HHS ACF RFI: National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System Support

The Contractor shall provide and coordinate substantial and effective programmatic technical assistance to the states to aid them in their efforts to implement the NCANDS so that all 50 states (including D.C. and Puerto Rico) submit their case-level Child File data;

1. Maintain, improve, and update protocols that facilitate states’ collection, management, and electronic transmittal of their NCANDS data;
2. Investigate and engage in opportunities for NCANDS data collection and system modernization;
3. Continue consensus building with the states, national organizations, and partners around guidance for how states and data users should define and interpret the NCANDS data elements;
4. Maintain on-going program, measurement, and data development and reporting to continually improve the utility of NCANDS data;
5. Implement and maintain good practices in data development and reporting in support of effective implementation of the NCANDS;
6. Ensure the effective coordination of NCANDS with related data collection, information systems development, and child welfare monitoring efforts at the federal and state levels, especially the provision of NCANDS data needed for the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs), the Child Welfare Outcomes Report, and key indicators reported to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and other Federal agencies;
7. Maintain, improve, and update tools needed to effectively process, store, manage, and analyze NCANDS data to facilitate the CB’s use of NCANDS data for child welfare monitoring and respond to ad hoc requests from Congressional staff, OMB, Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human and Administration (HHS) for Children and Families (ACF) staffs, and the media;
8. Develop the annual Child Maltreatment (CM) Reports; and,
9. Promote greater understanding and use of data on child maltreatment through publications, technical assistance, and cross-agency collaboration.

Under this task order, the Contractor shall develop, implement, and provide technical assistance (TA) for, the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS). NCANDS provides data on the extent, types, and characteristics of child maltreatment in the US to be utilized by Federal and State government officials, professionals, and researchers to develop programs and expend resources to address the complex problems of child maltreatment. The current size of the NCANDS system is 50 million records. The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System is a federal information technology (IT) system. As such, there are specific requirements directly related to operating a federal IT system. The associated tasks are outlined below.

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