SoW Preparedness Response Centers.docx

Solicitation Title: Establishing Workplans for Ten Regional Centers to Enhance Public Health Preparedness and Response

I. BACKGROUND

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the premier federal agency aimed at protecting health and promoting quality of life through the prevention and control of disease, injury, and disability. CDC’s Office of Readiness and Response (ORR) works to ensure that CDC and state, tribal, local and territory (STLT) public health departments are prepared to respond to public health threats wherever and whenever they occur. CDC plays a pivotal role in ensuring that state and local public health systems have the knowledge they need to prepare for, respond to and recover from any public health hazard or threat. The field of Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (PHEPR) is broad, described in part through CDC’s Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) capabilities, which focuses on the functional aspects of response, but also expanding beyond those capabilities to include understanding the root cause of disasters; how to prevent and mitigate disasters; and the impact of disasters on people and the broader social, ecological, and infrastructure context.

Since 2001, CDC supported development implementation, evaluation, translation and dissemination of research findings, strategies and interventions to improve public health preparedness and response systems, infrastructures, processes, and practices. This includes the long-standing PHEP cooperative agreement, CDC’s Public Health Crisis Response Funding, and support for applied research and evaluation, metrics, measures, tool and training development. Additionally, nearly $57 million was invested by CDC in the Public Health Preparedness and Response Research Centers (PERRCs) from 2008 through 2013, a program that resulted in more than 200 publications and nearly 100 practice tools to date. Identifying, translating, and disseminating promising research findings or strategies into evidence-informed or evidence-based practices to further bolster public health emergency preparedness and response practices in STLT health departments, including evaluation of existing practices in multiple settings, to explore broad-scale adoption potential is critical to strengthening the nation’s ability to prepare for and respond to local and national emergencies. Multiple reviews have been conducted to identify existing evidence to support public health emergency preparedness and response practice. Some focus on specific needs of STLT health departments and others consider evidence in support of or to enhance the PHEP capabilities. Specifically, in 2020, the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (The National Academies) released results of a scoping review characterizing the evidence for PHEPR. They identified 1,106 articles describing evidence associated with the 15 PHEP capabilities.

Since the release of the National Academies report, STLT health departments had to address multiple large-scale infectious disease outbreaks and natural disasters. The COVID-19 pandemic stressed all systems to their limit, identifying major gaps in public health practice knowledge. In 2021, with contract support, CDC’s Office of Applied Research (OAR) initiated 12 scoping reviews, 6 landscape analyses, and one systematic review to conduct deeper dives into topics such as trust in public health preparedness and response, emergency communications strategies with people with limited English proficiency, PHEPR practice in rural and tribal communities, and use of health equity coordinators in incident management. In addition, OAR has funded other reviews such as one to support projects associated with increasing public health responder resilience. The results of these reviews show great breadth in the PHEPR field as it relates to knowledge available to support current practice and highlights the need to expand knowledge to address specific gaps. These needs and gaps may differ across geographical regions and within those regions at the state or local level.Roles CDC Contracting Officer Representative (COR): a business communications liaison between the United States government and a private contractor. The COR's role is to develop proper requirements and ensure during contract administration the contractors meet the commitments of their contracts, including the timeliness and delivery of quality goods and services as required by the contract.

CDC Technical Monitor: a qualified technical representative recommended by a Program Director for designation by the Contracting Officer to a particular contract to assist the COR in monitoring the contractor’s performance.

Coordination and Technical Assistance Contractor (“Contractor”): a single organization that will serve as a coordination, TA, and training provider for the Regional Workplan contractors (up to 10 contractors) developing regional workplans for an anticipated network of centers (up to 10 centers) on a range of scientific and programmatic support services. Tasks will include identifying existing EBSIs found to be effective for PHEPR; assisting with the development of scientific documents, templates, and resources; providing coordination of up to 10 contractors; and provision of TA and training.

Regional Workplan Contractor: Up to ten contractors that will establish regional entities (“coordinating bodies”) to “coordinate relevant activities with applicable State, local, and Tribal health departments and officials, health care facilities, and health care coalitions to improve public health preparedness and response, as informed by the public health preparedness and response needs of the community, or communities, involved”, 2) develop five-year work plans for each region (as described by HHS: HHS Regional Offices | HHS.gov) that will include regional focus areas, and 3) “prioritize efforts to implement evidence-informed or evidence-based practices to improve public health preparedness and response, including reducing the transmission of emerging infectious diseases.”

To address needs to increase the uptake of evidence-based interventions, in December 2022, through Section 2231 of the federal appropriations for fiscal year 2023, CDC was directed to support not fewer than 10 Centers for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response that are equally distributed among the geographical regions of the U.S. (referred to as the “network of centers”).

