SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- Special Journal Issue on Social Science, The Environment, and Genetics
- Notice Date
- 3/8/2012
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- NAICS
- 813920
— Professional Organizations
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, 6707 Democracy Blvd., Suite 105, Bethesda, Maryland, 20894, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20894
- Solicitation Number
- NIHLM2012333
- Archive Date
- 4/6/2012
- Point of Contact
- Sheila R. Edmonds, Phone: 3014966546
- E-Mail Address
-
sheila.edmonds@nih.gov
(sheila.edmonds@nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- In accordance with FAR Parts 12 and 13, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of the Director (OD) Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences (OBSSR) intend to procure professional services on a sole source basis from the American Public Health Association (APHA) to publish a special issue on "Social Science, The Environment, and Genetics": Working Title: Under Our Skin: Social Environments and our Nation's Health Considerations for Measuring Health Care Disparities." The period of performance shall be twelve (12) months from date of award. Background: Over the past few decades, there has been a burst of scientific activity investigating how social environments and experiences "get under the skin" to impact health across the life course. Credible candidate mechanisms and biological pathways that connect social experiences to health outcomes have begun to be identified (e.g., HPA axis, ANS, executive function) while other research explores how our genome and epigenome influences social health gradients, developmental trajectories and health outcomes (e.g. gene-by-environment interactions, epigenetic programming, social regulation of gene expression, culture-gene co-evolution). OBSSR, in partnership with NIDA, is interested in developing a research supplement that advances integration of research efforts-not just by highlighting how research should integrate multiple levels of the social environment (neighborhood, family, individual) as is the tradition in current public health research analysis-but instead focusing on a fundamental heuristic which is often neglected: social causation is non-linear, time dependent, evolving and varied by scale. We believe that answering the questions that will take us to the next level of understanding of human health and development will require integration of research across a wide domain of scientific fields and expertise. To this end, OBSSR believes it can help advance the next generation of science by supporting a peer-reviewed research publication that exemplifies this interdisciplinary integration. This special issue concept is in alignment with other national activities such as the National Academy of Science colloquium and the special supplement related to "Evolution in Health and Medicine" and the Institute of Medicine's report Genes, Behavior, and the Social Environment. It is also congruent with OBSSR's mission to integrate a bio-behavioral perspective across NIH's research areas and promote the integration of social environment and genetics/genomics/epigenetic research. Finally, OBSSR believes this is an opportune time for a special supplemental issue to be devoted to these issues due to the maturation of several NIH investments in interdisciplinary research developing capacity for and encouraging cross-fertilization among social and behavioral and basic medical sciences, like the NIH consensus measures for Phenotypes and eXposures (PhenX, www.phenx.org), the Genes, Environment and Health Initiative (GEI, gei.nih.gov), and the Basic Behavioral and Social Science Opportunity Network (OppNet, oppnet.nih.gov). Objective: The Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) furthers the mission of the NIH by emphasizing the critical role that behavior and social factors play in health, health care, and well-being. OBSSR serves as the focal point for scientific coordination and is involved in the development of policies, goals, and research objectives in the behavioral and social sciences at NIH. OBSSR is also a liaison between the NIH intramural and extramural communities, other Federal agencies, academic and scientific societies, national voluntary health agencies, the biomedical research community, the media, and the general public on matters pertaining to behavioral and social sciences research. OBSSR's vision is to bring together the biomedical, behavioral, and social science communities to work more collaboratively to solve pressing health challenges facing our nation. OBSSR's plan includes facilitating: a) the next generation of basic behavioral and social sciences research: b) trans-disciplinary "team science" that brings together the biomedical, behavioral, and social-ecological perspectives; c) research that integrates the systems and multiple levels of analysis; d) the translation, implementation, dissemination, and maintenance of best practices to strengthen the sciences of dissemination and reduce the burden of chronic disease in an effort to reduce inequities in health and health care. To this end, OBSSR proposes to support the development of a special peer-reviewed journal issue on Social Sciences, The Environment, and Genetics in the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH). The overall goal of the special journal issue is to focus on challenges in the field and to encourage interdisciplinary efforts that will encourage new innovative approaches when addressing the current research challenges. Purpose of the Agreement: OBSSR proposes to support the production of a Special Issue on Social Science, The Environment, and Genetics in the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH). The resultant purchase order will provide staff support, time of the publisher in planning and preparation activities for the special issue, coordination and preparation of journal layout and content, editorial input, and hardcopies to be distributed to all AJPH/APHA members, and print copies for the APHA/AJPH membership. This may include the possible solicitation of additional authors (if more papers are needed). All activities will occur in consultation with the Editors of the special issue. The issue will contain up to 30 accepted articles or no more than 160 pages formatted as a combination of editorials, commentaries, analytic essays, briefs, research articles and other article types as specified in the journal's instructions for authors. The specific abstracts have been submitted and accepted and can be aggregated into the following tentative themes: Tentative Themes (based on accepted or invited submissions for development): Health Disparities Advancing Theory Leveraging Research Designs Inter Generational Effects/Life Course Perspective/Time-Dependent Measurement and