HIG SST Point of Care Subscription, (VA-18-00019976)
Page 7 of 9 Statement of Work Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Health Administration HIG SST Point of Care Clinical Decision Support Resource July 2018 General Information Introduction: The Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA), Veterans Health Administration (DVA), requires online access to a commercial, off-the-shelf, point of care (POC) clinical information subscription that will be made available throughout the DVA healthcare system. Access shall include Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits for the POC databases, remote access via OpenAthens accounts, and mobile platforms to include various popular hand-held devices, for all physicians and all other health care providers across the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA). These databases will serve to assist health care providers in their clinical decision making and drug information needs. Performance Period: One (1) year, plus four (4) one (1) year option periods to be exercised at the discretion of the Government. Background: The DVA, which includes 153 medical centers, affiliated Community Based Outpatient Clinics, and other physical work and off-site locations, requires online web access to searchable medical and drug references for retrieval of current, authoritative, and evidence-based medicine information for health care providers and patients. Electronic medical references reduce the need for multiple individual hard copies of expensive print resources and allow for cross searching multiple clinical information resources. This method provides a more efficient manner of retrieving medically necessary information to meet the clinical mission of providing quality care to Veterans within the DVA Network. Health care providers need these online tools to be available on VA networked and non-VA networked computers, both onsite and offsite, as well as on mobile devices, to have health information available to provide care for patients. All VA Medical Centers have access to nationally purchased databases and resources that are made available through the VA Library Network Office (LNO). These databases include already subscribed content from: Clinical Key, OVID MD, the Access Suite from McGraw Hill, and many others. The POC database required in this statement of work are to complement these resources. These resources provide patient health information that is printable and can be provided to Veteran patients, their family members and caregivers. 2.1 Objectives The desired goals of the nationwide provision of a COTS point-of-care clinical decision support resource are as follows: Provide Links to Full Text Journals/Articles to the 153 separate VA-wide Serials Solutions accounts (https://www.va.gov/LIBRARY/Find_Journals_and_Books.asp) that each medical center is provided by the VA Library Network Office (LNO). This access is for the full utilization of the 7,000 journal titles the LNO provides VA-wide (plus local journals subscriptions), and provides valuable interoperability to the clinical information the VA already possesses. Integrate with the National Library of Medicine PubMed s Linkout functionality (https://www.va.gov/Library/Find_a_Database.asp#pubmed. Provide direct links to the full scope of nearly all of the LNO s subscribed journal content and subscribed-to databases, such as VisualDX, from within the product, which improves efficiency, enhances patient care, and minimizes disruptions to the essential clinical workflow. VisualDX is a commercial, web-based Point-of-Care Dermatology and Diagnostic Clinical Decision Support Software Product utilized nationwide throughout the VHA Healthcare System. Initiate a nationwide, centralized purchase to capitalize on the economies of scale offered by the vendor. Negotiate one license/contract to decrease the current contracting and reviewing efforts that are required at the facility and/or VISN level and thereby avoid the costs and workload associated with multiple procurements. Make the point-of-care clinical decision support product available through the Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS), the VA s electronic health record, nationwide, to insure uniform and consistent access to high-quality health care at the bedside for all VHA health professionals and staff. Scope of Work: The contractor shall provide all resources necessary to meet the requirements described in this statement of work for an online, commercial, off-the-shelf, point of care (POC) clinical information resource subscription. The contractor shall ensure that the POC database includes Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits. The contractor shall provide 24/7 online web access to the POC subscription as stated herein for staff at facilities in the DVA (via IP), to their mobile devices (via Apps or mobile websites), or to their remote work areas (via IP or OpenAthens). The contractor shall provide a POC clinical information subscription which addresses the following requirements and salient characteristics: Summaries and recommendations are provided, giving very specific and summarized statements that allow for ease of readability; User-friendly login and search engine; Efficiency, timeliness, and ease of navigation through search results; Comprehensive disease state information, management, diagnosis, and treatment; Summary of new or changing therapies; Links to full text articles; Tools to aid in information retrieval assessment (e.g. medical calculators, tables, graphics); Platform to easily record, track, and redeem CME/CE credits with each topic review; Vendor-provided original patient information at a basic level (two levels of reading level is preferred); Sources are from vendor produced and updated information; Different types of treatment are clearly labeled within the table of contents; Content covers pathophysiology, diagnosis, prognosis, etiology, laboratory tests, and recommended treatment of medical conditions with grading of evidence, if appropriate; Provides content that is synthesized into clear and concise answers; Provides information about laboratory tests including normative values, contraindications and risks. Continuing Medical Education (CME) included: Users shall