FDA Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) Online Sales Data FDA-22-RFQ-1251884

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR 12.6 and 13.1 as supplemented with additional information in this notice. Quotes are being requested and this announcement constitutes the only solicitation. The Government contemplates issuing a firm fixed-price purchase order resulting from this solicitation. The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2022-05 dated March 7, 2022.

The associated North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 518210 - Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services.

The Government intends to issue a firm fixed-price purchase order resulting from this solicitation.

Purpose

For purposes of this SOW, tobacco products include, but are not limited to the following: cigarettes; cigars; dissolvables; hookah tobacco; nicotine gels; pipe tobacco; roll-your-own tobacco; smokeless tobacco products, including dip, snuff, snus, chewing tobacco, and nicotine pouches; and vapes, e-cigarettes, hookah pens, and other Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS). For additional information and examples of types of tobacco products, see: https://www.fda.gov/tobacco-products/products-guidance-regulations.

Specifically, the Contractor shall provide CTP with access to its existing online sales data by tobacco product category on an ongoing basis and provide technical assistance so that it can be used by CTP for research purposes and to inform and support tobacco regulation. The data shall include tobacco product online sales data on all available tobacco products.

CTP may publish results in peer-reviewed journals based on research conducted using these data.

Scope

The Contractor shall provide CTP with its online data related to tobacco product's online sales data.

This data shall include the number of unique individuals from the sample shopping on the site per month, number of transactions made on the site by people in the sample, total spend amounts, as well as the range of spend amounts.

The services for this requirement, listed below, will provide information to the CTP Office of Science to monitor online sales of tobacco products and to inform tobacco regulatory actions.

Requirements

The Contractor shall ensure that the data to be provided meets the following salient characteristics:

• The Contractor shall provide CTP with access to sales data as it becomes available in a 4-week format.
• The Contractor shall ensure that the data provided includes all information they have on tobacco product sales. For purposes of this SOW, tobacco products include cigarettes; cigars; dissolvables; hookah tobacco; nicotine gels; pipe tobacco; roll-your-own tobacco; smokeless tobacco products, including dip, snuff, snus, and chewing tobacco; and vapes, e-cigs, hookah pens, and other Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS). For additional information on types of tobacco products, see: https://www.fda.gov/tobacco-products/products-guidance-regulations.
• The Contractor shall ensure that the data includes all transaction information
  • Transaction information includes but is not limited to
    • Total purchase price
    • Total unique individuals who purchased an order from a site
    • Number of purchases made on a site
• The Contractor shall provide all relevant demographic characteristics (i.e. sex, age, race) when available.
• The data shall allow for it to be downloaded by researchers at CTP.
• The Contractor shall ensure that the file can be viewed in Microsoft Excel using either .xls or .csv file format.
• The contractor shall have the ability to provide access to historical data starting from 2015 or as soon thereafter as available.
• The Contractor shall provide, technical support, data documentation including a data dictionary that fully describes the contents, format, labels, and frequencies of each variable and associated variable value(s); detailed methodology reports that cover the scope of the data collection, data collection process, data quality controls, data structure(s), and limitations of the database(s); as well as documentations that describe the relationship between these elements and training, as specified below:

Technical Support

Technical Support: The Contractor shall assign a Project Manager to answer CTP's questions and assist with issues. The Project Manager shall answer all methodological questions and provide CTP accompanying documentation in the form of written email responses. The Project Manager shall notify CTP of any changes to the sampling frame (i.e., the retail channels tracked and reported by the data) via email within five business days of the change. The Project Manager (or an alternative staff person with knowledge of CTP's account) shall answer CTP's email and telephone inquiries within two business days. Administrative support shall be available eight hours per day, 40 hours per week. In addition, technical customer support or service shall be available from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Monday through Friday, US Eastern Time. Customer service shall provide general information on access questions.

Trainings

The contractor will provide training for up to 5 CTP staff to walk through the provided data and answer any staff level questions. An additional training may be requested up to once per year. All training will be conducted virtually.

See attachment FDA-22-RFQ-1251884.