PE Program, Integration & Lessons Learned
Added: Dec 13, 2011 3:52 pm
Sources Sought VA-701-12-I- 0054
Health Information Operations and Services
Office of Health Information
Veterans Health Administration
Product Effectiveness Program Functional Review, Lessons Learned, and Integration Services
I. Introduction:
This sources sought notice is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). VA is currently conducting market research to locate qualified, experienced and interested potential sources. Responses will not be considered as proposals, nor will any award be incurred by interested parties responding to this Sources Sought Notice.
The purpose of this Sources Sought is to seek interested sources (Contractors) for near-future solicitation(s) and procurement(s) for Product Effectiveness (PE) organization and assist in measuring the results of IT investments and providing guidance for future IT investments. Responders to this Sources Sought Notice may be invited for a Vendor Information Day with the Government to provide a more comprehensive explanation of capabilities.
These requirements include support for the following three (3) domains:
Functional Review (FR)
Establish a collaborative quality gate and concurrence process throughout the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) to help identify and prevent problems before they become prohibitively expensive, in both time and cost, to correct.
Lessons Learned (LL)
Increase the effectiveness of VHA IT products by providing decision makers with valuable knowledge and information from previous and on-going program efforts and product implementation projects. This knowledge will support evidence-based decision making at all levels of Veterans Health Administration (VHA) by providing guidance for future IT investments by:
1. Capturing relevant input
2. Facilitating an analysis of that input
3. Storing lessons learned that are derived from that analysis
4. Disseminating lessons learned to targeted audiences
Product Effectiveness (PE) Integration
Coordinates and facilitates the provision of multiple services to integrate the four (4) programs within Product Effectiveness to provide an integrated service approach to PE's VHA customers.
At this time, no solicitation exists. Therefore, DO NOT REQUEST A COPY OF THE SOLICITATION.
II. Background:
The Government Performance and Results Act (1993) and the Clinger-Cohen Act (1996) require Federal executive agencies to measure the results of their major programs and to establish processes to measure the contribution of their Information Technology (IT) investments to mission results. The Lessons Learned (LL) Program was established March 2007 within the PE organization to assist in measuring the results of IT investments and provide guidance for future IT investments. PE falls under Health Information Operations and Services (HIOS), under the Office of Health Information (OHI), VHA of VA.
The PE mission is to perform independent assessments and analysis on health and business, IT and medical products, as well as program, product and process improvements to ensure they are effective and meet the needs of the customer in terms of function, business case validation, benefits realization, and end user satisfaction. These assessments, along with collecting lessons learned for continuous processes improvements, provide VHA programs with evidenced-based information for decision support, validation and justification of investments.
Product Effectiveness consists of four interrelated service domains along with a project integration domain. These interrelated service domains are: Benefits Realization (BR), Functional Review (FR), Customer Satisfaction (CS) and LL.
III. Requirements: A high-level description of the processes and outputs for each of the three (3) functional support areas is described below:
1) FR: The purpose of the FR Process & Procedures (See Attachment 1 - PE Documents) is to describe the procedures for administering a FR engagement to perform functionality and product usability risk assessments for VHA IT products and services. It is a detailed, step by step process by which FR services and associated deliverables shall be completed.
The purpose of the Concept of Operations (CONOPS) is to describe the concept of operations from the point of view of the program for implementing the FR service (See Attachment 1 - PE Documents). The CONOPS serves as a communication tool for the FR program and is provided to the Contractor to assist with understanding the context of the services in relation to the program.
The following table provides alignment of projected Task Order phases with the corresponding section found in the FR Process and Procedures (P&P), and is necessary to explain the anticipated Contractor's role in providing tasks to support the program:
Table 1: FR Task Phases
Task Phase FR P&P Section
1. Due Diligence 0.0 Project Initiation
2. Project Baseline Review 1.0 Planning Phase
3. Baseline Operational Assessment 1.0 Planning Phase
4. Requirements Analysis Review 2.0 Design Phase
5. System Test Readiness Review 3.0 Implementation Phase
6. User Acceptance Test Readiness Review 3.0 Implementation Phase
7. Operational Readiness Review 4.0 Deploy Phase
8. Product Usability Assessment and Post Implementation Review 5.0 Operations and Maintenance Phase
9. Lessons Learned Not Applicable to P&P*
10. Engagement Program Management Not Applicable to P&P**
* In Phase 9, the Contractor shall perform activities and produce a deliverable that describes the comprehensive lessons learned from the all other phases. The lessons learned shall be described in detail and answer the following questions in regard to the P&P document and the procedures actually used to successfully complete the task order.