II. Approach

To prepare for the establishment of this network of centers, CDC is releasing this call for proposals to 1) establish regional entities (“coordinating bodies”) to “coordinate relevant activities with applicable State, local, and Tribal health departments and officials, health care facilities, and health care coalitions to improve public health preparedness and response, as informed by the public health preparedness and response needs of the community, or communities, involved”, 2) develop five-year work plans for each region (as described by HHS: HHS Regional Offices | HHS.gov) that will include regional focus areas, and 3) “prioritize efforts to implement evidence-informed or evidence-based practices to improve public health preparedness and response, including reducing the transmission of emerging infectious diseases”.

Creation of a five-year workplan for the region represented by the offeror to establish priority areas shall take into consideration the current and future readiness and response needs and capacity and capability of the regional health departments, academic, public, and private partners and others to meet those needs. Work plans must be based on collective work and decisions of a regional coordinating body of applicable state, tribal, local, and territorial health departments and officials, health care facilities, and health care coalitions, academic, public, and private partners. Workplans shall include 1) a description of regional STLT PHEPR focus areas that would benefit from use of new or enhanced evidence-based strategies or interventions, particularly to increase health equity, 2) a list of existing and needed approaches to meet these needs, capability and capacity of STLT health departments to implement these needs, 3) a list of prioritized strategies and interventions to implement (and develop, if needed) over the next five years, 4) training and evaluation plans with proposed quantitative (required) and qualitative (optional) measures to ensure strategies and interventions are implemented properly and effective in the local context, and 5) a plan to sustain implementation of evidence-based practice in the region beyond the five-year workplan. Focus areas may be broad and be based on things like public health emergency type, PHEP capability domain, PHEP Program Priorities (see Figure 1) or target population. Priorities should be specific and relate to strategies or interventions an STLT health department or public health regional coordinator can implement with the support of a regional Center for Public Health Preparedness and Response.

Figure 1. Public Health Response Readiness Framework: 2024-2029 PHEP Program Priorities

CDC, with the support of an independent contractor, will evaluate the collective effort of these centers by measuring changes in numbers of evidence-based strategies and interventions implemented locally, translated for broader use, and adopted as regular practice. The established centers are expected to increase awareness, availability, and access to effective evidence-based strategies and interventions (EBSI), work with regional STLT HD partners to increase the ability of STLTs to implement EBSIs and increase communication and sharing of resources among regional participants/partners to increase learning and reduced redundancy in development of new approaches, training, and translation activities. Figure 2 depicts the overall vision for the network of centers and Figure 3 includes a logic model that shows how the activities funded in FY23 and a future initiative will lead to these outcomes. The workplans shall be developed to achieve these overall goals.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

III. Objectives and Outcomes

1) Establishment of and convening of a regional coordinating body of applicable state, tribal, local, and territorial health departments and officials, health care facilities, and health care coalitions, academic, public, and private partners

2) Coordination of relevant activities with the regional coordinating body including

a) Determination of public health emergency preparedness and response focus areas that would benefit from translation, dissemination, and evaluation of promising research findings or evidence-informed or evidence-based practices and, if needed development and evaluation of new strategies based on local needs, to enhance regional public health emergency preparedness and response practice. Focus areas may be broad and be based on things like public health emergency type, PHEP capability domain, PHEP Program Priorities See Figure 1) or target population.

b) Establishment of priorities within these focus areas that take into consideration the needs, capacity and capability of the regional health departments, and academic, public, and private partners of the region. Priorities should be specific and relate to strategies or interventions an STLT health department or public health regional coordinator can implement with the support of a regional Center for Public Health Preparedness and Response.

3) Creation of a five-year work plan to guide work of the regional centers once they are established

4) Dissemination of the plan to the members of the regional coordinating body

5) Provision of the plan and supporting documents used to develop the work plans to CDC for future use.

To further advance the specific needs related to establishing PHEPR workplans for tribal, rural or frontier areas that may have unique needs, or to initiate plans to develop a regional data ecosystem to support development of response strategies during an emergency, CDC may award up to four additional awards as option tasks.

IV. Performance Monitoring and Evaluation

During the course of the contract period, CDC will monitor the performance of the contractor as it relates to the established deliverables in this statement of work. In addition, once the network of centers is established, CDC will evaluate the collective effort of the network by measuring changes in numbers of evidence-based strategies and interventions implemented locally, translated for broader use, and adopted as regular practice. The established centers are expected to increase awareness, availability, and access to effective evidence-based strategies and interventions (EBSI), work with regional STLT HD partners to increase the ability of STLTs to implement EBSIs and increase communication and sharing of resources among regional participants/partners to increase learning and reduced redundancy in development of new approaches, training, and translation activities (see Figure 2). The workplans shall be developed to achieve these overall goals.

