36C24218U0057-0001000.docx

5. PROJECT NUMBER (if applicable)

CODE

7. ADMINISTERED BY

2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NUMBER

CODE

6. ISSUED BY

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR

4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NUMBER

3. EFFECTIVE DATE

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NUMBER

9B. DATED

PAGE

OF PAGES

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NUMBER

10B. DATED

BPA NO.

1. CONTRACT ID CODE

FACILITY CODE

CODE

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended, by one of the following methods:

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers

E. IMPORTANT:

is extended,

(a) By completing Items 8 and 15, and returning __________ copies of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted; or (c) By separate letter or electronic communication which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY is not extended.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA

(REV. 11/2016)

is required to sign this document and return ___________ copies to the issuing office.

is not, A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE CONTRACT ORDER NO. IN ITEM 10A.

15C. DATE SIGNED

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment you desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made by letter or electronic communication, provided each letter or electronic communication makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER

BY

Contractor

16C. DATE SIGNED

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION

16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect.

15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER

16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER

15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR

STANDARD FORM 30

PREVIOUS EDITION NOT USABLE

Prescribed by GSA - FAR (48 CFR) 53.243 (Type or print) (Type or print) (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

(Number, street, county, State and ZIP Code) (If other than Item 6) (Specify type of modification and authority) (such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc.)

(If required)

(SEE ITEM 11)

(SEE ITEM 13)

(X)

CHECK

ONE

13. THIS ITEM APPLIES ONLY TO MODIFICATIONS OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS,

IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT

(Signature of person authorized to sign) (Signature of Contracting Officer) 630-19-1-5060-0001 36C242 Department of Veterans Affairs Network Contracting Office 2 James J. Peters VA Medical Center 130 West Kingsbridge Road Bronx

NY

10468-3904 36C242 Department of Veterans Affairs James J. Peters VA Medical Center Network Contracting Office 2 130 West Kingsbridge Road Bronx

NY

10468-3904 To all Offerors/Bidders

36C24218U0057

X x x x The purpose of this amendment is to answer vendor questions (attached, five pages).

The due date for quotes remains September 21, 2018, at 10 AM EST.

Marshand Boone Contracting Officer 36C24218U0057—Responses to vendor questions

1. Who is the current vendor?

Answer: Premier Office Technologies

1. What is the current rate per line and is it for an 80 VBC line?

Answer: Yes – 80 VBC at .14 cents per line

1. On the Price/Cost schedule do you want us to multiply the "Unit Price" by 12.0 or by 184,137 lines in order to calculate the "Amount"?

Answer: There is no unit pricing as such, it is the number of lines (VBC 80) x .145. As per question 7, the VBC is changed to 65 as per industry standard.

1. Will the dictators be dictating into digital recording equipment supplied by the vendor and located at our (the vendor) site?

Answer: YES. We currently have dedicated telephone extensions that link to the vendor.

1. Or will the dictators be dictating into digital recoding equipment located at the VA facility with the vendor required to retrieve/access/download the voice files?

Answer: NO.

1. Will the vendor be transcribing all of the medical dictation or are there in-house transcriptionists who will also be transcribing dictated reports?

Answer: There are NO in-house transcriptionists.

1. Why is this contract using a different definition of a line count, 80 VBC per line (page 16 paragraph 3 of the RFQ) versus the VA standard of 65 VBC’s per line?

Answer: This has been revised to reflect the standard 65 VBC’s per line. Please see the revised SOW attached.

36C24218U0057 STATEMENT OF WORK

GENERAL INFORMATION

1. Contract required – Combined Dictation/Transcription contractor for NYHHS.

2. Background: Contractor needed to provide dictation and transcription services for dictated material pertinent to the Medical Records of patients, at the following Veterans Affairs New York Harbor Health Care System Campuses, into the required report format:

Materials to be transcribed include a high incidence of technical terminology, which requires an extensive vocabulary and medical terminology peculiar to a wide variety of subjects as well as geographic locations of military service. These subjects will include, but are not limited to: anesthesiology, cardiology, dermatology, dentistry, endocrinology, general medicine, gastroenterology, gynecology, hematology, neurology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, otolaryngology, pharmacology, psychology, pulmonary disease, rehabilitation medicine, renal disease, rheumatology, spinal cord injury, and urology.

SCOPE OF WORK

NY Harbor Healthcare System has a requirement for traditional dictation and correction editing transcription services. The contractor must provide dictation and transcription services by electronically accessing or downloading VA’s digital dictation voice files while meeting VA information security requirements. The vendor is not to subcontract work to another transcription firm without prior VA approval.

All transcription and verification must be performed in the United States of America. There are no Exceptions.

Material is dictated by physicians from the surgical service(s) disciplines, and will require adaptation by the medical transcriptionist to variations in speech, tone, voice volume, delivery, pronunciation and enunciation. Dictators will include persons for whom English is a second language. The Contractor is responsible for correct spelling, including unfamiliar words.

The Contractor is responsible to check medical and English dictionaries and other reliable reference sources as needed for distinguishing between similar sounding medical and dental terms.

The Contractor’s medical transcriptionists will use correct grammar, punctuation and correct spelling and dictation will be transcribed in the proper tense. Incorrect grammar, incorrect punctuation, misspelling and blank spaces are defined as minor errors. The Contractor is required to exercise proper judgment in discerning between errors or omissions without changing sentence structure. Changes in sentence structure, which are clerical in nature, misspelling of proper names, incorrect social security numbers, and incorrect dates of events, are all major errors. The Contractor will edit the document to be grammatically correct, providing the medical content of that document is not altered in doing so. The Contractor will recognize those documents which should be referenced back to the facility for clarification or correction by the dictator.

