National Health Center TA Needs Assessment Development, Analysis, and Project Management

Request for Proposals (RFP)
National Health Center Technical Assistance Needs Assessment
Development, Analysis, and Project Management
RFP Released: August 14, 2026
Proposals Due: September 11, 2026
Points of Contact
Subject Matter Content Inquiries: Lacie Emmerich, lemmerich@nachc.org 301-532-0362
Submission Inquiries: NACHC Trainings (training@nachc.org)
Organization Overview
The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) is a national organization supporting
federally qualified health centers and federally qualified health center look-alike organizations (also
known as FQHCs or Community Health Centers) and expanding health care services for the medically
underserved and uninsured. Founded in 1971 to promote efficient, high-quality, comprehensive health
care that is accessible, community-directed, and patient-centered for all, NACHC's mission and strategic
framework continue to guide our values and priorities as an organization representing the national
health center movement.
Background
NACHC serves as the National Health Center Technical Assistance (TA) Coordination Center, one of three
organizations part of the National Technical Assistance Program (NTAP) funded through a cooperative
agreement by the US Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) Bureau of Primary Health Care
(BPHC). As part of this cooperative agreement, NACHC is required to coordinate with the 2 other NTAPs,
the Operational Excellence and Clinical Excellence NTAPs, to execute a coordinated National Health
Center TA Needs Assessment. Anticipated assessment fielding will take place between February - April
2027 with report deliverables required by July - October 2027. NACHC seeks a qualified vendor to
support the execution of the 2027 National Health Center TA Needs Assessment, maintaining the
highest standards of accuracy and impact.
Time Period
The time period for initial tasks and services is October 13, 2026, through July 31, 2027.

The time period for additional tasks and services is August 1, 2027, through October 30, 2027, based on
acceptable vendor performance October 2026-July 2027.
Specific assignments and task orders may be issued at any time during this time period, depending on
organizational priorities and emerging needs.
Vendors must maintain sufficient flexibility to respond to assignments initiated at various points
throughout the time period. Vendors may also be considered for continued or future engagements
based on successful performance, ongoing needs, and availability of funds.
RFP Services Desired
Through this RFP, NACHC is seeking a qualified vendor to work closely with NACHC program staff to
execute the web-based, quantitative and qualitative National Health Center Technical Assistance (TA)
Needs Assessment distributed to all funded organizations in the Health Center Program and Federally
Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) Look-Alike (LAL) entities (over 1500 organizations), with a goal of
reaching a 35% health center organizational response rate. The selected vendor will provide project
management, contribute to needs assessment tool development, conduct data analysis, and lead
development of all required reports and deliverables. The vendor must have demonstrated experience
executing quantitative and qualitative assessments on a national scale.
Budget
The estimated budget is approximately $95,500 for deliverables in response to this RFP from time
period October 13, 2026, through July 31, 2027. The estimated budget is approximately $42,500 for
deliverables in response to this RFP from time period August 1, 2027, through October 30, 2027, based
on acceptable vendor performance October 2026-July 2027.
The selected vendor must provide a comprehensive budget based on the ideal methodology and process
used to meet the desired services, scope of work, and deliverables. All costs must be itemized into the
appropriate budget categories and must directly relate to the project activities described in the RFP.
Budget negotiations may occur.
Scope of Work and Deliverables
The selected vendor will support NACHC in executing the National Health Center TA Needs
Assessment, a national, comprehensive, coordinated, and prospective assessment of community
health centers' TA needs. This includes collaborating with 2 other National Technical Assistance
Program (NTAP) awardees, Primary Care Associations (PCAs), and other TA partners, including
federal officials at HRSA/BPHC.
The following tasks outline the sequential phases of tool development, fielding, quantitative and
qualitative analysis, and reporting the selected vendor will be responsible for delivering across the
contract period.
1. Task 1: General & Project Management (October 2026-October 2027) - Activities
include, but are not limited to:

a. Maintain a shared, detailed project workplan with all project activities and due
dates. Assign responsibilities for project tasks and review/update on a recurring
basis.
b. Develop a centralized feedback management system and/or tool to collect,
consolidate, and track responses efficiently.
c. Provide regular communication of progress or problems with NACHC staff,
including acknowledgement/response to emails within 2 business days unless
otherwise discussed.
d. Meet with NACHC staff by phone or video conference at a minimum on a twice-
monthly basis for 30- 60 minutes with the NACHC project team to discuss the
scope of work, issues, and related solutions to address issues.
e. Participate in needs assessment-related meetings by phone or video conference
on an ad hoc basis (e.g., NTAP workgroup meetings).
f. Conduct ad hoc meetings and email communication as necessary with the NACHC
project team and stakeholders as appropriate.
g. Work closely with NACHC staff to refine the scope of work and deliverables as
needed as the project evolves.
h. Commit to responding to questions and changes from NACHC within one week of
receiving NACHC's feedback on all fielding materials.
i. Commit to timely submission of invoices and payment-related documentation.
2. Task 2: Tool Revision (October-November 2026) - Collaborate with NTAPs and PCAs to
revise the assessment tool, reflect current and emerging needs, align with BPHC/HRSA
priorities, incorporate structural edits, reduce redundancy, identify additional TA gaps,
and incorporate expanded assessment of health center governance needs. The process
will include:
a. Multiple rounds of review with NACHC, NTAP, and PCA partners.
b. Health center program SME(s) review.
c. A formal review by BPHC/HRSA and satisfying their requested revisions before
final deployment.
3. Task 3: Tool Programming (November-December 2026) - Develop a web-based instrument
utilizing an online survey platform that includes the following features:
a. Functionality to support hover over/click on key words to see definitions or examples.
b. Display and skip logic.
c. Available in at least two languages (plain language editing and language translation of
the assessment tool is not a requirement for this proposal as it will be carried out by
another vendor).
d. Collect a unique respondent identifier.
e. Matches respondent-reported health center names to UDS grant records.
f. Supports direct export to statistical software used for analysis.
g. A 3-5 question feedback/exit section to the full fielding tool to capture bidirectional
feedback on the process and content.

4. Task 4: Pilot Process (December 2026-January 2027) - Pilot the web assessment tool
with a selected group of health centers. Activities will include the following:
a. Develop a written data clean-up, aggregation, and analysis plan for NTAP and PCA
feedback and review. The vendor will commit to responding to questions and changes
from the NTAPs, PCAs, and TA partners within two weeks of submission.
b. NTAP and PCA staff will identify pilot organizations and work with the selected
vendor to set up a process through which to complete the pilot.
c. The selected vendor will then conduct the pilot process to test the assessment's
content (e.g., for clarity, comprehensiveness), functionality, and user-centered
design (identifying potential technological glitches or issues with the online
platform that might lead to biased responses or other challenges).
d. Conduct a full analysis of pilot data to identify question or issues while the dataset is
small, time is ample, and to prevent complications during the full analysis. Include a test
of the full data pipeline (e.g., export, cleaning, merge with UDS).
e. Analyze results and prepare a 1-3-page report of pilot results, with top level
frequency findings attached as an appendix. This report will include a
documented change log of all revisions to the tool, and recommendations for any
changes to the instrument. In coordination with and under the approval of
NACHC staff, the selected vendor will incorporate all relevant feedback into a
revised instrument.
5. Task 5: Fielding and Communications Strategy (October 2026-April 2027) - Building on
the 31% response rate of the 2024 needs assessment, the selected vendor will coordinate
with the NTAPs, PCAs, and other TA partners by developing a collective communications
strategy. The strategy should include a plan for fielding the needs assessment to all
community health center organizations to reach the goal response rate of 35% of health
centers. Fielding will take place between February-April 2027. Activities include, but are
not limited to:
a. A documented fielding, communications strategy, and action plan to engage all
community health center workforce members (e.g., executive/leadership, front-
line staff, etc.) in ways that ensure a sufficient response rate to provide
meaningful, actionable results.
b. Appropriate communications plan and products to target respondents (e.g., email
message asking them to complete the assessment and why, etc.)
c. Needs assessment promotional materials for all fielding partners (NTAPs, PCAs,
Health Center Controlled Networks, HRSA's Bureau of Primary Health Care, etc.)
to use to promote the needs assessment and support fielding at various stages
(e.g., promotional flyers and infographics, slides for inclusion at various NTAP
conferences or webinars, e-newsletter scripts, handouts at conferences and
trainings, suggested social media posts, scripts for follow up reminders to non-
respondents, etc.).
d. Development of both personalized and anonymous links to the web-based needs
assessment for all community health center workforce members to be