Methods Candidate Mechanisms and other research All articles that pass editorial and peer review will be published together as a collection. Other articles will be published as space allows. Specific Contractor Tasks to be Undertaken Include: The Contractor and its editorial team shall: • Conduct a blind review of all papers. Reviewers' comments will be transmitted to the authors and to the Guest Editor(s)/Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR) (neither the authors nor any other Partners' staff will be privy to the reviewers' names). • Review all papers and determine those that are acceptable for publication. • Ensure that the quality of the material meets AJPH standards for a peer-reviewed publication. • Communicate with the Guest Editor(s)/COTR to better ensure that the final material reflects the desired scope and content. • Include the Guest Editor(s)/COTR in all communications regarding content and distribution of the material. • Provide editing and proofreading of the peer-reviewed papers, commentaries, and other text. • Provide other production and dissemination services (including mailing the print copies, loading the online issue onto the APHA/AJPH website, and distributing a news release to media outlets.) As a partner, the NIH staff will: • Assign a lead guest editor or editorial team. The guest editor(s)' role, who will be NIH/OD and NIH/NIDA representatives, is to o Direct authors to ensure that manuscripts provide a thought-provoking perspective and are relevant to the themes and topics addressed in the collection of papers. o Facilitate the peer-review process by either 1) submitting manuscripts electronically on behalf of authors or 2) directing authors themselves to submit electronically at submit.ajph.org and also by advising authors on suitable peer reviewers to nominate. o Work with AJPH staff during the entire production process. o Prepare editorial text to guide readers of the theme issue with regard to its context and content. These written materials will not be subject to peer review, but will be subject to review by the AJPH editorial team, as per AJPH policy. • Ensure submission of source files of revised, accepted manuscripts to AJPH production staff according to a production schedule. The schedule will include approximately six (6) months for the peer review and revision process and approximately three (3) months for copyediting, proofreading, and other production processes that follow final acceptance and precede online publication. Deliverables: Print copies to all AJPH/AJHA Membership and Electronic copies available by special order. Period of Performance: The period of performance will be twelve (12) months from date of award. Timeline: April 2012 paper submissions will be reviewed internally by an NIH committee and final manuscripts will be sent to APHA/AJPH in June. APHA/AJPH will then submit the papers to anonymous peer review and decide which papers should be published and which should be rejected; they will then publish the papers and make them accessible. The performance period should be approximately 9 months or a publication date around March 2013 assuming there are no delays. Sole Source Justification: The following depicts why APHA is uniquely positioned and qualified to implement this project, which includes reviewing and publishing on the intersection of genetics and social and behavioral sciences: (1) The American Public Health Association (APHA) is the professional organization that owns and manages the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH), which is published monthly. APHA's AJPH is highly respected for its scientific rigor. In fact, the AJPH's scientific impact factor for 2010 was rated at 3.85, which translates to it being ranked #3 of 114 titles in the Public, Environmental and Occupational Health category in the Social Sciences Citation Index. (2) Furthermore, the APHA separates itself in that it publishes the AJPH which is among the top scientific journals with long history publishing important scientific papers, but with an inter-disciplinary focus. The AJPH is the flagship publication for the American Public Health Association (APHA) and has been rated highly in terms of overall scientific impact. In fact, the journal was first published in the year 1911 and has gained a world wide reputation for being the place to publish the best inter-disciplinary work on a variety of topics, including methods, public health, social science, delivery, and health services. To be concrete, in addition to its #3 rating in Public, Environmental, and Occupational Health category ranking in the Social Sciences Citation Index, it was also nominated as on the most influential journals in Biology and Medicine over the last 100 years voted by Special Libraries Association. (3) Finally, as a function of (1) highly respected for their top science and (2) being interdisciplinary, the other reason why APHA is uniquely positioned to review and publish this issue is that they are highly regarded for their fair and balanced review process. Although this is not as easy to quantify, their ability to review good science is a strong rationale for their high rankings mentioned in both 1 and 2 above. As such APHA is uniquely positioned and qualified to implement this project as the organization is in alignment with the NIH's endeavors to expand the knowledge and understanding of public health that will help improve the health of individuals and populations. Therefore, in the best interest of the government this purchase order should be awarded to the American Public Health Association (APHA). FEDERAL ACQUISITION REQULATION (FAR) CLAUSES FAR 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items FAR 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes and Executive orders This is not a Request for Quotation (RFQ), nor is a RFQ available; however, all responsive sources may submit a proposal in a timely manner which will be considered by NLM. Firms interested in responding to this notice must be able to provide the referenced service as specified above. Responses must be in writing and must be received electronically at the Government infrastructure by 3:00 PM EST on Thursday, March 22, 2012. Proposals must include pricing information and should reference Solicitation No. NIHLM2012333 and should be submitted to sheila.edmonds@nih.gov. Inquiries regarding this procurement shall be submitted electronically to sheila.edmonds@nih.gov and shall be received by 11:00 AM EST on Thursday, March 15, 2012.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/HHS/NIH/OAM/NIHLM2012333/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, United States
- Zip Code: 20892
- Zip Code: 20892
- Record
- SN02691955-W 20120310/120308234853-9dbc818e961b9a9a2aa2e435421e84df (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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