In accordance with FAR Parts 12 and 13, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of the Director (OD) Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences (OBSSR) intend to procure professional services on a sole source basis from the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE), 10 G Street, Suite 605, Washington, DC 20002, to publish a special issue on "Systems Science Applications in Health Promotion and Public Health." The North American Industry Classification System Code (NAICS) is 813410 and the business size standard is $7.0 million. The period of performance shall be twelve (12) months from date of award. Background: The Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) furthers the mission of NIH by emphasizing the critical role that behavior and social factors play in health, health care, well-being. OBSSR serves as the focal point for coordination and development of policies, goals and objectives in the behavioral and social sciences at NIH. OBSSR is also a liaison between the NIH intramural and extramural communities, other Federal agencies, academic and scientific societies, national voluntary health agencies, the biomedical research community, the media, the general public on matters pertaining to behavioral and social sciences research. OBSSR's vision is to bring together the biomedical, behavioral, and social science communities to work more collaboratively to solve pressing health challenges facing our nation. OBSSR's plan includes facilitating: a) the next generation of basic behavioral and social sciences research: b) transdisciplinary "team science" that brings together the biomedical, behavioral, and social-ecological perspectives; c) research that integrates the systems and multiple levels of analysis; d) the translation, implementation, dissemination, and maintenance of best practices to strengthen the sciences of dissemination, put what is known into widespread practice, reduce the burden of chronic disease and help eliminate inequities in health and health care. The purpose of this requirement is to produce a publication for the scientific community on a topic of key interest to OBSSR, the NIH program staff, the NIH investigator community, and to health researchers, practitioners, and policy makers. Specifically, the special supplement will contain articles on the application of systems science methodology to problems in the public health sphere. For the past 6 years OBSSR has been engaged in the development of activities and events designed to promote awareness of such methods and to provide education on their use. OBSSR has also been a leader in stimulating their use by NIH investigators in their behavioral and social science research projects by providing several funding opportunities in this new area. The proposed supplement will provide a unique opportunity to showcase work in this nascent field, and depending on the manuscripts submitted, may feature work from grantees of the NIH ICs who have members on the Guest Editorial Board (FIC, NCI, NIA, and NIDCR) as well as other NIH investigators. The proposal is for approximately eight (8) to ten (10) full length articles and three (3) to four (4) shorter articles related to the application of systems science methodologies to health promotion and public health research questions. Particular methodologies of interest include, but are not limited to: system dynamics modeling, agent‐based modeling, network analysis, microsimulation, operations research, and various engineering approaches. The content of the supplement will depend to a large extent on the content of the manuscripts submitted to the Call For Papers to the specials issue, but there is a distinct need to illustrate examples of how systems science methods have been used to engage practical challenges and opportunities within real-world organizational settings. Specific topics of interest to the NIH include: • Aging (including macroeconomic impact of population aging, social and economic behaviors in aging, and psychosocial stress, health and aging) • Arthritis • Asthma • Cancer • Cardiovascular disease • Child and maternal health • Chronic disease • Climate change and health • Developmental issues over the life course • Dietary behavior • Diabetes • Environment (including the behavioral and social and physical environment) • Health disparities • Health equity • Health services • HIV/AIDS • Hypertension • Infectious disease • Injury • Mental health • Oral Health • Overweight and obesity • Physical activity • Population health • Race, Ethnicity and Socioeconomic Status (SES) relation to health and morbidity across the life course • Social determinants of health • Social Insurance Systems • Substance use (including alcohol and other substances) • Tobacco use • Vaccination policy and/or behavior The Guest Editors and the Guest Editorial Board will review what is submitted and determine (following peer review) which ones will be selected for inclusion in the special issue. It is expected that a few additional papers will be needed to fill in topical gaps not covered by papers selected from the call. For those papers, we may solicit contributions from specific people known for their work in this field. In addition to full length papers, we anticipate there will be an overview commentary written by the Guest Editors and Board and a few other commentaries on relevant topics. The main goal of the publication will be to showcase the work of the contributors, to indicate to the scientific community NIH's interest in supporting work in this area, and to alert the community that the journal Health Education and Behavior is a journal that encourages manuscripts in this area. This special issue is critical, given the growing interest at NIH and among the