An intervention study on the effectiveness of the Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) advice in a panel of patients with implanted cardioverter defibrillators in Toronto

HEALTH CANADA ADVANCE CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE

TITLE:   An intervention study on the effectiveness of the Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) advice in a panel of patients with implanted cardioverter defibrillators in Toronto

SOLICITATION NUMBER:   1000173442

1.  The purpose and explanation of an ACAN

An Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) allows Health Canada contracting authorities to post a notice on the Government Electronic Tendering System (GETS), 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

University of Toronto
Office of Research Services
McMurrich Building, 3rd Floor
12 Queen’s Park Crescent West
Toronto, ON  M5S 1S8

4.  Definition of Requirements or Expected Results

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the actual effectiveness of the Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) as an intervention in reducing cardiovascular risks, by randomly assigning half of study participants to reduce outdoor activity on selected days in accordance with advice provided through the AQHI.  

The secondary objective of this study is to investigate the associations between daily exposure to outdoor O3, NO2 and PM2.5 and AQHI and variations in arrhythmia parameters as well as other cardiovascular outcomes in this panel of cardiac patients.

(1)	Recruiting a panel of patients who wear implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) and live and work in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to participate in a health study to evaluate the actual effectiveness of the Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) in reducing health risks of patients;
(2)	Administering informed consent on the patients;
(3)	Following patients for 70 days to conduct daily measures of blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen saturation;
(4)	Recording patients’ daily activities, health conditions, and medication use;
(5)	Recording, downloading and then organizing arrhythmia parameters in the ICD device.
(6)	Collecting outdoor air pollution data in GTA;
(7)	Entering all data into appropriate databases
(8)	Conducting statistical analyses.

5.  Minimum requirements

Any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a Statement of Capabilities that it meets the following minimum requirements: 

1.	The Contractor must have access to a large number of implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) patients who live and work in Toronto.

2.	The Contractor must have the expertise to download and interpret arrhythmia data.

3.	The Contractor must have the infrastructure and expertise to conduct cardiovascular health measurements on patients and enter data into a database, organize data and conduct quality control/quality assurance on the data.

4.	The Contractor must have access to hourly and daily air pollution data in GTA, and the expertise to collect and manage air pollution data.

5.	The contractor shall have accounting and contracting infrastructure, and be capable of completing such a study within the allotted time frame.

6.	The project team shall consist of an experienced study coordinator, a cardiologist, and field staff capable of adhering to all standard operating procedures.  The study coordinator will be responsible for setting up the facilities, hiring field staff, and recruiting participant.  At least three research assistants capable of adhering to all standard operating procedures are required.

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:

(d)	Only One Person or Firm is capable of performing the contract.

The University of Toronto is the only institute that meets all of the minimum requirements.  The university was also a co-author of the proposal that secured the funding for this project under the Clean Air Regulatory Agenda (CARA) Research.

7.  Applicable trade agreements and justification for limited tendering or the Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business

This contract is a health study and therefore is not subject to either the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or World Trade Organization - Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-GPA).  It is however subject to the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT).  This requirement is subject to limited tendering procedures in accordance with:

-	 AIT, Article 506.12 (b).
	
which allows for contracts to be directed to a particular firm when the products or services can be supplied only by a particular supplier and no reasonable alternative or substitute exists.


8.  Ownership of Intellectual Property

Copyright shall vest with the Contractor, although the Contractor shall grant the Crown a license to exercise all Intellectual Property Rights in the Materiel for any public purpose.

9.  Period of the proposed contract

The contract period shall be from date of contract award until March 31, 2016. 

10.  Estimated value of the proposed contract

 
The total estimated value of the proposed contract should not exceed $155,127.00, including all applicable taxes.  However, there will be an option to extend the contract for two additional years at $248,385.00 for Fiscal Year 2016-17 and $5,000.00 for the Fiscal Year 2017-18, making the potential total value of this contract $408,512.00

11. Closing date and time 

The closing date and time for accepting Statements of Capabilities is 2nd  of July 2015, 2 p.m. EDT).

12.  Contact Person

All inquiries with regard to this Notice must be addressed by e-mail to:

Name:   Robert Merrick
E-Mail:    Robert.Merrick@hc-sc.gc.ca