V. Scope of Work

This contract includes three work areas: 1) establishment and convening of a coordinating body for the region supported by the contract (regional coordinating body), 2) coordination of the regional coordinating body to determine needs and establish focus areas and priorities within focus areas including, as appropriate, selection of EBSIs of development and evaluation of new strategies or interventions), and 3) creation and dissemination of a regional PHEPR workplan for the respective HHS region. Each contractor shall participate in meetings for all regional workplan contractors, technical assistance activities, including those related to engagement with CDC and its fiscal systems, and shall engage with CDC and an independent contractor to ensure performance is monitored and workplans and dissemination approaches are consistent with CDC expectations. The contractor shall not initiate a formal regional assessment but may use existing documents such as jurisdictional risk assessments (JRA), Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessments (THIRA), after action reports, and other PHEPR-related documents available through STLT health departments and other agencies in the region.

The independent contractor will 1) Identify and provide information regarding existing evidence-based strategies and interventions and related trainings found to be effective for PHEPR practice, 2) plan and host virtual meetings to coordinate work across the regional workplan contractors, 3) plan and host community-of-practice sessions for areas determined to be of high interest across the regional workplan contractors, 4) provide guidance on the use of workplan templates, 5) review and provide feedback on coordination plans and workplans, 6) with CDC, develop a performance and monitoring plan and implement it, 7) and provide technical assistance to the regional contractors as needed. CDC will offer at least two sessions on federal billing processes and expectations.

The workplans completed as a result of the contracts will be used by CDC’s Office for Readiness and Response to inform the work of future regional Centers of Preparedness and Response.

VI. TASKS TO BE PERFORMED

The Contractor of each of the awarded HHS regions, as an independent party and not as an agent of the Government, shall furnish all necessary labor, facilities, supplies, and equipment and supervision to perform the services specified. Specifically, the Contractor will be required to perform the following activities and develop the following items within the time frames specified. All reports and deliverables must be submitted to and approved by the CDC Project COR.

Task 1: Establish PHEPR workplans for Regional Center

Task 1.1a: Kick-off Meeting The Contractor shall plan and implement a kick-off meeting no later than 10 working days after the initial award is made to discuss statement of work. This meeting will be held virtually. The Contractor’s Project Director or Project Manager and the CDC COR must be present for this meeting.

Task 1.1b: Project Plan Following the kick-off meeting, the Contractor shall submit a final written project plan based on information and ideas from the meeting, primary tasks, key staff responsible for tasks (including the Contractor or any proposed subcontractors), schedule of key deadlines (including review cycles and absolute “No Later Than” dates for key activities and deliverables), a schedule for defining the remaining projects/product deliverables, and any clarifications to specific tasks that were discussed during the kick-off meeting for COR review and correction before acceptance. Any clarifications to tasks must remain within the scope of this Task Order and final funding amount. The project plan must describe any reports and activities proposed by the Contractor to meet the needs of this contract, following the kick-off meeting, to be developed by the Contractor during the course of the project, inclusive of the Contractor’s plan for ongoing monitoring and evaluation of services to assure high quality performance and customer satisfaction.

The project plan shall be a distributable document for sharing with key CDC management/staff impacted by this project, as needed.

Task 1.1c: Project Meetings The Contractor shall plan, coordinate, and participate in calls with the COR and CDC Project Lead twice monthly for months 1-2 and 11-12 and once a month for months 3-10. During the meeting, the contractor will provide updates on current and pending activities, project progress, and timelines for open tasks. The contractor shall provide meeting notes within 3 days of meetings; and follow up on action steps.

Task 1.1d: Overall Regional Workplan Contractors Meetings The Contractor shall attend an overalmeeting of regional workplan contractors once per quarter. The independent contractor will establish the agenda for these meetings in coordination with CDC and with input from the regional awardees. Meeting topics may include: how to enhance communications with regional partners; the PHEPR evidence-based and potential strengths and gaps; workplan expectations and workplan template guidance; performance monitoring and evaluation; and topics and approaches for communities of practice.

Task 1.1e: Monthly Progress Reports The Contractor shall provide a monthly progress report including updates deliverables as described in the project plan. The monthly progress report shall be reviewed by the COR and used as: 1) a project management tool to ensure the project is on time and 2) documentation of effort/services as invoiced in the matching monthly invoice. The Contractor shall use a monthly progress report format provided by CDC.

