Child and Family Data Archive, 2026–2031

Notice of Intent to Sole Source Child and Family Data Archive, 2026–2031 The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE), intends to negotiate and award a firm-fixed-price sole-source contract to: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research University of Michigan 330 Packard Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104 The anticipated period of performance is September 2026 through September 2031. This acquisition will be conducted pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1, Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements, under the authority of 41 U.S.C. § 3304(a)(1). Requirement The purpose of this acquisition is to continue the operation, maintenance, security, modernization, and expansion of the Child and Family Data (CFData) Archive. The CFData Archive facilitates the preservation and sharing of data from previous, current, and future ACF-funded research grants and contracts involving early care and education, Head Start, child care, home visiting, and other research concerning children and families. The archive currently contains data from approximately 125 studies, supports approximately 136 active data users, and adds data from approximately four to eight studies annually. The archive includes public-use data, restricted-use data, associated study documentation, and tools that allow researchers and policy analysts to identify and use ACF-supported research data for secondary analysis, replication, and evidence-building. The contractor will be required to: Maintain secure and continuous public and restricted access to archived datasets and supporting documentation. Curate, document, preserve, and disseminate new datasets from ACF-funded research. Conduct data-quality reviews, disclosure-risk analyses, disclosure-limitation activities, and determinations regarding appropriate levels of access. Operate and maintain a secure Virtual Data Enclave for highly restricted data and perform disclosure reviews of analytic outputs. Maintain and enhance the CFData Archive website, metadata and variable-search tools, publication bibliography, and data-user support functions. Provide technical assistance and training to data producers, data depositors, federal project officers, researchers, policy analysts, and other users. Maintain the archive’s Authority to Operate and comply with applicable ACF, HHS, FISMA, NIST, FedRAMP, Zero Trust, privacy, cybersecurity, and Section 508 requirements. Support special-topic and cross-cutting data activities, including additional data archiving, secondary analyses, data linkages, dashboards, and other emerging research requirements when authorized by ACF. Provide complete transition-out documentation, data, source code, system materials, and knowledge transfer at the conclusion of the contract. Sole-Source Rationale The Government has determined that the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research at the University of Michigan is the only responsible source presently capable of performing the required follow-on services without substantial duplication of cost, unacceptable delay, and significant risk to the continuity and security of the CFData Archive. ICPSR developed and currently operates the CFData Archive. Through this work, ICPSR has acquired unique institutional knowledge and specialized technical expertise concerning the archive’s datasets, data-use agreements, disclosure controls, curation procedures, security environment, technical architecture, user-access processes, and relationships with ACF-funded data producers. ICPSR also maintains an established Virtual Data Enclave that combines secure access to restricted data, approved analytical software, expert monitoring, disclosure review, and controlled release of analytic outputs. The Government’s market research did not identify another archive offering t...