be able to track CME activity after establishing an account as provided by the contractor. All username/password and account maintenance shall be the responsibility of the contractor. Accreditation providers shall include a majority of the following: Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). American Medical Association (AMA). American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA). American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). American Osteopathic Association (AOA). American Midwifery Certification Board (AMCB). National Board of Certification and Recertification of Nurse Anesthetists (NBCRNA). Maintenance of Certification (MOC) included: Users shall be able to track MOC activity after establishing an account as provided by the contractor. All username/password and account maintenance shall be the responsibility of the contractor. Accreditation providers shall include a majority of the following: American Board of Internal Medicine. American Board of Medical Specialties MOC Directory. MOC Part II CME Activity included: Users shall be able to track MOC Part II CME activity after establishing an account as provided by the contractor. All username/password and account maintenance shall be the responsibility of the contractor. Accreditation providers shall include a majority of the following: American Board of Allergy and Immunology. American Board of Anesthesiology. American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery. American Board of Family Medicine. American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. American Board of Preventive Medicine. American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. American Board of Thoracic Surgery. American Board of Surgery. The contractor shall provide 24/7 license rights for immediate access to multiple simultaneous users from any web-enabled computer and mobile device. The database shall provide multiple simultaneous users, via one interface and one search platform, extensive evidence-based and peer-reviewed information on the following specialty areas including, but not limited to: Adult Emergency Medicine. Adult Primary Care and Internal Medicine. Allergy and Immunology. Anesthesiology. Cardiovascular Medicine. Dermatology. Endocrinology and Diabetes. Family Medicine and General Practice. Gastroenterology and Hepatology. General Surgery. Geriatrics. Hematology. Hospice and Palliative Care. Hospital Medicine. Infectious Diseases. Nephrology and Hypertension. Neurology. Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women s Health. Oncology. Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine. Content presentation and provision shall be appropriate for a large-scale teaching hospital s usage and relevant to its medical education curriculum. Content shall be appropriate to use in the development of an educational curriculum, not solely developed for the practicing physicians use.   Content shall be presented with/in a scholarly based approach. It shall be developed and presented with concise and expansive evidence-based information and not in a recipe book or short answer format. Content shall provide insight to an understanding of the clinical application of the diagnosis and treatment of specialty areas in medicine. Content must be in a narrative format suitable for health sciences students, residents, and fellows to educate themselves on point of care/clinical topics. An overall academic based approach is required in the presentation and content of the clinical information. Theory/Clinical Insights/Understanding methods are presented and included in the content provided. The POC information shall be written for a wide range of health professionals, but is targeted to internal medicine and related specialists. Designed to provide concise, practical answers (with recommendations with lists of evidence grades), the topics are written exclusively for clinicians in a minimum of 17 different medical specialties. Content is comprised of topic reviews written by recognized physician experts who address specific topics, synthesize research and make recommendations for treatment in their area of expertise. For content written by participating physicians, a wide range of medical journals are searched regularly along with the biomedical databases and hand-searching of the literature. Content shall be written and reviewed by expert physicians in their specialty and peer-reviewed by other experts in the specialty.  Credentials and affiliations of the authors and reviews shall be included in the content, and potential conflicts of interest clearly delineated. Authors or content experts for each section shall be recognizable as experts in that field. Components of the clinical topic review (diseases, conditions, symptoms, and other presentations) shall include the following information fields: Date of record/review update for each entry. Author(s)/editor(s) of record/review update for each entry. Author(s)/editor(s) credentials for each entry. Author(s)/editor(s) affiliation of record/review update for each entry. Specialty peer reviewer(s), credentials & affiliation of record/review update for each entry. General Information/Overview. Epidemiology/Incidence/Prevalence/Causes/Risk Factors. Pathophysiology. Diagnosis/Prognosis/Treatment/Laboratory Tests/Complications/Prevention/Screening. Information for patients written at various levels to meet the varying needs of patients. Hyperlinks to MEDLINE abstracts within the body of the record and in record/review references section. Graphics (figures, pictures, graphs, tables, etc.) integrated into record/review that can be printed or exported. References/Guidelines section with hyperlinks to MEDLINE abstracts. Hyperlinks to related record/review topics. Summary/Recommendations with grading. Ability and ease of remote connection. Updates of content at no additional cost. Static URL for access within DVA IP firewall and account login and password for access outside DVA IP firewall. Outside of IP firewall access, the contractor shall adhere to the OpenAthens time period for verification of (1) authorized user access; and, for (2) CME tracking. Currently, the OpenAthens accounts are established for a 2-year renewal cycle for permanent employees and a self-reported