The monthly progress report is due no later than the 5th calendar day of each month. The monthly progress report shall not exceed 5 pages and shall include: a brief description of tasks to be completed, accomplishments during the reporting period , significant events regarding the task order, and indicate any risks to completion of the contract deliverables on time and plans to mitigate those risks; deliverables submitted or progress on deliverable products; any current or anticipated problems and solutions proposed; a brief summary of activities planned for the next reporting period; and considerations, recommendations, etc. for the project based on progress to date.

Task 1.2: Establishment of and convening of a regional coordinating body

Task 1.2a: The contractor shall establish a regional coordinating body of applicable state, tribal, local, and territorial health departments and officials, health care facilities, health care coalitions, academic, public, and private partners. Members shall have relevant knowledge in public health emergency preparedness and response and/or emergency management specific to the region. The coordinating body shall include 1) at least 1 member from each state health department in the region (including the PHEP program director unless that person declines), 2) at least 2 representatives from tribal health departments or recognized tribal governments, 3) representatives from health departments with strong engagement with rural or frontier communities, urban communities, and communities with high proportion of people with limited English proficiency (as defined by the U.S. Census). The coordinating body shall also include representation from at least 1 urban and 1 non-urban healthcare facility or health care coalition, representatives from the K-12 public education systems, and representatives from at least 2 academic institutions from the region who have experience developing, implementing, evaluating or translating PHEPR strategies for use by STLT health departments. The coordinating body may include members representing other geographical, social, cultural or age-related needs, public health information officer, health equity officer, emergency management personnel and all members shall have some relevant knowledge in public health emergency preparedness and response, and emergency management, disaster science, or other related knowledge. If coordinating body members leave the coordinating body, the contractor shall attempt to replace that member. The coordinating body shall always include members from STLT health departments and members with public health emergency preparedness and response knowledge.

Task 1.2a.1: The contractor shall develop and disseminate recruitment materials to raise awareness of the establishment of the coordinating body within the region by 40 working days.

Task 1.2a.2: The contractor shall recruit initial members to the coordinating body using multiple methods and channels to increase geographic, racial, ethnic, gender, language, cultural and other experiential diversity to create a body that is representative of the population of the region.

Task 1.2a.3: The contractor shall select final coordinating body members, in consultation with CDC, and inform members of their selection clearly outlining membership responsibilities by 60 working days.

Task 1.2a.4: The contractor shall develop a plan for the coordinating body communication, coordination, and decision making around the four phases of the regional work plan development (Refer to Task 3) by 60 working days.

Task 1.2b.1: The contractor shall convene the regional coordinating body at least four times during the contracting period. At least two of these meetings shall be an extended and formally facilitated meeting in the form of discovery sessions. CDC encourages, but does not require, virtual meetings. Virtual meetings will likely increase participation rates and reduce cancelations.

Task 1.2b.2 The Contractor shall provide attendees, CDC, and CDC’s independent contractor with the meeting agenda at least 5 working days prior to the meeting. The Contractor shall provide meeting minutes at least 5 working days after the meeting.

Task 1.3: Coordination of relevant activities with the coordinating body The contractor shall work with the coordinating body to develop a work plan in at least four phases which shall begin by 60 working days from the notice of award. The goal is to determine public health emergency preparedness and response needs and focus areas that would benefit from translation, dissemination, and evaluation of promising research findings or evidence-informed or evidence-based practices for the region. Additionally, if needed the development and evaluation of new EBSIs based on local needs, to enhance regional public health emergency preparedness and response practice. The establishment of priorities within these focus areas should take into consideration the needs, capacity and capability of the regional health departments, academic, public, and private partners.

Task 1.3a.1. Phase 1. During Phase 1, the contractor shall, at a minimum, introduce themselves and coordinating body members to each other, initiate team building to facilitate engagement, and establish goals, processes and protocols for the body by 80 working days from the notice of award.

Task 1.3a.2. Phase 2. During Phase 2, the contractor shall, at a minimum, introduce to the coordinating body, information pertinent to the planning process to include, but not limited to, information about major anticipated disasters and associated risks for the region in the next five years, and known evidence-based strategies and interventions relevant to the greatest risks in the region. Note that by 80 working days of notice of award, CDC’s independent contractor shall provide a draft list of the published evidence base for strategies and interventions drawing from existing reviews and information that the Contractors may share with CDC’s independent contractor.

Task 1.3a.3. Phase 3. During Phase 3, to be completed by 120 working days of the notice of award, the contractor shall engage the coordinating body to finalize focus areas, determine which, if any of the known strategies or interventions align with the focus areas and anticipated needs of the region, and develop base content for the five year work plan which would include focus areas, known or needed strategies or interventions, and actions plans for each strategy or intervention to include training, translation, implementation, or development and evaluation of new approaches.

