P09 - Performance Work Statement.docx

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

Interoperability Pledge Program Support

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. At “HealthDataPalooza”, the Undersecretary of Health from the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Dr. Shereef Elnahal, announced the creation of a Veteran Interoperability Pledge initiative to facilitate the seamless care experience and immediate access to Veteran patients’ medical history as part of making timely and accurate treatment decisions. With aspirations to help advance treatment and reduce negative outcomes for patients in suicidal crisis, recognizing new and enhanced benefits available to Veterans based upon legislation related to toxic exposures, this pledge will help enhance access to key data between VA and community providers.

1.2. This initiative is driven in part by recent legislative actions in the form of the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) and the Veterans Comprehensive Prevention, Access to Care, and Treatment (COMPACT) act addressing Veterans in suicidal crisis. This initiative was developed to promulgate awareness of these benefits and to advance utilization of those benefits to the advantage of the Veteran population we serve.

1.3. A group of thirteen (13) health systems were initial signatories to the Pledge, agreeing to work collaboratively with the VA to identify and address issues adversely affecting Veteran care, with initial focus on improving the identification of patients that are Veterans, in clarifying and improving eligibility determination for programs under which they may qualify, and to advance health data sharing across institutions in support of their care. Details about the pledge and the program can be found at the VA website at https://www.va.gov/health/veteran-interoperability-pledge.asp.

1.4. https://www.va.gov/health/veteran-interoperability-pledge.aspRecognizing interests in advancing this initiative to be available not only to (United States) Veterans across the country, but that many components of this program have collateral benefit to the public at large and other vulnerable communities. The VA requires support services with a neutral community convenor to assemble, manage, orchestrate, enable the broad community of interested parties and stakeholders to examine all dimensions of these issues, to prioritize and advance viable solution approaches to address these needs.

2. SCOPE OR PURPOSE

2.1. This effort will establish a neutral home for this community of interest, managed by professional facilitators under and organization providing open membership. It will allow the broader ecosystem involved in supporting both Veteran care and providing for similar communities to come together, determining shared priorities and solution approaches to take on the biggest challenges they face. It will allow for a unified voice to emerge and provide a powerful force in advancing viable solutions that consider existing laws, regulations, constraints, determining and advocating for changes needed on behalf of the ecosystem. It will allow VA to bring its voice into harmony with the community, advancing both administrative and clinical solutions that are not wholly dependent upon VA capacity and capability.

2.2. Perhaps most importantly, it provides a longevity and sustainability component to these efforts inherent in broadening the consideration beyond an initial set of use cases to broadly consider the holistic set of Veteran needs and how they align to other disadvantaged groups, providing long-term benefit to participating organizations and the beneficiaries they serve.

3. TASKS

3.1. TASK STATEMENT

3.1.1. Contractor’s Progress, Status and Management Report

3.1.1.1. The Project Manager (PM) shall provide a monthly progress report to the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) via electronic mail. This report shall include: (1) a summary of all project milestones and their anticipated completion dates, (2) data on cumulative funding and expenditure rates and status, (3) invoicing data, (4) an assessment of current month and future month activities, and (5) a discussion of any issues related to contract performance or administration. The Contractor shall provide a draft Program Management Plan (PMP) three (3) business days prior for review and discussion at the kick-off meeting. The COR shall inform the CO of any contractual issues raised during the kickoff meeting for CO resolution.

Task Three Deliverables: The Contractor shall deliver:

1.0 Project Management Plan and Monthly Updates

3.1.2. Kickoff Meeting

3.1.2.1. The Contractor shall conduct a technical kick-off meeting with the Government including the PM, COR, and contracting office. A technical kickoff meeting is required within ten (10) calendar days after contract award. The technical kick-off meeting shall occur along with the post award conference. The kick-off meeting shall set expectations.

Task Three Deliverables: The Contractor shall deliver:

2.0 Kick-off meeting

3.1.3. Staffing Roster

3.1.3.1. The contractor shall provide a roster of all participants with relevant demographic information to include location, phone number, and time zone on the fifth business day of the month.

Task Three Deliverables: The Contractor shall deliver:

3.0 Staffing Roster

3.1.4. Establish a Community of Practice

3.1.4.1. The objective is to transition the initial signatories into an open community of practice, to charter a new, open group, and to conduct outreach to attract and grow this community to involve other stakeholders contributing to or impacted by this objective. The starting-point of this community would be focused on current VA priorities (suicide prevention, toxic exposures, etc., the intention is to grow the scope to address full-spectrum community and cross-community care concerns (scheduling, registration, eligibility, payment, record sharing, problem list sharing, etc.). Moreover, while a key goal is to advance Veteran care and outcomes, the intention is to provide for improvements to care for much broader cohorts, including, but not limited to Veterans. Specific sub-objectives for this area include:

· Inviting and transitioning existing signatories to the new community.

· Identifying non-participating organizations and outreaching to spur their participation.

