P01 - SOW - Covidence.docx

Statement of Work Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Health Administration VA Library Network Office Covidence Subscription 2026

1. Title of Project: Covidence Subscription

2. Scope of Work: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), and VA Library Network (VALNET) require an existing, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) web-based platform to support the conduct and management of evidence synthesis projects, including systematic reviews, scoping reviews, and other structured literature reviews. The required solution must provide a collaborative, cloud-based environment that enables VA researchers, clinicians, librarians, and trainees to efficiently import, screen, extract, and synthesize research evidence from the literature. The platform must support multi-user collaboration, transparent study selection workflows, and structured data extraction processes to facilitate rigorous, reproducible evidence synthesis. The solution must also provide expert-led support and training for all steps of the evidence synthesis process. Experts must be available to support the professional development of librarians and researchers seeking to expand their evidence synthesis skill sets. Additionally, the solution should be willing to partner in developing and implementing organizational-wide Single Sign-On through the current VALNET partner, LibLynx.

3. Background: The goal is to provide researchers and library staff nationwide access to the internet database Covidence 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Staff use the information provided by this database for research purposes to provide service to veterans.

4. Performance Period: Base year with four Option years.

5. Type of Contract: Firm-Fixed-Price

1. OBJECTIVES

Providing the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), through the VA Library Network (VALNET), with organization-wide access to a commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS), web-based evidence synthesis management platform to support the efficient conduct of systematic reviews, scoping reviews, and other structured literature reviews across the VHA enterprise.

The platform must enable VA clinicians, researchers, librarians, and trainees to collaboratively manage all stages of the evidence synthesis workflow, including citation screening, full-text review, data extraction, and study quality assessment. The objective is to improve the efficiency, transparency, and reproducibility of evidence synthesis projects that inform clinical practice, policy development, and research activities within VA. Further, the solution should be supported by a team of evidence synthesis experts who provide services to train VA clinicians, researchers, librarians, and trainees on the methodology and work to develop a standardized approach to evidence synthesis across the organization.

2. SCOPE OF WORK

The contractor shall:

a. Provide access to the solution for all 170+ VA medical centers and their affiliated providers.

b. Supply and maintain a web-based method of establishing self-registration accounts for VA staff.

c. Partner in providing a system that supports Single Sign-On (SSO) through LibLynx, ensuring that access can securely and efficiently be provided to VA staff with on-and off-site access to electronic resources.

d. Develop medical center-specific repositories for all evidence synthesis projects, including Administrative Dashboards to allow for the oversight and management of VA-sponsored research.

e. Supply a system where individual users can be manually added, edited, and removed by the account Administrators at each medical center.

f. Provide a dedicated account manager to oversee the implementation and adoption of the solution to VA clinicians, researchers, librarians, and trainees.

g. Partner in developing customized webinars, training sessions, and marketing materials.

h. Provide expansive utilization statistics on request to any account manager/administrator.

i. Implement an in-app survey to capture user stories and experiences to share with VA leadership as part of the annual renewal process.

j. Supply Priority Support from evidence synthesis experts, with a less than 3-hour response time.

3. ACCESS, CONTENT, AND SUPPORT

The contractor shall ensure:

a. The system is 508 compliant (http://www.section508.gov/).

b. The system is accessible via a variety of personal mobile devices, including Apple and Android devices.

c. System downtime is minimal, and the VA project manager is notified when such occurs.

d. All site content and support of the system is the responsibility of the contractor.

e. On-site and Remote instruction with training materials is available and designed to integrate solutions with maximum efficiency and effectiveness into the VA environment.

f. 170+ medical center-specific Repositories and Admin Portals available.