Questions and Responses.xlsx
XLSX spreadsheet 12 KB Posted
- Attached to
- DA10--Bi-Directional Image/Report Exchange
- Solicitation number
- 36C10B26Q0076
About this file
This file is a Questions and Responses document for a VA medical imaging exchange project (Solicitation 36C10B26Q0076). The opportunity seeks a bi-directional imaging and report exchange system with specific technical requirements, including a 100% SaaS or VAEC deployment model that must be FedRAMP High compliant. Key technical specifications include supporting 2 million studies per year, accommodating 1,500 concurrent users, providing a zero-footprint viewer, and integrating with existing VA systems using HL7 and DICOM standards.
The VA expects the selected vendor to directly onboard 80% of private sites within 6 months, with a deployment strategy of VISN-by-VISN rollout. The system must handle complex requirements around image routing, patient consent tracking, and cross-domain integrations between VA and DoD systems. Pricing preferences lean toward subscription models, with mandatory requirements including a 15-minute senior-level escalation SLA, end-to-end FIPS 140-2 compliance, and native DICOM query/retrieve capabilities. The project is being managed by the Department of Veterans Affairs Technology Acquisition Center in Austin.
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| File | Type | Posted |
|---|---|---|
| 36C10B26Q0076.docx | DOCX document | |
| VHA Bi-Directional Imaging Exchange RFI.docx | DOCX document |
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Sheet1 Questions Responses
| A. Cloud, FedRAMP & Hosting | ||
| 1. | Is the preferred deployment model 100% SaaS, VAEC, or hybrid? | VA's preferred deployment model is 100% SaaS. |
| 2. | If SaaS is required, must the vendor-hosted environment be FedRAMP High or only VA-managed cloud? | The Contractor shall be FedRAMP High or collaborate with a FedRAMP High hosting partner. |
| 3. Is VHA open to a “vendor-managed software deployed inside VAEC” model (not true SaaS)? | Yes, VHA is open to a "vendor-managed software deployed inside VAEC" model. | |
| 4. Will VHA provide cloud resources, or should vendors size and propose a full hosting stack? | VA would provide resources in VAEC model. The vendor would provide resources in SaaS model. | |
| B. Integration Requirements | ||
| 5. | What interfaces exist today between VistA Imaging, CPRS, HSRM, and DoD to integrate with? | The vendor is to propose custom interfaces. The HL7 and DICOM transfer standards exist today. |
| 6. | Is VHA expecting native DICOM Q/R or only XDS-I/XCA integration? | VHA is expecting Native DICOM. |
| 7. | Can VHA share its authoritative MPI specifications (EDIPI + SSN normalization)? | VA may possibly share with selected vendor. |
| 8. | Does VHA require vendors to serve as the MPI or integrate with an existing authoritative MPI? | VA may possibly share with selected vendor. |
| C. Workflow Requirements | ||
| 9. | What is the expected workflow for initiating community image requests? | VA is interested in vendor solutions for providing tracking and retrieval solutions. |
| 10. | Must the system reconcile studies automatically or allow manual reconciliation? | VA seeks to maximally automate processes with manual reconcilliation as a final vetting step. |
| 11. | Should vendors map VHA’s internal referral workflows (HSRM → PACS → eHS)? | Yes, Vendors should map to VHA's internal referral workflows. |
| 12. | How is “completion” defined in VHA workflows (report received? images validated?) | The completion is defined when the report and images are received, validated and uploaded in HER. |
| D. Security & Compliance | ||
| 13. | Does VHA require FIPS 140-2 end-to-end including all internal nodes? | Yes, VHA requires FIPS 140-2 end-to-end including all internal nodes. |
| 14. | Must vendors handle OS patching if deployed inside VAEC or will VA manage base OS? | VA will manage OS inside VAEC unless Vendor requests to manage. |
| 15. | Does VHA require FedRAMP High for all subsystems, including viewers and metadata services? | Yes, VHA requires FedRAMP High for all subsystems hosted in public cloud. VAEC deployments may differ. |
| E. Performance & Scale | ||
| 16. | Is 2M studies/year the expected continuous load or peak? | Two million studies per years is the continuous load with potential increase. |
| 17. | What is the required ingestion throughput (studies per minute)? | The vendor should size system to perform based on volume and concurrent user estimates. |
| 18. | What is the expected number of concurrent users? | 1,500 concurrent users is the expected number with potential for increase. |
| 19. | Bandwidth expectations: any formal minimum/maximum limits for DoD and private sites? | Solution is expected to perform optimally on wide area networks with QoS optimized from medical applications. |
| F. Viewer / UI Requirements | ||
| 20. | Does VHA expect vendors to provide the zero-footprint viewer or integrate with an existing one? | The vendor should provide zero-footprint viewer for outbound provider viewing and for inbound QC/QA. |
| 21. | Are advanced tools (MPR, 3D, mammo) required in the viewer or only routing/exchange? | No, advanced tools (MPR, 3D, mammo) are not required in the viewer or only routing/exchange. |
| G. Consent & Privacy | ||
| 22. | Does VHA require a centralized consent service or integration with local consent management? | No, all image transfers must be tracked for accounting of disclosures. |
| 23. | Should vendors manage cross-domain patient consent (DoD ↔ VA) automatically? | No, all image transfers must be tracked for accounting of disclosures. |
| H. Data Sources & File Formats | ||
| 24. | How should VHA handle CD/DVD ingest workflows that lack identifiers? | When the CD/DVD ingest workflows lack identifiers they will be rejected or manually reconciled by staff. |
| 25. | Are non-DICOM images (JPEG, TIFF, PDFs) expected to be normalized into DICOM KOS? | No, only for images of reports are non-DICOM images (JPEG, TIFF, PDFs) expected to be normalized into DICOM KOS. |
| I. Monitoring & SLA | ||
| 26. | What monitoring tools is VHA using today (Splunk, SCOM, Grafana)? | VA may possibly share with selected vendor, however that information is not being disclosed at this time. |
| 27. | Does VHA require vendor access to monitoring dashboards inside VAEC? | Yes, VHA requires vendor access to monitoring dashboards inside VAEC. |
| 28. | Is 15-minute senior-level escalation SLA mandatory or negotiable? | The 15-minute senior-level escalation SLA is mandatory. |
| J. Programmatic & Contracting | ||
| 29. | Is VHA expecting a national rollout or VISN-by-VISN deployment? | VA anticipates the deployment will be VISN by VISN. |
| 30. | Will VHA provide a list of all community partners and modalities upfront? | All existing community partners will be provided to the selected vendor post award. |
| 31. | Is the vendor expected to onboard all private sites directly (80% within 6 months)? | The vendor is expected to onboard all private sites directly (80% within 6 months). |
| 32. | Does VHA prefer CAPEX or subscription pricing? | VHA prefers subscription pricing but may consider CAPEX. |
| K. Documentation & RFP Preparation | ||
| 33. | What documents will VHA provide to allow a complete system design? | VHA will provide a list of Community partners, and all internal required VA DICOM and HL7 connections. |
| 34. | Will there be a technical interchange meeting before the RFP? | No, a technical interchange meeting before the RFP is not anticipated. |
| 35. | Can VHA provide reference architecture for VAEC deployments? | Available VAEC information may be released in a resultant solicitation. |
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