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Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) - Household Component (HC)


Maryland, United States
Government : Federal
RFP
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This is a Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations.

The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources; (2) whether they are small businesses; HUBZone small businesses; service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice.

Background
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) was created in 1989 "to enhance the quality, appropriateness and effectiveness of health care services and access to such services, through the establishment of a broad base of scientific research and through the promotion of improvements in clinical practice (including the prevention of diseases and other health conditions and in the organization, financing and delivery of health care services)." In 1999, Congress, in its reauthorization language, stated that the Director of the AHRQ "shall conduct and support research and build private-public partnerships to (1) identify the causes of preventable health care errors and patient injury in health care delivery; (2) develop, demonstrate, and evaluate strategies for reducing errors and improving patient safety; and (3) disseminate such effective strategies throughout the health care industry."

The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component (HC), Medical Provider Component (MPC), and Insurance Component (IC), which began in 1996, is a set of large-scale surveys of families and individuals (MEPS-HC), their medical providers (doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, etc.) (MEPS-MPC), and employers across the United States (MEPS-IC). MEPS collects data on the specific health services that Americans use, how frequently they use them, the cost of these services, and how they are paid for, as well as data on the cost, scope, and breadth of health insurance held by and available to U.S. workers. For further discussion of the MEPS family of surveys as well as historical context please see: http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/about_meps/survey_back.jsp

During the household interviews, MEPS-HC collects the following detailed information for each person in the household: demographic characteristics, health conditions, health status, use of medical services, charges and source of payments, access to care, satisfaction with care, health insurance coverage, income, and employment. Data collection consists of contacting upwards of 14,500 households (representing 35,000 individuals) five times over a two and a half year period for face-to-face interviews. The interviewer workforce would consist of approximately 350 interviewers employed throughout the United States (approximately 200 primary sampling units to be provided to the contractor once appropriate security measures are in place). The survey itself is conducted through the use of a computer assisted personal interview (CAPI). Contact of households is a multi-step process (combined phone, mail effort) designed to maximize cooperation rates (assume an expected Round 1 response rate of 80%) with regards to scheduling in person interviews. Programming the CAPI instrument consists of converting approximately 50 different questionnaire sections representing over 1,000 pages of hardcopy material into a Windows based medium. Annually, interviewers are to be recruited, hired and trained over a one week period to address attrition of current hires. Training takes place at a central location. After the initial in person training in home training materials are developed and distributed to interviewers reflecting continuing data collection efforts over a two and half year period. Additionally, all experienced interviewers will receive in person refresher training every third year of employment. Appropriate security measures must be demonstrated with regards to maintaining the confidential protection of data collected. This consists of, but not limited to, the encryption of interviewer laptops, the electronic transfer of data through encrypted means to a central location for data processing and the preparation of data for public release. Approximately 20 public use files are released annually representing thousands of analytical variables pertaining health care utilization and expenditures as well as demographic characteristics of the sample population.

The contractor shall perform the following types of services under this contract:


Survey/project management


• Continue operation of MEPS-HC
• Preparation of MEPS-HC documentation
• Liaison with MEPS-HC principals
• Cooperation and liaison with MEPS-MPC contractor assuring timely file transfers for editing/imputation work
• Cooperation with AHRQ to obtain clearances
• Meeting arrangements
• Project closeout/transfer of operations
• Reporting, work planning, management meetings


Household Component
• Implementation and documentation of sample
• Development of weights for producing national estimates and variables for variance estimations
• Imputation to correct for item nonresponse
• Geocoding the database
• Producing questionnaires and supporting materials
• Revise CAPI instruments as requested by AHRQ
• Recruiting, training, and managing interviews
• Collecting data
• Interviewing in Spanish and other languages
• Updating the provider directory on an ongoing basis
• Collecting permission forms and establishing the sample for the MPC and providing such to the MPC contractor


Data Processing
• Providing data security
• Between round processing
• Forms control and receipt
• Data entry
• Conducting training program for coders and verifiers
• Benchmarking to outside data sources and previous years MEPS estimates
• Developing analytic files
• Production of public use data files with accompanying benchmarking and documentation


The contractor shall store all necessary materials for a period of time determined by the Government and shall investigate available technology and use the most efficient means to store all the necessary materials and documents and sensitive data.


The contractor shall also set up and maintain a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) network so that confidential data and documents can be transmitted from the contractor to AHRQ.


Further discussion and detail pertaining to the MEPS-HC may be found at: http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/survey_comp/household.jsp


Anticipated period of performanceThe anticipated period of performance: 5 Year Ordering period from Award date


Other important considerations
N/A


Capability statement / information soughtOrganizations who are interested in presenting their capabilities and experience regarding this potential requirement should send a statement describing: (a) staff expertise, including their availability, experience, and formal and other training; (b) current in-house capability and capacity to perform the work; (c) prior completed projects of similar nature; (d) corporate experience and management capability; and (e) examples of prior completed Government contracts, references, and other related information. Contractors should include technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and e-mail addresses. Also, DUNS number and type of business (HUBZONE, 8(a), etc.) must be included. Capabilities for this requirement shall not exceed 10 single-sided pages (including all attachments).


Information Submission Instructions
All capability statements in response to this SOURCES SOUGHT notice must be sent electronically (via email) to Tara Bertolini, Contract Specialist at tara.bertolini@ahrq.gov in Microsoft Work (MS) or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), and must be received by AHRQ no later than 15 days from this notice.


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. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.



Confidentiality
No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s)."


Tara W. Bertolini, Contract Specialist, Phone 3014271705, Email tara.bertolini@ahrq.hhs.gov - Jessica Alderton, Contracting Officer, Phone 301 427-1783, Fax 301 427-1740, Email jessica.alderton@ahrq.hhs.gov

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