The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) is the country's primary source of nationally representative, comprehensive person level data on health care use and expenses. The Household Component of the MEPS (HC) collects information on health care use, insurance coverage, access to care and other key data for a nationally representative sample of persons and families. The Medical Provider Component (MPC) of the MEPS collects information on expenses and payments for care from providers identified as sources of medical care use by participants in the MEPS HC. The Medical Organization Survey (MOS) will collect essential information on the provider's staffing, organization and policies for up to 6,000 of the MPC ambulatory care providers who are the Household Component respondent's usual source of medical care. To gain the expected analytic utility from this additional activity, linkages between the MEPS HC, MPC and MOS must be carefully maintained throughout data collection and processing. The current contract with AHRQ (HHSA290201300007C) is to conduct the MEPS Medical Provider Survey. This sole source modification will add two option periods to the existing contract. Option Period G will finalize the design of the survey, and will be concurrent with Option Year 2. Option Period H will collect the data and prepare the analytic files. Option Period H will be concurrent with Option Year 3. RTI has been conducting the Medical Provider Component of the MPC since 2008. RTI has experience with the complex linkages in the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and the specific procedures that need to be in place to un-duplicate the identified providers and link them back to the Household Component. RTI has been collecting data from medical providers in the context of the MEPS for the past six years and has collected data from more than 100,000 MEPS ambulatory care providers. AHRQ requires seamless continuation of the MPC and MOS data collection, file development and linkage back to the MEPS Household Component data. RTI is the only contractor that can do the work to maintain the quality, validity, and consistency of the data. The use of another contractor would significantly increase the possibility of disruption to the quality and validity of the data. Another contractor could not immediately learn the intricacies and necessary linkages and un-duplication required for the MEPS data collection which is required to provide the MOS data in a timely manner to meet the time line requirements of the MEPS public use file data release schedule. Moreover, a new contractor would not have the background knowledge necessary for a consistent and successful completion of this contract requirement. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals. A determination by the Government as to whether or not to compete this proposed modification action based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Interested parties regarding this sole source action may contact the Contract Specialist, Robert Zuhlke, at
[email protected], no later than 10:00 am ET on February 6, 2015. The final Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition (JOFOC)/Justification and Approval (J&A) supporting this sole source action will publicly be made available as required after contract modification award.