investigator community in use of systems science methods and the need for publication outlets for this work among the public health community. Purpose/Objective: The purpose of this requirement is to provide support for the planning and production of a Special Issue on Systems Science Applications in Health Promotion and Public Health in the journal Health Education and Behavior. This agreement provides for the support of the staff time of the publisher in planning and preparation activities for the special issue. This includes staff time for planning activities to include solicitation of reviewers, coordination and preparation of journal layout and content, and support for ongoing planning and editorial management meetings. Contractor Tasks: ● The Contractor shall obtain peer review regarding appropriateness and scientific rigor of the submitted articles. ● After peer review, the Contractor shall submit accepted articles to the Guest Editors for review. ● The Contractor shall coordinate the submissions of commentary pieces as specified by the COTR/Guest Editor, including review by the Guest Editors and Guest Editorial Board. All activities will occur in consultation with the Guest Editors of the special issue and in cooperation with Sage Publishers, the journal's official publisher. ● The Contractor shall perform this work in Washington, DC. ● The Contractor shall be available by phone, fax and e-mail during normal business hours during the period of performance. Deliverables: The Contractor shall: 1. Organize reviewers for the submitted manuscripts, and conduct planning conference calls with Guest Editors by May 30, 2012. 2. Provide electronic versions of penultimate papers to the Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR) and commentary authors by July 1, 2012. 3. Submit the final electronic draft versions of issue to the COTR for final review on or before September 30, 2012. 4. Produce and distribute the special issue to its subscribers on or around December 2012. 5. Provide 200 additional copies of the special issue to OBSSR for further distribution. 6. Provide open access to the full supplement on the Sage website. Provide information so that OBSSR and the participating NIH ICs can establish a link from their website to the Sage site, where anyone can download the PDFs. Program Management and Control Requirements: The OBSSR COTR will exercise management control over the project, communicate with the Contractor, and audit progress of journal supplement preparation. Telephone and e-mail conversation as well as in person meetings between OBSSR staff and Vendor are expected to identify unanticipated issues that will be documented and resolved. Inspection and Acceptance Requirements: The OBSSR COTR will review all documents produced during the performance period, provide feedback to the Contractor, and determine acceptability of progress updates and final reports. The OBSSR COTR will approve payment the Contractor upon completion and approval of the deliverable(s) and invoice(s). Sole Source Justification: The Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) is the professional organization that owns and manages the journal Health Education and Behavior (HEB). Through its publications the SOPHE explores social and behavioral issues as they affect health. It also examines the processes of planning, implementing, managing, and assessing health education and social-behavioral interventions. The journal provides empirical research, case studies, program evaluations, literature reviews, and discussions of theories of health behavior and health status, as well as research methods to investigate social and behavioral health issues. SOPHE publications are essential resources for behavioral scientists, community organizers, government agencies, health care educators, health care facilities hospital administrators, HMO/managed care representatives, insurance company administrators, nurses, physicians, public health and community planners, social scientists, and social workers. SOPHE publishes journals that are disseminated to more than 2,100 SOPHE members, more than 600 institutions and libraries, and also enjoy widespread exposure through consortia arrangements. For the aforementioned reasons, SOPHE is uniquely qualified to perform this work. This experience and expertise are not readily available within the research community. Any efforts to identify the required skills and expertise through outside sources would pose additional undo costs to the government. Therefore, it would be in the best interest of the government to award the contract to the proposed vendor because of its unique ability to perform these tasks in a cost-efficient and timely manner. The following provisions and clauses apply to this acquisition and are incorporated by reference. Full text may be found at https://www.acquisition.gov/Far FEDERAL ACQUISITION REQULATION (FAR) CLAUSES FAR 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items FAR 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes and Executive orders This is not a Request for Quotation (RFQ), nor is a RFQ available; however, all responsive sources may submit a proposal in a timely manner which will be considered by NLM. Firms interested in responding to this notice must be able to provide the referenced service as specified above. Responses must be in writing and must be received electronically at the Government infrastructure by 3:00 PM EST on Thursday, March 22, 2012. Proposals must include pricing information and should reference Solicitation No. NLMLM2012331 and should be submitted to
[email protected]. Inquiries regarding this procurement shall be submitted electronically to
[email protected] and shall be received by 11:00 AM EST on Thursday, March 15, 2012.