SAM #36C24E26Q0043

Survey Services for EVOLVE Women's Healthcare Study for VA Puget Sound

This opportunity is for survey services supporting the EVOLVE Women's Healthcare Study for the VA Puget Sound Health Care System. - Government Buyer: - Veterans Health Administration, Regional Procurement Office East - Oversight by VA Puget Sound Health Care System - Scope of Work: - Conduct a multimodal survey (email, text, telephone) of approximately 3,600 reproductive-age women Veterans - Vendor must have at least three years of VA survey experience - Tasks include: - Obtaining IRB approval from vendor's own IRB - Programming and administering web and telephone surveys (mobile-friendly, 508 compliant) - Developing recruitment materials (emails, texts, scripts, 800# setup) - Training staff and conducting a soft launch - Recruitment and data collection (including follow-up calls to non-responders) - Data management, weekly encrypted reporting, and final data delivery - Project management and weekly meetings with VA study team - Notable Requirements: - Use of secure, FIPS 140-2 compliant systems - Compliance with VA privacy, security, and training standards - Ability to launch survey within three months of contract execution - Support for all U.S. time zones - U.S.-based personnel for all outbound calls - Place of Performance: - Vendor's place of business, with oversight by VA Puget Sound Health Care System - Contracting office located in Pittsburgh, PA - No specific OEMs or named vendors in the solicitation

