Development and Technical Services for the Applied Research Program

This Sources Sought Notice (SS) is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the National Institute (NCI).

THERE IS NOT A SOLICITATION AVAILABLE. THIS IS STRICTLY MARKET RESEARCH.

The purpose of this SS is to identify qualified small business concerns including Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDB), Women-owned Small Business (WOSB), Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HuBZone) Small Business, Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) and Service-Disabled Veteran-owned Small Business (SDVOSB) that are interested in and capable of performing the work described herein. The NCI does not intend to award a contract on the basis of responses nor otherwise pay for the preparation of any information submitted.

The Development and Technical Services for the Applied Research Program (ARP), Risk Factor Monitoring and Methods Branch (RFMMB), Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute (NCI) is seeking capability statements from all eligible Small Businesses as state above, under NAICS Code #541990 (All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services) with a size standard $7,000,000 per annum. Based on the responses received from this SOURCES SOUGHT Notice, the government may issue an intent to award a Justification For Other Than Full And Open Competition.

The NCI, ARP/RFMMB seeks to continue to conduct further evaluations and validations of the current web-based automated self-administered 24-hour recall (ASA24). The proposed project expands the current contract with Westat Inc, Contract N02-PC-64406 to add a large study of 1000 participants and a small feeding study of 30 participants for purposes of collecting data to compare a new software, a web-based automated self-administered 24-hour dietary recall, to a high quality interviewer-administered 24-hour recall using the US Department of Agriculture's, Automated Multiple Pass Method (AMPM). This is an expansion of studies and work already underway to cognitively test and design the ASA24 software. To perform the requirements, the contractor must have current knowledge of the web-services, voice software, graphic user interface and complex database operations of the new ASA24 software to be able to efficiently conduct tasks for this study, and diagnose and address software problems as they arise in an accurate and timely manner.

All eligible small business sources responding to this Sources Sought Notice must have the capabilities to provide assistance to the Risk Factor Monitoring and Methods Branch and the Applied Research Program of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to evaluate the validity and reliability of a newly developed web-based Automated Self-Administered 24-hour Recall (ASA24).

This is an expansion of studies and work already underway to cognitively test and design the ASA24 software. Two studies will be conducted in separate study populations; Study 1: a large-scale comparison study and Study 2: a small observational validation study. A description of the major tasks is as follows:

Description of Study 1 - The Contractor shall:

• Administer two types of 24 hour dietary recalls (ASA24 and an AMPM 24 hour recall) in a free living adult population (20-70). The study group should be diverse in terms of gender major race/ethnicity (white, African-American, Hispanic), years of education (<12, 12, >12), and geographical residence (urban vs. rural; region). The population samples will be drawn from no more than four large health maintenance organizations in different regions of the country with differing rural/urban and race/ethnicity profiles.

• Using a screener questionnaire, select a study group to complete participation by 1000 individuals. The study group will be composed of 500 men and 500 women, and composed of 5 age decades (20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-70) with approximately 100 subjects per decade. The study group will be randomized into 4 groups of 250. All participants will complete two non-consecutive dietary recalls, ordered per randomized group. Group 1 will complete two online ASA24 recalls; Group 2 will complete two interviewer-administered telephone AMPM recalls; Group 3 will complete one online ASA24 recall followed by an interviewer-administered telephone AMPM recall; Group 4 will complete an interviewer-administered telephone AMPM recall followed by an online ASA24 recall. The amount of time to allow between administrations is 4-6 weeks.

Description of Study 2 - The Contractor shall:

• Administer two 24-hour recall instruments (ASA24 and AMPM 24-hour recall) in a free-living adult population (20-70 years). The study group should employ sampling techniques to include respondents of diverse backgrounds.

• Using a screener questionnaire, a study group will be selected which will result in complete participation by 60 individuals. The study group will be composed of 30 men and 30 women, in 5 age decades (20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-70) with approximately 6 subjects per decade for each gender. The study participants will be randomized into 2 groups of 30, Group A and Group B. Each subject in Group A will be matched to a subject in Group B based on age group, gender, and education.

• Participants will complete an observational ad lib feeding study. The testing schedule will consist of food consumption on Day 1 followed by food reporting on Day 2. Participants will visit a location and be fed two meals. For each meal, participants will be able to choose from several foods and beverages, buffet-style, with no limit on the amount of food each participant may take. A different set of foods and beverages will be offered for the second meal. All participants will have the same options for both meals.

• All foods taken by the participant will be weighed unobtrusively prior to and after the meal. The method by which this will occur is via weighing of the common pot or item before and after the food is self-served, and then weighing the amount left on the plate when the participant is finished. In this way, weights of all foods consumed by each participant will be obtained. Each food will be coded using the FNDDS; gram weights will be translated into common measures (cups, ounces, sizes, etc.) as applicable.

DURATION: It is anticipated that the additional studies will be completed in 18 months. Within the first year, packages for approvals from OMB and IRB will be requested and all the planning and preparation for the study and the start of the data collection for Study 2.

Capability Statements will be judged based on experience in using: 1) web-based questionnaire administration in studies, 2) complex Adobe Flex-based programming, 3) Dot.Net web services, 4) knowledge of the administration of the US Department of Agriculture's AMPM 24-hour dietary recall, 5) knowledge of the database and probes for the AMPM interview, 6) experience in using ASA24, 7) experience in using web-based voice software, 8) knowledge and experience in administration of national dietary surveys using 24-hour dietary recalls, and 9) ability and experience to conduct a controlled feeding study.

Interested qualified small business organizations should submit a capability statement, not to exceed 20 total single-spaced pages using a 12 point font size at a minimum, that clearly details the ability to perform, and that addresses the specific requirements described above. All propriety information should be marked as such. Statements should also include an indication of current certified small business status: this indication should be clearly marked on the first page of your capability statement (preferably place under the eligible small business concern's name and address). Responses will be reviewed on by NIH personnel and will be held in a confidential manner.

All capability statements sent in response to this SOURCES SOUGHT notice must be submitted electronically (via email) to Ms. Jacque Ballard, Contracting Officer at: ballardj@mail.nih.gov either in MS Words, Wordperfect or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) not later than Thursday, March 26, 2009, 3:30 PM EST. All responses must be received by the specified due date and time in order to be considered. ANY RESPONSES RECEIVED AFTER THAT DATE AND TIME WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.