** This phase encompasses program and project management activities, work products, and deliverables for the engagement. Non-deliverable documentation produced in the course of providing the engagement services (during this and all other phases) are included within this Task Phase. Required documents that are not specifically purchased as deliverables are known as "Work Products," and are considered a part of the Monthly Status Report deliverable. Examples of such work products include meeting agendas, meeting minutes, notes, trip reports, routine presentation decks, recommended communications, and similar work products required to complete the engagement. Work Products shall be uploaded to the PE Program SharePoint site and listed within the monthly status report deliverable.
Regarding each step of the process:
1. What worked well?
2. What did not work as expected and why?
3. What was done to solve unexpected issues?
4. What can be done to avoid these unexpected issues or leverage what worked well?
5. Based on these lessons learned, what revisions are recommended for the FR P&P, FR CONOPS, and FR Roles and Responsibilities documents?
The Lessons Learned deliverable is an important component of PE's continuous process improvement program, and will be considered for this purpose.
2) LL: Task orders awarded under this domain shall follow the P&P for performing LL, in accordance with the LL CONOPS (See Attachment 1 - PE Documents).
The following table provides alignment of Task Order phases with the phases found in the P&P, and is necessary to explain the Contractor's role in providing tasks to support the program:
Table 2: LL Task Order Phases
Task Order Phase LL P&P Section
1. Due Diligence 1.0 LL Engagement Initiation
2. Plan LL Engagement 2.0 LL Engagement Planning
3. LL Execution: Knowledge Management (KM) 3.0 LL Engagement Execution
4. LL Execution: Communities of Practice (CoPs) 3.0 LL Engagement Execution
5. Lessons Learned 4.0 LL Program Management
6. Engagement Program Management Not Applicable to P&P*
Note: LL Execution is separate Task Order phases to provide the ability to issue Task Orders with or without Communities of Practice support included.
* This phase encompasses program and project management activities, work products, and deliverables for the engagement. Non-deliverable documentation produced in the course of providing the engagement services (during this and all other phases) are included within this Task Phase. Required documents that are not specifically purchased as deliverables are known as "Work Products," and are considered a part of the Monthly Status Report deliverable. Examples of such work products include meeting agendas, meeting minutes, notes, trip reports, routine presentation decks, recommended communications, and similar work products required to complete the engagement. Work Products shall be uploaded to the PE Program Sharepoint site and listed within the monthly status report deliverable.
3) PE Integration Services: Task orders shall follow the P&P for performing PE engagements, in accordance with the PE P&P and CONOPS (See Attachment 1 - PE Documents). The PE Integration services minimize impact on program customers to ensure the most efficient provision of PE services. The Contractor shall provide project management services to assist with coordinating these services and to provide related expertise to support integrating these multiple projects into a single managed effort. The Contractor shall support the integration of PE services to its customers through process management and documentation through the five process groups of a project, which includes Initiation, Planning, Executing, Controlling and Monitoring, and Closing. Within these five (5) project management processes, the Contractor shall document specific details related to customer projects, called "engagements."
The following table provides alignment of Task Order phases with the phases found in the P&P, and is necessary to explain the Contractor's role in providing tasks to support the program:
Table 8: Integration Task Order Phases
Task Order Phase PE P&P Section
1. Due Diligence 1.0 Pre-Engagement
2. Plan Integration Engagement 2.0 Engagement Planning
3. Engagement Execution 3.0 Engagement Execution
4. Project Completion 4.0 Project Completion
5. Lessons Learned 5.0 Continuous Improvement
6. Engagement Program Management Not Applicable to P&P*
* This phase encompasses program and project management activities, work products, and deliverables for the engagement. Non-deliverable documentation produced in the course of providing the engagement services (during this and all other phases) are included within this Task Phase. Required documents that are not specifically purchased as deliverables are known as "Work Products," and are considered a part of the Monthly Status Report deliverable. Examples of such work products include meeting agendas, meeting minutes, notes, trip reports, routine presentation decks, recommended communications, and similar work products required to complete the engagement. Work Products shall be uploaded to the PE Program Sharepoint site and listed within the monthly status report deliverable.