Task 1.3a.4. Phase 4. During Phase 4, to be completed by 150 working days of the notice of award, the contractor shall engage the coordinating body in priority setting exercises for activities to engage in over the next five years to increase implementation of evidence-based practices by the STLT health departments in the region.

Task 1.3a.5. The contractor shall produce and disseminate at least 3 written drafts of a five-year regional work plan. The workplan shall be based on a template provided by CDC. Any modifications to this template must be approved by the COR. The work plan draft shall be completed by 225 working days of the notice of award and be reviewed by at least half of the members of the coordinating body.

Task 1.4: Dissemination of the plan to the regional coordinating body The contractor shall electronically disseminate the final workplan to all members of the regional body in a PDF and modifiable format for local use by 240 working days of notice of award.

Task 1.5: Provision of the plan and supporting documents to CDC for future use.

The contractor shall provide the COR with a final draft of the workplan to all members of the regional body in a PDF and modifiable format for local use by 250 days of the notice of award.

Task 2 (Optional): Establish PHEPR workplans for tribal, rural or frontier areas that may have unique needs

Task 2.1a.1: Kick-off Meeting The Contractor shall plan and implement a kick-off meeting no later than 10 working days after the initial award is made to discuss statement of work. This meeting will be held virtually. The Contractor’s Project Director or Project Manager and the CDC COR must be present for this meeting.

Task 2.1a.2: Project Plan Following the kick-off meeting, the Contractor shall submit a final written project plan based on information and ideas from the meeting, primary tasks, key staff responsible for tasks (including the Contractor or any proposed subcontractors), schedule of key deadlines (including review cycles and absolute “No Later Than” dates for key activities and deliverables), a schedule for defining the remaining projects/product deliverables, and any clarifications to specific tasks that were discussed during the kick-off meeting for COR review and correction before acceptance. Any clarifications to tasks must remain within the scope of this Task Order and final funding amount. The project plan must describe any reports and activities proposed by the Contractor to meet the needs of this contract, following the kick-off meeting, to be developed by the Contractor during the course of the project, inclusive of the Contractor’s plan for ongoing monitoring and evaluation of services to assure high quality performance and customer satisfaction.

The project plan shall be a distributable document for sharing with key CDC management/staff impacted by this project, as needed.

Task 2.1a.3: Project Meetings The Contractor shall plan, coordinate, and participate in calls with the COR and CDC Project Lead twice monthly for months 1-2 and 11-12 and once a month for months 3-10. During the meeting, the contractor will provide updates on current and pending activities, project progress, and timelines for open tasks. The contractor shall provide meeting notes within 3 days of meetings; and follow up on action steps.

Task 2.1a.4: Overall Regional Workplan Contractors Meetings The Contractor shall attend an overall meeting of regional workplan contractors once per quarter. The independent contractor will establish the agenda for these meetings in coordination with CDC and with input from the regional awardees. Meeting topics may include: how to enhance communications with regional partners; the PHEPR evidence-based and potential strengths and gaps; workplan expectations and workplan template guidance; performance monitoring and evaluation; and topics and approaches for communities of practice.

Task 2.1a.5: Monthly Progress Reports The Contractor shall provide a monthly progress report including updates deliverables as described in the project plan. The monthly progress report shall be reviewed by the COR and used as: 1) a project management tool to ensure the project is on time and 2) documentation of effort/services as invoiced in the matching monthly invoice. The Contractor shall use a monthly progress report format provided by CDC.

The monthly progress report is due no later than the 5th calendar day of each month. The monthly progress report shall not exceed 5 pages and shall include: a brief description of tasks to be completed, accomplishments during the reporting period , significant events regarding the task order, and indicate any risks to completion of the contract deliverables on time and plans to mitigate those risks; deliverables submitted or progress on deliverable products; any current or anticipated problems and solutions proposed; a brief summary of activities planned for the next reporting period; and considerations, recommendations, etc. for the project based on progress to date.

Task 2.2: Establishment of and convening of a regional coordinating body

Task 2.2a. The contractor shall establish a regional coordinating body of applicable state, tribal, local, and territorial health departments and officials, health care facilities, health care coalitions, academic, public, and private partners. Members shall have relevant knowledge in public health emergency preparedness and response and/or emergency management specific to the region. The coordinating body shall include 1) at least 1 member from each state health department in the region (including the PHEP program director unless that person declines), 2) at least 2 representatives from tribal health departments or recognized tribal governments, 3) representatives from health departments with strong engagement with rural or frontier communities, urban communities, and communities with high proportion of people with limited English proficiency (as defined by the U.S. Census). The coordinating body shall also include representation from at least 1 urban and 1 non-urban healthcare facility or health care coalition, representatives from the K-12 public education systems, and representatives from at least 2 academic institutions from the region who have experience developing, implementing, evaluating or translating PHEPR strategies for use by STLT health departments. The coordinating body may include members representing other geographical, social, cultural or age-related needs, public health information officer, health equity officer, emergency management personnel and all members shall have relevant knowledge in public health emergency preparedness and response and/or emergency management.