Description

Description This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial products and commercial services prepared in accordance with the format Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO) in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 12.202, Streamlined Procedures for Evaluation and Solicitation for Commercial Products and Commercial Services, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotes are being requested, and a written solicitation document will not be issued. This solicitation is issued as a Request for Quote (RFQ) and the solicitation number is 36C24E26Q0043. The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2026-01. This solicitation is a 100% set-aside for small business concerns. The associated North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 541990, with a small business size standard of $19.5 million. The FSC/PSC is AN11. The VA Regional Procurement Office (RPO) - East is seeking to purchase survey services necessary for a study led by the Research Department at the VA Puget Sound Healthcare System (Seattle). A firm-fixed price contract will be awarded for the purchase of services in accordance with all terms, conditions, provisions, specifications, and schedule of this solicitation herein. Quotes shall contain the Quoter's best terms for cost/price and technical capabilities of the requirement. All interested parties must be registered with System for Award Management (SAM) at https://www.sam.gov upon submission of their response. The government reserves the right to award without discussions. All interested companies shall provide quotations for the following in accordance with the Statement of Work: 1.0 Supplies/Services Line Item Description Quantity Unit of Measure Unit Price Total Price 0001 Task 1 Obtaining IRB Approval 1.00 JB 0002 Task 2 Survey Programming 1.00 JB 0003 Task 3 Developing Recruitment Materials 1.00 JB 0004 Task 4 Training of staff and soft launch 1.00 JB 0005 Task 5 Recruitment and data collection 1.00 JB 0006 Task 6 Telephone Follow-up and data collection to non-responders 1.00 JB 0007 Task 7 Data management and generating reports 1.00 JB 0008 Task 8 Project Management and communication with study team 1.00 JB 1.1 STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW): Multimodal Survey to Evaluate Veterans Reproductive Healthcare Access, Quality and Outcomes Background. VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Department of Health Services Research is requesting a contract with an external contractor (herein referred to as Vendor) to conduct a survey for a VA Health Services Research (HSR) funded Investigator Initiated Research project titled Evaluating Veterans Reproductive Healthcare Access, Quality and Outcomes in a changing Landscape (EVOLVE). The research project is funded to examine changes over time in Veterans' contraceptive utilization and clinical outcomes, to test for current disparities in person-centered contraceptive care measures, and to contextualize these findings through qualitative interviews with Veterans. Data collection for this study involves fielding a large nationally representative survey of approximately 3,600 reproductive-age women Veterans. Dr. Lisa Callegari (located at VA Puget Sound) is leading this project along with Co-Principal Investigator Dr. Deirdre Quinn (VA Pittsburgh) and a team of co-investigators and project staff located at VA Puget Sound, VA Pittsburgh, and VA Greater Los Angeles. The project has current VA Central Institutional Review Board (CIRB) approval as well as Research & Development Committee approval at VA Puget Sound, VA Pittsburgh, and VA Greater Los Angeles (IRBNetID 1829172). Scope. The requested contract is to conduct a one-time survey, obtaining survey responses from approximately 3,600 reproductive-age female Veterans. VA Puget Sound will provide a participant list of approximately 9,000 Veterans divided into two strata. Participant list will include Veterans' first and last names, unique study identifier, email addresses, and phone numbers. The participant list will be supplied to the Vendor via a study VA Box.com account before survey recruitment efforts begin. The participant list will include 1,200 Veterans in stratum 1 and 7,800 Veterans in stratum 2 for a total of 9,000 Veteran records. The Vendor will invite Veterans from both strata of the participant list to participate in the study survey. The Vendor will conduct recruitment efforts until a minimum of 3,600 responses have been obtained (470 from stratum 1 and 3,130 from stratum 2). If the minimum of 3,600 responses is not achieved from the participant list, VA will provide a second participant list consisting of approximately 3,000-6,000 Veterans (400-800 in stratum 1 and 2,600-5,200 in stratum 2). Vendor will utilize multimodal forms of contact to invite Veterans to participate in the survey. Multimodal forms of contact will be: E-mail (Respondents can complete survey via web or call in on 800#) Text Message (Respondents can complete survey via web or call in on 800#) Phone (the Vendor will call non-responders and offer them the opportunity to complete the survey via web or over the phone) The survey will consist of approximately 150 questions. The survey length is expected to be 20 to 25 minutes when self-administered online. This will be translated into 35 to 40 minutes in length if completed over the telephone. The Vendor will host all Veteran data (including the participant list and Veterans' survey responses) on a secure encrypted server that is FIPS 140-2 compliant. Salient Characteristics: Vendor must have a minimum of 3 years of experience conducting multimodal surveys (email, text message, and telephone) for more than one VA research project with Veterans. Vendor must have a minimum of 3 years of experience setting up and managing secure texting for multimodal VA surveys for Veterans. Vendor must have a minimum of 3 years of experience training staff for multimodal secure surveys for Veterans. Vendor staff must already be trained on the use of the Veterans Crisis Line and able to employ an emergency protocol (including making a warm hand-off to the Veterans Crisis Line) if necessary. Vendor must be able to launch survey within three months of contract execution. Vendor must have a call center that is available to make calls in the evenings and on weekends (non-business hours) in all United States time zones. All outbound calls must originate from United States telephone numbers and be placed from within the United States by United States-based personnel. Vendor must be able to host web surveys via a VA domain that is mobile-friendly and 508 compliant. Due to the short period of performance, vendor must be able to execute a Data Use Agreement (DUA) with the VA upon award and prior to survey launch. Vendor must be able to store and transmit VA sensitive information in an encrypted form, using VA-approved encryption tools that are, at a minimum, FIPS 140-2 validated. Vendor must be able to securely transfer data via VA Box.com. Vendor's firewall and Web services security controls shall meet or exceed VA's minimum requirements. Vendor must be able to support and comply with IRB requirements (including reliance agreements or vendor IRB review, if required) prior to survey launch. Tasks. Obtaining IRB approval: The Vendor will independently apply for an IRB determination from their own IRB of record prior to beginning data collection. Survey Programming: The Vendor will program the survey for web and telephone administration. The web-based option will be mobile device friendly and 508 compliant. Survey questions will be provided by study team. The survey will consist of 140-170 questions. Vendor will conduct rigorous testing to ensure the survey is programmed correctly. In addition, Vendor will provide VA team access to online survey so they may test and confirm it is programmed correctly. Developing Recruitment materials: Working collaboratively with the study team, the Vendor will draft and finalize recruitment materials (e.g., text messages, emails) and provide final versions to study team so the study team can submit the final versions for VA CIRB review and approval. In addition, Vendor will set up an 800# for Veterans to call to opt-out, complete the survey, and/or ask questions about the study. Recruitment materials will include: Study information statement Invitation email Invitation text message language Reminder email Reminder text message language Final reminder email Final reminder text message language Script for outbound telephone calls Script for leaving a voicemail Training of staff and soft launch: Vendor will train staff in conducting survey recruitment and administration via telephone, including making active