Single Source Procurement: Mathematical Modeling the End of Aids in NYS
Pursuant to New York State Finance Law § 163.10(b), The New York State Department of Health is presenting the following summary of relevant circumstances, and material and substantial reasons why a competitive procurement was not feasible.
On June 29, 2014, Governor Cuomo made an important announcement, in which he detailed a three-point plan to "Bend the Curve" and move us closer to the end of the AIDS epidemic in New York State. The goal is to reduce the number of new HIV infections to just 750 (from an estimated 3,000) by 2020. The Governor's three-point plan includes:
- Identifying persons with HIV who remain undiagnosed and linking them to health care;
- Linking and retaining persons diagnosed with HIV in health care and maintaining them on antiretroviral therapy to maximize HIV viral load suppression so they remain healthy and to prevent further transmission; and
- Facilitating access to PrEP for high-risk HIV negative persons.
Ending the Epidemic (ETE) in NYS will maximize the availability of life-saving, transmission-interrupting treatment for HIV, saving lives and improving the health of New Yorkers. It will move NYS from a history of having the worst HIV epidemic in the country to a future where new infections are rare and those living with the disease live normal lifespans with few complications.
The New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute (AI) is requesting to contract with the State University of New York (SUNY) Research Foundation to adapt a scientifically validated Ending the Epidemic (ETE) mathematical model to develop calculations that are important to the overall effort. This model will address gaps in understanding of several key epidemiologic questions, such as:
- the percent of people living with HIV who are unaware of their infection,
- the degree to which various drivers of HIV transmission need to be influenced in order to achieve ETE goals,
- identifying how populations of interest will be affected by ETE's enhanced initiatives and the most plausible scenario for the distribution of cases as NYS implements ETE. Enhancing understanding of these questions will help program planners and policymakers target efforts strategically, comprehend the scope of New York's epidemic more thoroughly, and develop or tailor interventions that are most likely to have the greatest impact.
SUNY Research Foundation will produce materials (e.g. report, slide set) describing the mathematical model and results.
To implement this project, the AI requires a contractor with three characteristics:
- Prior experience with developing HIV models based on NYS surveillance data;
- Ability to begin work on the project immediately and complete it by Summer 2017, so that the data could be instructive within the critically time-sensitive ETE project period (which runs through the end of 2020);
- Possess close familiarity with previous HIV models utilized within the AIDS Institute.
SUNY Research Foundation is the only vendor who meets all three criteria. SUNY Research Foundation first developed and utilized an HIV model in consultation with the AI Division of Epidemiology, Evaluation, and Research in Fall 2012 to produce a technical report entitled "A System Dynamics-Based Evaluation of the New York State HIV Testing Law." Chapter 308 of NYS Laws of 2010 as they relate to HIV testing included a statutory requirement to evaluate the effects of the law; the technical report was an important component of the evaluation. SUNY Research Foundation, through this experience, clearly demonstrated the skills and capacity necessary to implement the project proposed in this request. No other organizations satisfy the required criteria.
| Procurement / Program Name | Mathematical Modeling the End of Aids in NYS |
|---|---|
| Contractor Name(s) | Research Foundation of SUNY Albany |
| Contract Period | 12/01/2015 - 3/31/2017 |
| Contract Number(s) | C030792 |
