SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- Comprehensive Resource to Enhance Consumer Health Informatics Evaluation Research
- Notice Date
- 9/14/2009
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- NAICS
- 611310
— Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, 6707 Democracy Blvd., Suite 105, Bethesda, Maryland, 20894, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20894
- Solicitation Number
- 09-215SB
- Archive Date
- 10/9/2009
- Point of Contact
- Sally Boakye, Phone: 301-496-6546
- E-Mail Address
-
boakyes@mail.nih.gov
(boakyes@mail.nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- In accordance with FAR Part 12 and 13, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Library of Medicine (NLM) intends to procure professional services on a sole source basis from the Health Communication Research Center, Missouri School of Journalism. The Health Communication Research Center shall provide a comprehensive resource to inform future NLM consumer health evaluation projects. The period of performance shall be for a period of one year from the date of award with four additional one year options. Synopsis: In 2008 the National Library of Medicine funded a pilot to create a master resource of outcome variables and suggested measures to guide comprehensive consumer health informatics evaluation. This requirement seeks to build on the work initiated in the pilot. The continuation of this project is to be done in collaboration with NLM's Office of Communications and Public Liaison as well as NLM's consumer health informatics working group. The contractor will provide a pilot for a comprehensive resource to inform future NLM consumer health evaluation projects. The eventual resource is envisioned as a tool kit NLM can use and also will be available as a professional development tool to other consumer health informatics researchers. The contractor will provide a minimum of 12 outcome variables, with a specific suggested measure for each variable, and complete source citations. These 12 outcome variables should be derived from a list provided by the contractor during the pilot year. The contractor also will suggest 12 new variables to be completed during the project's third year. The contractor shall include a brief description that provides a context to understand the development and use of the suggested measure. The contactor also should specify the academic disciplines where each suggested outcome variable commonly can be used in consumer health research among the following: journalism, public communication, social marketing, strategic communication, health communication, health literacy, science communication, health campaign, and consumer health informatics research. The resource shall be written in Microsoft Word compatible format. The contractor may use Dreamweaver, or similar web creation software, to convert the Microsoft Word file into a format so it can be migrated to an Internet site. The Internet site can be created and maintained for the length of the project at the contractor's site. However, the web site will be transferred immediately at the time of request to the National Library of Medicine. The contractor will prepare the web site with technical collaboration with NLM's Office of Communication and Public Liaison, so its content seamlessly can be transferred to NLM (following the completion of the project). The contractor also shall provide a plan for the completion and sustainability of a comprehensive consumer health informatics resource. This should include a minimum of 12 new outcome variables to be assessed, or supplemented to those assessed for the next phase (part three of the project). Background Currently, there is no resource or tool kit that recommends outcome variables a researcher might use for a comprehensive consumer health informatics evaluation. Some routinely used outcome variables include: demographic, psychographic, health information uses, health information gratifications, utilization, perceived consumer information needs, health literacy, readability, perceived information quality, and others. The resource provides a unique reservoir of suggested outcome variables that makes it easier for non-domain experts to engage in research activities. It also provides a unique guide that NLM can use to enhance intramural and extramural consumer health informatics evaluation. There is a pressing need for a resource to help investigators with even the most straightforward consumer health informatics survey research challenges. For example, in a consumer health informatics survey, what is the optimal way to ask a respondent's income and educational levels? (These are standard demographic outcome variables). Different researchers use different metrics and measures, but of the many choices, which is the most grounded in past research and is expressed in a way that is least obtrusive and encourages accurate responses? By answering this question as well as making recommendations for many others, the proposed resource provides a comprehensive resource drawn from consumer health informatics, health communication, mass communication, health literacy, and health campaign research that lists recommended outcome variables, suggested measures to operationalize them -- all with appropriate citations. The pilot for this resource was developed during the 2009 fiscal year. The pilot demonstrated the potential of the resource transform NLM's consumer health informatics evaluation and influence the course of consumer health informatics research. The proposed resource is based on a consumer health informatics conceptual model that Logan and Tse presented at Med Info in summer 2008 (Robert A. Logan, Tony Tse, A Multidisciplinary Conceptual Framework for Consumer Health Informatics. Medinfo 2007 12 (Pt2):1169-1173) and professional needs outlined in a recent white paper by the American Medical Informatics Association's consumer health group (Alla Keselman, Robert A. Logan, Catherine Arnott Smith, Gondy LeRoy, Qing Zeng-Treitler. Developing Informatics Tools and Strategies for Consumer-Centered Health Communication. