HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS EMAIL AND ADDRESS DATASET

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION FOR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER EMAIL AND MAILING ADDRESSES (PLEASE REFER TO THE ATTACHED STATEMENT OF WORK)

1.   This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 13 – Simplified Acquisition , as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation and proposals are being requested at this time.
 

2.  This solicitation is issued as Request for Proposal (RFP) Number 1333LB22PM00000004.

3.  The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-78.

4.  The Census Bureau intends to issue one contract award to obtain all or any of the required national datasets as identified though Section 6 of the Solicitation. All non-national datasets offers will not be accepted through this procurement. The NAICS code and small business size standard for this acquisition is 519190. This solicitation is not set-aside for Small Businesses.

5.  CONTRACT LINE ITEMS AND PRICING SCHEDULE

The price of the contract is [to be determined before award]. 

6.  DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENTS

6.1 Background

The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) is designed to meet the need for objective, reliable information about the provision and use of ambulatory medical care services in the United States. Findings are based on a sample of non-federally employed office-based physicians who are primarily engaged in direct patient care.  The survey has been conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) since 1973 and the Census Bureau has been the data collection agent since the mid-1980s.  From 1973-2011, NAMCS used Field Representatives with a Paper-Assisted Personal Interviewing (PAPI) mode.  From 2012-2021, the survey used Field Representatives (FRs) with a Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) mode.  The 2022 NAMCS will be a departure from this almost 50-year history of data collection in that it is switching to a web instrument with paper non-response follow-up.  Also, for the first time, physician assistants (PAs) will be included in the sample.  In addition, the 2022 NAMCS will include 10,000 sample cases, more than triple its traditional number of cases of 3,000 cases.

Unlike previous survey years where FRs would call or make personal visits to physician offices to conduct the survey, 2022 NAMCS will be contacting physicians and physician assistants by mail and email to solicit survey participation via web or paper form. One of the functions of the FRs has been to do internet research to locate physicians current phone numbers and addresses.  NCHS provides the Census Bureau with such information, but it is often outdated.  For the 2022 NAMCS, for the first time, workplace email address will also be needed.  The Census Bureau does not have such information in-house.  Furthermore, NAMCS is conducted under the statutory authority of 42 U.S.C. Section 306 (242K) and 42 U.S.C. Section 304 (242b) of the Public Health Services Act with programmatic and transfer authority Title 13 U.S.C. 8(b).  The raw NAMCS data are delivered to NCHS for them to process, create estimates and publish.  For these reasons, the Census Bureau needs to procure health care provider contact information that can be delivered to NCHS upon the completion of data collection.  The purpose of this procurement is to purchase a commercial source of such information. 

NCHS is considering the 2022 NAMCS to be a pilot and depending on the results, plans to keep this new design with an expanded sample size into the future.

6.2 Objective / Scope of Work

The purpose of this task order is to obtain the necessary email and mailing addresses of health care providers for use in the redesigned NAMCS.  The project is managed by the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey team within ADDP-SO. 

6.3.1  Specific Requirements

The contractor shall provide the following:

Data Products

• • Product containing health care provider contact information.  Mailing address and e-mail address are required (preferably work information, as opposed to residential).  Specialty, sex, age, and phone number are also desired.  The health care providers should be physicians (both Medical Doctors (MDs) and Doctors of Osteopathy (DO)), physician assistants (PAs) and nurse practitioners (NPs).  National Provider Identifier (NPI) numbers are also required.
  • The product’s health care provider contact information shall be updated at least quarterly and these updates accessible to the Census Bureau and NCHS.

Tools

• • Software tool for the Census Bureau and NCHS to export the necessary information.  The tool must allow for health care provider records to be downloaded in bulk.  The number of records that can be downloaded at one time must be specified in the proposal.

Services

• • At least one custom, min of 1 hour, training per quarter.

The Contractor shall develop and maintain a Task Management Plan (TMP) to organize, staff, and direct the contractor’s efforts throughout the life of the task order.  The TMP must include activities, staffing, deliverables, schedules, costs, and milestones.  The Census Bureau views the TMP as the roadmap for the completion of the work.  The plan shall be submitted in “draft” as part of the Offeror’s proposal.  The contractor shall finalize the plan within 1 month of the award date.

6.3.2    Intended Data Uses

The Census Bureau will evaluate the utility of the proposed health care provider email and mailing address contact information for use in contacting physicians (both Medical Doctors (MDs) and Doctors of Osteopathy (DOs)), as well as Physician Assistants (PAs) and Nurse Practitioners (NPs).  The purpose of the contact is to conduct the 2022 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS).  The contact information will be accessible by limited parties with a need-to-know for the NAMCS at both the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).  The Census Bureau will not release any identifiable information obtained through this contract other than to securely transfer the data to NCHS for its use in creating final estimates and publishing the survey results. The Census Bureau will not use the data for marketing or compliance purposes. The Census Bureau will not resell the data.