Task 2.2a.1: The contractor shall develop and disseminate recruitment materials to raise awareness of the establishment of the coordinating body within the region by 40 working days of notice of award.

Task 2.2a.2: The contractor shall recruit initial members to the coordinating body using multiple methods and channels to increase geographic, racial, ethnic, gender, language, cultural and other experiential diversity to create a body that is representative of the population of the region.

Task 2.2a.3: The contractor shall select final coordinating body members, in consultation with CDC, and inform members of their selection clearly outlining membership responsibilities by 65 working days of notice of award.

Task 2.2a.4: The contractor shall develop a plan for the coordinating body on communication, coordination, and decision making around the four phases of the regional work plan development (Refer to Task 3) by 65 working days of notice of award.

Task 2.2b.1: The contractor shall convene the regional coordinating body at least four times during the contracting period. At least two of these meetings shall be an extended and formally facilitated meeting in the form of discovery sessions. CDC encourages, but does not require, virtual meetings. Virtual meetings will likely increase participation rates and reduce cancelations.

Task 2.2b.2 The Contractor shall provide attendees, CDC, and CDC’s independent contractor with the meeting agenda at least 5 working days prior to the meeting. The Contractor shall provide meeting minutes at least 5 working days after the meeting.

Task 2.3: Coordination of relevant activities with the coordinating body The contractor shall work with the coordinating body to develop a work plan in at least four phases which shall begin by 60 working days from the notice of award. The goal is to determine public health emergency preparedness and response needs and focus areas that would benefit from translation, dissemination, and evaluation of promising research findings or evidence-informed or evidence-based practices for the region. Additionally, if needed the development and evaluation of new EBSIs based on local needs, to enhance regional public health emergency preparedness and response practice. The establishment of priorities within these focus areas should take into consideration the needs, capacity and capability of the regional health departments, academic, public, and private partners.

Task 2.3a.1. Phase 1. During Phase 1, the contractor shall, at a minimum, introduce themselves and coordinating body members to each other, initiate team building to facilitate engagement, and establish goals, processes and protocols for the body by 85 working days from notice of award.

Task 2.3a.2. Phase 2. During Phase 2, the contractor shall, at a minimum, introduce to the coordinating body, information pertinent to the planning process to include, but not limited to, information about major anticipated disasters and associated risks for the region in the next five years, and known evidence-based strategies and interventions relevant to the greatest risks in the region. Note that by 85 working days from notice of award, CDC’s independent contractor shall provide a draft list of the published evidence base for strategies and interventions drawing from existing reviews and information that the Contractors may share with CDC’s independent contractor.

Task 2.3a.3. Phase 3. During Phase 3, to be completed by 125 working days from notice of award, the contractor shall engage the coordinating body to finalize focus areas, determine which, if any of the known strategies or interventions align with the focus areas and anticipated needs of the region, and develop base content for the five year work plan which would include focus areas, known or needed strategies or interventions, and actions plans for each strategy or intervention to include training, translation, implementation, or development and evaluation of new approaches.

Task 2.3a.4. Phase 4. During Phase 4, to be completed by 155 working days from notice of award, the contractor shall engage the coordinating body in priority setting exercises for activities to engage in over the next five years to increase implementation of evidence-based practices by the STLT health departments in the region.

Task 2.3a.5. The contractor shall produce and disseminate at least 3 written drafts of a five-year regional work plan. The workplan shall be based on a template provided by CDC. Any modifications to this template must be approved by the COR. The work plan draft shall be completed by 230 working days of the notice of award and be reviewed by at least half of the members of the coordinating body.

Task 2.4: Dissemination of the plan to the regional coordinating body The contractor shall electronically disseminate the final workplan to all members of the regional body in a PDF and modifiable format for local use by 240 working days from notice of award.

Task 2.5: Provision of the plan and supporting documents to CDC for future use.

The contractor shall provide the COR with a final draft of the workplan to all members of the regional body in a PDF and modifiable format for local use by 250 days from notice of award.