· Establishing a community charter, governance, policies, and procedures.

· Determining initial goals and objectives.

3.1.5. Integrating VA into the ecosystem

3.1.5.1. The contractor shall support establishment of a Community of Practice by leveraging existing industry partners, relationships, and bodies within the informatics communities who engage standards-based exchange. Industry community refers to partners relationship within the following areas and examples:

· Providers

· Payers

· Vendors

· Oracle Health

· Epic Systems

· Partners

· Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)

· American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA)

· Health Level 7 (HL7)

· Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) entities, including Recognized Coordinating Entity (RCE) and Qualified Health Information Networks (QHINs), and established health information exchanges, such as eHealth Exchange

· Federal Partners such as:

· Office of National Coordinator

· Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services

· Federal Drug Administration

· National Institute of Health

· Health and Human Services

· Indian Health Service Task Three Deliverables: The Contractor shall deliver:

4.0 Community of Practice charter with identified representative participants from signatories.

4.1 Work Plan with key objectives to support industry stakeholder engagement and participation.

4.2 Prospective list of future signatories with points of contact and timelines of engagement.

4.3 Progress report on list of future signatories list, additional members, and status of new partners.

3.1.6. Monthly Reports on Community of Practice Management

3.1.6.1. Key to this tasking is providing ongoing support and management functions for the community of practice, assisting in establishing a regular cadence of meetings, planning agendas, determining shared priorities, tracking actions, and advancing the group toward a consensus position on items of import. The intention behind the facilitation and management of the community is to provide functions as services to support and sustain the community, freeing up participants to focus on high-value content contributions without getting bogged down in administrative operations.

3.1.6.2. Maintaining neutrality across the community, assuring open participation and egalitarian opportunity to contribute and benefit from the work is critical to this component. Dissenting voices should be heard, and concerns noted, with a goal toward finding common, consensus ground.

3.1.6.3. The contractor shall support the management of Community of Practice through strategic engagement and management by providing the enabling capabilities and management oversight to optimize the efficacy and utility of the community, allowing it to achieve its goals, such as:

· Status reports that include:

· Stakeholder management supported by meeting facilitation, agendas, and minutes.

· One (1) in-person conference to include all known industry partners.

· Hosting meetings, managing the community, building the community, convening in-person and virtual sessions, engaging stakeholders, and recruiting likely interested participants toward initiative success.

· Project management support (calendar management, meeting management, etc.).

· Facilitation and consensus-building.

· Meeting Support (planning, hosting [physical and virtual], notetaking, minutes, action items, etc.).

· Collaboration Support (providing tools to enable virtual collaboration [both synchronous and asynchronous], document sharing, decision-making, etc.)

· Determination of community priorities, establishment of consensus, establishment, management, and curation of community backlog.

Task Three Deliverables: The Contractor shall deliver:

5.0 Monthly progress reports of participants, areas of focus and development, and timelines of market development.

5.1 Stakeholder Reports

5.2 Stakeholder communication plans

5.3 Stakeholder conference

5.4 Strategic Communications plan

5.5 Presentations/briefings

5.6 Talking points and position papers

5.7 Public Facing SharePoint repository to house all stakeholder documents.

5.8 Health Care Policy and Industry Standards Analysis Reports.

3.1.7. Community of Practice Maturation Strategic Plan

3.1.7.1. To have comprehensive strategic support for the initiative, Clinical Informatics Office is primarily concerned with the identification, mitigation, inclusion of skills, capabilities, or expertise determined to be important for programmatic goals and lacking in the assembled community. The objectives include the ability to identify, recruit, and engage individuals and organizations to close any determined gaps, and to take pro-active steps to optimize the impact and outcome of community efforts. This includes, but are not limited to:

· Strategic plan that includes industry trends, opportunities for collaboration, industry threats, weaknesses, and impacts to public health.

· Interoperability trend analysis to include educational gaps, attrition, and manpower availability.

· National landscape of existing community, at the state, local, federal levels, and private sector approaches to health care interoperability and opportunities to leverage interstate or public/private partnerships.

· Determination of impactful trends affecting the community (AI, TEFCA, etc.)

· Identification and remediation of skillset gaps.

· Identification of collaborative, complementary, or competing activities and action steps to align/coordinate/harmonize this Community of Practice’s activities.

· Identify key challenges (such as technology or policy constraints) and mitigation strategies or actions to mitigate the key challenges.

· Establishing a virtual resource library of reference content to educate community on ongoing relevant work.

· The Contractor shall provide and leverage existing industry knowledge, relationships, and partnerships to enhance Community of Practice engagement and participation.

