Sole Source Justification for CDC Project Support and Technical Assistance for Public Health Partners

BACKGROUND As part of its mission the Division of Birth Defects and Infant Disorders (DBDID) within the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD), conducts research and implements programs to decrease substance exposure in pregnancy, support global efforts to monitor and prevent birth defects, and respond to emerging threats that impact infant health to improve the care and outcomes for mothers and babies. The current request represents a whole Division solution to the challenges faced when addressing this mission. Specifically, the work performed under this requirement supports a variety of surveillance and research focused activities involving coordination between many organizations including State, Local, Federal and National Partners. Services under this contract will aid several key surveillance and research studies including National Birth Defects Prevention Study (NBDPS), Birth Defects - Study to Evaluate Pregnancy exposures (BD-STEPS), Maternal and Infant Network to Understand Outcomes Associated with Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder during Pregnancy (MAT-LINK), and Surveillance for Emerging Threats to Mothers and Babies Network (SET-NET). As brought to the forefront by the Zika outbreak, new and unexpected diseases and environmental conditions will occur (COVID-19, Hurricanes, H1N1, Ebola, etc.) that impact the health of mother and babies, and DBDID s programs and studies must incorporate this new information to improve outcomes for these vulnerable populations. OBJECTIVES In order to satisfy the overall operational objectives of NCBDDD, information technology (IT), management and technical support is needed. An integrated team of professionals is required to support the multitude of databases, business processes, websites, communication and surveillance activities.