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. 2008: 15 (4): 475-83. Proposed methods: The contractor shall survey the literature in consumer health informatics related disciplines which include: consumer health informatics, health communication, health campaign, science communication, strategic communication, social marketing, science communication, and mass communication. The contractor also will survey nationally available health communication data sets, such as the Health Information National Trends database, developed by the National Cancer Institute. The contractor shall use the 12 grounded variables, or those outcome measures that are used with high frequency, that were selected in the pilot year, for review during the second year. The contractor shall propose 12 new outcome measures to be assessed in year three. The continuation of the existing plan is important to the project since the number of outcome variables used in research is sufficiently comprehensive that they cannot be completed in five years at the pace the budget provides. However, a pace of 12 variables a year (even with some revisions of work in previous years), would create a core resource that would be of significant benefit to consumer health informatics professionals. Proposed work: The contractor shall complete the 12 already recommended measures to be assessed in the second year. The contractor also shall develop a list of 12 recommended outcome variables to be added to a comprehensive resource in the project's third year. For each of the 12 measures to be developed in the second year, the contractor shall include a short (5-7 paragraph) description that provides a context to understand the development and use of the suggested measure, and provide appropriate citations. The contactor shall also specify the academic disciplines where each suggested outcome variable commonly can be used in consumer health research among the following: journalism, public communication, social marketing, strategic communication, health communication, health literacy, science communication, health campaign, and consumer health informatics research. The resource shall be written in Microsoft Word compatible format. The contractor will work with NLM to foster a seamless transfer of the content generated by the pilot from a website hosted by the contractor to NLM. To do so, the contractor may use Dreamweaver, or similar web creation software, and convert the Microsoft Word compatible file into a format so it can be migrated to an NLM managed Internet site. During the second year, an Internet site can be created and maintained at the contractor's site. However, the web site's content will be transferred immediately to the National Library of Medicine at the time of NLM's request. The NLM reserves the right to approve the contractor's site prior to deployment. NLM also reserves the right to ask the contractor to close any pilot website upon transfer of the content to NLM. The contractor will prepare the pilot web site with technical collaboration with NLM's Office of Communication and Public Liaison, so the content and host seamlessly can be transferred to NLM. The contractor shall also provide a plan for the completion and sustainability of a comprehensive consumer health informatics resource. This plan shall include a minimum of 12 recommended outcome variables to be assessed during the third year. The plan also should make specific recommendations about how to sustain the resource. This might engage graduate students in the project in the future, recommendations to improve the website that pilot will create, and ideas about other venues to disseminate the resource. Dissemination of findings The contractor will work with NLM so content and design of the pilot website can be placed on NLM's servers, so the resource is accessible to anyone with internet access. The resultant product(s) of this contract shall be the exclusive property of the National Library of Medicine. The National Library of Medicine is in charge of its public distribution unless this task is given to the contractor with NLM's permission. Required tasks: The following tasks are to be completed as outlined. The professional services to be performed consist of the delivery of hours of professional services in support of the following tasks. Task description: Phase 1 Subtask 1. The assessment of 12 previously recommended outcome variables to be assessed in the project's second year should begin and should be phased in for completion. Subtask one of phase one requires completion of four newly assessed variables during the first four months after the contract's award. Subtask 2. The creation of a plan to recommend 12 outcome variables (not to be assessed) that should be completed in the third year. Subtask 2 of phase 1 requires the contractor to suggest five new variables (to be assessed during the third year) during the first four month period following the award of the contract. These additions, which are described under synopsis and proposed work above, shall be done in monthly, iterative stages with reports given to the designated project officer in NLM's Office of Communications and Public Liaison. Subtask 3. The contractor shall provide a printed report to NLM that shall be in Microsoft Word compatible format that can be easily transferred to the Internet. Phase 2 Subtask 1. The contractor shall assess five additional outcome variables in the next four months of the project. The assessments should be completed in monthly, iterative stages with reports provided to the designated project officer in NLM's Office of Communications and Public Liaison. The requirements are specified under the synopsis and proposed work above. Subtask 2. The contractor shall recommend five other outcome variables (not to be assessed) that should be