36C10B26R0020.docx

Sources Sought Notice Sources Sought Notice

GENERAL INFORMATION

Technology Acquisition Center Procurement Services G 23 Christopher Way Eatontown NJ 07724

POINT OF CONTACT*

Contract Specialist Juan C Perez Juan.Perez5@va.gov

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DESCRIPTION

STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES

Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 21 Patient Elopement & Wandering Prevention Systems Sustainment and Standardization

I. Background:

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Sierra Pacific Network (VISN 21) operates multiple Patient Elopement and Wandering (PEW) Prevention Systems across its healthcare facilities to protect vulnerable patient populations at risk of elopement, wandering, or unauthorized exit. These technologies are essential components of patient safety programs in Community Living Centers, inpatient medical units, Emergency Departments, and Behavioral Health settings.

Over time, individual facilities have implemented and expanded PEW systems independently, resulting in a mixture of three differing platforms (see table 1), varying generations of hardware, and inconsistent architectural approaches. This diversity increases the complexity of system support, elevates sustainment costs, complicates clinical standardization, and limits VISN-wide operational interoperability. To ensure continuity of patient safety operations while improving future scalability, VISN 21 requires a coordinated effort to maintain its current systems and to develop a unified, enterprise-capable PEW solution that will support all VISN 21 healthcare systems under a common standard.

II. Purpose:

The purpose of this initiative is to ensure both the sustained operation of existing PEW systems and the advancement of VISN 21 toward a standardized, modernized PEW platform capable of meeting the collective needs of all its facilities. This effort aims to preserve uninterrupted patient safety protections, improve the consistency and reliability of elopement prevention workflows, strengthen compliance with VA cybersecurity and technical requirements, and establish a uniform, scalable solution for future deployment. The contractor will support these goals by providing technical, engineering, integration, testing, and change‑management expertise needed to maintain current systems while designing and implementing a forward‑looking enterprise architecture.

Offerors shall develop and propose a solution that directly supports the objectives and outcomes defined in this Statement of Objectives (SOO). The Government seeks solutions that demonstrate thoughtful, innovative, and tailored approaches to sustaining existing PEW systems while guiding VISN 21 toward a fully standardized enterprise platform. Offerors are strongly discouraged from simply restating or re-packaging the language of this SOO or any previously released draft materials; instead, proposed solution documents should reflect the offeror’s unique technical solution, implementation methodology, and performance approach. The solution submitted by the successful offeror will be incorporated into the resultant Performance Work Statement (PWS) and order and is expected to clearly articulate the tasks, deliverables, performance measures, and management strategies the offeror recommends achieving the Government’s stated outcomes.

As part of the proposal evaluation process, offerors shall provide a live demonstration of their proposed Patient Elopement and Wandering (PEW) solution to the Department of Veterans Affairs. This demonstration must showcase core system capabilities, including real‑time location accuracy, alarm generation and routing, user interface functionality, patient tagging workflows, integration capabilities, and administrative tools. Offerors should be prepared to demonstrate how their solution will sustain existing VISN 21 systems, support a transition to a unified enterprise platform, and meet VA cybersecurity, interoperability, and performance requirements. The demonstration must reflect the actual system being proposed—prototype-only or conceptual demonstrations will not be accepted—and shall allow VA evaluators to validate technical claims, assess usability, and compare solution suitability across competing vendors.

The Government encourages offerors to fully exercise their flexibility to propose a solution that demonstrates creativity, efficiency, and effectiveness.

III. Scope:

The scope of this project includes all VISN 21 healthcare systems identified in Table 1 and encompasses the full range of activities required to sustain existing PEW systems while designing and deploying a unified enterprise platform. This includes activities such as workflow discovery, system architecture development, site assessments, hardware and software provisioning, calibration and tuning of components, integration with nurse call, access control, and fire alarm systems, and comprehensive acceptance testing and validation.

IV. Type of Contract and Period and Place of Performance:

The Government is considering a firm-fixed-priced single award indefinite-delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract. The period of performance for this requirement will align with a five-year ordering period under which individual Task Orders may extend up to twelve months beyond the end of the ordering period. Each Task Order will define specific start and end dates and will identify the periods during which contractor activities will occur at VISN 21 facilities. Work shall not occur on federal holidays or weekends unless explicitly authorized by the Contracting Officer. The place of performance shall be identified in individual Task Orders within our VA Health Care System (HCS(s)). The list of current Health Care Systems support this by this contract, and their addresses, are given in Table 1.

