Evaluating and understanding cigarette smoking, nicotine vaping, and policies on both products among adults in Canada in the international context

ADVANCE CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE (ACAN)

Title: Evaluating and understanding cigarette smoking, nicotine vaping, and policies on both products among adults in Canada in the international context
Solicitation Number: 1000251981

1. The Purpose and Explanation of an ACAN
An Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) allows Health Canada to post a notice for no less than fifteen (15) calendar days, indicating to the supplier community that a goods, services 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 minimum requirements identified in the ACAN, the Contracting Authority may then proceed to award a contract to the pre-identified contractor.

2. Rights of Suppliers
Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to provide the services or goods described in this ACAN may submit a Statement of Capabilities 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 the Bidder can clearly demonstrate they possess the required capabilities, the requirement will be opened to electronic or traditional bidding processes.

3. Proposed Contractor
Legal Name of Applicant Organization: University of Waterloo
Primary Address: 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1 Canada.

4. Definition of Requirements or Expected Results
Having robust, reliable information on the effects of these efforts in reducing tobacco use is critical to informing current and potential future policy development aimed at achieving the ‘5% by 2035’ target. Over the past decade, there have been significant changes in the landscape of nicotine products in Canada and globally with the emergence of alternative nicotine delivery products such as vaping products and nicotine pouches. There is an urgent need to understand the overall public health impact of these products as well as policies and industry actions that impact the use of these products.

The contractor is required to have followed a longitudinal cohort of Canadians 18 and over and at least 3 comparator countries including the US and England who smoke since at least 2016 before the emergence of vaping. The cohort must have at least 4 collection points and the Canadian sample include participants from each province and a total sample of each wave of at least 1500 respondents made up of return to sample and replenishment.

The survey will provide and must have followed since at least 2016
• Information on current smoking, participants smoking and quitting histories
• Use of cessation products
• Detailed patterns of use of alternative nicotine delivery products and their role in smoking cessation
• Brands of cigarettes, brands, flavours and device characteristics for alternative nicotine delivery products
• Associations between updated health warnings and successfully quitting smoking
• Sources and prices of cigarettes and alternative nicotine delivery products
• Use of other substances (cannabis/alcohol) either on the same occasion or within the past 30 days

The contractor will undertake the following tasks to conduct a among a cohort of adults who smoke, vape, both smoke and vape, and who have recently quit smoking.
1. Develop the survey in English.
a. Review statistics of key questions from the previous wave of survey data for insights on their “performance.”
b. Propose changes in the survey content: questions to be added and questions to be dropped; retained questions to be edited.
2. Program the English survey.
3. Translate the survey into French.
4. Test the programmed English survey.
5. Program and overlay the French survey.
6. Test the programmed French survey.
7. Health Canada to test programmed survey in French and English.
8. Ensure the survey firm meets user group quotas .
9. Obtain ethics clearances on survey instruments, protocols, and other survey materials at relevant Research Ethics, Privacy and Security Boards.
10. Launch the pilot test and check data quality for the English and French surveys.
11. Launch the full survey in English and French.
12. Process, clean, and link data to previous cycles.
13. Construct survey weights (both cross-sectional and longitudinal).
14. Create topline statistics for checking.
15. Verify survey data and survey questions
16. Release weighted data.
17. Plan the initial analyses in consultation with Health Canada.
18. Execute the analyses and writeup of reports in accordance with Health Canada’s specifications.

5. Minimum Requirements
Any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a Statement of Capabilities that it meets the following minimum requirements:
a) The contractor must have conducted at least 4 waves of a longitudinal cohort since 2016 on smoking and vaping behaviors in Canada and comparable survey data in at least 3 other countries including the US and England. The survey waves must provide linked data across the previous and proposed wave describing:
a. Information on current smoking, participants smoking and quitting histories
b. Use of cessation products
c. Detailed patterns of use of alternative nicotine delivery products and their role in smoking cessation
d. Brands of cigarettes, brands, flavours and device characteristics for alternative nicotine delivery products
e. Associations between updated health warnings and successfully quitting smoking
f. Sources and prices of cigarettes and alternative nicotine delivery products
g. Use of other substances (cannabis and or alcohol) either on the same occasion or within the past 30 days
b) The previous and proposed wave must include at least 1500 respondents nationally in Canada and include all 10 provinces.

6. Reason for Non-Competitive Award
Section 6 of the Government Contracts Regulations contains four exceptions that permit the contracting authority to set aside the requirement to solicit bids. For the proposed procurement, the following exception applies:
6d) Only one person or firm is capable of performing the contract

7. Applicability of the trade agreement(s) to the procurement
This procurement is subject to the following trade agreements:
• Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA)
• Revised World Trade Organization - Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-AGP)
• Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)
• Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)
• Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA)
• Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement
• Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement
• Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement
• Canada-Panama Free Trade Agreement
• Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA)
• Canada-United Kingdom Trade Continuity Agreement (Canada-UK TCA)
• Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA)

8. Ownership of Intellectual Property
Contractor to Own Intellectual Property Rights in Foreground Information if they will exist.

9. Period of the Proposed Contract
The contract period shall be from date of contract award until (Date: 31 March 2025).

10. Estimated Value of the Proposed Contract
The total estimated value of the proposed contract should not exceed $ 700,000, 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 January 29, 2024 at 2 p.m. EST.

12. Contact Person
All enquiries must be addressed by e-mail to:
Name: Beverly Shawana
E-Mail: beverly.shawana@hc-sc.gc.ca