Q_A Final.xlsx
XLSX spreadsheet 14 KB Posted
- Attached to
- 7A21--Automated Discharge Planning - New BPA
- Solicitation number
- 36C10B21Q0537
About this file
This document contains questions and answers regarding a solicitation for an Automated Discharge Planning Blanket Purchase Agreement. The agreement will result in a single award to provide an automated discharge planning solution to be utilized at 58 Veteran Affairs medical centers. Key details include that each site will determine its own need and make purchases as required, and are not obligated to purchase through the blanket agreement. Offerors must describe their approach to obtaining FedRAMP certification. The security categorization for new systems will be assessed individually. A perpetual software license will be provided, and the VA will determine whether to continue maintenance or use of the software when options are exercised. The agreement period is five years. Offerors should provide pricing for three ordering periods to correspond with base and option years at the site level. Subcontractors may be added at the order level.
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Sheet1
| Question | Answer | |
| Please clarify the implications of a “Single Blanket Purchase Agreement”. Will “VA National” be purchasing and managing the implementation for all 150 hospitals? Or, will each VISN determine the need and purchase off the agreement? If the latter, does a VISN have to purchase off the blanket agreement if they determine an alternative discharge planning system better meets its needs? | One Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) will be awarded. Each site will determine its need and purchase off the agreement. VISNs/Sites are not required to purchase off of the BPA. | |
| If FEDRAMP authorization has not been achieved by vendor by time of award, is that disqualifying? | Offerors are to provide a description to their approach to obtaining FedRAMP certification for the Government to evaluate. The successful Offeror will be required to complete the requirements prior to utilization of the solution. | |
| In March of 2019, a notification was sent that updated the VA’s Security Categorization of the “Discharge Planning System” from high impact to medium impact? Please clarify. High impact security for a “discharge planning solution” was determined to be unreasonable unless it is to discourage vendor responses. | The security categorization for existing VA systems will remain the same. The security categorization for new systems that do not have an existing ATO will require an assessment to determine the appropriate categorization. | |
| Please clarify the government’s intent beyond the POP in a perpetual license model and the government’s definition of perpetual license. Does the government expect to have rights to use the software beyond the POP even if no maintenance contract is awarded beyond the POP? Since continued use of the software without maintenance/updates would be a potential security risk, we would not expect the government to continue using the software beyond the POP which is why we want to clarify the intent of the perpetual license. | The language cited noting "perpetual license" comes from the Software License, Maintenance and Technical Support section of the Solicitation. This language sets forth a baseline expectation that Offerors, shall provide a perpetual license. The Government understands the risks of continued use without continuation of the maintenance. VA would make its determination of whether to continue maintenance or continue use of the software at the time that an option for continued maintenance may be exercised at the Call Order level or with the issuance of a subsequent Call Order. The goal is for VA to replace this ADP solution once EHRM implementation is executed at the site. | |
| Based on our interpretation of 5.2.2, a VAMC will need to fund the call order, however, in order to complete the integration effort, VA OIT (perhaps through VDIF) will need to provide the VA side of the interface to send ADT and medical record data to the vendor and the vendor will provide the receiving interface to receive data from the VA as specified in the SOW. If this scenario is an accurate representation of the requirements, VA OIT would need to fund OIT’s efforts to be involved in the interface implementation which may delay the interface implementation until VA OIT funds can be allocated. | ||
| i. | Can we propose an alternative and optional line item for the PWS and Price Schedule for the vendor to provide the sending side of the interface to eliminate any need for VA OIT to complete the interface implementation effort with VA OIT funds? If so, we will describe our approach in our technical response for a complete end-end solution that would allow each VAMC to decide if they wanted to wait for VA OIT to complete the interfaces or add that scope to their order using the optional line item. If that is an acceptable approach, how would you like us to show this optional line item in the pricing spreadsheet? | As noted in the solicitation, VA has a requirement that an interface be developed to the current Electronic Health Record in close coordination with the VDIF Program Office. Call Orders may be issued for any Performance Work Statement, singly or with multiple areas covered, based on VA's requirement. (i.e., a Call Order specific to interface work soley or Call Order for licenses and maintenance only). Proposing alternatives that may materially deviate from the requirements set forth in the soliciation, and any amendment thereto, may render an offeror Unaccepable and inelligable for award. |
