HEALTH CANADA ADVANCE CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE
TITLE: Bayesian Modelling of Air Pollution Exposures and Health Outcomes in the BORN Birth Cohort and ICES Administrative Health Datasets
SOLICITATION NUMBER: 1000161987
1. The purpose and explanation of an ACAN
An Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) allows Health Canada contracting authorities to post a notice on Buy and Sell, for no less than fifteen (15) calendar days, indicating to the supplier community that a good, service or construction contract will be awarded to a pre-identified contractor. If no other supplier submits, on or before the closing date, a Statement of Capabilities that meets the requirements set out in the ACAN, the contracting authority may then proceed with the award. However, should a Statement of Capabilities be found to meet the requirements set out in the ACAN, then the contracting authority will proceed to a full tendering process.
2. Rights of suppliers
Suppliers who believe that they are fully qualified and available to provide the services or goods described in this ACAN may submit a Statement of Capabilities clearly demonstrating how they meet the advertised requirement. This Statement of Capabilities must be provided via e-mail only to the contact person identified in Section 12 of the Notice on or before the closing date and time of the Notice. If there is a reasonable level of evidence regarding capability, the requirements will be opened to electronic or traditional bidding processes.
3. Proposed Contractor
Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus
1053 Carling Avenue, Box 684
Administrative Services Building - 1st Floor
Ottawa, ON K1Y 4E9
4. Definition of Requirements or Expected Results
- Development of Bayesian models adapted from the ones reported by Warren et al. (2012) and Roberts and English (2012) to examine associations between air pollutants (NO2, PM2.5, and O3) and allergic disease outcomes. These models will then be applied to the linked BORN cohort created by ICES to identify vulnerable periods during pregnancy and first year of life when exposure to air pollution is more likely to result in childhood asthma and allergic diseases and evaluate interactions with aeroallergens.
- Development Bayesian models as above to examine associations between air pollutants and autism, and apply these models in the linked BORN cohort created by ICES to identify vulnerable periods during pregnancy and first year of life when exposure to air pollution is more likely to result in the development of autism.
- Development of Bayesian models as above to examine associations between air pollutants and adverse birth outcomes, which will be applied to the linked BORN cohort created by ICES to identify vulnerable periods during pregnancy and first year of life when exposure to air pollution is more likely to result in adverse birth outcomes.
- Provision of all SAS, R, and BUGS code used to generate and apply the aforementioned models.
5. Minimum requirements
Any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a Statement of Capabilities that it meets the following minimum requirements:
a) The supplier must have experience (at least 5 years in the last 8 years) conducting and publishing statistical analyses of perinatal and childhood health outcomes using large (N > 100,000 individuals) administrative datasets, as well as proven knowledge and expertise in the analysis of administrative health datasets for Ontario, Canada.
b) The supplier must have experience (at least 5 years in the last 8 years) in conducting and publishing of statistical analyses using proprietary datasets owned and managed by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES), including proven expertise in the statistical analysis of data from Better Outcomes Registry and Network (BORN), Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) database, Canadian Institute for Health Information Discharge Abstract Database (CIHI-DAD), and the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS).
c) The supplier must have current access to and use of proprietary datasets owned and managed by ICES including: BORN, OHIP, CIHI-DAD, NACRS, Registered People Database (RPDB), Mother-Baby (MOMBABY) Linked Database, and the Ontario Mental Health Reporting System (OMHRS), as well as access to a linked dataset containing individual level information about health outcomes and confounders from all of the aforementioned data sources.
d) The supplier must have experience (at least 5 years in the last 8 years) conducting and publishing advanced statistical modelling of health data including proven expertise in the following statistical techniques: logistic regression, Poisson regression, Cox proportional hazards regression, as well as linear and non-linear mixed effects models.
e) The supplier must have experience (at least 5 years in the last 8 years) conducting and publishing statistical analyses and modelling in epidemiologic studies using Statistical Analysis System (SAS) software.
f) The supplier must have experience (at least 5 years in the last 8 years) conducting and publishing statistical analyses in epidemiologic studies using R software.
g) The supplier must have experience (at least 1 year in the last 5 years) conducting statistical analyses using Bayesian inference Using Gibbs Sampling (BUGS) software.
6. Reason for non-competitive award
As per Section 6 of the Government Contracts Regulations (Treasury Board Secretariat Contracting Policy, Appendix B) or the limited tendering is only one person/ firm capable of performing the contract.
7. Applicable trade agreements
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA); the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT)
8. Ownership of Intellectual Property
Contractor will own the IP
9. Period of the proposed contract
The services of the Contractor will be required from contract award for approximately (two years); the expected completion date of this project is the 15th day of March, 2016.
10. Estimated value of the proposed contract
The total estimated value of the proposed contract should not exceed $107,500.00, including travel and living expenses (if applicable), and all applicable taxes.@
11. Closing date and time
The closing date and time for accepting Statements of Capabilities is July 9, 2014 at 2:00 PM EDT.
12. Contact Person
All inquiries with regard to this Notice must be addressed by e-mail to:
Name: Cheryl Moss
E-Mail: c••••••••@•••••.••.ca
