DSPO Connect Program for Suicide Prevention

NOTICE OF INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE

The Personnel Readiness Management Agency (PRMA), formerly Defense Human Resources Activity (DHRA), Acquisition Management Directorate, intends to execute a non-competitive action in accordance with Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulation Overhaul (RFO) 6.103-1(d) Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The Government will negotiate and award a sole-source firm fixed price contract to SafeSide Prevention LLC, on behalf of the Defense Suicide Prevention Officer for the Connect Program for Suicide Prevention.  The NAICS for this requirement is 541611 Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services, and the Product Service Code (PSC) is R425. The period of performance will include a base period and two, 12-month option periods beginning on or about September 4, 2026. The place of performance is at the vendor’s facility and various military installations.

Description of Requirement

The Defense Suicide Prevention Office (DSPO) requires a non-personal services Contractor to review, tailor, update, expand, and validate the Connect Program, previously known as the Wingman Guardian Connect Program, for the Department of War (DoW) and all Military Services (Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force, National Guard Bureau, and Coast Guard). The Contractor shall validate the implementation of the Connect Program and provide a report that includes evaluation findings and recommendations for sustained program implementation and evaluation.

The Connect Program (Wyman et al 2020; 2022) provides group interactive training for military personnel, followed by text messages and base-wide activities to embed concepts into culture and peer networks. The Connect Program’s interactive group design progresses from individual engagement (e.g., each participant shares career goals and values) to building group-level skills and norms (e.g., mapping group strengths). Specifically, participants learn together about and model skills to each other to grow and sustain “Four Cores” supportive of mental health and essential to job success: Kinship, Purpose, Guidance, and Balance.

The vendor is required to have a sublicense for the Connect Program in order to tailor, update, and expand the Program.

Justification for Noncompetitive Action

The Connect Program is the only developed and tested community-based suicide prevention training program to achieve a Gold-Standard conducting randomized controlled trials with (1,500 Air Force) active U.S. military personnel that demonstrated significant reductions in suicide risk, depressive symptoms, and occupational problems where participants showed improved mental health outcomes. To achieve a Gold-Standard, a company must demonstrate a framework of rigorous, transparent, and ethical practices that ensure its findings are tested, valid, reproducible, and trustworthy. The Connect Program is the only community-based suicide prevention program with this level of evidence. It has taken several years for the Connect Program to conduct the trials and obtain the adoption needed for the Gold Standard.  SafeSide Prevention, LLC is uniquely qualified as the only company that is sublicensed by Connect Media LLC to deliver and scale the Connect Program with fidelity and has a proven ability to adapt the program to new military and civilian markets. According to the market research, no other entity is granted sublicensing rights to the Connect Program nor will Connect Media LLC be issuing other sublicenses. Therefore, no other vendors can fulfill this requirement. As part of the market research, the Government communicated with the University of Rochester and Connect Media LLC, who holds perpetual, worldwide Copyright License, and were notified in writing by Connect Media LLC that no other vendors will be granted sublicensing rights to the Connect Program. The University of Rochester and Connect Media LLC provided the Government copies of their licenses, sublicense, and copyright agreements.

Solicitation

All responsible vendors that believe they can fully meet the Government's requirements may submit a quotation, bid, or proposal, as appropriate, which will be considered by the agency. A vendor that believes it can meet the Government’s requirement must submit a copy of their sublicense agreement for the Connect Program, issued from Connect Media, LLC. The deadline for submission of substantiating documentation is within 10 days after publication of this notice. Responses can be sent via e-mail to:   Anne Ditch at anne.t.ditch.civ@mail.mil and Melissa Tamayo at melissa.s.tamayo.civ@mail.mil.

A determination by the Government to not conduct a competitive procurement, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the Government. Previous Sources Sought posted on March 23, 2026, did not identify capable sources other than Safeside Prevention, LLC.  Phone calls regarding this notice will not be accepted.  All electronic correspondence shall have the subject line read: Notice of Intent, Connect Program for Suicide Prevention. All contractors doing business with this office must be registered with the System for Award Management (SAM). No award shall be made to a company unless registered in SAM. For additional information and to register in SAM, please access the following web site: www.sam.gov. To register, all contractors must have a valid Tax ID number, Cage Code, and obtain a government-provided Unique Entity Identifier, which is available for free through SAM.gov.

The following attachments are included with this notice:

Attachment 1: Approved, redacted J&A

Attachment 2: Solicitation

Attachment 3: PWS