Population Health Research Support

The National Institutes of Health awarded a Master IDIQ for Population Health Research Support to the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development on September 26, 2018, with a shared ceiling of $95 million. Ordering against this vehicle closed on September 25, 2025, and is no longer active.

The vehicle funds research support services for population health initiatives spanning preconception through adulthood, including observational cohorts and intervention trials. Awarded task orders have focused heavily on pregnancy and neonatal health studies, including the Study of Pregnancy and Neonatal Health (SPAN) initiative and research on prenatal and childhood health disparities. Work is performed at academic medical centers nationwide.

Fifteen task orders worth $20.1 million in combined potential value have been awarded, with $16.4 million obligated (82% of potential value). Activity accelerated in 2024, when four orders were placed after a three-year lull; one order was issued in 2025 before the vehicle closed. Ordering momentum had peaked in 2019 and 2020, when three orders per year were typical.

University of Utah dominates the prime contractor base, holding five orders valued at $9.4 million combined. Duke University holds four orders worth $3.7 million; The Research Foundation for the State University of New York, Research Triangle Institute, and The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania each hold smaller shares. All 15 task orders are unrestricted (no set-aside). The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development is the sole customer agency across all orders.

Task orders are structured as cost-type deliverables, predominantly cost-no-fee pricing with occasional cost-plus-award-fee and cost-plus-fixed-fee arrangements. Individual order values range from $18 thousand to $4.6 million; recent multi-year efforts span two to three years. The most recent award, issued September 1, 2025, to University of Utah for final recruitment and follow-up on the SPAN initiative, carries a ceiling of $4.6 million with a completion date of August 31, 2028. Since this vehicle's ordering period has closed, new work would require a successor vehicle or a direct modification to an existing task order.

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Division of Intramural Population Health Research (DIPHR) has awarded a Master IDIQ for population health research centers. DIPHR aims to establish approximately three to five research support centers capable of implementing sophisticated initiatives, from preconception through adulthood, using scientifically valid and rigorous methodologies, to assist in the conduct of population health research initiatives. It is anticipated that initially 1-2 new research (observational cohorts and/or intervention trials) initiatives would be implemented each year utilizing one or more centers per initiative.