Heather Kirk March 22, 2023 0 Comments

On the heels of the global pandemic, the Biden administration is clearly making it a priority to ensure the often overlooked and underfunded Centers for Disease Control and Prevention receives necessary funding to address some of the underlying deficiencies that were exposed over the past few years. The fiscal year 2024 budget request put forth by the Administration outlines $11.5 billion in discretionary funding for the CDC to, among other things, modernize public health data systems to better prepare them to quickly identify and make decisions in the case of future public health emergencies. 

A cornerstone of this effort is the Data Modernization Initiative (DMI), a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar effort to modernize data across the federal and state public health landscape. The effort carries a stated goal to move from siloed and brittle public health data systems to connected, resilient, adaptable, and sustainable ‘response-ready’ systems that can help the agency solve problems before they happen and reduce the harm caused by any problems that do happen.  

To help drive this effort the agency formed a new office, the Office of Public Health, Data, Surveillance and Technology (OPHDST), which is currently led by Acting Director Jennifer Layden, MD, PhD. OPHDST brings together the functions of the Deputy Director for Public Health Science and Surveillance with experts from other CDC centers and divisions and it is intended to serve as a platform for better partnerships and collaboration around public health data and surveillance, including data modernization. 

This is the first office at CDC solely dedicated to leading, coordinating, and executing a comprehensive public health data strategy.  

This sounds amazing. How can we support this important effort and this new office?  

The short answer for most of many of you is that you may not be able to. As is outlined in this recent article published by the Digital Services Coalition, an Industry Day was recently held by GSA’s FEDSIM office on behalf of the CDC. The expectation coming into the meeting was that CDC planned to discuss an upcoming task order and how industry might be able to get involved, but “this new task order strategy morphed into being only one part of an Indefinite Quantity Indefinite Delivery (IDIQ) Contract with a 9-year period of performance and a ceiling of $1.9 billion to be awarded to a single vendor.”  

We encourage you to read the full article put forth by this highly successful collection of some of the top agile technology and design firms that serve the government today, which raises some issues, while offering proposed solutions, including the need for more conversation with industry and a revised acquisition strategy for this procurement that increases the chance of success for industry, the DMI, and the CDC. 

The piece entitled Is history going to repeat itself?, points to the failure of Healthcare.gov as a prime example of how a siloed and single vendor strategy is not the best use of commercial practices, while raising a number of other concerns, such as the planned use of Cost Plus Award Fee; the differences between Multiple subcontractors vs. multiple awardees; and the much anticipated new “Rule of Two” language that the SBA is working to codify that stands to greatly impact the future use of any IDIQ for all Federal agencies. Some of the key recommendations put forth revolve around how the IDIQ and acquisition strategy can be structured to flex and adapt to a fast-changing sector, including making the current IDIQ plan a multiple-award contract with spots for small businesses.

We as industry outsiders do not have insight into the many competing items the government must take into consideration when developing an acquisition strategy, especially when it is related to what will be one of the most high-profile and visible programs within the federal government over the next few years. We applaud DSC for sharing their thoughts and proposed solutions in a public forum. Even the most forward-leaning agencies can benefit by hearing from groups such as DSC, who have been entrusted to lead and deliver on some of the most significant transformation and modernization programs in the federal sector today.    

A few of the Key Points of Contact to know at CDC:

  • Jennifer Layden, MD, PhD, Acting Director, Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology (OPHDST), CDC  
  • Sachin Agnihotri, Chief Technology Officer & Technical Advisor, Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services, Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance and Technology, CDC 
  • Arezoo Risman, Deputy Data Modernization Initiative Coordinator, Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), CDC 
  • Heather Strosnider, PhD, MPH, Senior Advisor for Data Modernization and Surveillance, Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology, CDC 
  • Steve Warren, Senior Technologist, Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), CDC 

Looking for an 8(a), WOSB, HUBZone, SDVOSB, or large business to partner with at CDC? Click Here 

You can filter the list by several key indicators, including socio-economic status, NAICS, Contract vehicle, etc.  

If your company has capabilities that might support this effort, comment below to make sure others know.

Firms drawing the most attention at CDC: 

Included below is a list of the large and small companies we have noted as drawing the most views by Government and industry leaders on the OrangeSlices AI consultant directory since the beginning of 2023 and that bring direct past performance, capabilities and/or related relationships in support of CDC.  

** An Elev8 GovCon Honoree, noted for a corporate culture that demonstrates excellence, making the company a beacon for talent, for partners, and for clients.         

We cannot and will not speculate here as to the reasons for the increased interest, but whether it is a company evaluating them as a potential partner; a federal acquisition leader doing their due diligence; or a consultant weighing their next job move, this group of companies has been receiving increased interest. 

Related Data: 

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About OrangeSlices AI  

Developed by a team of government and industry contracting subject matter experts, the OrangeSlices AI data driven platform is a publicly available searchable listing of the top information technology and consulting services contractors doing business with the Federal government today. Driven by a robust and comprehensive set of authoritative and trusted data sources, the OS.ai tool is intended to help government and industry leaders find the right partner to help deliver on the important missions of the Federal government. Learn more about how you can engage with OS AI here.   

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