Refining Methods for Evaluating the Patient Impact of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Small Business Innovative Research/Small Business Technology Transfer ...

Contracting Office AddressDepartment of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Office of Acquisitions, 9609 Medical Center Drive, Room 1E136, Bethesda, MD 20892, UNITED STATES.DescriptionThe National Cancer Institute (NCI), Office of the Director (OD) plans to procure on a sole source basis, services to conduct a survey of SBIR/STTR companies to develop, test and evaluate a series of patient and societal questions from Montana State University, 307 Montana Hall, Bozeman, MT 59717.This acquisition will be processed in accordance with the simplified acquisition procedures as authorized by FAR Part 13.106-1 (b) (1) and is exempt from the requirements of FAR Part 6. The North American Industry Classification System Code is 541990 and the business size standard is $15.0 million.Only one award will be made as a result of this solicitation.It has been determined there are no opportunities to acquire green products or services for this

procurement.BACKGROUNDThe National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the nation's medical research funding agency, making important discoveries in basic research and translational medicine that improve health and save lives. Successful biomedical research depends on the talent and dedication of the scientific workforce, and the NIH supports many innovative training programs that foster scientific creativity and exploration, with the goals of strengthening our nation's research capacity, broadening our research base, and inspiring a passion for science in future generations of researchers.The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs are NIH's engine of innovation for developing and commercializing novel technologies and products to prevent, diagnose, and treat human disease. These are Congressionally-mandated set-aside programs for domestic small business concerns (SBCs) to engage in research and development that has the potential for commercialization. Both programs seek to increase the participation of small businesses in Federal research & development (R&D) and to increase private sector commercialization of technologies developed through Federal R&D.In 2016, a Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking was established to develop strategy for increasing the availability and use of data to build evidence about government programs. The Commission is charged with studying how evaluation is currently being conducted and to make recommendations to strengthen the government's evidence-building efforts. More recently, the Office of Science and Technology Policy has implemented a Lab to Market initiative to increase the economic impact of federally funded research. One area of the Lab to Market effort is to outline recommendations to federal agencies for how they evaluate government programs that support research. These efforts at the highest-levels of government demonstrate the need for individual government programs to develop and maintain monitoring and evaluation systems capable of evaluating program successes and identifying areas for improvement. As part of the SBIR/STTR Congressional mandate, the National Academies of Sciences (NAS) completes a study and report on the SBIR or STTR programs of each agency every five years. The reports generated by the NAS are specifically intended to inform Congress on the activities of the SBIR/STTR programs at various agencies, as well as make recommendations for improvement. The most recent NAS report on the NIH SBIR/STTR programs was conducted in 2015. One recommendation in the 2015 NAS report was to enhance Monitoring, Evaluation, and Assessment of the SBIR/STTR programs at the NIH level and that the data collection address the entire range of congressionally mandated outcomes, not only commercialization. A full list of the recommendations can be accessed on the NAS website at https://www.nap.edu/catalog/21811/sbirsttr-at-the-national-institutes-of-health.In response to an increasing demand for agency SBIR/STTR programs to evaluate their program, several agencies have implemented early program monitoring and evaluation activities, including NCI. The NCI SBIR Monitoring and Evaluation efforts to date have focused on two areas, outcomes and impacts. In addition to in-house evaluation efforts, in 2018 the NCI SBIR Development Center hired an outside contractor to conduct an impact analysis of the program. This impact analysis is planned to be conducted every five years. In preparation for the new analysis in FY 2022, the NCI SBIR program is using the 2018 analysis to refine the patient impact portion of the analysis.  In 2018, Montana State University conducted a study of the economic impacts of NCI SBIR/STTR awards funded between 1998 and 2010. Over the course of the study, Montana State University compiled a database containing current contact information for the companies and individuals with knowledge of these awards' outcomes. While the 2018 study provided an estimate of the economic contributions of the SBIR/STTR program on the U.S. economy, NCI has requested developing a more effective survey method for gathering patient and societal responses and data. NCI hopes to supplement future economic impact studies with more in-depth patient and societal questions. Together with Montana State University, NCI will develop a test survey of patient and societal questions, with the intent of discovering the impacts their technology has on society and the success of their SBIR/STTR program. Montana State University will then use its capabilities to deploy the survey and analyze the effectiveness of the new questions created, resulting in a more effective survey method for future economic impact studies.OBJECTIVEThe National Cancer Institute (NCI) seeks to identify a set of concise questions that, when deployed in a survey of SBIR/STTR award recipients, will provide a clear and rich definition of the patient