RedactedJandA.docx

Redacted J&A

2. Description of Action:

This approval is being sought for an increse in Level of Effort (LOE) on the Exercise of Option Period Four to the current cost reimbursement contract, Contract Number W81XWH-11-C-0542 with Magellan Healthcare, Inc. using FY15 Operations and Maintenance (O&M) funding for continued support of Outreach Call Support and Transitional Support Programs for the Defense Centers of Excellence (DCoE) for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) program office. The contractor shall provide current services as well as increased level of effort to support Executive Order 13625 which gave rise to Executive Action, “Supporting service members with mental health conditions in making the transition to VA care” in which eligible members are now automatically enrolled into the Support Program (vice the previous self-enrollment) which necessitates this increase in level of effort.

This modification will cover Option Period Four which covers the remainder of the contract life. After expiration of the contract, a full and open recompete will be solicited.

3. Description of Supplies/Services:

This is a non-personal services contract award to provide an Outreach/Transition Support Contract Call Center Program to individuals directly or indirectly affected by psychological health (PH) and traumatic brain injury (TBI). The Defense Centers of Excellence (DCoE) for PH and TBI seek Contractor support to establish and maintain a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (24/7) toll-free contact call support center that operates 365 days per year. Additionally, the DCoE Outreach/Transition Support Contact Call Center Program will be staffed by professionals who are trained, certified, and licensed in varying careers that support the mental healthcare profession, i.e. social workers, etc., to bridge the transitional knowledge gap between identification and receipt of mental health services for military Service Members and Veterans a broad range of users, including Service Members and Veterans and their families, caregivers, military leaders, clinicians, employers, researchers, educators, and community members. The Outreach/Transition Support Contact Call Center Support Program will provide a call triage service to answer and direct calls to the appropriate specialty area, when needed. The Outreach/Transition Support Contact Call Center staff will handle various types of calls, including routine requests for information about PH and TBI, questions about symptoms a caller is having, and helping a caller find appropriate health care resources. It will also provide coaching support services needed to bridge potential knowledge gaps in mental health support during transitional periods that can lead to service members’ disengagement from treatment entirely by offering information, providing military service members’ non-medical counseling, education and advice services for eligible beneficiaries and otherwise encouraging the utilization of behavioral health services. Thus, the Outreach/Transition Call Center Program will be a source of information, education, transitional coaching and communication on PH and TBI issues. The DCoE Resource Database will contain relevant and current health, support, and program resource information that is accessible to the Outreach/Transition Consultants as well as to Service Members and Veterans and their families, caregivers, military leaders, clinicians, employers, researchers, educators, and community members. Inclusion of DCoE’s Resource Database into a pre-existing resource database will be considered, if there is value added for DCoE. The current DCoE Resource Database is a web-based repository/database of publications, links to publications, program and website directory listings, and other resources on PH & TBI, supported by a robust search engine. .

The increase in level of effort entails a change in enrollment from self and/or provider enrollment to automatic enrollment to conform to the “Supporting Service Members with Mental Health conditions in making the transition to VA care” 2012 Executive Order and subsequent 2014 Executive Action, implemented in April 2015.

The period of performance for this modification shall be from 30 September 2015 through 29 August 2016.

4. Authority Cited:

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 10 U.S.C 2304(c)(1). The FAR citation is 6.302-1 and the FAR citation title is only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. In addition, this contract includes FAR Clause 52.217-9, Option to Extend the Term of the Contract which allows the Government the ability to exercise Option Period Four for eleven months (with the required increase in level of effort).

This acquisition requires the use of the authority cited because the contractor Magellan Healthcare Inc. is the only contractor that can provide these services for Outreach Call Support and Transitional Support Programs for the Defense Centers of Excellence (DCoE) for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) program office in the timeframe required without an unacceptable break in service or significant delays in full service as the result of awarding to another vendor due to transition and learning curve for this specialized service.

5. Reason for Authority Cited:

The 2012 Presidential Executive Order 13625 enacted DoD to improve the care for Service members with mental health condition. The results from the executive order put in place the 2014 Presidential Executive Action “Supporting service members with mental health conditions in making the transition to VA care: DoD will ensure that all service members leaving military service who are receiving care for mental health conditions are automatically enrolled in the inTransition program, through which trained mental health professionals assist service members in transitioning to new care teams in VA or the community. Currently, service members must be referred to inTransition by their DoD providers or seek out the program on their own.” The Executive Action now requires all Service members with behavioral health issues to be Automatically Enrolled in the inTransition Program. This placed an additional level of effort on the program in that it required the inTransition program to reach out and contact the service members who had recently separated to enroll them in the program. This level of effort required a modification to the contract to incorporate these changes. With the high level visibility of DoD leadership and the White House on timeliness to incorporate this Presidential Executive Action in addition to reduce the possibility in a loss of services or a reduction of care to the service members in need of care, it was determined to fund the current contractor.

Service members that have not opted out or enrolled in the program will be contacted by the inTransition program via telephone. The contact information will be supplied from the Defense Health Agencies Reports on discharged service members with a psychological health conditions weekly. These reports will be balanced against current enrollees in the inTransition program to eliminate multiple contacts for service members already enrolled in the program.

Additionally, to fully comply with all the incorporation of these changes for the Presidential Executive Action, the Health Affairs inTransition policy is being converted into an inTransition Defense Health Agency (DHA) Procedural Instruction; additionally DCoE is in coordination with DHA for a Red Line change to DoDI 6490.10. With this process for automatic enrollment of service members in the inTransition program will be incorporated into DoD policy. These are currently in the staffing phase and awaiting signature. These two actions will additionally increase the level of service members receiving coaching sessions as it will require all service members who receive psychological health care shall be referred to the program. This is a change to the original requirements in that it was up to the treating provider to make the determination. As a result of the above mentioned actions the numbers that would be required to make accurate assumptions on the level of effort required are unavailable. It was determined to award the final option of the contract to allow the Government the time that will be required to determine the correct level of effort for the subsequent follow-on requirement.

In addition, competing this requriement at this time (in lieu of the requested extension) would result in substantial duplication of cost that is not expected to be recovered through competition and 2 unacceptable delays in filling agency requirements