The NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) Code for this acquisition is 541720, Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities.

The anticipated award date is August 20, 2013, and the Period of Performance will be 12 months.

Description:
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) requires planning, development, and publishing of a Health Literacy Roundtable Discussion Paper. The National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine (NAS/IOM) has been identified as the sole provider for producing and publishing this Paper.

NAS/IOM Health Literacy Roundtable is the only identified source that can convene the necessary experts in the health literacy field to develop and produce the Health Literacy Discussion Paper, and subsequently publish the Paper on the Roundtable website.

The NAS/IOM Health Literacy Roundtable has the following characteristics that are critical to the requirement:
• The NAS/IOM Health Literacy Roundtable consists of 23 key organizations; they are the key stakeholders in the public and private sectors that have the authority and capacity to have an impact on health literacy in the United States. As they are already committed to participating in the Roundtable, it would be impossible to recruit them to serve on the planning committee for this Discussion Paper if it were not integrated into the Roundtable's activities;
• The Health Literacy Roundtable is the only organization able to post a Discussion Paper on the NAS/IOM site and therefore attract the readership that is required. Only the NAS/IOM can publish reports that are part of the existing series of publications put out by the IOM Health Literacy Roundtable. A wide range of constituencies, including health plans, provider and consumer groups, look to the NAS/IOM as a sole provider for direction in the health literacy field. As a result, the Discussion Paper will gain the necessary visibility as a product of the NAS/IOM;
• The NAS/IOM Health Literacy Roundtable has built unique dissemination channels that allow it to both inform the public of the Discussion Paper and disseminate it. These channels are unique to NAS/IOM Health Literacy Roundtable an no other organization or group has been identified with a comparable distribution list nor is their list publicly assessable; and
• IOM Health Literacy Roundtable and NAS/IOM have incomparable experience in the area of health literacy. There is no other source with access to the research that informs the work of this procurement.

Responsible sources may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation, which shall be considered by the agency. Submissions should be emailed to the Contract Specialist, Lisa Slavin at [email protected].