VIPR Medical QandA 1.pdf

The Following questions have been received:

1. Question: Please clarify what will be required as far as licensure, certification, etc. when operating in another state than where a vendor is located? Please address Medical direction, ambulance use and EMR qualification. ‣What is needed on the Medical

Director Authorization? i.e. what should be on the documentation? Specifically? ‣Will ambulances be required to be licensed in the working state? ‣So to be clear, the MEDL on the incident will no longer be assisting with emergency reciprocity for incoming

EMRs? ‣To verify, paramedics must be licensed in the state in which the incident is occurring? ‣Does the medical director need to be a state or county EMS program medical director or can a private company hire a Medical Doctor and build a medical program/protocols that follows local county protocols? ‣Some states do not supply a certification or license for individual ambulances. Will a state EMS agency license suffice for that requirement knowing that EMS Agency vehicles must be inspected? ‣To clarify, moving forward, all vendors will be required to have their own medical director in every state. This medical director must be licensed in the state where the incident is occurring. Vendor providers will no longer be covered by the incident’s medical director?

AKA the forest service medical director? ‣For clarification: all emergency resources need to be licensed in any state they want to work in, including medical directors? ‣Do you know if there are any issues with a company having multiple medical directors to operate in multiple states? ‣So, contractors will now need medical direction in each state in addition to the reciprocity MEDLs file with state health departments? ‣So, Medics and EMT must currently possess a license within the state they are deployed to? Or do they simply need to work under that state’s protocols? ‣Following the same logic with the requirement for EMT ect. having to have State Licensure, Medical Control in each respective state they accept a dispatch to. In theory the ambulances will have to be licensed in the respective state they are operating in as well. Am I correct in this assumption? ‣Does the ambulance itself need a specific credential (state transport license), or can a non-agency, private medical company, own an ambulance and send it on a fire with credentialed personnel under medical direction?

Answer: Any ambulance or EMR under this agreement must follow state law and licensure/certification/approval process of any state in which they accept a resource order to operate.

03/28/2023

SOLICITATION 12024B23Q7001 and 12024B23Q7002

VIPR I-BPA for Advanced Life Support (ALS) and Basic Life Support (BLS) Ambulance and Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) for Region 13 - National

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS #1

NOTE: This is the first of multiple Q&A documents to be posted for this solicitation. All questions regarding equipment found in Exhibit M (EMR solicitation only) are currently being processed by FAM Contract Operations and will be posted as a follow up Q&A as soon as possible.

https://apps.fs.usda.gov/vipr/ https://apps.fs.usda.gov/vipr/ https://apps.fs.usda.gov/vipr/ https://apps.fs.usda.gov/vipr/

2. Question: Please explain the roll of attributes such as 4 wheel drive in the solicitation and award. ‣Are 4x4 ambulances required? ‣Are 4x4 Ambulances preferred? Or is that something that is determined by the MEDL seeking resources?

Answer: Attributes listed in the solicitation do not determine DPL ranking or any other type of preference in the award process. These are items that may be required by an incident in order to perform in the circumstances found at the incident. For example: If four-wheel drive is necessary to navigate the roads where an ambulance will be assigned, that requirement will be included in the resource order and only ambulances with that attribute listed in their agreement will be contacted. If that attribute is not required by the specific incident ordering the resource, it will have no bearing on that order. See Section

D.6.2 of the solicitation.

3. Question: Please explain the specifics of the new annual onboarding process including when that will be possible and whether you can add a resource of an entirely new kind to your agreement (e.g. and ambulance when you previously only had EMRs awarded.)

‣What if we add an ambulance during the season? ‣Do you have to be listed in the agreement as an ambulance provider to add ambulances? Example, if we only provide

EMRs for the initial application, when it opens up in a year, can we add Ambulances then? Or do we have to wait for 5 years? ‣Can you confirm as an existing vendor, during an on-ramping period we CAN or CANNOT add resources? ‣We will be adding all of our assets that we currently have available to the solicitation. However, over the course of the agreement period we foresee gaining new/additional assets and employees. How is this addressed in the contracting process?

Answer: Please See Exhibit H of the solicitation for annual onboarding information and instructions

4. Question: Is there a list of the chosen host dispatch centers?

Answer: The list of host dispatch centers is available within the VIPR vendor application.

