SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- EPC Coordinating Center
- Notice Date
- 3/5/2002
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Division of Contracts Management, 2101 East Jefferson Street, Suite 601, Rockville, MD, 20852
- ZIP Code
- 20852
- Solicitation Number
- AHRQ-02-0006
- Point of Contact
- Sharon Williams, Contracting Officer, Phone 301 594-7192, Fax 301 443-7523,
- E-Mail Address
-
swilliam@ahrq.gov
- Description
- The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is soliciting proposals for a five-year, cost-reimbursable contract to establish and maintain the Evidence-based Practices Centers (EPC) Coordinating Center. The EPC Coordinating Center will function as an extension of the Agency?s staff administering the Evidence-based Practice Centers Program (EPC Program). The EPCs are academic medical centers and other entities that develop, under contract with AHRQ, evidence reports and technology assessments. EPC Evidence reports and technology assessments are rigorous systematic reviews, comprehensive syntheses and analyses of relevant scientific literature, emphasizing explicit detailed documentation of methods, rationales, and assumptions. The evidence reports and technology assessments are used by professional societies, systems of care, health plans, public and private purchasers, States, and others, as a scientific foundation for development and implementation of their own clinical practice guidelines, clinical pathways, review criteria, performance measures, educational curricula, and other quality improvements tool. The reports and assessments also may be used to inform reimbursement or coverage policies. The EPC Coordinating Center will serve as a central link between AHRQ, the EPCs, Partners (i.e., organizations whose nominated topics are selected for EPC evidence reports or technology assessments become AHRQ Partners), researchers, providers, and others who are committed to the organization and delivery of evidence-based health care. For illustrative purposes only, the EPC Coordinating Center may be tasked to: (a) assess need for updating past EPC evidence reports and technology assessments, including development of a strategy for addressing the backlog; (b) perform literature searches on topics nominated for an EPC reports or assessments, and evaluate the quality of scientific studies identified in the literature searches; (c) plan and convene national conferences; (d) develop, for EPC use, criteria and protocols for scanning published and gray literature to identify topics that may be ripe for development of an evidence report or technology assessment; (e) work with AHRQ Partners (e.g., professional societies, providers, payors, etc.) to assist in the Partners? efforts to (1) disseminate Partner-developed products (e.g., clinical practice guidelines, review criteria, performance measures, educational curricula, and other quality improvement tools) that are based on EPC reports and assessments; (2) measure use of Partner-developed products; and, (3) measure the impact of such use on clinical care; and (f) manage an electronic database. Offerors are expected to have clinical, methodological, and management expertise and experience in: (a) performing systematic searches of the scientific literature, including development of appropriate search strategies, and searching multiple complex databases; (b) assessing the quality of scientific literature; (c) working with health professional societies, providers, researchers, and others; (d) establishing and managing an electronic database, including responding to user inquiries; and, (e) planning and implementing large conferences. The EPC Coordinating Center is to be comprised of experienced/seasoned professionals, including those with training and competencies in clinical care, research methodology, library sciences, science writing and editing, database management, and meeting planning and implementation. The Director of the EPC Coordinating Center and other senior staff who will manage work to be performed under this contract should hold an advanced clinical, technical or professional degree, at the M.D. or Ph.D. level with a minimum of 8 years experience in performing evidence-based systematic reviews, analyzing biomedical, social sciences, epidemiological, or similar scientific literature or data; significant experience related to development of clinical practice guidelines, medical review criteria, or other performance measures; experience with working with professional societies and healthcare delivery systems, such as hospitals and health plans. The Director of the EPC Coordinating Center also should have corporate level management experience that reflects an ability to command organizational resources and direct staff within the broader organization. This solicitation is available for full and open competition. The NAICS code is 541611. The solicitation and any documents related to this procurement will only be available by downloading from the Internet on AHRQ's site at http://www.ahrq.gov. Once in AHRQ's homepage, look under "Funding Opportunities" and then "Contract Solicitations." This will take you to a list of all current solicitations. Double-click on the solicitation and you will be given a short synopsis of the solicitation and downloading instructions. It is the offeror's responsibility to monitor AHRQ's Internet site for the release of the solicitation and any subsequent amendments. Potential offerors will be responsible for downloading their own copy of the solicitation and any subsequent amendments. Since it is not known who is downloading the solicitation, no bidders list will be available. It is estimated that the solicitation will be available for downloading approximately 15 days after publication of this notice. Proposals will be due approximately 30 days after the posting of the solicitation.
- Record
- SN00035599-W 20020307/020305213112 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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