Task 3 (Optional): Establish plans and processes to support development of an interoperable regional data ecosystem model within an HHS region scalable to a range of events and diverse data sources

Public health emergencies evolve quickly, and public health entities need to be able to share data and information in a timely manner. The aim of this task is to establish plans and processes to support the development of an adaptable and flexible regional data ecosystem model that can incorporate diverse data sources, support routine public health needs, and scale up or down as needed to meet the demands of one or more concurrent public health emergencies.

The regional data ecosystem model “should demonstrate shared processes and flexibility to adapt to the volume and unexpected applications of data needed to support large-scale or evolving public health emergencies. This approach should expand the ability of the ecosystem to accept data from diverse sources or share data with other data systems.”[footnoteRef:1] [1: Kothari, M. Andreadis, A, Glynn, MK. Readiness for Public Health Emergency Response: The Foundational Role of a Data Ecosystem. Public Health Reports. 2022; In Press

This Option Task is designed to support the establishment of a regional community of practice and development of an initial plan and processes for a regional data ecosystem model.

Task 3.1a.1: Kick-off Meeting The Contractor shall plan and implement a kick-off meeting no later than 10 working days after the initial award is made to discuss statement of work. This meeting will be held virtually. The Contractor’s Project Director or Project Manager and the CDC COR must be present for this meeting.

Task 3.1a.2: Project Plan Following the kick-off meeting, the Contractor shall submit a final written project plan based on information and ideas from the meeting, primary tasks, key staff responsible for tasks (including the Contractor or any proposed subcontractors), schedule of key deadlines (including review cycles and absolute “No Later Than” dates for key activities and deliverables), a schedule for defining the remaining projects/product deliverables, and any clarifications to specific tasks that were discussed during the kick-off meeting for COR review and correction before acceptance. Any clarifications to tasks must remain within the scope of this Task Order and final funding amount. The project plan must describe any reports and activities proposed by the Contractor to meet the needs of this contract, to be developed by the Contractor during the course of the project, inclusive of the Contractor’s plan for ongoing monitoring and evaluation of services to assure high quality performance and customer satisfaction.

The project plan shall be a distributable document for sharing with key CDC management/staff impacted by this project, as needed. The Contractor shall submit a project plan no later than 20 working days from notice of award.

Task 3.1a.3: Shared Informational Session Following the kick-off meeting, the Contractor shall plan, coordinate, and participate in a shared informational session between the Contractor, proposed subcontractors, and CDC program officials to present potential plans, processes and outcomes supporting Option Task 2. CDC shall share information and activities underway relating to CDC's Data Modernization Initiative (DMI) that may be relevant to the development of a regional data ecosystem model. The informational session shall occur no later than 40 working days from notice of award.

Task 3.1a.4: Project Meetings The Contractor shall plan, coordinate, and participate in calls with the COR and CDC Project Lead twice monthly for months 1-2 and 11-12 and once a month for months 3-10. During the meeting, the contractor will provide updates on current and pending activities, project progress, and timelines for open tasks. The contractor shall provide meeting notes within 3 days of meetings; and follow up on action steps.

Task 3.1a.5: Monthly Progress Reports The Contractor shall provide a monthly progress report including updates deliverables as described in the project plan. The monthly progress report shall be reviewed by the COR and used as: 1) a project management tool to ensure the project is on time and 2) documentation of effort/services as invoiced in the matching monthly invoice. The Contractor shall use a monthly progress report format provided by CDC.

The monthly progress report is due no later than the 5th calendar day of each month. The monthly progress report shall not exceed 5 pages and shall include: a brief description of tasks to be completed, accomplishments during the reporting period , significant events regarding the task order, and indicate any risks to completion of the contract deliverables on time and plans to mitigate those risks; deliverables submitted or progress on deliverable products; any current or anticipated problems and solutions proposed; a brief summary of activities planned for the next reporting period; and considerations, recommendations, etc. for the project based on progress to date.

Task 3.1b: Establish a regional community of practice to inform development of a regional data ecosystem model

Task 3.1b.1 The Contractor shall establish a community of practice comprised of state, territory, local, and tribal public health practitioners, public health disaster researchers, public health department officials, and academics and, as appropriate health care facilities, health care coalitions, public and private partners from a HHS Region (and bordering areas as appropriate) to observe and provide feedback on the process and plans to develop a regional data ecosystem model no later than 40 working days from notice of award.

Task 3.1b.2 The Contractor (with input from the community of practice) shall determine meaningful use and application of the regional data ecosystem model and associated network to support public health emergency response activities (e.g., use and application of information, data, and data sources by health departments) no later than 100 working days from notice of award.

Task 3.2. Identify science and practice information needs and associated essential elements of information and data through a real-world use case for the selected region Task 3.2a The Contractor shall establish a use case for commonly occurring disasters (e.g., hurricanes, wildfires, infectious disease outbreaks) with the regional community of practice to identify practice-based information needs that have concurrent applications in scientific research no later than 100 working days from notice of award.