5. Question: Please explain Point of Hire, Host Dispatch and the options available and how it affects travel reimbursement. ‣What is the definition of point of hire? ‣Can you choose more than one dispatch center if you have resources in different locations. ‣If we are 15 minutes from a region border, can we list a point of hire in either region? ‣Can you speak again to the single dispatch center? I am not clear. Example: EMTF ordered for fire in

Bozeman, Order goes to Billings? This may have been asked, but let’s say my dispatch center is Missoula, but one of my EMPFs happens to live in Yuma AZ. A fire requests an

EMPF near Bozeman and I accept it and send that EMPF from Yuma. Will travel be paid from Missoula, or Yuma? ‣ There is one GACC dispatch center but we can choose from many points of hire within the GACC? Or are all points of hire in R1 Missoula? ‣I have a resource in Bend Oregon and another in Missoula Montana. Can we be based out of different dispatch agency centers? Or does it have to be the same one?

03/28/2023

Answer: There is one host dispatch for each geographic region for these agreements which will fill any orders for resources located within that region. See Exhibit A of the solicitation for Point of Hire and Host Dispatch Center definitions. Travel calculations associated with a resource order will begin and end at the Point of Hire. See Section

D.6.5.2 of the solicitation for further information regarding travel calculation.

6. Question: Can a EMR be listed with multiple companies? ‣What if EMT John is on two companies’ rosters, and each company submits a DPL slot with that EMR, is that ok or will EMT John only be allowed for one company? ‣Example: A medic did not get out last year. He signs on with two companies this year hoping one will get him an assignment. Obviously, he can’t go out simultaneously with both companies. What is the detailed process for reconciling personnel that appear on multiple agreements from different vendors? ‣Is it possible for an employee to be registered with multiple companies through the VIPR system?

Answer: Individuals cannot be listed on more than one vendor’s agreement. The government will check for duplicate name submittals upon receipt of the quote package for each vendor. If duplicate name submittals are found, the relevant vendors will be informed, and it will the vendors’ responsibility to resolve the duplication.

7. Question: When do we need to have the list of furnished medical supplies provided?

Does this list need to be submitted upon dispatch or prior to dispatch?

Answer: The list will need to be submitted prior to award of your agreement.

8. Question: Will MEDLs be trained on the current requirements of the agreement? ‣Are all the MEDLs being informed of this change in procedure?

9. Answer: Yes, Medical Unit Leaders (MEDLs) will be trained in the administration of this agreement.

10. Will MEDLs have the ability to get temporary licenses?

Answer: MEDLs will follow all state law and processes in the incident’s state when inspecting proper licensure/certification of contracted medical personnel. It is the contractor’s, not the MEDL’s responsibility to ensure that the contracted resource meets all state requirements.

11. Question: Is there a set number of VIPR awards that will be awarded per solicitation?

Are there a set number of DPL slots for this solicitation period?

Answer: There is no set number of VIPR agreements or DPL resource items awarded.

Vendors will only receive one DPL resource item for each individual certificate/license provided or VIN number received in the case of the ambulance agreement. See Section

B.3 of the solicitation.

12. Question: Can you explain the Best Value, is it still just best price or will experience, competency, point of hire location and history play a part? ‣Can you explain the Best

Value, is it still just best price or will experience, competency, and history play a part?

Or will best value consider costs to operate based on point of hire?

Answer: Choosing by Advantages is the form of Best Value utilized with these agreements. Please look at section B.3 BASIS OF AWARD within the solicitation.

13. Question: Can one resource be listed as two different typed resources? ‣If we have an ambulance and we roster it as a type 2 (ALS), that means we can't instead staff it with

BLS providers and send the vehicle out when a request is for a type 4? The vehicle itself can only be typed one way? Not based on how it is staffed? ‣If we have one ambulance that can be resourced for ALS or BLS, will it need two separate quotes? One for BLS

PRICING and ALS PRICING?

Answer: In order to facilitate accurate reporting of the number of available resources, no individual ambulance or EMR may be listed under more than one resource typing.

14. Question: What are the repercussions for noncompliance with the agreement, particularly in terms of licensure/certification/qualification and how are they tracked? ‣How will

Contractors be held to account for having the proper licensure? ‣Will the MEDL be checking equipment for contractual requirements? Ramifications?

Answer: If a vendor is found to be noncompliant with their agreement, that could be considered grounds for suspension and/or termination of the agreement. If the noncompliance also violates state law, the state may prosecute the offender.

15. Question: If I am providing EMTFs, AEMFs, and EMPFs and currently have 10 specific individuals and provide required information per the contract, i.e. licenses etc; and throughout the season(s), my personnel changes and the number grows, lowers, or stays the same but with different folks, how is that handled? Example is that some companies have been known to have a certain number pre-season, but then advertise for hiring throughout the year, how would those new employees be added to the contract, if they would be? ‣As I read it, I could theoretically say that I have 200 paramedics and actually only have 25 currently. And then look to hire the rest in the weeks and months to come?

