Brief Description: Purpose: The Airborne Hazards and Burn Pits Center of Excellence (AHBPCE), War Related Illness and Injury Study Center (WRIISC) at the VA NJ Health Care System (East Orange, NJ) requires research administrative services for Pilot Project Peer Review Program. The Contractor shall facilitate its Pilot Project Program (PPP) and support internal investigators applications through peer review services. Facilitation of the PPP includes development of a framework and process to solicit proposals from VA and VA affiliated researchers. Identify external subject matter experts to provide technical peer review. Summarizing and synthesizing the results of peer review. In addition, this procurement will allow for internal proposals from AHBPCE investigators and their collaborators to undergo a peer review process for the purposes of improving grant submissions. Background: The Airborne Hazards and Burn Pits Center of Excellence (AHBPCE) seeks to provide Veterans with an accelerated timeline to address their health concerns. Hence, AHBPCE has developed and internally supported a Pilot Project Program (PPP) to foster new ideas and attract new researchers regarding the study of health effects related to military environmental exposure. In order to keep pace with current interest and expand opportunities for investigators AHBPCE requires specialized research support to 1) minimize any potential biases and conflicts of interest associated with an internal process, 2) expand pool of eligible investigators, 3) facilitate recruitment of expert peer reviewers, and 4) formalize a robust review process that ensures integrity and fidelity of the program. Securing external research support services will serve to minimize AHBPCE administrative burden allowing us to shift attention to our other programmatic efforts.