Task 3.2b The Contractor shall identify information and data sources used to support timely decision-making during past emergency responses similar to the use case no later than 100 working days from notice of award.

Task 3.2c The Contractor shall identify essential elements of information for the use case.

Task 3.2d The Contractor shall identify data standards, data elements, and metadata requirements to address information needs for the use case no later than 100 working days from notice of award.

Task 3.2e The Contractor shall identify policy and logistical considerations that may hinder the ability to standardize, integrate and share data at levels applicable to meet regional interests (e.g., local to local, local to single or multiple states, or local to state to federal level) no later than 100 working days from notice of award.

Task 3.3 Identify minimum datasets and standards necessary to address information needs across commonly occurring disasters at levels applicable to meet regional interests (e.g., local to local, local to single or multiple states, or local to state to federal), and evaluate against already accessible data

Task 3.3a The Contractor shall identify information and data sources used to support timely decision-making during past emergency responses across commonly occurring disasters (e.g., hurricanes, wildfires, infectious disease outbreaks) no later than 140 working days from notice of award. If applicable, this may include building on current activities underway through CDC's Data Modernization Initiative (DMI) to define minimum datasets for the core data sources of case, laboratory, vital records, syndromic surveillance (ED visits), immunizations, and healthcare capacity.

Task 3.3b The Contractor shall identify essential elements of information (or minimum datasets) at levels applicable to meet regional interests (e.g., local, state, or federal levels) across commonly occurring disasters (e.g., hurricanes, wildfires, infectious disease outbreaks) no later than 140 working days from notice of award.

Note: At local levels, the essential elements of information may be collected by local independent researchers or health departments responding to local disasters. At federal levels, the essential elements of information (or minimum datasets for core data sources outlined in Task 2d.1) are currently defined through CDC. The Contractor shall collaborate with CDC DMI program officials to support implementation of minimum datasets already established if deemed applicable to meet regional interests.

Task 3.3c The Contractor shall identify minimum data standards, data elements, and metadata requirements across commonly occurring disasters no later than 140 working days from notice of award.

Task 3.3d The Contractor shall evaluate identified information and minimum data-related needs against already accessible data and other sources of data no later than 140 working days from notice of award.

Task 3.4 Define data requirements for technical solutions that complement CDC DMI activities underway to improve STLT public health data pipelines, and assess their strengths and limitations as applied to public health emergency preparedness and response (PHEPR)

Task 3.4a The Contractor shall conduct a literature search or web search to define requirements for technical solutions that support big data collection, storage, preparation, analysis and sharing at levels applicable to meet regional needs (e.g., local to local, local to single or multiple states, or local to state to federal level). The Contractor shall also identify current gaps that exist across foundational data ready ecosystem functions of collection, storage, preparation, analysis, and sharing across levels applicable to meet regional needs no later than 175 working days from notice of award.

Task 3.4b Based on the defined requirements, the Contractor shall identify middleware solution(s) or applications to integrate secure, private disaster-related information to support public health emergency response activities at levels applicable to meet regional interests (e.g., private sources of data may include those shared by: HIFLD; a platform for critical infrastructure data, ASPR’s Hurricane Sandy research database, NYC’s COVID integrated data dashboard, NIH’s COVID Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) Data Hub) no later than 175 working days from notice of award.

Note: The prospective application(s) should support exchange of data (across levels applicable to meet regional interests) and complement ongoing CDC efforts to improve STLT public health data pipelines. The award will not fund the establishment of a data system, modification to an existing IT system, or any data collection activities not described herein.

Task 3.4c The Contractor shall use a case study approach to assess the middleware solutions or application(s) strengths and limitations to integrate PHEPR-relevant data identified in Task 2d no later than 175 working days from notice of award.

Task 3.5 Identify potential challenges and feasible solutions to integration and sharing of epidemiologic, laboratory, surveillance, survey and other data needed to inform readiness and response

Task 3.5a The Contractor shall identify challenges that may hinder or prevent data integration and sharing (e.g., privacy, standardization, IRB, MOUs) at levels applicable to meet regional interests (e.g., local to local, local to state or multiple states, local to state to federal levels) no later than 175 working days from notice of award.

Task 3.5b Where possible, the Contractor shall identify feasible solutions to data integration and sharing (and understand their tradeoffs) at levels applicable to meet regional interests (e.g., local to local, local to state or multiple states, local to state to federal levels) no later than 175 working days from notice of award.

Task 3.6. Disseminate ecosystem model and recommendations

Task 3.6a…