2024HCA15 - Amendment 2.pdf

Solicitation Amendment Page 1 of 7

Health Technology Assessment

RFP No. 2024HCA15

Amendment No. 2

Date Issued: 4/11/2025 To: RFP Bidders

From: Scott Henderson, RFP Coordinator Purpose: To respond to bidders questions

This amendment hereby modifies and is attached to RFP No. 2024HCA15. All other terms, conditions, and specifications remain unchanged.

The above referenced solicitation is amended as follows:

1. Answers to Bidder’s Q&A http://www.hca.wa.gov/

2024HCA15-Health Technology Assessment Bidder Questions HCA Answers

Can government confirm if there is a page limit or formatting requirements for the Written Proposal/Exhibit C?

There is no page limit. However, our reviewers have a limited amount of time to review all submitted proposals.

Can the government confirm if more than two contractors may win an award under this contract?

HCA anticipates awarding contracts to 2 or 3 successful bidders for the next contract cycle.

Please confirm that the guidance provided in the webinar, that there is no page limit, is still valid.

There is no page limit. However, our reviewers have a limited amount of time to review all submitted proposals.

While WA State has provided a written template, is it appropriate for the bidder’s response to deviate slightly such that an introduction of our organization may precede the writing samples?

Please follow instructions regarding submission of written samples. If there is a specific aspect of the request for proposals that is not clear please site the section and contract HCA contract staff.

For Section 1 of Exhibit C, is the requirement to submit 3 work product examples per topic, covering each of the 3 subcategories (ie. 9 work examples total)?

Submit 3 total work products, 1 for each section with bidder choose an example of A, B, or C under each subcategory.

Can work samples requested for Section 1 of Exhibit C be included via links in the proposal and/or be contained in the appendix of the written proposal?

URL links are not allowed. Please provide a PDF, Word, Power Point etc.. with your submission. Screen Shots of works with suitable explanations/descriptions of elements of interest would be acceptable as well, as included on the other types of documents, like PDFs/PowerPoint/Word docs etc.

Can we modify the hourly rate table in Exhibit D to include additional rows for pricing information?

HCA prefers the row names to not be modified. Intent is for bidder to add detail for what a simple assessment might include. See section 3.9 Cost Proposal for high-level description of each assessment category. Bidder will provide some detail under Proposer Scope indicating the size or scope for the assessment and the estimate or calculation of cost using either calculation based on hourly rates times number of hours for each labor category OR based on a fixed price methodology showing only the total amount estimated for assessment described. Bidders should only use one methodology for the cost proposal, hourly or fixed-price.

Please confirm that proposal submissions are to be digital only, i.e., physical hard copy documents are not required and do not need to be delivered to the HCA offices.

That is correct. Please submit your proposal submissions via email as listed in the solicitation.

Please confirm that the listed funding amount of $2,229,302 is for 5 year contract and that it is for each selected vendor.

The funding amount is for the initial 4 years and will be divided among the awarded contractors.

Is there a specified format for vendors to describe fixed-price cost proposal?

For fixed priced examples, provide a fixed priced estimate and description (Proposer scope, Exhibit D) based on your estimate for each review size. See section 3.9 Cost Proposal for high-level description of each assessment category. Bidder will provide some detail under Proposer Scope indicating the size or scope for the assessment and the estimate or calculation of cost using either calculation based on hourly rates times number of hours for each labor category OR based on a fixed price methodology showing only the total amount estimated for assessment described.

Bidders should only use one methodology for the cost proposal, hourly or fixed-price.

Is it correct to assume that any fixed price would be per project based on project scope?

Yes. For fixed priced examples, provide a fixed priced estimate and description based on your estimate for each review size described in Proposer scope.

Is there a page limit to the resumes that are included? There is no page limit. However, our reviewers have a limited amount of time to review all submitted proposals.

Can a MS Word version of Exhibit B be provided to facilitate any redline edits requested by the vendor?

A Word version of Exhibit B was posted as an amendment to WEBS on April 10, Given that the period of performance for this contract is potentially through 2035, can you provide an amended Exhibit D that allows vendors to show periodic (annual or other) price escalations? This would be more cost-effective to the State.

Otherwise bidders will have to bid a higher rate for each labor class or fixed price to mitigate losses in year 8 of the contract. The State will be paying a Year 8 rate for all 8 years. If the State would allow us to escalate rates each year (2-3% average), the State will not be overpaying for work in the earlier years of the contract.