| Page 48 – C.5.a. Should the blanks be completed in this section? | These dates will be filled in at award as they will be based on the date the agreement is signed; the period will be 5 years. | |
| Attachment 002 - Business Associate Agreement (BAA) was referenced but not included. | BAA has been uploaded to posting. | |
| What is the role and responsibility of the Veterans Data Integration and Federation (VDIF) Enterprise Platform (EP) Government team with respect to the interface requirement? | VDIF Intake will work with the vendor to define the data fields needed for the interface. | |
| Is there a specification for or list of the interfaces that are currently available or planned to be supported by the VDIF in the near future that would impact the scope of the PWS? | No. | |
| Paragraph 5.2.2 references potential API’s to be developed. Can you elaborate on the API development requirement? | The interface will need to be developed to automate the gathering of information needed to make referrals. The requirements noted in this section are written for the high level requirements for the interface given that a specific solution has not yet been determined. Given the variety of solutions and what may be inherent to one solution and not another, VA cannot furnish a comprehensive listing. Once the BPA award has been made and the solution has been identified, the Call Order that captures this work will further detail the technical aspects of this. | |
| With respect to the medical records interface requirement for referral packets, does the scope include building the CPRS API in order to send data from CRPS to our solution? Or will the VA provide the API thereby limiting the scope of this contract to receiving the data from CPRS? | The vendor is expected to build the interface needed to satisfy the requirements for referral packets content from the medical record. Once the BPA award has been made and the solution identified, the Call Order that captures this work will further detail the technical aspects of this. | |
| PWS 6.1.2 item #7 regarding Two-Factor authentication: Is 2FA specifically required beyond support for PIV authentication in conjunction with the VA AIM? | Two-Factor authentication (2FA)is required for users accessing the automated solution. Use of PIV is the approach most commonly used to satisfy the 2FA requirement. | |
| Page 82 (i) – Technical Factor – Based on these instructions to offerors on the technical factor, is it correct to understand that the only paragraphs needing a response in our technical volume are PWS 5.2, 5.2.1, 5.3, and 5.3.2? The basis for this question is that it appears 5.4 (Helpdesk), 5.5 (SLA), and 5.6 (Training) are not included in the technical factor requirements and we wanted to confirm this was the government’s intent. | Correct, the paragraphs referenced in the technical factor are the ones that will be evaluated. | |
| Price Evaluation Spreadsheet - If our standard/commercial pricing does not break out a certain line item separately (eg. Helpdesk and/or Training) would the government prefer we price that line item as $0 or leave it blank? | Any line item that is not applicable to the offeror's pricing structure shall be priced as $0. | |
| Per PWS 4.1, each call order can have a period of 1 year plus 2 option years. For clarification on the intent of the pricing spreadsheet with respect to options years, if a VAMC placed a call order in Ordering Period 1, should that same VAMC expect to pay the amount in Ordering Period 1 for their Base year and the amounts in Ordering Periods 2 and 3 for their Option Years 1 and 2? | Yes, that is the intent. | |
| PWS 4.3 indicates that travel requirements will be at the facility and therefore Call Order level. However, the pricing spreadsheet appears to calculate travel based on Ordering Period. The way the pricing schedule is built, we will need to know how many facilities we should expect to need to travel to during each ordering period. Can you provide the number of facilities to calculate travel for each Ordering Period? | Offerors shall give a travel estimate based on all 58 sites for each ordering period. | |
| Please confirm if it is a new opportunity | Yes. | |
| If a large business primes this effort, are they required to meet all of the Small Business (SB) participation goals upfront, or is the government only looking for commitment to SB participation and will allow primes to select SB subcontractors later during the Task Order stages? | In accordance with Section E.9 of the solicitation each Large Business Offeror shall provide a Small Business Subcontracting Plan that contains all of the elements required by FAR 52.219-9. This is in addition to the small business participation requirement. | |
| Do you require a proposed team at the time of proposal submission? Or will you accept offerors to add/map major subcontractors to PWS task areas later during the Task Order stages? | Subcontractors may be added at the order level. |
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