completed in the project's third year in the following four months. These additions, which are described under synopsis and proposed work above, shall be done in monthly, iterative stages with reports given to the designated project officer in NLM's Office of Communications and Public Liaison. Subtask 3. The contractor shall provide a printed report to NLM that should be in Microsoft Word compatible format that can be easily transferred to the Internet. Phase 3 Subtask 1. The contractor shall assess three additional outcome variables in the last four months of the project. The assessments should be completed in monthly, iterative stages with reports provided to the designated project officer in NLM's Office of Communications and Public Liaison. The requirements are specified under the synopsis and proposed work above. Subtask 2. The contractor shall recommend two other outcome variables (not to be assessed) to be completed in the third year during the last two months of the project. These additions, which are described under synopsis and proposed work above, shall be done in monthly, iterative stages with reports given to the designated project officer in NLM's Office of Communications and Public Liaison. Subtask 3. The contractor shall provide a printed report to NLM that should be in Microsoft Word compatible format that can be easily transferred to the Internet. Subtask 4. The contractor shall participate in a technical meeting with NLM staff so a transfer of the findings can be accomplished onto NLM's servers. The meeting should be arranged by the contractor and the designated project officer at NLM's Office of Communications and Public Liaison. Deliverables: Phase 1 Deliverables: Subtasks 1-3 should be phased in on a monthly basis four months after the contract award. Monthly progress reports will be due to the designated project officer at NLM's Office of Communications and Public Liaison. Phase 2 Deliverables: Subtasks 1-3 should be phased in on a monthly basis starting in the fifth through the eight month after the contract begins. Monthly progress reports will be due to the designated project officer at NLM's Office of Communications and Public Liaison. Phase 3 Deliverables: Subtasks 1-3 should be phased in on a monthly basis starting with month eight after the contract begins and ending in month 12 after the contract begins. Subtask 4 should occur during the first two months of this period. Monthly progress reports will be due to the designated project officer at NLM's Office of Communications and Public Liaison. Requirement to Notify Government of Proprietary Work Dependencies Offerors are required to notify the Government in writing of any dependencies of the deliverables under this contract on proprietary, copyrighted, or patented work that potentially inhibits, restricts, or requires permission for the dissemination of the deliverables to the public, other governmental agencies or research groups, or any other parties whatsoever. Sole source justification The continued success of this project depends on a contractor where the in-house investigators have significant knowledge and experience about current research in consumer health informatics and also have personal expertise or immediate access to persons with expertise in: mass communication, strategic communication, social marketing, consumer health informatics, health literacy, health campaign research, and health communication research disciplines. The project is intended to better integrate research in the relatively new academic field of consumer health informatics research with these disciplines: mass communication, strategic communication, social marketing, consumer health informatics, health literacy, health campaign research, and health communication disciplines. All of these academic disciplines have developed separately although they assess consumer health and media, which means consumer health informatics scholars often are unaware of similar research in other disciplines (Logan, Tse, 2007; Keselman, Logan, Smith, LeRoy, and Zeng-Treitler, 2008). The development of consumer health informatics as a discipline is important to NLM's ongoing commitment to improve the assessment of its websites for consumers, which includes MedlinePlus.gov, Clinicaltrails.gov, and Genetic Home Reference, as well as NLM's commitment to provide leadership in the development of medical informatics research. Consequently, the project's success requires credentialed scholars in consumer health informatics who also have personal experience in at least two fields among: mass communication, strategic communication, social marketing, consumer health informatics, health literacy, health campaign research, media technology, and health communication research. In addition, the project's success depends on the credentialed scholar's immediate access to peer scholars with experience in: consumer health informatics, mass communication, strategic communication, social marketing, consumer health informatics, health literacy, health campaign research, and health communication research. To fill the requirements for the contract NLM looked for scholars with consumer health informatics training who also has had significant academic training in two or more of the other specified areas. A review of the 100+ members of the consumer health informatics interest group within the American Medical Informatics Association (the primary scholarly association in medical informatics) yielded several candidates with the apparent, requisite educational background to accomplish the project. Most of these candidates were not located in the U.S. One of the identified scholars located in the U.S. currently is not affiliated with a university or a research institution, which restricts this candidate's access to consultants to complete the task efficiently. However, there are resident scholars affiliated with the Health Communication Research Center at the University of Missouri-Columbia who