The initial contract term is 4 years with the potential to extend/amend for more time and funding through 2035. The budget cannot change without issuing a new RFP with additional budget approval. Cost of living increases are not proposed in the current RFP.

Is it acceptable to provide URL links to examples of prior work products in lieu of inserting the full work products into the body of the proposal?

URL links are not allowed. Please provide a PDF, Word, Power Point etc. with your submission. Screen Shots of works with suitable explanations/descriptions of elements of interest would be acceptable as well, as included on the other types of documents, like PDFs/PowerPoint/Word docs etc.

The solicitation states, “HCA can accommodate fixed-price payment methods based on individual work plans. Bidders may propose fixed-price totals in lieu of hourly labor categories.”

Can you please clarify what submission materials we should provide if we choose to submit a Fixed Price cost proposal instead of hourly labor categories? The Exhibit D Cost Proposal template is tailored to proposing hourly labor categories.

Submit a break down of costs per task or grouping of tasks outlined on pages 6 - 8 in section 1. Statement of work, 1.1, with a total cost allotment to conduct a full health technology assessment review via a table.

If fixed prices are proposed for each type of assessment (Simple, Intermediate, Complex, Updates) can you please confirm that the fixed prices proposed will be non-binding and that any future work orders will allow the contractor to submit a fixed price specific to each work order that is based on topic refinement to clearly define the scope and potential volume of the topic?

Submitted fixed price models will be examples of what it would cost bidder to complete various sized reviews. If selected bidder utilizes a fixed price model, they will work with the HTA program for establish each topic scope and potential size/volume for each topic.

Can you please explain how scoring will be approached with a Fixed Price cost proposal? Fixed price cost proposal will not be scored, like that of hourly rate price models.

The template indicates that the hourly rate is “Not Scored”, whereas in the RFP Section 3.9.B.i ( Page 20) the hourly rate is noted as being “scored”. Exhibit D is correct. Hourly Rate is not scored.

Does this RFP allow for the inclusion of a staged “cost of living” increase in labor category costs over the course of the contract period? (For example, our university requires that we honor salary increases in bargained agreements for our employees who are members of unions, but we do not necessarily know years out what those increases will be.)

No, that is not included, as the price per selected successful bidder per fiscal year will be capped for the duration of the contract.

Do these assessment cost categories include signal searches? If not, would you like us to reflect cost estimates for signal searches, and if so, how? Yes, include cost estimates for signal searches as a simple or small review estimate.

Would you like us to include a numerical estimate of the final set of articles or literature items needed to each assessment category, or should we include a numerical range of articles that would initially be found from the literature searches and would be evaluated at the title/abstract stage of literature review?

For each assessment category, include which would be relevant to how you would structure a cost estimate and work completed for an HTA review.

For the question around work done in the last two years – is this from the RFP submittal date looking back? Yes

What is the page limit for the written proposal? There is no page limit. However, our reviewers have a limited amount of time to review all submitted proposals.

We are requesting confirmation that you would like us to include 3 total work product examples for the following sections: 1.1 A, B, or C; 1.2 A, B, or C; 1.3 A, B, or C. Or would you like us to include 9 total work product examples, one for each question and sub-question?

Submit 3 total work products, 1 for each section with bidder choose an example of A, B, or C under each subcategory.

There are several blank sections in Exhibit C (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4.1, 4.2). Are these sections denoting something or are they formatting errors? i. For example, for the "templates of a proposed document" section, do we need to provide examples for items 1.4, 1.5, 1.6 only, or also include 1.2 and 1.3, which are enumerated but left blank?

Under Review, will post response in a future amendment.

For item 1.6, would you like us to include one example of a workplan template, or an example of a workplan for each of the examples (1.4 and 1.5 only, or 1.1 A-C, 1.2 A- C, and 1.3 A-C)?

Bidder must provide templates of a proposed document to be used for this contract for the items listed below. Include brief descriptions of major topic areas that would be included in the proposed template.

Transparency was clearly mentioned in the solicitation. Will proprietary information be made public as well?

Proprietary information will not be disclosed publicly. Please mark the pages as proprietary at the top or bottom of the page in a clear, easily recognizable manner.

Also please keep in mind that your whole bid package cannot be marked as proprietary only small sections.

Is it acceptable to provide URL links to examples of prior work products in lieu of inserting the full work products into the body of the proposal to help reduce length of proposal?

URL links are not allowed. Please provide a PDF, Word, Power Point etc. with your submission. Screen Shots of works with suitable explanations/descriptions of elements of interest would be acceptable as well, as included on the other types of documents, like PDFs/PowerPoint/Word docs etc.