01. SOW.pdf

Statement of Work (SOW) Phoenix Indian Medical Center (PIMC) Charter Air Services

Provider and Support Services Transport In support of the PIMC Visiting Professional Program

1. BACKGROUND

In meeting Phoenix Area clinical and administrative responsibilities, PIMC personnel are frequently required to travel to multiple locations in Arizona, Utah, Nevada and California to deliver health care, education, and support services. For the past thirty years, PIMC has provided this distant support of the Phoenix Area Indian Health Service (PAIHS) Service Units (SU) through an organized program of onsite specialty services staffed by PIMC providers. The volume, complexity, and high cost of this travel necessitate a systematic process for its efficient coordination and implementation. The PIMC Office of Support Services through the Director of Support Services, PIMC Aviation Department Director of Operations, and the transportation office staff manages this. Many of the sites visited require the use of general aviation for transportation due to their remote location and lack of service by scheduled air carrier. On demand charter/air taxi service managed by the PIMC Aviation Department is customarily used to satisfy these transportation needs. The PIMC Visiting Professional Program is the most common user of these services but any government traveler may participate when space is available.

2. OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE

The Phoenix Indian Medical Center is located in Phoenix, AZ, and has a need to transport clinical, administrative, and other staff to and from multiple health care facilities in the Phoenix Area Indian Health Service (IHS). The majority of this activity is scheduled and follows a recurring pattern of dates, services/providers, departure and return times, and baggage requirements. However, ad hoc changes in this schedule occur to suit the changing needs and capacity of PIMC and the facilities visited.

3. FLIGHT REQUIREMENTS

The specific requirements contained in this section are not in any specific order and should not be considered a prioritization order. Each requirement should be considered a critical element of performance. The unifying theme of these requirements is a commitment to the highest standards of safety, passenger comfort, timeliness, and dispatch rate.

A. Flight Schedule The attached template (Attachment A) describes the recurring pattern of destinations and staff that currently define the draft flight schedule each month. The final schedule and flight manifest closely resembles, but typically does not precisely replicate this template. This template is subject to change to accommodate changing needs in the field and changing resources at PIMC.

It is not uncommon for the specific providers to vary from month to month due to vacations, training, changing staffing patterns, etc. In addition, holidays occasionally displace a trip(s) requiring compensatory rescheduling. Larger changes than these are much less common, but occasionally whole sites are cancelled or added. The bulk of these changes occur three or more weeks in advance of the flight but occasionally the changes have much shorter notice. The Director of Operations, PIMC Aviation Department develops and publishes the monthly flight schedule at least one month in advance of the first flight of the month. This is delivered to the designated Department Flight Coordinators and charter/air taxi vendors by e-mail and a shared calendar through MS Outlook. The flight schedule is available to passengers also by email, shared MS Outlook calendar and via the PIMC computer based flight schedule. The PIMC Aviation Department Director of Operations communicates changes in the flight schedule to the passengers, Department Flight Coordinator, and the air taxi vendors.

B. Departure and return times Departure times are specifically listed and occur from 0630 to 0700. The time is selected for a particular flight based upon the length and number of legs in the mission. Most flights are scheduled to depart at 0630. The departure time listed in the schedule is intended to represent “engine start time.” Therefore, additional lead time must be planned by the passengers and flight crew to allow aircraft loading and other pre-flight preparations.

The return time is dependent upon the specific requirements of the clinics. Although there is no fixed time for return, the target departure time from the field is 1400-1500. The earlier time in this range is established for linked flights, so that the earlier links can be served by 1500. This commonly results in a return to Phoenix by 1600-1630. Early and late days may occur based upon the specific site served, patient scheduling, no-show rate, and weather, but is planned to occur between 1400 and 1500.

Rarely weather, temporary changes in the National Airspace System (NAS), or other unanticipated influences may cause a return flight to be delayed until the following day. In such circumstances the wait time cost calculation will be replace by a “remain overnight” (RON) fee.

C. Routes Departures should occur from Scottsdale Municipal Airport (KSDL) unless temporary flight restrictions (TFR), airport maintenance, weather or other reasons for temporary closure of the airport or airspace require an alternate to be used. The preferred alternate airport is Phoenix Deer Valley Airport (KDVT) followed by Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (KPHX). Returning flights should be planned for arrival with a similar pattern. The departure site airport should be selected based upon fees and passenger convenience.

The routing of flights should be planned for minimum flight time as allowed by weather, Air Traffic Control (ATC) requirements, Special Use Airspace (SUA), etc. The following destination airports should be planned for the trips depicted in Attachment A.

Parker P20 Whiteriver E24 Peach Springs 3AZ5 Hopi (Winslow) KINW Yuma KNYL

Sherman (Riverside) KRAL Havasupai (GC West) 1G4 Elko KEKO Reno KRTS

See Attachment B for other information on these airports.

It is possible that other routes may be required to serve new clinics or expanded services at existing clinics. Costs for new or changed routing should be based upon flight hours and wait time.

