Completion of Preventing Needless Work Disability White Paper Update -- 2

GENERAL INFORMATION 1.1 Purpose of the Request for Proposals. The purpose of this Request for Proposals (RFP) is to engage a Proposer to provide the following Services to the American College of Occupational & Environmental Medicine (ACOEM): Creation of a Document entitled “Preventing Needless Work Disability – An Update”. ACOEM, by means of this RFP, invites all qualified Proposers to submit Proposals in accordance with the requirements outlined in this RFP. ACOEM anticipates that, based on its review and evaluation of the Proposals received pursuant to this RFP, it will select a Proposer and execute an agreement whereby the Proposer renders Services to ACOEM, in accordance with terms and conditions set forth in the agreement. 1.2 Information about ACOEM: ACOEM is a professional society that includes a group of physicians who are interested in forwarding the science, discipline, and practice of occupational and environmental medicine to wide variety of medical care providers. ACOEM members choose to become members by paying dues. These dues can be used for discretionary projects, subject to budget approval by the ACOEM Board of Directors, which has approved this RFP. 1.3 Company's Right to Reject. This RFP does not commit ACOEM to select a Proposer or to award a Contract to any Proposer. ACOEM reserves the right to accept or reject, in whole or in part, any Proposal it receives pursuant to this RFP. 1.4 Schedule of Events. ACOEM will make a good faith effort to follow the timeline below for evaluating, negotiating, and issuing an award: Event / Date Pre-bid discussion / up to 11/30/2023 Bid closing / 11/30/2023 Award of contract / 12/30/2023 Issuance of notice to proceed / 1/5/2024 Contract start date / 1/10/2024 Completion of document authorship / writing / 3/30/2024 Completion of document editing and formatting / 4/15/2024 Delivery of Final Document / 4/30/2024 Contract Expiration / 5/10/2024 NEEDS ASSESSMENT 2.1 ACOEM Needs: Prior to the COVID pandemic, the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) approved, and work began on an update and revision to its Preventing Needless Work Disability paper: [login to view URL] COVID interrupted progress, and the lead editor, a volunteer ACOEM member who was the chief author of the original document, indicated that she no longer had the bandwidth to see the project through to its completion. Having no other volunteers who expressed interest in replacing her, the Board of Directors have authorized funds for the use of an external writer and editor to complete the project. ACOEM has engaged external professionals for similar work in the past. The target users of this white paper are intended to reach a wider audience than simply occupational health professionals, but other stakeholders, including insurance, legal, economic, human resource, and other business professionals. As such, the update was focused on a larger scope compared to the original paper. There is substantial work that has already been done on the project. However, given the duration of time since this work, the writing and authorship that has been completed will need to be reviewed and updated to incorporate any new references or information from the time of the writing. There are some portions that have yet to be completed and will need identification and engagement of subject matter experts for authorship. STATEMENT OF WORK 3.1 Statement of Work: The purpose of this proposal is to provide an updated white paper on Preventing Needless Work Disability (PNWD). 3.2 Outline of Document: The PNWD outline will be provided. The outline is set and cannot be changed without permission of ACOEM. 3.3 Document Authorship to Date: Certain chapters or sections of the occupational health guide have been written. Existing portions will be provided to the final selected freelancer. 3.4 Proposer Requirements: The Proposer will have a minimum of three years’ experience working with all aspects of medical textbook or document writing and editing. Knowledge and experience with all related methods of authorship is necessary. The final document will be presented in Microsoft Word format. 3.5 Selection of Authors: The Proposer will select authors to complete the outstanding chapters who have knowledge in the occupational health field, with the assistance of three volunteer ACOEM physicians who will be the overseers of the project. While there are no restrictions as to the potential authors that the Proposer chooses, the information must be up to date in the field and evidence based where possible. The Proposer may choose to use members of ACOEM at their discretion but are not required to do so. 3.6 Review of Content: ACOEM will have the opportunity to review the submitted content as it is written and become available for review, to insure the content validity and accuracy of the information. ACOEM will have final review authority regarding the content of the chapters and provide final approval of the content. 3.7 Document Editing: The Proposer will ensure proper editing and formatting of the document to insure consistency with similar medical texts. The final document should be constructed in a manner so that it can be easily transferred to a website so that it can be easily read and referenced. 3.8 Future Additions and Updates: The Proposer will deliver a document that can be easily amended or added to in the future as ACOEM intends that this document will be updated with new medical information “in real time” by website modification as the new or modified information becomes available.