Upstate KIDS CVD Support Contract

THIS IS A NOTICE OF INTENT, NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL A SOLICITATION DOCUMENT WILL NOT BE ISSUED AND PROPOSALS WILL NOT BE REQUESTED. The Epidemiology Branch (EPI), within the Division of Intramural Population Health Research (DIPHR) of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH), intends to negotiate a contract, entitled "Upstate KIDS CVD Follow-Up Support Contract". The contract will continue research to determine if children conceived by infertility treatments have increased cardio-metabolic risk compared to children conceived without treatment by continuing their follow-up through an the established cohort. This acquisition will be conducted on a sole source basis to the Health Research, Inc under the authority of 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(I), FAR 6.302-1 (a)(2) and HHSAR 306.302-1 (a)(2)(iv). The previous contract, was focused on empirically determining if infertility treatments, such as ovulation-stimulating medications and the various assisted reproductive technologies (ART), adversely affected the growth, motor and social development of children from birth through age three years, or if they are associated with differences in the timing or rate of infant child development. Only five studies have evaluated cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors among children/adolescents conceived by ART treatment and not with conflicting findings. None of these studies were conducted in the US and there was no examination of children conceived by treatments outside of ART along with a subfertile control group. We propose therefore to continue the longitudinal follow-up of children from the Upstate New York Infant Development Screening Program (Upstate KIDS) from ages 6-8 years to fill in these data gaps. The offeror will re-recruit participants from the original Upstate KIDS cohort; approximately 1100 children (singletons or twins) conceived by infertility treatment and 2100 children conceived naturally. A subgroup of children will undergo ~900 one-time (and ~100 repeated) in-home or clinic examinations of blood pressure, lipid testing, and adiposity. The first children to be recruited into the original study were born in late 2008 so that children will begin to turn 6 years old end of 2014. Follow-up will consist of annual questionnaires to mothers/guardians. Each child will once again receive a child health journal for capturing physician measured data. Home/Clinic visits will be used to collect measured data by trained technicians at one time point with repeated measure in a subgroup. Mailed specimen kits will be used to collect saliva close to age 8 years. The proposed follow-on contract will include additional activities that are to be executed concurrently with recruitment and recruitment retention from the previous contract. Accordingly, having another contractor independently recruit and establish relationships with current participants, conducting surveys, establishing a network and performing assessments would result in unacceptable delays, substantial duplication of effort, and increased costs to the Government. Transitioning to a new contractor during ongoing assessments, tracking study participants, and integration of multiple sources of data would substantially increase the burden on the study, the investigators, and participants. Thus, the current contractor has a well-defined knowledge of the functions and responsibilities required for this study, and possess a very important requisite which is; the qualified staff to continue performance without any impact or delay. As stated above, it is expected that the use of any other source for this requirement would result in substantial duplication of costs as well as additional time to develop the capability within another contractor's workforce that is not expected to be recovered through competition This is not a request for proposals. However, if any responsible source believes it can perform the above requirement, they may submit three (3) copies of their capability statement for consideration by the NICHD to Gilberto P'rez Rosa, Contract Specialist, NICHD, CMB, NIH, 6100 Executive Blvd., MSC 7510, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-7510 (or overnight courier: 6100 Executive Blvd. Rockville, Maryland 20852). Phone number: (301) 451-9698, and Fax number: (301) 402-3676. All responses must be received in writing and must contain material in sufficient detail to allow the NICHD to determine if the party can perform this requirement. The capability statement will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed requirement based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government