disseminated via personalized invitations to community health center executive
leadership for whom NACHC has an email address.
6. Task 6: Analysis and Draft Reporting (April-June 2027) - Select NACHC staff is to receive
all identifiable data. The selected vendor will have the use of the data to ensure validity
and conduct analysis under a signed Data Use Agreement provided by NACHC.
a. Refine the written data clean-up, aggregation, and analysis plan for NTAP and PCA
input, feedback, and review. The vendor will commit to responding to questions
and changes from the NTAPs, PCAs, and TA partners within two weeks of
submission.
b. Quantitative analysis of needs assessment results. The quantitative analyses
should include:
i. Data validation checks to ensure accuracy
ii. Topline national findings (frequencies) that indicate most pressing TA
needs
iii. National findings by workforce member type (e.g., executive/leadership
vs. other staff)
iv. State-level findings (topline findings/frequencies)
v. National analysis by key community health center characteristics utilizing
the Uniform Data System (UDS).
vi. Excel-based data codebook made available for NTAP, PCA, and TA
partners
c. Thematic analysis of all open-ended qualitative data to be incorporated into the
final report.
d. Complete and submit draft Final Report and Infographic (June 5, 2027).
7. Task 7: Report Deliverables (July-October 2027) - Vendor will prepare several reports
containing the results of the assessment. Each set of reports can expect 2-4 rounds of
feedback from HRSA, NACHC, and TA partners. All reports must be completed within two
weeks of receiving feedback on draft versions. Reports will include:
a. Final Report: A 5-7-page final written report of needs assessment findings for
public dissemination, plus an appendix of full results (July 1, 2027).
b. 2-Page Infographic Report: Top needs assessment findings based on NACHC
requests for data visualization (July 1, 2027).
c. Webinars/Education Sessions: One webinar or education session including a slide
deck presentation of findings (TBD July 2027).
d. State/Territory Profile Reports: 1-2-page reports of findings from all
states/territories that meet minimum response rate thresholds (previously 15
respondents per state/territory) (August 1, 2027).
e. Special Topic Analyses: Up to 5 ad hoc analyses upon request by NACHC staff or
as recommended by vendor, BPHC, or NTAP partners (e.g., results stratified by
health center look-alikes/public entities, by health center size/geography, or
respondent staff role) (October 1, 2027).

f. How-To-Guide: Development of an internal document detailing how to
implement a national needs assessment (essentially, documenting the process
implemented throughout the project year and highlighting remaining needs and
strategies for NTAPs and recommendations on how NTAPs can apply the findings
lessons learned throughout the project) (October 1, 2027).
Travel
Up to two trips to NACHC conferences/meetings for assessment promotion or education sessions
may be required. Locations may include Washington, DC, Nashville, TN, Las Vegas, NV, and/or
Austin, TX.
Emerging Needs
Selected vendor(s) may support NACHC with addressing new and emerging TA needs assessment
activities. Examples may include but are not limited to: future assessments, key informant
interviews, focus groups, and/or other qualitative assessments. NACHC staff will determine the
content area and delivery modality.
Information Requested
Proposals must be submitted using NACHC's web-based portal by September 11, 2026. Incomplete
proposals will not be considered. NACHC will notify all applicants on or around October 7, 2026.
Online Submission Portal:
National Health Center Technical Assistance Needs Assessment
Proposals must contain the below items, which are evaluated based on the specific criteria outlined in
the Evaluation table below.
* Point of Contact Information
* Name / Description of Organization
* Project Workplan
* Evidence of Work & References
* Capability Statement
* Resume(s)
* Budget Narrative
* Daily/Hourly Rate Sheet
* Signed Statement (see below)
Upon submission of a complete application, NACHC's review team will evaluate the applicant's
qualifications in response to this RFP. Determining "qualified" enables a vendor(s) to engage in
procurement opportunities.

