Demographics, site specific practices, and characteristics of blood draws among members of an HMO

Contracting Office Address: Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Office of Acquisitions, 9609 Medical Center Drive, Room1E144, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA Description: The National Cancer Institute (NCI), Division of cancer and Epidemiology (DCEG) plans to procure on a sole source basis to Kaiser Permanente Northwest Center for health Research at 3800 N. Interstate Avenue, Portland OR 97227 for demographics, site specific practices, and characteristics of blood draws among members of an HMO. This acquisition will be processed in accordance with the simplified acquisition procedures as authorized by FAR Part 13.106-1 (b) (1) and is exempt from the requirements of FAR part 6. The North American Industry Classification System Code is 541990 and the business size standard is $15 million. Only one award will be made as a result of this solicitation. This will be awarded as a firm fixed price type contract. Period of performance will be 12 months from award. The Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) has a long history of developing and running major cohort studies, and many of these form the backbone of the research portfolio in the division. Existing cohorts, including but not limited to AARP, PLCO and USRT, have been extremely productive and have generated a wealth of information about potential cancer risk factors and biological markers. In the next decade, these cohorts will reach the end of their natural lifetime due to the length of time since the baseline questionnaire, the average age of the participants, and the depletion of biological samples. There is the need, therefore, to start planning now for the next generation of cohorts that will be able to continue to address current and future hypotheses about the etiology of cancer. DCEG defined a prerequisite set of essential and desirable criteria for a new cohort biobank. The overarching objective is to build a new prospective multi-center adult cohort study set in a HMO with rich exposure information and accurate outcome information that will be used as a community-wide resource to investigate novel hypotheses about the etiology of cancer by combining questionnaire data, medical records, tumor tissue and serial biospecimens. In the past, DCEG has worked with a number of different HMOs on various cancer-related research questions. The purpose of this contract is to understand the relevant characteristics of eligible individuals and to assess the feasibility of establishing an HMO cohort at geographically diverse locations. The contractor shall: 1. Provide a description of the eligible members. Specifically: - Estimate the number of eligible participants (age 40-75 years, member for at least 12 months and cancer-free) by age groups (5 year bands), gender, race and ethnicity and the median duration of membership in these groups. Within this eligible population: - Estimate the number of members a) leaving annually and b) enrolling with annually within the past 5 years. Estimates should be provided overall and by age group, gender, race, and ethnicity. - Estimate the number of new (incident) cases of cancer diagnosed in 2012 and 2013 diagnosed by age group, gender, race, and ethnicity. Estimates should be provided for total cancers and for specific cancer sites including but not limited to breast, bladder, lung, prostate, NHL and colorectal. - Estimate the number of individuals diagnosed with cancer precursors such as benign breast disease, lung nodules, cervical dysplasia, endometrial hyperplasia, esophageal dysplasia, and colorectal polyps in 2012 and 2013. - Estimate the number of individuals who have a cellphone and the number of individuals who participate in cellphone related activities/apps. 2. Provide a description of blood draws among eligible members. Specifically: - Calculate rates for orders for a clinical blood draw within a recent 12 month period and receipt of a blood draw by month, age, race, ethnicity, and gender; show the percentage of fasting blood samples in all groups. - Tabulate how many and what types of diagnoses are made +/- two weeks of the blood draw collected within the 12 month period of study. - Examine the prevalence of underlying chronic conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity, among those with a blood draw within the 12 month period of study. - Implement an electronic research blood draw 3. Describe current practices for screening and biospecimen discard/collection. Specifically: - Describe, to the extent possible, the existing screening practices for common cancers e.g. colorectal cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, cervical cancer, and prostate cancer. - Provide estimates of the number of individuals for whom the following discard samples may be available (within a recent 12 month period): FIT (fecal test), oral sputum, and urine. 4. Communicate regularly with NCI. Specifically: - Participate in regular calls with NCI (as required; at least monthly) to discuss the tasks described and to identify potential barriers to implementing a standardized blood collection protocol and centralized processing protocol. Discuss tumor tissue collection and storage protocols. - Attend one in-person meeting with NCI participants. A feasibility study at Kaiser Permanente is underway to provide important information for design and development of a larger scale pilot and eventually a full-scale HMO cohort. Information from additional sites within the same HMO network with comparable data from similar infrastructure is required to properly compare and assess the feasibility of establishing an US HMO cohort across geographically diverse locations. NCI plans to contract with KP Northwest as these sites reflect racial and geographically diverse populations; characteristics that will be required of a full-scale cohort and require assessment. To NCI's knowledge Kaiser Permanente Northwest Center for Health Research is the only known contractor that can perform the required tasks. This is not a solicitation for competitive quotations. However, if any interested party, especially a small business, believes they can meet the above requirement, they may submit a statement of capabilities and or quote. All information furnished must be in writing and must contain sufficient detail to allow the NCI to determine if it can meet the above unique specifications described herein. A copy of the capability statement must be received by the NCI Office of Acquisitions on or before 11:00 AM EST on September 7, 2014. Electronic capability statements will be accepted (i.e. email or fax). A copy must be sent to the NCI Office of Acquisitions at the address stated above. All questions must be in writing and can be faxed to (240) -276-5401 or emailed to Tiffany Kittrell, Contract Specialist, at Tiffany.kittrell@nih.gov. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. In order to receive an award, contractors must have valid registration and certification in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov. No collect calls will be accepted. Please reference solicitation number N02CP42622-62 on all correspondence.