service expiration date for non-permanent employees, not to exceed 2 years. Justification for alternative time periods must be provided and acceptable to the LNO. The electronic reference must be easily accessible remotely by mobile devices and non-VA equipment for employees of the DVA. The contractor shall provide usage statistics on a monthly basis. The format of the usage statistics is provided either via email or contractor provided login username/password and shall include session count, search count, total document retrievals per title, top topics searched, method of access (onsite, remote, mobile), and a breakdown by IP/medical center is required. The contractor shall conduct online national webinars and provide online tutorials. Contractor shall also provide on-site training, briefings, and updates to facilities within the DVA Network as requested. If a plug-in, additional software or recommended software is required for optimal use, specific requirements must be included. Contractor shall address any questions or problems encountered when using this product with supported software or hardware. Access, Content, Support: The contractor shall assure: The product is 508 compliant (http://www.section508.gov/). If product is not 508 compliant, the contractor shall describe measures being taken to bring product into compliance and date, within 12 months of contract award, that product will be 508 compliant. Or, if product is not 508 compliant, the contractor shall describe why no work is being done to make it 508 compliant. The product is compatible Internet Explorer and with most other standard web browsers, which have cookies enabled. To insure privacy, the product uses session cookies rather than persistent cookies. The product is compatible with the Windows environment. All site content and support of the web site is the responsibility of the contractor. This includes tech support to VHA users nationwide. The system shall be accessible 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. System downtime is minimal and VA project manager is notified when such occurs. Information is easily printable. The product s licensing agreement permits authorized VA users free use for educational purposes of all pictures and graphics, and allows sharing of content with other authorized VA users, including emailing among VA colleagues. A single point of contact (and back-up) is assigned to the VA project manager, and available via telephone and email during normal business hours (Eastern time zone; 8:00-5:00). Questions involving website/connectivity issues are responded to within two (2) business days. A toll-free number, email address, chat, and online query capability are provided to users. Usage statistics (on an IP and enterprise level) and records of technical service requests are available to the VA project manager, upon request, in a mutually agreed upon format to be determined in the project kick-off meeting. The product is accessible via a variety of personal mobile devices including Apple and Android devices. Additional Customer Support Requirements: Direct Technical and Customer support for approx. 30,000 users. A single primary point of contact for customer service issues is named, available by both phone and email, and assigned to LNO Program Manager or its representative. At least one alternate contact is provided for absences of the provided single primary point of contact. A single primary point of contact (and alternate) shall be supplied for the POC resource, and shall follow all of the following terms: The single primary point of contact shall be available via telephone and email during normal business hours and shall not have excessive business travel or all-day training commitments. Any scheduled out of office time must be notified to the LNO Program Manager with a minimum of two (2) weeks notice. The contractor shall provide technical support telephone numbers and email addresses. Customer service shall be available to troubleshoot website/connectivity issues via telephone and email. Issues unresolved within one (1) business day shall be reported via email to the LNO at vhalno@va.gov. The contractor s primary and alternate points of contact shall be fully educated and familiar with the physical and administrative structure of the nation-wide DVA system see: https://www.va.gov/landing2_locations.htm.  For example, if a user from Jesse Brown VA Medical Center (VAMC) calls with an issue, the contractor s primary and alternate points of contact shall know that the user is in the city of Chicago, in the state of Illinois, and that the Jesse Brown VAMC is part of Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 12: VA Great Lakes Health Care System, in Westchester, IL.   The contractor s POCs shall provide monthly reports to the LNO Program Manager of technical service requests provided to VA customers. The contractor s POCs shall meet with the LNO Program Manager via conference call to review reports (date/time/frequency TBD). Each report shall provide at a minimum the following columns in Excel format with: Reference #. Date Created. First Assigned Technical Service Representative. Customer Full Name. Email Address of customer.        Issue/Request Statement. Status. Result. Other information per Contractor choice. Optional Task - UpToDate Advanced The contractor shall provide 24/7 online web access to the UpToDate Advanced interactive decision support tool for staff at facilities in the DVA (via IP), to their mobile devices (via Apps or mobile websites), or to their remote work areas (via IP or OpenAthens).. Awarded Vendors: UPTODATE, INC.;230 THIRD AVE;WALTHAM;MA;02451. Contract Award Dollar Amount: $4,416,897.00. Contract Award Date: 2018-08-31.
36E77618Q9134 Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Information Service Center
9/14/18, 4:13 PM HIG SST Point of Care Subscription (VA-18-00019976)
Added: Apr 11, 2018 3:31 pm
Notice of Intent to Sole Source
HIG SST Point of Care (POC) Subscription
Special Notice 36E77618Q9134_1
The Department of Veterans Affairs, Program Contract Activity - Central intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under the authority of FAR 6.302-1(a)(2), Only One Responsible Source Available, no other source will satisfy agency requirements.