referral and/or warm handoff to the Veterans Crisis Line if needed. Vendor will conduct a soft launch in which trained staff conduct practice calls to gain comfort with the survey. Recruitment and data collection (Email and text message invitations and follow-up to Veterans): Vendor will send recruitment text and e-mail communication to Veterans with a cell phone number (expected to be 90%) and/or e-mail address (expected to be 60-70%) with options to complete the survey online (i.e., link to the survey) or by calling an 800# (set up and maintained by the Vendor) to complete the survey via telephone. The text messages will inform Veterans they may opt-out of further contact by responding with the word STOP. Email messages will inform Veterans they may opt-out by calling a telephone number. Veterans who wish to complete the survey online will be able to click the survey link and complete study enrollment and survey immediately. Veterans who wish to complete the survey via telephone will be able to call the 800# and (if during normal business hours) complete the survey immediately. For telephone-based surveys, Vendor staff will enter data as the surveys are being conducted by telephone. The Vendor must utilize full disk encryption and a FIPS 140-2 Encryption (or equivalent) with the Windows Server for data entry. The contact process is expected to follow this outline (but is subject to change and review by VA's Central IRB): Invitation/recruitment email and text message sent simultaneously, including a link and #800 for completing the survey If there is no response from Veteran, reminder email and reminder text message sent 2-7 days later, including a link and #800 for completing the survey (may be sent simultaneously or separately according to Vendor's discretion) If there is no response from Veteran, final reminder email and final text message sent 2-7 days later Telephone Follow-up & data collection to non-responders: The Vendor will make up to 2 telephone calls to all non-responders starting 2-7 days after the final reminder email and text message are sent. If the Veteran does not pick up the phone, the Vendor will leave a voice message. Vendor will encourage the Veteran to complete the survey via the web or over the telephone. Vendor will have the ability to e-mail or text the survey link from their workstation. If respondents request to have consent and survey administered over the telephone, the Vendor will comply; however, the goal will be to have respondents complete the survey via the web. For telephone-based surveys, Vendor staff will enter data as the surveys are being conducted by telephone. The Vendor must utilize full disk encryption and a FIPS 140-2 Encryption (or equivalent) with the Windows Server for data entry. Data management and generating reports: Vendor will track survey completes by recruitment strata to ensure the survey obtains at least 470 responses from stratum 1 and at least 3,130 responses from stratum 2 of the participant list. Vendor will send weekly reports via encrypted email, providing a cumulative net response rate, average survey length (minutes), counts of key variables requested by the study team (example: number of Veterans responding "yes" to question #8), and a list of study IDs for Veterans who have completed the survey. After survey recruitment and administration is complete (i.e., Vendor has collected at least 470 responses from stratum 1 and at least 3,130 responses from stratum 2), Vendor will provide the VA with preliminary and then final data files and disposition files via the study's VA Box.com account. Project management and communication with study team: The Vendor will provide project management services for the entirety of the project. Vendor will participate in weekly 30-minute conference calls/meetings with the VA study team to review project deliverables and milestones. Deliverables. Deliverable Delivery Date Deliverable description 1 Within 1 month of date of award Obtain IRB determination from Vendor's IRB of record. 2 Y1Q1 Program 140-170 question survey for web and telephone administration. Conduct rigorous testing to ensure the survey is programmed correctly. Allow VA study staff access to online survey so they may test and confirm it is programmed correctly. 3 Y1Q1 Finalize recruitment materials (study information statement; invitation, reminder and final reminder emails; language for invitation, reminder and final reminder text messages; script for follow up phone calls and voice messages) with VA study team. Set up 800# for incoming interviews, opt outs, and questions. 4 Y1Q1 Conduct training of staff for telephone recruitment and survey administration. Conduct soft launch in which Vendor staff conduct practice calls to gain comfort with survey. 5 Y1Q2 Y1Q3 Initial recruitment and survey data collection: Send invitation emails and text messages to eligible Veterans with a cell phone # or email address on file. Send reminder emails and text messages to non-responders. Conduct telephone recruitment among non-responders. Staff 800# such that Veterans may call with questions, to enroll and complete the survey, or to opt out. Conduct incoming & outgoing telephone survey completes. Monitor survey completes by recruitment strata to ensure minimum number of completes per stratum. 6 Y1Q2 Y1Q3 Telephone follow-up and data collection to non-responders: Conduct telephone recruitment among non-responders. Conduct incoming & outgoing telephone survey completes. 7 Y1Q2 Y1Q4 Data management and generating reports: Vendor will provide weekly reports of recruitment progress, survey completion rates, and lists of study IDs for Veterans who have completed the survey on a weekly basis via encrypted email. Participate in weekly 30-minute conference calls/meetings with project team to review project deliverables and milestones. After survey recruitment and administration is complete, Vendor will provide final data files and disposition files including all survey responses and a detailed codebook with variable names and definitions via the study's VA Box.com account. Data files will be provided in .csv format. 8 Y1Q1 Y1Q4 Participate in weekly 30-minute conference calls/meetings with project team to review project deliverables and milestones. Performance Monitoring. Dr. Lisa Callegari, VA Puget Sound project lead, will provide oversight of the work, which will be measured by meeting project deadlines in a timely fashion and regularly assessed quality of the work in achieving the stated project goals. Email communications and meeting notes relating to the performance of the Vendor will be available to the Station POC for review. The Station POC will work with Dr. Callegari and the research team to complete the required annual performance evaluation. Government-Furnished Equipment (GFE)/Government-Furnished Information (GFI). No government equipment will be furnished. Government-Furnished Information will be provided to the vendor as outlined above. Other Pertinent Information or Special Considerations. VA Form 10-0593 Assignment of Functional Categories. VA Form 10-0593, Assignment of Functional Categories, must be used to document the assignment of functional categories to VHA personnel on an annual basis. VHA personnel includes contractors. All contractor staff working on this project with access to Individually Identifiable Health Information (IIHI) and/or Protected Health Information (PHI) are required to review and sign VA Form 10-0593. Vendor staff are required to complete the VA Privacy and Information Security Awareness and Rules of Behavior training and able to employ an emergency protocol (including making a warm hand-off to the Veterans Crisis Line) if necessary. Vendor must be able to launch survey within three months of contract execution. Vendor must have a call center that is available to make calls in the evenings and on weekends (non-business hours) in all United States time zones. All outbound calls must originate from United States telephone numbers and be placed from within the United States by United States-based personnel. Vendor must be able to host web surveys via a VA domain that is mobile-friendly and 508 compliant. Vendor must be able to store and transmit VA sensitive information in an encrypted form, using VA-approved encryption tools that are, at a minimum, FIPS 140-2 validated. Vendor's firewall and Web services security controls shall meet or exceed VA's minimum requirements. Vendor must be able to support and comply with IRB requirements (including reliance agreements or vendor IRB review, if required) prior to survey launch. <!-- Additional sections omitted for brevity, but would follow similar structure with , , , , tags as appropriate -->

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