Access to Abbreviations and Symbols available on the VA Intranet will be provided at time of award. VANYH personnel will inspect the Contractor’s final output for accuracy. Any errors found will be evaluated for Contractor’s liability. The Contractor will be notified of any inaccurate transcription determined to be the Contractor’s liability. Any transcription work containing more than one minor error per page, including, but not limited to misspelling, blank spaces, incorrect grammar and punctuation, found to be the Contractor’s liability will be returned for correction at no additional charge to the government. No major errors are acceptable. Work containing major errors will be the Contractor’s liability and will be returned by NYH within four working hours from the hours of notification at no cost to the government. Transcribed work received, which contains omissions, spelling/grammatical errors, and/or is completed in a manner which is unacceptable to the VANYHHCS will be returned to the Contractor for correction at no additional charge to the Government.

The line length of each typed line is normally 80 characters, except for header/footer information. Reports will be single-spaced with double spacing between paragraphs. If the transcription format changes, VANYHHCS will provide Contractor with new specifications.

The Contractor shall produce the quality of work as stated above and the volume of work required as stated herein. Quality work is defined as work that contains no more than one minor error per page, including, but not limited to, misspelling and blank spaces and in this regard is mandatory. Material transcribed is confidential. The Contractor is subject to the provisions of Public Law 93-579, Privacy Act of 1974.

Performance Period: The contractor shall complete the work required under this SOW in 1 calendar business day or less from date of dictation, unless otherwise directed by the Contracting Officer.

TASKS/REQUIREMENTS

The Contractor will set up a system for retrieval of dictated material from the NY Harbor dictation telephone line and then transcribe reports and make them available to NY Harbor for secure download. The full name and home address of each person having access must be provided to the VANYHHCS. Each person will be required to sign a security agreement in accordance with VA requirements prior to receiving any needed access. Please note that it is a violation of information security for users to share access and verify codes.

Training - All contractor employees and subcontractors under this contract or order are required to complete the VA's on-line “VA Privacy and Information Security Awareness and Rules of Behavior Training” - TMS Code “10176” and “Privacy and HIPAA Training” - TMS code 10203. Contractors must provide signed certifications of completion to the COTR during each year of the contract. This requirement is in addition to any other training that may be required of the contractor and subcontractor(s).

The Contractor will provide, at their location, all needed equipment and software needed to securely retrieve and return dictations. Contractor will provide and pay for any communications lines and/or communications equipment that may be necessary for accessing or returning dictated material.

In the event of any changes being made to the method of retrieving or returning reports, the Contractor will be notified 30 days in advance of the change. The Contractor will have 30 days to identify any changes or adverse impact to the Contracting Officer.

Routine medical dictation shall be transcribed within twenty-four (24) hours of the completion of dictation by the physician.

Transcription Hours: All transcription will be performed between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, except legal Federal holidays, unless authorized by the Contracting Officer in writing.

Non-working Federal holidays are as follows: New Year’s Day, Columbus Day, President’s Day, Martin Luther King Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Christmas Day or any other day specifically declared by the President of the United States to be national holiday.

Charges will be limited to the following format: Visible Black Character. A Visible Black Character is defined strike-able and visible characters and includes any printed letter, number, symbol, and/or punctuation mark excluding any or all formatting (e.g., bold, underline, italics, table structure, formatting codes). All visible black characters can be seen with the naked eye as a mark, regardless of whether viewed electronically or on a printed page.

For billing purposes, charges will be assessed on a Visible Black Character (VBC) Line or ASCII no Spaces Line. A VBC Line is defined as the total number of characters you can see with the naked eye, divided by 65. It includes any character contained within a header or footer. Spaces, carriage returns, and hidden format instructions, such as bold, underline, text boxes, printer configurations, spell check, etc., which are not counted in the total character count. A VBC line is calculated by counting all visual characters and simply dividing the total number of characters by 65 to arrive the number of defined lines.

Billing Cycle: The billing cycle shall cover all work transcribed within each calendar month.

Invoicing for Billing Purposes: Within the first five (5) calendar days of each month, the Contractor will submit an invoice with a written total of the previous calendar month transcription workload. VANYHHCS will review invoice for accuracy. In the event of a dispute, VANYHHCS will supply Contractor with documentation to support that item total.

Payments will be made within Net 30 days in arrears, based upon receipt of properly prepared invoice showing reference to the correct Contract Number issued upon award of this contract. Invoices shall be based upon services rendered within the period indicated, broken down to show the total number of VBC lines for Operation report.

Contractor shall e-mail invoices to: Michelle.Spector@va.gov and Mary.Shyshka@va.gov.

Contractor to obtain and transcribe dictated material pertinent to the Medical Records of patients, at the following Veterans Affairs New York Harbor Health Care System Campuses, into the required report format in accordance with Requirements and Specifications as described herein:

PERIOD OF COVERAGE:

Period of coverage shall be from date of award (October 1, 2018 through September 30, 2023) with the Option to Extend the Term of the Contract, if the Government exercises this option. This procurement is a P.O. contract.

HIPAA COMPLIANCE

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has promulgated rules governing the security and use and disclosure of protected health information by covered entities, including the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

VA may use and disclose protected health information only as permitted by the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules promulgated by HHS. These rules require VHA to enter into Business Associate Agreements (BAA) containing specific language with certain contractors that will need access to protected health information to perform the contracts.

A BAA will be incorporated into this contract with the awarded contractor unless this contract is exempt.

Annual Estimated Reports Workload for New York and Brooklyn Campuses:

Total Reports: 184,137 Lines