and societal impacts of the NCI SBIR/STTR program. The Contractor, Montana State University shall employ its expertise in surveying SBIR/STTR recipients, and its familiarity with the relevant companies. Montana State University shall contact the companies and develop, test, and evaluate a series of patient and societal questions. Furthermore, Montana State University shall assist NCI with qualitative and quantitative analysis of the findings.SCOPEThe Contractor, Montana State University shall contact a sample of approximately half of the participants in the 2018 study (estimated at 220 companies or 350 awards) and inquire about the patient and societal impacts of their research. The results of this survey will provide a template for gathering data on these outcomes in future economic impact studies.CONTRACTOR REQUIREMENTS AND PERSONNEL QUALIFICATIONSThe Contractor shall have at least one person with formal training or 5-years of experience with project management, familiarity with the NCI SBIR program, and 3 year of experience with program evaluation preferably of federal SBIR/STTR programs.The Contractor shall:• Work together with NCI Staff to develop concise and appropriate patient and societal impact questions to be used in the survey;• Deploy a sample survey of approximately 220 SBIR/STTR recipient companies, focused on approximately 350 awards;• Analyze the data, compile the outcomes, and evaluate the effectiveness of the test questions;• Present the data to NCI and advise whether to employ the questions in future studies, change them, or discontinue their use.The resulting report will be solely the property of the NCI and all communications about the report and report findings must be referred to NCI for comment.TYPE OF ORDERThis is a Severable Firm Fixed Price Purchase Order.The services acquired under this contract are severable services. Funds are only available for use for the contract line item (CLIN) to which they are obligated. Unused funds from one CLIN may not rollover for use in other periods.PERIOD OF PERFORMANCEThe period of performance shall be six months from date of award.PLACE OF PERFORMANCEAt the Contractor's Facility and at NCI Shady Grove, Rockville, MD 20850.REPORT(S)/DELIVERABLES AND DELIVERY SCHEDULEAll deliverables shall be sent electronically (Microsoft Word or Excel 2013, unless approved by the NCI TPC) per the following deliverable schedule:DELIVERABLE DELIVERABLE DESCRIPTION / FORMAT REQUIREMENTS DUE DATE#1 (Task 4.1) • Finalized list of patient and societal impact questions that incorporate input from NCI 2 months after award#2 (Task 4.2) • Deploy the survey to 220 companies/350 awards 5 months after award#3 (Task 4.3) • Develop a report on the outcomes of the survey deployed in task 4.2 5 months after award#4 (Task 4.4) • Present the survey findings to NCI 6 months after awardNCI TECHNICAL POINT OF CONTACT (TPC)TBDCLAUSESSection 508 ComplianceElectronic and Information Technology Accessibility, Section 508 Compliance isapplicable to this solicitation and the following information is provided to assist:Section 508 accessibility standards for HHS Web Site Content and Communications MaterialsRegardless of format, all Web content or communications materials specifically producedfor publication on, or delivery via, HHS Web sites, including text, audio, or video, underthis contract shall conform to applicable Section 508 accessibility standards. Remediationof any materials that do not comply with the applicable accessibility standards of 36 CFRPart 1194 as set forth herein shall be the responsibility of the Contractor.The following Section 508 accessibility standards apply to the content orcommunications material identified in this Statement of Work:XTelecommunications products;•Video and multimedia products and;•Web-based intranet and internet information and applications.The purpose of this acquisition is to complete an add-on evaluation. The original evaluation that was conducted in 2018 was an impact evaluation of the NCI SBIR/STTR Program. The 2018 pilot evaluation was completed through a sub-contract under a larger IDIQ but the evaluation was completed solely by Montana State University, an FFRDC. To complete the original tasks, Montana State University identified, located, and interviewed one or more person associated with every NCI SBIR/STTR phase II grant that was awarded between 1998 - 2010. SBIR/STTR grants are issued to small businesses for technology development. The NCI SBIR Program is seeking to contract with Montana State University because they are currently the only known entity in position of the original contact list, which would be needed for this add-on evaluation. The original evaluation was structured as a series of anonymous interviews and the contacts were blinded, even to the federal Government, in order to maximize responsiveness. Since the NCI is seeking to re-interview a subset of the original respondents, the original contractor possesses and maintains this contact list. Therefore, using the same contractor is estimated to save considerable resources.This notice is not a request for competitive quotation. However, if any interested party, especially small businesses, believes it can meet the above requirement, it may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation, which shall be considered by the agency. The statement of capabilities and any other information furnished must be in writing and must contain material in sufficient detail to allow NCI to determine if the party can perform the requirement. Responses must be received in the contracting office by 5:00 PM EST, August 15, 2019. All responses and questions can be emailed to Kimesha Leake, Contracting Officer via electronic mail at kimesha.leake@nih.gov. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed requirement based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. In order to receive an award, contractors must be registered and have valid certification in the System for Award Management (SAM) through sam.gov. Reference: 75N91019Q00134 on all correspondence.