ATTESTATION
By my electronic signature, I certify that this Proposal reflects my best estimate of the organization's
capability and the true and necessary costs for the project, and the information provided herein is
accurate, complete, and current as of the date of my signature below.
I agree that my electronic signature is the legal equivalent of my manual signature on this application.
All parts of these projects are supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents are those of the author(s) and do
not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S.
Government. For more information, please visit HRSA.gov.

Evaluation Criteria
Rating Domain Application Selection Criteria Points
To earn full points in each domain, the applicant must
demonstrate:
Project Workplan The vendor should fully explain their approach to developing a 35
project work plan, such as their use of (not limited to) a
process followed for project development, a schedule of
activities that describes how the vendor will achieve the scope
of work, measurement/evaluation, or other details that
outline how the vendor approaches their project work.
Vendors may choose to use a specific project example to
demonstrate their approach.
The applicant demonstrates a clear understanding of the
project needs, and their proposed workplan is clear,
manageable, and achievable.
Response to each Task listed in the "Scope of Work" section
with a Quarter-by-Quarter workplan listing deliverables for
the activity, related experience, estimated hours, and hourly
rate total.
Evidence of Work & References Evidence of work must align with the project described in this 30
RFP and demonstrate the ability to deliver technical skills as a
subject matter expert (SME) within the specified content area.
Evidence of work must include the following:
Work samples required in this RFP include:
* Sample assessment tool previously utilized ideally for
workforce development program purposes
* Example or wireframe specifications of previously
implemented web-based database or retrieval model
Page Limit: 10 pages per sample
References required in this RFP include the following:
* Past client evaluations, reference letters, and/or
testimonials demonstrating quantitative and/or
qualitative feedback from at least two client's
engagements occurring within the past two years of
the RFP application date.
Page Limit: 5 pages
Capability Statement Provide a brief document highlighting your ability to deliver 15
technical skills and/or subject matter expertise. Please ensure
that the Statement includes your ability to work with others
and collaborate.
Budget Narrative The budget proposal should include the hourly and/or daily 10
rates of the vendor or vendor team for the project. If working
in a team, an estimated hours/daily rate of the team is

sufficient if all team members have been outlined in the
Resume section.
Further, direct costs must include the daily and hourly rates
for all expert(s) and staff engaged in work. Rates should
reflect the overall cost rate, including any fringe, overhead,
and/or general & administrative expense (G&A) if required.
Please use the GSA rate simulator for guidance if needed.
Resume(s) Resume(s)/CV(s) of expert(s) / staff clearly show tenure, 10
professional experience, and/or education that reflects
knowledge and ability in content expertise and training. The
documents submitted should reflect expertise and
qualification.
Page Limit for Resume(s) / CV(s): 2 pages per key expert / staff
Total 100
Scoring Matrix
a. Review team members will assign scores on a scale of zero (0) to five (5) where the end and
midpoints are defined as follows:
Score Description Discussion
0 No Value The Response does not address any component of the requirement, or no
information was provided.
1-2 Below Average The Response only minimally addresses the requirement and the Bidders
ability to comply with the requirement or simply has restated the
requirement.
3 Average The Response shows an acceptable understanding or experience with the
requirement. Sufficient detail to be considered "as meeting minimum
requirements".
4-5 Above Average The Response is thorough and complete and demonstrates firm
understanding of concepts and requirements.
b. A score of zero (0) on any scored requirement may cause the entire application to be eliminated
from further consideration.
c. Application scores will be calculated by multiplying the average (mean) score assigned by the review
committee members by the weight assigned to each scored element: Average Score x Weight =
Points Awarded