Task Three Deliverables: The Contractor shall deliver:

6.0 Community of Practice Maturation strategic plan

6.1 Semi-Annual Updated Community of Practice Maturation strategic plan

6.2 Report on health care interoperability trend analysis

6.3 Semi-Annual updated monthly report on health care interoperability trend analysis

6.4 Report of national landscape of existing community

6.5 Semi-Annual updated Report of national landscape

4. SCHEDULE

Within thirty (30) business days of contract award

5th business day of the month

4.2. Option Period One (1) Deliverables

DATE

5th Business Day of the month

4.3. Option Period Deliverables (Option Periods Two (2) – Four (4))

4.3.1. Same as Option Period One (1)

5. Period of Performance

5.1. The period of performance for this contract is a base period of twelve months with four (4), twelve (12) month option periods. The Government’s decision not to exercise an option shall not be considered a termination.

6. Type of Contract

6.1. The contract shall be Firm-Fixed Price. Travel will be a Not to Exceed (NTE) amount per Period of Performance (POP).

7. Place of Performance

7.1. Efforts under this contract shall be performed at Contractor facilities or teleworking. The Contractor shall work to be scheduled in all time zones from Eastern to Pacific.

8. Travel

8.1. The Government anticipates travel under this effort. Travel must be pre-approved in writing by the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) and in accordance with Federal Travel Regulations. Each Contractor invoice must include copies of all receipts that support the travel costs claimed in the invoice. Local travel within a 50-mile radius from Government facilities within the Washington DC area and the contractor’s facility is considered the cost of doing business and will not be reimbursed. This includes travel, subsistence, and associated labor charges for travel time. Travel performed for personal convenience and daily travel to and from work at the Contractor’s facility will not be reimbursed. Travel, subsistence, and associated labor charges for travel time for travel beyond a 50-mile radius of the Contractor’s facility are authorized for reimbursement on a case-by-case basis and must be pre-approved by the COR and must be planned and executed according to Federal Travel Regulations. General and Admi

8.2. The FTR can be referenced at:

http://www.gsa.gov/portal/ext/public/site/FTR/file/FTRTOC.html/category/21865/hostUri/portal

9. Government-Furnished Information, Equipment, and Facilities

9.1. The VA Digital Health Office (DHO) office shall provide full administrator access to the tools listed below. If the mandated toolset changes throughout the POP, then the Government shall provide access to the new toolset.

9.2. VPN access to the VA network (RESCUE)

9.3. Citrix Access Gateway (CAG)

9.4. Microsoft Office 365

10. Security Requirements

10.1. If a solicitation is issued, this section will be completed at that time.

11. Changes to the Performance Work Statement

11.1. Any changes to this Performance Work Statement (PWS) shall be authorized and approved only through a signed modification to the contract from the CO. A copy of each modification shall be kept in a project folder along with all other products of the project.

12. Key Personnel

12.1. Contractor staff shall be fully qualified and have the level of experience necessary to accomplish the requirements of this PWS. In addition, Contractor personnel shall be acceptable to the Government in terms of personal and professional conduct, and in technical knowledge. Furthermore, Contractor personnel shall be proficient using office automation equipment and software, and have sufficient written and verbal communication skills to support VA. The work accomplished in this Task Order shall not use offshore labor unless specifically agreed to by the contracting office. Should any Contractor personnel be determined to be unacceptable in terms of technical competency or unacceptable personal conduct while on-site or while working on contract activities, the Contractor shall immediately remove and replace the unacceptable on-site personnel at no additional cost to the Government. Contractor personnel are to serve in a support role; final decisions regarding VA business will always be made by Government personnel.

12.2. Certain skilled experience professional and/or technical personnel are essential for accomplishing the work to be performed. These individuals are defined as “Key Personnel” whose experience biographies shall be submitted and marked by the Contractor as “Key Personnel”. Substitutions shall only be accepted if in compliance with the “Substitution of Key Personnel” provision identified below.

12.3. The Project Managers, Business Process Reengineering Specialists, Business Analysts, Scientific Data Analysts, Test Engineers, Subject Matter Experts, Communications Specialists, and Quality Assurance Analysts are defined as Key Personnel and, except in cases where individuals commit criminal conduct or violations of company policy, shall not be removed, diverted, or replaced from work without notifying the CO and COR.

12.4. Any personnel that the Contractor offers as substitutes shall have the ability and qualifications equal to or better than the key personnel who are being replaced. The Contractor shall submit a complete resume for the proposed substitute and any other information requested by the CO needed to approve or disapprove the proposed substitution. The CO will evaluate such requests and promptly notify the contractor of approval or disapproval thereof in writing.

13. Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) The Contractor’s performance will be evaluated based on the following metrics:

Notifies customer in advance of problems with meeting the deliverable due date.

Customer notified no later than seven (7) business days before the due date.

proficiency in skills necessary to perform tasks.

Knowledge of Access, Excel spreadsheets, macros, effective written and oral communication, presentation and facilitation skills at an executive level.

Knowledge of SharePoint Online, Office 365, Power Apps, Power Automate and Power BI at an expert level.

Complaints

No more than three (3) complaints per quarter on, but not limited to, resource availability, professionalism, engagement during collaboration, response time, effective communication, project deliverable quality.