Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health in the Global Environment

This is a notice of intent, not a request for a proposal. A solicitation document will not be issued and proposals will not be requested. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Station Support/Simplified Acquisitions (SS/SA) Branch, on behalf of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) intends to solicit, negotiate and award a purchase order on a noncompetitive basis with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland. The National Institute on Aging (NIA/NIH), seeks to support harmonization activities and data validation enhancement activities in the context of longitudinal studies on population aging. There is a need for internationally comparable datasets to permit investigation of the compression of morbidity in aging populations; provide new information on the differential changes of mortality in countries with different health care delivery systems, and allow detailed analysis of changes in health, socio-economic status and economic behavior as populations' age. The NIA's Strategic Plan outlines the importance of studies on healthy aging, well-being and longevity, and places an emphasis on understanding how population aging and changes in social, economic, and demographic characteristics of cohorts reaching old age affect health and well-being in the United States and other countries. These activities will be advanced though alignment of instruments for data collection, uniformity in interviewing protocols, development of validation tools, and increasing the availability of cross-nationally comparable datasets. The WHO Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health (SAGE) contains modules developed to produce results comparable to other longitudinal aging studies such as US Health and Retirement Survey (HRS), the English Longitudinal Study on Ageing (ELSA), the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe Study (SHARE), the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI), and the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). This support is to continue to enhance the SAGE data collection to support cross-national research on aging populations around the world. The Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health (SAGE) was developed by the WHO Multi-Country Studies unit as part of a Longitudinal Survey Programme to compile comprehensive longitudinal information on the health and well-being of adult populations and the ageing process. This project would continue and extend NIA's support of ongoing work to improve the comparability of data on older populations around the world. This project has three main tasks that extend the SAGE study and enhance comparability with other longitudinal aging studies. Task 1 develops and conducts telomere and telomerase assays on dried blood spot (DBS) samples. Task 2 will support training, survey preparation and fieldwork that will result in 18,000 interviews in India and South Africa. Finally, Task 3 is for data archiving of the Wave 2 data, including concordance mapping with the HRS and ELSA over multiple waves. The archived data file will be made available for research use on the WHO's SAGE website. The period of performance is 12 months. The place of performance is primarily Geneva, Switzerland. Therefore based on the aforementioned facts, only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements FAR 6.302-1. The Government intends to select and evaluate and award the offer that represents the best value to the Government, price and all other factors considered. The acquisition is being conducted under FAR 12. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals. Interested parties may identify their interest and capabilities in response to this synopsis. The determination by the Government not to compete the proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely with the discretion of the Government. Comments to this announcement, referencing synopsis number NOI2688548 may be submitted to the NIDA, SS/SA Branch, 31 Center Drive, Room 1B59, Bethesda, MD 20892, Attention: Susan A. Nsangou, Contracting Off