Inactive

Sources Sought Notice: Breastfeeding Program for African American Mothers and Families – HHS-PSC-SBSS-75P00121R00038 INTRODUCTION The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of the Se... Sources Sought Notice: Breastfeeding Program for African American Mothers and Families – HHS-PSC-SBSS-75P00121R00038 INTRODUCTION The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of the Secretary (OS), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), Office on Women’s Health (OWH) wants to identify viable small businesses that are capable of fulfilling the objectives of this requirement. This is a Small Business 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 US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) Office on Women’s Health (OWH) seeks to execute a contract to develop, implement, and evaluate a national program to encourage African American mothers to breastfeed for at least the first six months with support from their families. The program will use the existing OWH materials as core elements, namely It’s Only Natural, Mother’s Love Mother’s Milk, Your Guide to Breastfeeding, Supporting Nursing Moms at Work, and other OWH breastfeeding support materials available through womenshealth.gov. The approach shall be national (50 states) in scope and include active partnerships with outreach partners, community stakeholders, and the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (DHHS OASH) Regional Offices and their partners. OWH developed the It’s Only Natural: Mother’s Love, Mother’s Milk (ION) materials to address cultural breastfeeding barriers identified by formative research using an integrative approach combining social, behavioral, and psychological factors. ION addresses barriers such as fear of pain, belief that breastfeeding is too difficult, inadequate support, lack of confidence on how to breastfeed, and inadequate access to culturally-appropriate resources. The ION materials were designed to provide culturally appropriate materials that inspire African American mothers to breastfeed; normalize breastfeeding among African American mothers and their families; and empower African American mothers to successfully continue breastfeeding for at least six months. RESPONSE INFORMATION HUB ZONE SMALL BUSINESSES, 8(A) FIRMS AND SMALL BUSINESS FIRMS ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO SUBMIT CAPABILITY STATEMENTS. THE CAPABILITLY STATEMENT MUST CLEARLY DEMONSTRATE THE FIRM’S CAPABILITY AND EXPERIENCE IN PROVIDING THE SERVICES DESCRIBED ABOVE. In order to respond to this notice, interested firms should address the depth and breadth of professional and technical capabilities, past performance and must be able to clearly convey its experience and/or ability to perform the following: The organization will need to be able to develop a comprehensive strategy that addresses the nation’s regional needs and is based on public health education theory(s) for a national program using the ION materials as their core resource; Implement a national program, leveraging partners from different stakeholders across the country, including the DHHS OASH Regional Offices and their partners; The organization’s staff has substantial experience conducting rigorous (systematic, high quality randomized control trials or high quality quasi-experimental evaluations) evaluation research in the field of teen pregnancy prevention and developing an achievable plan that includes policy development and measurement of outcomes, for project sustainability. The organization’s personnel have successfully designed research evaluations, and specifically rigorous components evaluation research, with multiple components, in multiple states, building cohorts over multiple years. This experience includes identifying, recruiting and retaining sites across the country, creating evaluation designs that address the target research questions with sufficient power, developing qualitative and quantitative data collection instruments and obtaining OMB clearance requests. The organization has a demonstrated ability in seeking out likely and innovative partners and stakeholders (for example, but not limited to, mother’s groups, father’s groups, health professionals, lactation professionals, faith-based organizations, WIC clinics, etc.) to help develop, support, and potentially sustain the program at the end of the period of performance. INSTRUCTIONS TO INDUSTRY INTERESTED SOURCES POSSESSING THE CAPABILITIES TO MEET THE ABOVE REQUIREMENTS SHOULD SUBMIT A COVER LETTER ALONG WITH A CAPABILITY STATEMENT FONT SIZE TIMES NEW ROMAN 11 OR LARGER) DEMONSTRATING ABILITY TO PERFORM, AND SHOULD INCLUDE AN OUTLINE OF PREVIOUS OR SIMILAR PROJECTS SO THAT THE GOVERNMENT CAN PERFORM A PROPER EVALUATION OF THE COMPANY’S CAPABILITY. THE STATEMENT SHOULD ALSO INCLUDE AN INDICATION OF CERTIFIED SMALL BUSINESS STATUS; THIS INDICATION SHOULD BE CLEARLY MARKED ON THE FIRST PAGE OF THE CAPABILIITY STATEMENT. This notice is for planning only. 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. Respondents will not be notified of the results of this evaluation. Capability statements will not be returned and will not be accepted after the due date. 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. 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). Interested small business firms are highly encouraged to respond to this notice. However, firms should understand that generic capability statements are not sufficient for effective evaluation of their capacity and capability to perform the work required. Responses must directly demonstrate the company’s capability, experience, and ability to marshal resources to effectively and efficiently perform the objectives described above. The written response to this notice should consist of the following items: a. Company Name. b. Company DUNS number. c. Company point of contact, mailing address, telephone and fax numbers, and website address d. Name, telephone number, and e-mail address of a company point of contact who has the authority and knowledge to clarify responses with government representatives e. Date submitted. f. Applicable company GSA Schedule number or other available procurement vehicle. g. Do you have a Government approved accounting system? If so, please identify the agency that approved the system. h. Type of Company (i.e., small business, 8(a), woman owned, veteran owned, etc.) as validated via the System for Award Management (SAM). All respondents must register on the SAM located at https://www.sam.gov Responses must be submitted not later than April 2, 2021. Capability statements will not be returned and will not be accepted after the due date. The maximum number of pages for submission is 30 pages. As previously stated, the Government will not entertain questions regarding this Market Research; however, general questions may be forwarded to the following: Contract Specialist: Anne Mineweaser Email Address: anne.mineweaser@psc.hhs.gov