DHHS/PHS/FDA/Office Of Facilities, Acquisition, And Central Services, Division of Contracts and Program Management, HFA-512(COB), 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857

A -- QUICK TURN-AROUND RESEARCH SERVICES SOL 223-00-2358 DUE 030600 POC Ed Arnold, Contracting Officer, 301-827-7161 WEB: Click on ' 223-00-2358' to download the RFP., http://www.fda.gov/oc/ofacs/contracts. E-MAIL: Click here to contact the Contracting Officer via, earnold@oc.fda.gov. The central objective of this contract is to provide the FDA with the means to elicit reactions from a representative sample of consumers whenever an issue of immediate concern to the FDA arises. The intent is to establish a flexible vehicle which can be used on an as-needed basis to expeditiously obtain information from consumers which would not otherwise be available to the FDA. Ultimately, it is believed such a mechanism will assist the FDA in becoming more aware of consumers' opinions and experiences in a way that will contribute to prompt and effective decision-making. Specific objectives for the contract include: 1) providing to advisory committees, panels, and other groups within the FDA who are concerned with national nutrition objectives, product labeling or other educational efforts, a means to elicit consumer feedback on questions relating to wording use, content, mode of presentation, format, and similar questions; 2) allowing responses from consumers to be received in sufficient time for consideration by the FDA when questions/problems of immediate concern arise and require rapid resolution; and 3) assuring, through representative sampling plans, that opinions and experiences reported by respondents reflect, as closely as possible, those of the population. Five research modalities are described in Section C, C-1 "Scope of Work of the RFP." These modalities have been divided into three sets as follows: 1) In-home personal interviews, telephone interviews, and mail panel questionnaires; 2) Mall-intercept surveys; 3) Focus groups. Each offeror may submit a proposal for any or all of the sets of research modalities. More than one contract may be awarded as a result of this solicitation. The solicitation will only be available on the FDA web page at http://www.fda.gov/oc/ofacs/contracts. Prospective offers are responsible for downloading the solicitation format (pdf). A link to the free downloadable Adobe Acrobat Reader software will be available at the same site. It is the offeror's responsibilityto monitor the FDA web page for the release of the solicitation and amendments. The RFP should be available for downloading o/a fifteen days after publication of this announcement. The FDA reserves the right to award without discussions. Technical questions should be sent to the Contracting Officers e-mail address contained herein. Posted 01/19/00 (W-SN417102). (0019)

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