Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is a complex, lifelong condition that affects individuals from all walks of life, as well as their families, friends and caregivers. To address components of these challenges, the Public Health Agency of Canada (the Agency) received a mandate to establish the Developmental Disorders Surveillance Unit in 2010; this mandate has been supported with funding and an expressed priority for the Minister of Health. In response, the Unit seeks to develop and implement a National Autism Surveillance System (NASS) in order to help guide the development of programs that improve the lives of Canadians living with ASD provide by generating reliable information on the burden. The program is at a key junction as decisions regarding core elements of the surveillance system for ASD are required.
More recently, the Agency moved from planning to the commencement of implementation of the National Autism Surveillance system through letters of invitation to provincial and territorial governments. With this change, expectations have grown placing increased demand on staff to provide the requisite capacity support to partners and other stakeholders. With this area of study (autism) being relatively new to the Agency, knowledge and context is still at an early state. To supplement the activities of the Agency staff and to maintain current timelines, additional support is required. To capitalize on the experience of other existing Canadian organizations’ efforts in national ASD surveillance and to maintain continuity with past practices within the autism surveillance community, the Agency seeks to enter into a contract for consulting and analytical services in key areas of national ASD surveillance.
