R410--Intent to Sole Source Sipe Consult

The Veteran s Administration (VA) Office of Research and Development (ORD), Regional Procurement Office East in Pittsburgh, PA., intends to negotiate on a sole source basis with Dr. Jean Sipe based in Boston, MA. The solicitation is on behalf of the VA Central ORD, Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D) section headquartered in Washington, DC.

The requirement is for a continuation of services to provide peer review assistance and consultation for current and planned VA medical research studies. The requirement includes specialized training in peer review best practices for the key members of HSR&D s scientific merit review program. The requirement will allow HSR&D to continue with their Scientific Merit Peer Review Enhancement Initiative. The contractor will present to the HSR&D staff with a work plan for completing a project, perform detailed analysis of scientific merit review board meetings and maintain the HSR&D Peer Review Handbook and reviewer guidelines.

The specific work to be performed includes:

Task 1: Work Plan

The contractor shall provide to the HSR&D staff a work plan which presents the contractor s plan for completing the project.

Task 2: Analysis of Scientific Merit Review Board Rosters and Meetings

Twice a year, the contractor shall provide data and analysis on HSR&D s Scientific Merit Review Board (SMRB) meetings to include the following:

Perform analysis of composition of meeting rosters with respect to aspects such as: academic ranks; geographic, cultural, and gender diversity; inclusion of both VA and non-VA perspectives; and representation of different scientific approaches and perspectives. The composition and appearance of the public meeting rosters is important because they affect the perceived balance, impartiality, and expertise of the review panels.

Observe SMRB panel meetings to help assess the performance of scientific review officers (SROs), behavior of chairs, the interaction of reviewers, and the process of developing a quality summary of discussion, and report to HSR&D leadership on the observations overall and by panel.

Provide analysis and make recommendations to further address scoring behavior disparity across HSR&D review panels, to help facilitate the best funding decisions.

Task 3: Maintain and Update HSR&D s Peer Review Handbook (for internal use), reviewer guidelines and reviewer cyberseminar PowerPoint presentations.

The contractor shall assess the HSR&D SRO Handbook to ensure it remains consistent with VA and other federal peer review policy and best practices, assess reviewer guidelines to ensure they remain consistent with published Requests for Applications (RFAs), and assess reviewer cyberseminar PowerPoint presentation to ensure they remain consistent with peer review best practices and published RFAs.

Task 4: Provide Orientation and Training to HSR&D s Scientific Review Officers.

The contractor shall teleconference with designated HSR&D scientific and other personnel three times per month and provide four training sessions to HSR&D s Scientific Review Officers each year and develop training materials for SROs.

The requirement will take place at a VA ORD in Washington, DC. The sole source is pursuant to FAR 6.302-1 Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals, however; any responsible source who believes it can meet, or exceed, the requirement may submit a capability statement and supporting documentation to the contracting office no later than Wednesday, Nov 6, 2024, (10:00 AM, EST). Interest/capability statements may be sent electronically to Michael Haydo at Michael.haydo@va.gov. No telephone responses will be accepted. A determination not to compete the proposed requirement based upon the responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.