‣Any idea how long it may take to get a "new hire" signed off as qualified? ‣Does the entire roster of potential employees need to be submitted for EMR individually? I HAVE

12 + EMTs and Medics.

Answer: We are not attaching "employee names" to individual DPL resource items. We understand the workforce will be revolving. While employee names will be submitted with each vendor’s quote to verify the number of DPL resource items a vendor can fill, individuals not included on that list can be used to fill resource orders providing they can provide appropriate verification of their credentials.

16. Question: Will MEDLs be able to name request resources after initial resource order fill in order to bypass the VIPR system? ‣The last few years we have seen incident teams where the MEDL orders their resources initially through viper or an EERA, that asset shows up but then the MEDL releases that asset shortly after to then order by name request a different company by name, thus seeming to bypass viper to get whoever they want. I guess what I’m asking is there anything protecting these new VIPR contracts from teams name ordering whoever they want under an EERA? This has been a trend for ambulance and single resources. ‣I understand no availability in viper for MEDL to name request. The issue was vendors in the previous VIPR were losing orders to specific name requests due to MEDL/contracting officer relationships with company owners who were not in VIPR. Is there anything holding MEDLs from initially ordering these resources on VIPR and then ordering whoever they want.

Answer: Name requesting specific VIPR vendors is not allowed. Hopefully creating this agreement as a National Platform will curb this. If no VIPR resources are available or cannot meet Date and Time Needed, an EERA may be executed. If you feel this is happening, reach out to the Contracting Officer/Contract Operations Specialist with documentation to support your concern/complaint.

17. Question: How will this agreement be regulated on the incident, and does it carry over to

EERAs? ‣Will EERA contracts be held to the same equipment and personnel requirements as VIPR?

Answer: EERAs are separate from VIPR and the terms and conditions of an EERA are set at the time of hire.

18. Question: Please clarify Worker’s Compensation and MSPA requirements? ‣Will the

MEDL or VIPR be checking that appropriate worker’s comp (per contract) is established in the working state? ‣Most wildfire medical providers are seasonal in nature. Will all

VIPR contractors expected to have Farm Labor Contractor certifications? ‣This will be the first contract cycle for my company and am confirming that I need to have a MSPA certification as I will not be hiring migrant workers.

Answer: See Section C.3.1 in regard to Worker’s Compensation. MSPA certification is not required for this agreement. For more information on MSPA please visit https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/agriculture/mspa.

19. Question: When we complete an incident, we generally receive an evaluation from the

MEDL. We get a copy, but where does the MEDL send them? Are these evals actually reviewed and appreciated?

Answer: Yes, these evaluations are routed to the Contract Operations Specialist and are given appropriate consideration. We suggest you retain a copy for your records as well.

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/agriculture/mspa

20. Note: This question pertains to the EMR agreement and NOT the Ambulance Agreement.

The Ambulance Agreement requires the use of the Ambulance’s VIN.

Question: Under the Resource identification it has: "Serial Number: GV6xxxxx8633-

____________" What information are you looking for to complete this serial number?

‣When filling out the solicitation for Fireline Paramedics and EMTs what am I supposed to put for a serial number? Is it the serial number for the vehicle they will be in?

Answer: The serial number in VIPR is used to identify that resource in the agreement and when being dispatch. It is a unique identifier chosen by the vendor. You would not want to use a person’s name as that would cause confusion if you to try and fill an order for that resource with someone else. Most companies will put in their initials and what resource it is.

Example: Company A is submitting a quote for Fireline paramedic.

In the serial number portion, the vendor will be prompted to name the resource that can be easily referenced. Example: Vendor Name EMPF 1

This will result in a resource item such as: GV6xxxxx8633-CA EMPF1

Or GV6xxxxx8633-CA EMPF2

21. Question: On page 48 it states the requirements for submission. It includes a picture of the person's licensure and med director documentation. As our last wildland orientation is scheduled for April 22-26, we will not have all our team members rostered by the April

19th submission deadline. Is it possible to add more personnel to our solicitation at a later date or before being awarded?

Answer: See Section E.2 TECHNICAL QUOTE FORMAT AND SUBMISSION of the solicitation. Also see Exhibit H Additional Terms and Conditions - Section B for annual onboarding information.

22. Question: Do we need approval for the DOJ DEA to transport paramedic drugs across the state line?

Answer: The agreement requires that vendors follow all Federal, State and Local laws.

The agreement does not provide relief from any Federal, State or Local laws.