labor force.

iii. Demonstrates a high level of community trust, established partnerships with faith based and special interest organizations, and long-term working relationships within the diverse Ghanaian community in New York City.

iv. Demonstrates adequacy of all facilities and equipment to accomplish the tasks specified in the statement of work (e.g., office space for staff, and availability of equipment, software and hardware, and communications systems as well as security and back-up systems to prevent loss of data).

v. Demonstrates the ability to coordinate and recruit participants for virtual and in-person community events.

vi. Staff/project team demonstrate a history of conducting minority immigrant health research, intervention, and education.

vii. Staff/project team demonstrate experience in qualitative and quantitative methodologies, survey development, IRB application preparation, data management, and project planning from conceptualization, development, implementation, to completion.

viii. Staff/project team demonstrate the ability to train and mentor young researchers from underserved populations to conduct culturally competent research and service to Ghanaian immigrant communities.

Capabilities Statements shall provide the following for evaluation purposes:

The vendor responses must demonstrate their expertise and experience in the areas described above.

Please note that failure to specifically demonstrate capability to provide the required services in your response to this market survey may affect the Government's review of industry's ability to perform these services. The vendor's response shall be in sufficient detail to allow the Government to assess the capability of your firm.

The vendor response shall also include any other specific and relevant information related to the requirements of this project that will enable the Government to determine the capabilities of the

75N94023Q00010 company to perform the specialized requirements described in this Notice.

SUBMISSION INFORMATION:

This Market Survey/source sought is for information and planning purposes only and does not commit the Government to any contractual agreement. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS. The Government will not make an award based upon Vendor responses to this announcement.

The Government shall not assume any costs for preparing or submitting any information in response to the market survey or the Government's use of the information. Any proprietary information should be clearly identified as "proprietary information". Written responses shall not exceed fifteen (15) pages.

Vendors must send written responses by December 29, 2022 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time to the following points of contacts:

• Chris Bocus at chris.bocus@nih.gov mailto:chris.bocus@nih.gov