FDA to award contract for Programming and Panel Services for An Experimental Study Assessing Correction Strategies Addressing Medical Misinformation

Notice ID: SSFDA-75F401-24-R-00119

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This synopsis is to notify contractors that the government intends to issue a Purchase Order in accordance with FAR Part 13 for the following, under simplified acquisition procedures. The Government intends to negotiate and solicit with only one source:  Qualtrics, Office of Research & Innovation 333 W. River Park Dr., Provo, UT., 84604.

Social scientists at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) Office of Communications (OCOMM), is conducting a social and behavioral science research study to develop evidence-based knowledge and implementable recommendations. This research regularly includes online questionnaires and experimental studies on a variety of health topics, including opioids, biosimilars, medical countermeasures, medical misinformation, and drug safety. To effectively conduct research, access to participants as well as the ability to execute the studies is required in order to obtain data to inform communications, actions, and policies.

The objective of this acquisition is to conduct an online experimental questionnaire study to test 5 types of correction strategies for addressing medical misinformation on social media by

1. obtaining access to a participant recruitment panel representative of the general United States population that must be linked and programmed in the Qualtrics questionnaire platform (to which CDER/OCOMM already has a license) and
2. conducting experimental research of at least 4,620 participants (4,200 main study and 420 sample pretest) representative of the U.S. population with specific oversampling of sub-samples of interest. More specifically, these research services include access to online participant panel(s); participant recruitment; questionnaire programming; quality assurance checking of the programmed questionnaire; and data collection, cleaning and removing personal identifiers, and delivery to CDER/OCOMM researchers.

The objectives of this study are to obtain needed evidence to inform the FDA’s communication decisions by identifying strategies for the agency to correct inaccurate or misleading medical information about FDA-regulated products that may occur during public health emergencies. This research aligns with FDA’s public health mission and is critically important to the agency’s obligation to provide accurate, trustworthy, and important information about regulated products, including vaccines and drug treatments, to the public during health emergencies.

This order shall be within scope, issued within ordering period, and be within the maximum total dollar value of approximately $35,00.00 for a one-year period for the base period beginning July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025.

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