D. Equipment All aircraft shall comply with IHS and PIMC Policy (see Attachment C and D). More specifically:

1. As a general rule, fixed wing (FW) aircraft used for transporting employees must be multi-engine aircraft. Multi-engine turbine FW aircraft is strongly preferred and must be the default equipment, but turbocharged piston aircraft may be used if better suited for a particular mission or more cost effective or required for other reasons IF certain performance criteria are satisfied. When landing or take-off conditions dictate, lighter weight or specially configured aircraft may be used. Documentation of the circumstances for using other than multi-engine FW aircraft must be made available as a part of the air charter record. Single engine turbine powered FW aircraft may be used routinely.

2. Allowable exceptions to Section 3.D.1.

Turbine powered or turbo-charged piston aircraft (as described in Section 3.D.1) is the standard type of aircraft to be used for the air transport of IHS employees. This is to ensure reasonable redundancy of power plant, electrical, pneumatic/vacuum, and hydraulic systems so as to increase the safety of air transportation for IHS employees and patients.

The intent for using turbine powered or turbo-charged piston engine aircraft is to provide a single engine performance capability consistent with the mission. Air transportation services are required to transport employees from and to airports with a high-density altitude and transverse relatively high mountainous terrain. In these conditions a turbine powered or turbo-charged piston engine usually is required to produce a safe single engine service ceiling or drift down altitude if an engine failure occurs. Exceptions to the turbo-charged multi-engine aircraft requirement are allowed when:

a. Services are out of short and/or unimproved runways that require specially equipped or

STOL (short-takeoff and landing) capable single engine aircraft.

b. Services are limited to low density altitude airports and over low terrain so that an appropriately loaded normally aspirated piston aircraft presents a safe single engine climb rate, single engine service ceiling, and drift-down altitude.

3. No PIMC flights shall be conducted by a single pilot crew in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) unless a functioning autopilot is installed and operational.

4. No PIMC flights shall be conducted in IMC when embedded thunderstorms are forecast or reported unless the aircraft is equipped with functioning radar or other thunderstorm avoidance technology with which the pilot is proficient.

5. No PIMC flight shall be planned for sustained operation in known icing conditions. No PIMC flight shall be conducted otherwise in known icing conditions unless an appropriately equipped and certified aircraft is used.

6. All flights from April through October should be scheduled in air-conditioned aircraft.

E. Ground Transportation Ground logistics are supplied by the destination facility visited. The contractor will notify the facility immediately before departure of the ETA and number of passengers that will require ground transportation. This may be done directly with the destination facility, or by the PIMC switchboard operator.

F. Delayed or Cancelled Flights A near perfect dispatch rate and on-time departure rate is expected. All delays and anticipated cancellations should be reported immediately to the PIMC Director of Operations. If a cancellation is unavoidable due to equipment, crew, or other charter/air taxi reason, the vendor should contact the PIMC Director of Operations immediately to determine if the flight can be operated by a back-up charter/air taxi operator. All deviations from the schedule and all variation from normal operations are reported by the vendor to the PIMC Aviation Department Director of Operations.

G. Other Flights must be conducted in accordance with all applicable HHS, IHS, and PIMC policy on aviation services. This includes, but is not limited to, the following.

1. PIMC Aviation Transport Policy (Attachment C)

2. Federal Aviation Regulations and Operational Specifications - All Charter/Air Taxi Operator must follow all applicable FAR/s and requirements included in their FAA approved Operation Specifications.

3. GSA Policy for regulation and management of Commercial Aviation Services (CAS).

4. Additionally, any HHS/IHS policy that defines qualifications, certifications, insurance, operational, and financial requirements for aircraft services in the IHS.

4. ASSUMPTIONS

The contractor is familiar with flight operations for the routes and airports required.

The Government desires to minimize the cost of its aviation activities by maximizing the contractor’s prior experiences and specific knowledge. The Government assumes the contractor additionally will capitalize on the experience and knowledge of other contractors involved with this project.

Safety is the highest priority in delivery of aviation services. The contractor will conduct all PIMC flights accordingly and under no circumstances will operations deviate from industry and community safety standards.

The PIMC Flight Operations document (Attachment D) contains the organizational expectations of its traveling staff. PIMC assumes that the contractor will review this document and be familiar with these expectations.

5. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

A monthly report of activities will be provided by the contractor to the Project Officer and the appropriate Task Leads no later than the 10th business day of the month (see Deliverables below).

6. DELIVERABLES

Monthly Status Reports:

The contractor shall deliver a monthly status report detailing activities of the previous month, including dispatch rate, reasons for failed dispatch, on-time departure rate, reasons for late departures, diversions, reasons for diversions, and any other comments of significant event occurring during a flight.

Monthly Invoice:

The contractor shall deliver a final monthly invoice for all trips conducted including aircraft N number and flight hours for each flight, destination(s) of each flight, and passenger names of each flight.

Abnormal Events:

The contractor shall provide the Director of Operations, PIMC Aviation Department with the details of all exceptions to normal operations as they occur including, but not limited to, cancelled flights, late departures, mechanical malfunctions, deviations from the planned flight routing, and deviations from the scheduled manifest.

7. PLACE AND PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The work shall be performed within the Phoenix Area IHS (Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and California). The contractor is also expected to participate in on-site activities as needed, including but not limited to Phoenix Indian Medical Center and Phoenix Area Office in Phoenix, AZ.

The period of performance shall begin upon date of award of this contract and shall end in twelve months, unless changed by suitable modification(s).