Pilot Study for In-home Health Examination in Household Surveys

Synopsis: This is a sources sought announcement to determine the availability of potential vendors (including, but not limited to, small business (e.g. 8 (a), veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantage business, and women-owned small business) that can provide support to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to collect survey data through in-person household interviews. Background : The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) leads several data collections systems that conduct surveys to monitor the health of the United States population. Two of these programs, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) collect survey data through in-person household interviews. The goals of both surveys are to track national health status, health care access, and progress toward achieving national health objectives. However, the two surveys have historically produced different kinds of data with different survey designs. NHANES involves both a household interview and a health exam component. After completing the household interview, NHANES respondents are asked to visit Mobile Examination Centers (MECs) to complete an exam with comprehensive medical, dental, and physiological measurements and provide samples of biospecimens such as blood and urine. The results of the exam and the assays performed on the biospecimens comprise a gold-standard national survey for physical exam and bio-measures data collection. The sample of about 5,000 persons each year, with a biannual data collection schedule, is nationally representative. The sample sizes achievable with NHANES (due to the required infrastructure and other logistics) preclude using NHANES as a vehicle for producing annual or sub-national estimates from physical measurements and biospecimens data. NHIS collects survey data on a broad range of health topics annually. NHIS is conducted by the Census Bureau under an interagency agreement with NCHS. Data are collected from one adult (and one child if applicable) per household. The interview is approximately one hour in duration. The child interviews are conducted with knowledgeable adult proxy respondents. NHIS includes a larger sample than NHANES with about 27,000 sample adults each year. NHIS data can be used to calculate health estimates by geographic, demographic, and socioeconomic subgroups; however, NHIS does not currently collect physical measurements or biospecimens from a health exam. NHANES and NHIS are collaborating to conduct a pilot in-home health exam. The aim of the pilot is to investigate the feasibility of asking a subset of adult participants who complete a household interview to participate in an in-home health exam. The pilot will also inform the feasibility of conducting in-home health exams using a larger more geographic dispersed sample like the NHIS. Pilot study participants will be recruited from prior National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) participants. NCHS seeks a contractor to conduct a pilot follow-up in-home health exam with sample adults who completed the NHIS interview. The data collector will work with NCHS staff to develop a study protocol and use medical professionals to conduct the in-home health exam. The pilot data collected will be used to evaluate: the overall and component-specific response rates for adult participation in the home exam, respondent concerns and reasons for respondent refusals; the feasibility of, and challenges to, scaling up pilot exam procedures to a large-scale geographically dispersed national sample; and the quality of blood and urine samples obtained for laboratory testing. Project Objective The successful contractor will perform the following activities, with close and continuing oversight from the Contracting Officer’s Representative and NCHS project staff: Comply with information security and confidentiality requirements; Contact NHIS sample adults who have agreed to be contacted for the follow-up exam to set up appointments for the in-home health exam with the goal of completing the health exams within 2-4 weeks of receiving the contact information for the sample adults; Send advance mailings or make telephone calls as needed to facilitate participation in the health exam; Make follow-up telephone calls or mailings to sample adults who do not conduct the health exam at the scheduled time; Use trained medical professionals to administer consent, administer the in-home health exam including anthropometric measurements, a blood draw, and urine sample collection; Ship blood and urine biospecimens to a laboratory for testing without any personally identifying information; Securely transmit all results from health exam including anthropometric measurements, blood draw, and urine samples to NCHS; Destroy biospecimens once the test results have been transmitted to NCHS; Keep all data safe, secure, and confidential, following government procedures; Keep NCHS informed on (at least) a weekly basis as the work proceeds so that NCHS can give timely and appropriate technical direction; and Conduct other activities essential for the successful completion of the project. 2. IT Security Requirements IT solution will be evaluated on its ability to effectively and efficiently meet the IT security requirements. Any/all electronic information or data collection systems used with personally identifiable information in the performance of this contract must fall within an existing NCHS Security Authorization Boundary that currently processes Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act CIPSEA information. The aggregate FIPS-199 security categorization for the target information types/data will be Moderate. In consideration of significant time constraints and to facilitate integration with existing/authorized NCHS IT operating environments, Microsoft products (e.g. MS SQL, MS Server) that align with CDC enterprise architecture are required. Vendors must show that they are capable to operate in the current IT security environment and provide solutions that will be deployed within system environments that have already been granted NCHS approval to process CIPSEA information within an NCHS Security Authorization Boundary. Capability Statement: The capability statements will be evaluated based on the information provided in relation to the objectives and requirements outlined in the attached draft SOW and the current in-house capacity to perform the work and to currently possess a key feature of this contract which is the following security requirement: (a) Any/all electronic information or data collection systems used with personally identifiable information in the performance of this contract must fall within an existing NCHS Security Authorization Boundary that currently processes CIPSEA information, (b) Vendors must show that they are capable to operate in the current IT security environment and provide solutions that will be deployed within system environments that have already been granted NCHS approval to process CIPSEA information within an NCHS Security Authorization Boundary. Capability statements shall include the following information: company name, address, point of contact, phone/fax/email, and business size and status (e.g. small business, 8(a), veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantage business, and women owned small business). The remainder of the capability statement should be tailored to the information outlined in this Sources Sought Announcement and must demonstrate that similar work has been performed in the past along with important the security requirements listed in the notice. Submission Instructions : Interested parties having the capabilities necessary to perform the stated requirements may submit capability statement (maximum 10 pages) via email to Summer Green ([email protected]). The subject line of the email shall be “Pilot Study for In-home Health Examination in Household Surveys". Responses are due no later than May 7, 2020 by 8:00AM EST. Capability statements will not be accepted after the due date. Disclaimer and Important Notes: This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization’s qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. RESPONSES TO THIS NOTICE WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED ADEQUATE RESPONSES TO A SOLICITATION.