Table 1: Health Care Systems covered under the scope of this contract

V. Performance Objectives:

These objectives collectively define the dual mandate of sustaining VISN 21’s existing PEW systems while guiding the transition to a unified, modernized enterprise platform. Together, they ensure that current safety-critical capabilities remain fully operational while establishing a forward‑looking architecture that enhances consistency, interoperability, and performance across all facilities.

· Objective 1: Support the continuous sustainment and optimization of all existing PEW systems deployed across VISN 21. This objective encompasses full lifecycle maintenance of current hardware, software, firmware, integrations, and alerting components to ensure uninterrupted elopement prevention operations. It includes performing corrective and preventive maintenance, monitoring system health and device status, managing software patches and firmware updates, resolving connectivity or performance issues, sustaining integrations with nurse call, access control, and fire alarm systems, and ensuring that existing clinical workflows continue to function reliably. Activities under this objective are intended to preserve the safety of vulnerable patient populations while VISN 21 transitions toward a standardized enterprise PEW platform.

· Objective 2: Develop a unified PEW enterprise architecture that addresses VISN‑wide operational, clinical, and technical requirements. This objective includes conducting comprehensive workflow discovery, facility assessments, and technical analyses to understand current-state conditions across multiple sites. The resulting architecture must incorporate standardized clinical workflows, common geofencing strategies, uniform alarm routing rules, and harmonized data models that promote consistency and interoperability across VISN 21. The enterprise architecture should be scalable, support modern RTLS/BLE capabilities, comply with VA infrastructure standards, and provide a foundation for long-term modernization and future enhancements.

· Objective 3: Implement, configure, and validate the standardized enterprise solution once designed, ensuring installations are aligned with VISN requirements and tailored to site-specific operational environments. This includes deployment and calibration of hardware components such as readers, gateways, exciters, beacons, and controllers; configuration of software platforms, user interfaces, and alarm logic; execution of facility-specific tuning for accuracy and zone detection; and system optimization to ensure performance expectations are met. The objective also includes comprehensive acceptance testing—such as performance testing, interference checks, accuracy validation, and user acceptance testing—to confirm that the system meets clinical, operational, and technical needs across all VISN 21 facilities.

· Objective 4: Ensure that all system components comply with applicable VA cybersecurity requirements. This objective includes implementing FIPS-validated encryption for data at rest and in transit, ensuring PIV-authenticated access for system users, validating authoritative data source integration requirements, and aligning all applications and hardware with VA Technical Reference Model standards. It also encompasses compliance with VA’s identity and access management frameworks, vulnerability remediation timelines, OS and application patching requirements, and accessibility standards for all user-facing interfaces and documentation.

· Objective 5: Provide comprehensive training, documentation, and transition support to ensure VISN 21 staff are prepared to operate and maintain the standardized system long term. This includes developing and delivering role-based training for clinical, security, biomedical engineering, OIT, and administrative staff; preparing user guides, technical manuals, SOPs, and job aids; documenting all system configurations, workflows, and maintenance procedures; and executing a structured transition plan with a clearly defined Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed (RACI) model. The goal is to establish VISN‑wide competency and self-sufficiency, ensuring that each facility can support routine operations, respond effectively to alarms, manage patient tagging workflows, and sustain the enterprise system beyond the period of performance.

Performance Standards: Contractor performance shall be measured against standards that ensure system reliability, safety, and compliance. These standards include maintaining at least 99 percent location accuracy during performance testing, meeting project milestones on schedule, complying with VA cybersecurity and technical requirements, and providing high‑quality deliverables that meet VISN technical needs. Systems must be installed and configured according to OEM and VA specifications, and all training and documentation must meet VA requirements for completeness, clarity, and accessibility.

Performance Monitoring: The Government will monitor contractor performance through recurring status reports, Key Performance Indicator (KPI) dashboards, risk and issue logs, and progress reviews. Monthly reporting will document schedule performance, system uptime, accuracy metrics, interface performance, and outstanding risks. Acceptance testing and user validation will confirm that system capabilities meet the required performance standards. The Government will utilize its Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) to oversee ongoing performance and determine acceptability of contractor deliverables and activities.