have the credentials to do the work outlined in this contract. The Health Communication Research Center at the University of Missouri-Columbia also has access to the medical informatics faculty at the University of Missouri-Columbia and its investigators uniquely encompass research qualifications and interest in the sub disciplines required to successfully complete this project. The investigators demonstrated their expertise by successfully completing all requirements during the project's pilot year. Consequently, in terms of qualifications, setting, merit, and prior involvement, the investigators at the Health Communication Research Center at the University of Missouri-Columbia are uniquely qualified to complete this project. Months of time and hundreds of hours of effort also would be lost in transferring this project to another group of investigators. The University of Missouri-Columbia's Health Communication Research Center was seen as the institution where faculty and affiliated scholars span all the disciplines required for the current project that includes: consumer health informatics, mass communication, strategic communication, social marketing, health literacy, health campaign research, and health communication. NLM's Office of Communication and Public Liaison also reviewed faculty credentials at several of the nation's other leading health communication graduate and research programs (including Purdue University, Harvard University, Michigan State University, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, the University of Arizona, and the University of Southern California) and determined that the combination of interdisciplinary skills required for the current project was only partially available at these locations. Besides its recognition as an NCI Center for Cancer Communication Excellence, the Health Communication Research Center at the Missouri School of Journalism also has is a grantee of the Missouri Health Foundation's pioneering efforts in health literacy research, which distinguishes its range of interests from most other institutions. Hence, NLM's Office of Communication and Public Liaison found it highly appropriate to select the Health Communication Research Center at the University of Missouri-Columbia to continue as the contractors for the proposed research into a second year and suggest an option to renew for four additional years at NLM's discretion.. In addition, the contractor shall provide some in-kind time to complete this project successfully, including the availability of the Health Communication Research Center's multidisciplinary staff to advise the investigators on the inclusion of appropriate variables without charge. References: Robert A. Logan, Tony Tse, A Multidisciplinary Conceptual Framework for Consumer Health Informatics. Medinfo 2007 12 (Pt2):1169-1173. Alla Keselman, Robert A. Logan, Catherine Arnott Smith, Gondy LeRoy, Qing Zeng-Treitler. Developing Informatics Tools and Strategies for Consumer-Centered Health Communication. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. 2008: 15 (4): 475-83. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotations or is a request for quote available; however, all responses received by the closing date of this notice will be considered by NIH in accordance with the criteria identified below. The quoter shall include all information, which demonstrates, documents and/or supports the qualification of the Offeror to fulfill the above described requirement in one clearly marked section of its quotation. Mandatory Criteria • The contractor should be located in an interdisciplinary research setting -- preferably within a university-based multidisciplinary academic program that includes health communication, health literacy, mass communication, and consumer health informatics. • The contractors should be part of a multidisciplinary research institution where the faculty and affiliated scholars span all the disciplines required for the current project. These disciplines include: consumer health informatics, mass communication, strategic communication, social marketing, health literacy, public opinion research, health campaign research, and health communication. • The contractor's primary investigator should be in a leadership position within the academic institution where the contractor is located • The contractor's headquarters and staff must be located within the U.S. Evaluation Criteria The technical proposal will receive paramount consideration over price or cost factors. The evaluation will be based, in addition to price, on a written quotation detailing the demonstrated capabilities of the prospective vendor in relation to the needs of the project as set forth above. The evaluation criteria are listed in descending order of priority. Offeror's proposal shall demonstrate: • Research experience, for the primary investigators, in two fields including: mass communication, strategic communication, social marketing, public opinion, research, consumer health informatics, health literacy, health campaign research, media technology, and health communication research. • Access to peer scholars with experience in: consumer health informatics, mass communication, strategic communication, social marketing, consumer health informatics, health literacy, health campaign research, public opinion research, and health communication research. • Prior experience in completing fast paced, collaborative work within the designated time frame for this project. All interested parties shall submit electronic responses to Sally Boakye at boakyes@mail.nih.gov. Responses must be received no later than 5:00 PM EST on September 24, 2009. Please reference pre-solicitation number 09-215/SB on all correspondence to this notice.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/HHS/NIH/OAM/09-215SB/listing.html)
- Record
- SN01952976-W 20090916/090914235833-6508f6fcfd6f9e1057f0cecb7c9bf302 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |