A -- Follow-Up of the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children w/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (MTA)

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) intends to negotiate, on a sole source basis, one award to each of the seven clinical sites identified as the MTA Group. The MTA Group consists of the following: (1) NYU Child Study Center, NY, NY; (2) New York State Psychiatric Institute, NY, NY; (3) University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA; (4) University of Pittsburgh, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Pittsburgh, PA; (5) University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA; (6) McGill University, Montreal Children's Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada and (7) Duke University, Durham, NC. Each award will consist of one base year and four, twelve-month option years. These contracts will allow for an extended follow-up on the subjects who participated in the initial MTA study and the normative control group by providing for the collection of follow-up data, the transfer of that data to a data management center and recommendations about which statistical analysis to conduct on the follow-up data collected. As ADHD is a chronic condition requiring long-term treatment, it is important to collect long-term data on the effects of treatment. The MTA Group offers a unique opportunity because it contains a large number of well diagnosed and characterized children who were randomly assigned to receive different treatments for an extended period of time, and a matched control group, at different geographical sites. The authority to conduct negotiations with only one source (the MTA Group or 7 sites) is 41U.S.C. 253(c)(1), as set forth in FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(ii) and HHSAR 306-302-1(a)(2)(ii). The MTA Group has unique capabilities to perform the services required by this acquisition. Foremost, this Group has access to a large number of children who have been treated for ADHD in a controlled trial. Over the past eight years, these sites have worked to recruit, evaluate, and treat a large sample of children with ADHD, a matched control group, and their families. The investigators, at these sites, have established and successfully maintained over the years therapeutic relationships with these families and their children. The investigators have remained in contact with most of the study participants through periodic re-evaluations. Considering the unique personal and treatment relationships that have been established over time between the investigators and these families, it is not feasible to have another contractor go through the process of establishing new working relationships with these families in order to collect the necessary follow-up data. Based on historical data from other studies, it is known that a large number of families would not participate in a non-treatment follow-up study if the follow-up study is conducted by a contractor who had not been directly involved in their initial treatment. This would result in decreasing the amount of data collected and compromise the statistical validity of the follow-up study. Based on these considerations, it is determined that a full and open competitive award is not deemed to be in the Government's best interest for this acquisition. See Number Note 22. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS OR QUOTATIONS. No Contract will be awarded on the basis of offers received in response to this notice. All inquiries and concerns must be addressed in writing to: Roshawn Simpson, Contract Specialist, via email: [email protected]. TELEPHONE AND FACSIMILE INQUIRIES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.