VI. Operating Constraints:

Operating constraints for this effort arise from the clinical, technical, and security conditions under which VISN 21’s PEW systems must operate. All contractor activities must be scheduled and executed in a manner that avoids disruption to patient care, recognizing that installations and testing occur within active healthcare environments that require continuous safety and workflow continuity. Work performed at Government facilities must comply with VA policies on physical access, identification, remote access, security, and data handling. The contractor must ensure that all software, hardware, and network components comply with VA standards, Trusted Internet Connection (TIC) guidelines, Section 508 accessibility rules, and FIPS‑validated encryption requirements, and must operate within VA‑approved environments. The contractor is expected to coordinate closely with clinical, Office of Information Technology (OIT), and engineering staff to ensure that system sustainment and standardization activities proceed safely, securely, and without compromising ongoing patient operations.

APPENDIX A: LIST OF POTENTIAL DELIVERABLES

1) Project Management

· Master Project Plan (MPP) — baseline within 30 days; updated monthly; includes milestones, dependencies, resource plan, and critical path.

· Stakeholder Engagement Plan — roles/RACI, meeting cadences, communications channels, and escalation paths.

· Risk, Issue, and Change Logs — living register with probability/impact, owners, dates, and mitigations

· Monthly Status Reports — SPI/KPIs, accomplishments/next steps, risks/issues with corrective actions

· KPI Dashboard (Power BI) — system uptime, accuracy, interface error rates, and thresholds codified

2) System Design & Architecture

· Requirements Specification — use‑case narratives, non‑functional requirements, constraints, and traceability.

· System Architecture Diagram — logical/physical views, interfaces, data flows, and security zones

· Coverage Maps & Accuracy Models — floor plans with placements and propagation models that meet targets

· Design Review Report — decisions, comments, and action items with owners/due dates

· Hardware & Server Design Document (per site) — server specs, diagrams, bandwidth/latency, power/BTUs, supported tag counts, and time sync approach.

3) Provisioning & Staging

· Bill of Materials (BoM) and Delivery Schedule aligned to installation waves.

· Pre‑Configuration Checklist — firmware versions, network settings, tag profiles.

· Interoperability Test Report — matrix validating firmware/protocol compatibility across components.

· Inventory & Serial Log — serials/MACs/tag IDs, location, and status reconciled with shipment records.

· Facility Receiving Report (per site) — confirms receipt and reconciles delivery discrepancies.

· Software Provisioning Report (per site) — delivery, installation, configuration details, and reconciliation.

4) Installation & Configuration

· As‑Built Diagrams/Configuration Baselines — final system maps, zones, device configurations, and security settings.

· UI Configuration Package — map views, alarm filters, reporting templates, Power BI integration setup.

5) Testing & Acceptance

· Acceptance Test Plan (single, VISN‑wide) — approved prior to execution.

· Performance Test Plan & Results — test steps, accuracy verification (≥99%), interference checks.

· Facility Remediation Hardware Report — additional items needed when requirements are not met.

· Final Hardware Deployment Document — floor layouts plus table of installed hardware (IDs/locations)

· User Acceptance Test (UAT) Plan — roles, schedule, and methodology.

· Facility Acceptance Test (FAT) Report — Excel with tag IDs, locations, and accuracy ratings.

6) Training & Change Management

· Training Plan — objectives, schedules, delivery methods, and instructor qualifications.

· Training Materials & Schedules — role‑based content, session timing, and curricula. .

· Training Attendance Records — participant lists and trainer details.

7) Transition & Sustainment

· Transition Plan — step‑by‑step procedures with a RACI matrix for handoff to VA staff.

· User & Technical Manuals — operating instructions, troubleshooting guides, diagnostic tools, parts lists (facility‑specific).

· System Administration Procedures — patching cadence, security compliance, health checks, and update/upgrade records.

8) Warranty & Support

· Warranty Status Report — hardware/software specifications with warranty expiration dates.

9) Security, Privacy, & Accessibility

· Contractor Staff Roster — names, DOB/POB, background investigation level, fingerprinting status.

· Final Section 508 Compliance Test Results — evidence of EIT accessibility conformance.

· Security & Privacy Artifacts — e.g., CSCA (if applicable), incident reports, and required certifications/logs per VA Handbook 6500.6/Appendix C.

10) Shipping & Logistics

· Master Delivery Schedule — consolidated, site‑level timelines for shipments.

· Shipment/Delivery Weekly Progress Report — items shipped, serial numbers, dates, tracking, receipt status, and issue resolution.

11) Method & Distribution (Formats)

· Electronic deliverables in VA‑approved formats (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, Visio, AutoCAD, etc.), as specified in the PWS’s Method and Distribution section.

See attached document: P02 - MR SOO - Patient Elopement Prevention.

Sources Sought Notice