The Veterans Affairs intends to solicit and negotiate with Wolters Kluwer for the purchase of point of care clinical UpToDate Subscription The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veterans Health Administration (VHA) requires an existing, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS), web-based, electronic subscription to UpToDate, an evidence-based, point-of-care (POC), clinical decision support database resource (product) from Wolters Kluwer, that will be used throughout the VHA healthcare system by multiple simultaneous users, via one interface and one search platform. The UpToDate POC COTS product is a comprehensive database covering a wide range of medical specialties. The NAICS code for this requirement is 519130.
UpToDate s resource provides an evidence-based, comprehensive, integrated differential diagnosis and treatment database that provides information in a narrative format rather than outline or bulleted information. The UpToDdate product comprehensively contributes to the requirements of the VA s teaching mission.
This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals. However, any responsible source who believes it is capable of meeting the requirement may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation, which shall be considered by the agency, only if received by the closing date and time of this notice. A determination not to compete the proposed requirement based upon the responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the government.
Responses to this notice are due April 25, 2018 no later than 10:00 AM (EST)
Point of contact for this notice is Richard Webb, who can be reached by email at Richard.Webb3@va.gov or Andrea.Fink@va.gov
Contracting Office Address: Department of Veteran Affairs Program Contracting Activity Central 6150 Oak Tree Blvd., Suite 300 Independence, Ohio 44131
36E77618Q9134 Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Information Service Center
4/11/18, 3:31 PM HIG SST Point of Care, Drug Database, & Diagnostic Tool Subscription (VA-18-00019976)
Added: Feb 08, 2018 10:52 am
Page 2 of 2
Sources Sought Notice: 36E77618Q9134
HIG SST Point of Care (POC), Drug Database (DDB), & Diagnostic Tool (DT) Subscription
Introduction:
In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.215-3, Request for Information or Solicitation for Planning Purposes This Sources Sought/Request for Information (SS/RFI) is for information and planning purposes only at this time and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Although the terms "proposal" and/or "Offeror" may be used in this SS/RFI, any response will be treated as information only.
Requirements:
See attached Draft Statement of Work (SOW) (ATTACHMENT A).
The Government anticipates soliciting a Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP), single award, contract with a base period of performance of 12 months and four (4) twelve (12) months option periods.
Submittal Information:
Contractors having ability to perform the stated requirements should submit a single spaced, 12 point font minimum, response to the information identified in the Sources Sought Notice. Please also submit a cover page which includes, at a minimum, the company s name, address, Dunn & Bradstreet (DUNS) number, General Service Administration (GSA) contract number (if applicable), point-of-contact name, phone number, and e-mail address.
Companies shall provide clear and unambiguous evidence to substantiate their capability to fulfill the requirements outlined in this Sources Sought Notice.
Please provide Company business size and status - (i.e., Large Business, Small Business, Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, Veteran Owned Small Business, Women-Owned Small Business, etc.) Any affiliate information (parent company, joint venture partners, potential teaming partners, and VA Mentor Protégé Program membership status), as well as the number of years in business should also be provided.
It is requested that the above information be provided no later than Friday, March 9, 2018, 10:00AM EST. Responses should be emailed to Richard Webb at Richard.webb3@va.gov. All Email Correspondence for this project must reference the Sources Sought Number, Project Identifier and Project Title in the subject line of the email. Example: Sources Sought Notice: 36E77618Q9134
HIG SST Point of Care (POC), Drug Database (DDB), & Diagnostic Tool (DT) Subscription. No phone calls will be accepted.
RESULTS INFORMATION: Sources Sought responses will not be returned; neither will Respondents be notified of the Government's evaluation of the information received. The Government may incorporate into the final version of the SOW any information or comment resulting from this request that is determined to be useful. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted under this Sources Sought.
DISCLAIMER:
This Sources Sought Notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation. All information received in response to this Sources Sought that is marked as proprietary will be handled accordingly. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this Sources Sought Notice.
Primary Point of Contact:
Richard Webb, Contract Specialist
E-Mail: Richard.webb3@va.gov
Alternate Contact:
Andrea Fink, Contract Officer
E-Mail: Andrea.Fink@va.gov
See attached document: 2018 SOW - HIG SST Point of Care (POC), Drug Database (DDB), & Diagnostic Tool (DT) Subscription.
36E77618Q9134 Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Information Service Center
2/8/18, 10:52 AM