IV. Submittal Information:
Contractors having the skills and capabilities necessary to perform the stated requirements should submit a response of no more than 20 pages in length, single spaced, 12 point font minimum that addresses the above information. The Government will not review any other data or attachments that are in excess to the 20 pages. Please also include a cover page (not included in page limit) which includes, at a minimum, the company's name, address, Dunn & Bradstreet number, GSA contract number (if applicable), point-of-contact name, phone number, and e-mail address.
Companies should provide clear and unambiguous evidence to substantiate their capability to fulfill these requirements.
A. Experience
1. Please provide no more than five (5) contracts that your company has performed within the last three (3) years that are of comparable complexity and scope for each domain requirement for which your company is responding:
a. Describe your Self-Performed* effort (as either a Prime or SubContractor).
b. Please be specific and provide a complete reference to include at a minimum the project name, contract award amount, level of effort, start and completion dates, and the project owners' contact information.
c. Additionally, please provide the Contract Type: Firm Fixed-Price, Time and Material, etc.
*Self-Performed means work performed by the offeror themselves, NOT work performed by another company for them for any of the project examples provided.
2. A narrative case study that describes the details of each project and why it is relevant to this requirement, including difficulties and successes.
a. This narrative shall include your company's role and services provided for each of the domains (FR, LL, PE Integration) including the scope of their involvement and results of the project(s).
b. Experience within healthcare technology and healthcare business processes, including clinical processes shall be included within the narrative.
3. A table listing all companies involved in the relevant project(s), including the technical expertise and percentage of work that each company provided.
B. Capabilities / Qualifications
1. A written response providing clear and unambiguous evidence to substantiate the capacity to fulfill this requirement.
a. Specify which domain (FR, LL, PE Integration) your company is qualified to perform. Please indicate if your company is proposing to provide services to support one (1), two (2), or all three (3) domains.
b. Description of the capabilities/qualifications/skills your company possesses to perform services described in the scope of work.
c. Capabilities and qualifications within healthcare technology and healthcare business processes, including clinical processes.
2. Company business size and socioeconomic status (i.e., Large Business, Small Business, Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, Women-Owned Small Business,) the number of years in business, affiliate information: parent company, joint venture partners, potential teaming partners.
a. Specify any teaming arrangements and how those arrangements will impact the structure of services their company can provide for the domain(s) (FR, LL, PE Integration), including technical expertise provided by each company. Please specify the percentage of work the each company will perform.
3. If the company holds a Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) Contract, list the GSA Contract Number and relevant Special Item Numbers (SINS) applicable to this requirement.
C. Feedback
1. Provide innovative approaches your company uses that could improve current VA practices within the scope of these domains (FR, LL, PE Integration).
2. Submit a sample Quality Assurance Plan (QAP), including strategies for incentivizing performance.
3. Submit suggested labor categories and descriptions that would be appropriate in fulfilling the requirements for each domain.
Responses to the above information shall be provided no later than Wednesday December 28, 2011 at 4:00 PM EST. Responses should be emailed to Shon Johnson at Shon.Johnson@va.gov . All Email Correspondence for this project must reference the RFI Number and Project Title in the subject line of the email. Example: VA-701-12-I-0054, PE Program, Integration & Lessons Learned. No phone calls will be accepted.
Any questions related to this Sources Sought Notice shall be e-mailed to Shon Johnson at shon.johnson@va.gov no later than December 21, 2011, 4:00 PM EST.
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 Notice 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 RFI.
Primary Point of Contact:
Shon Johnson, Contract Specialist
E-Mail: Shon.Johnson@va.gov
VA70112I0054 Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Information Service Center
12/13/11, 3:52 PM