36C24925Q0187 Sources Sought.pdf

Sources Sought Notice

*= Required Field Sources Sought Notice

SUBJECT* Digital Wellness Platform Memphis VAMC Whole Health

GENERAL INFORMATION

CONTRACTING OFFICE’S ZIP CODE* 37129

SOLICITATION NUMBER* 36C24925Q0187

RESPONSE DATE/TIME/ZONE 03-14-2025 12PM CENTRAL TIME, CHICAGO,

USA

ARCHIVE 60 DAYS AFTER THE RESPONSE DATE

RECOVERY ACT FUNDS N

SET-ASIDE

PRODUCT SERVICE CODE* Q518

NAICS CODE* 611620

CONTRACTING OFFICE ADDRESS Department of Veterans Affairs

Network Contracting Office 9 (90C)

NCO 9

1639 Medical Center Parkway, Suite 204 Murfreesboro TN 37129

POINT OF CONTACT*

Contract Specialist Rebecca Espinoza rebecca.espinoza@va.gov 615-225-6998

PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

ADDRESS Department of Veteran Affairs Memphis VA Medical Center

16 N Pauline Street Memphis TN

POSTAL CODE 38105

COUNTRY

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

AGENCY’S URL https://www.va.gov URL DESCRIPTION Department of Veteran Affairs AGENCY CONTACT’S EMAIL ADDRESS rebecca.espinoza@va.gov EMAIL DESCRIPTION Contract Specialist Email Address

DESCRIPTION

On behalf of the Memphis VA Medical Center, Network Contracting Office (NCO) 9 is issuing this Sources Sought Notice (SSN) as a means of conducting market research to identify parties having an interest in and the resources to support this requirement for a firm-fixed-priced purchase order for a Digital Wellness Platform. The result of this market research will contribute to determining the method of procurement. The anticipated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 611620 Sports and Recreation Instruction.

1. This Sources Sought Notice is for informational and planning purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation. THERE IS NO SOLICITATION AT THIS TIME. This request for capability information does not constitute a request for bids, proposals, or quotes; submission of any information in response to this market survey is purely voluntary; and the government assumes no financial responsibility for any costs incurred. An award will not be made on any offers submitted in response to this notice, and it shall not be implied the Government is committed to providing any solicitation or award following this notice. The Government will not pay for any information received in response to this request, nor will the Government compensate a respondent for any costs incurred in developing the information provided.

2. If your organization has the potential capacity to perform these services, please provide the following information:

a. Organization name:

b. Point of Contract

c. UEI:

d. Business Address:

e. Email and telephone number

f. Web site address

g. Business size: Mark if your firm is eligible for participation in one of the following small business programs. If so, please indicate the program:

[ ] yes [ ] no - Small Business (SB)

[ ] yes [ ] no - HUBZone

[ ] yes [ ] no - Small Business 8(a)

[ ] yes [ ] no - Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB)

[ ] yes [ ] no - Women-Owned (WO) Small Business

[ ] yes [ ] no - Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)

[ ] yes [ ] no - Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB)

[ ] yes [ ] no - Large Business

[ ] yes [ ] no - Other (please specify)

h. Business type under NAICS 611620, which contains a size standard of $9.0 Million, Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) Code and System for Award Management (SAM) Unique Entity ID (UEI) number.

i. [ ] yes [ ] no – Are you the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM)

j. [ ] yes [ ] no – If not the OEM, are you an authorized distributor, and can produce a letter from the OEM?

k. [ ] yes [ ] no – Is this product available on your GSA/FSS or other GWAC Contract If so, what is your contract number? _____________________

l. Tailored capability statements addressing the particulars of this effort, with appropriate documentation supporting claims of organizational, and staff capability. In addition to providing the information requested above, responding companies are encouraged to include any relevant information (specifications, cut sheets, brochures, capability statement, experience etc.) to confirm the company’s ability to meet the requirements outlined in this request.

m. Responses to this SSN shall not exceed 4 pages and should include all the foremost mentioned information. In addition, all submissions should be provided electronically in a Microsoft Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).

n. The government will evaluate market information to ascertain potential market capacity to:

i. Provide services consistent in scope and scale with those described in this notice and otherwise anticipated.

ii. Implement a successful plan that includes contractor compliance with program standards, quality control, and performance.

iii. Provide services under a firm-fixed-price contract.

3. NOTE: Respondent claiming SDVOSB and VOSB status shall be registered, and Veteran Small Business Certification (VetCert) verified in VetCert Registry Veteran Small Business Certification (sba.gov).

4. Based on the responses to this SSN/market research, this requirement may be set-aside for SDVOSBs, VOSBs, small businesses, procured through full and open competition, or sole sourced.

5. Submission Instructions: Interested parties who consider themselves qualified to perform the services are invited to submit a response to this SSN by 12:00pm CST, March 14, 2025. All responses under this SSN must be emailed to rebecca.espinoza@va.gov the subject line must specify 36C24925Q0187. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted or acknowledged, and no feedback or evaluations will be provided to companies regarding their submissions.

6. SAM: Interested parties shall be register in the System for Award Management (SAM) as prescribed in Federal Acquisition Regulation Clause 52.232-33. SAM information can be obtained by accessing the internet at www.sam.gov or by calling 1-866-606-8220.

7. Disclaimer and Important Notes. This notice does not obligate the government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response to this SSN. The government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the government to determine the organization’s qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation or combined solicitation may be published in Contract Opportunities (formerly Federal Business Opportunities or FBO). However, responses to this notice shall not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.

8. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the U.S. Government to form a binding contract or agreement. This notice shall not be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation, or ultimately award a contract, nor does it restrict the Government to a particular acquisition approach. The Government will in no way be bound to this information if any solicitation is issued.

9. Confidentiality. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).

10. See SOW on the following page.

STATEMENT OF WORK

Lt. Col Luke Weathers Jr., VAMC 116 N. Pauline Street Memphis TN 38105

A. GENERAL INFORMATION

(1) Background: With limitations of hiring freeze and no available onsite space, Lt. Col.

Luke Weathers Jr VA Medical Center has an essential need for an interactive and digital platform aimed at improving overall wellbeing. This platform would fill an unmet need by improving access without the need for new staff or use of onsite designated space at Lt. Col. Luke Weathers Jr VA Medical Center. It will reduce Veterans seeking Complementary and Integrative Health care in the community. For medical center employees, using these modalities is aimed to help reduce burnout, increase productivity, and decrease turnover. Consistent yoga and/or mediation practice can have an impact on the perception of pain, and therefore reduce prescription costs or unnecessary appointments at Lt. Col. Luke Weathers Jr VA Medical Center. At this moment, Yoga and Taichi groups are being provided at the Lt. Col. Luke Weathers Jr VA Medical Center for only Veterans with pain but due to staffing and space challenges unable to meet the demand. These services are not available for all other Veterans whose overall wellbeing would be improved by participating. These wellness services will build resilience and encourage health among Lt. Col. Luke Weathers Jr VA Medical Center employees and Veterans regardless of what chronic conditions they may have or have not. The purpose of this contract is to provide a virtual wellbeing platform subscription, which covers all Veterans and Employees of Lt. Col. Luke Weathers Jr VA Medical Center.

(2) Scope of Work: Contractor shall provide variety of on-demand, synchronous classes 365 days, 24 hours/day. Classes to include yoga, chair yoga, tai chi, qigong, meditation, trauma-informed offerings, guided imagery (iRest), fitness/movement, wellness, and breathwork. Contractor shall provide all access to the necessary resources to accomplish two-way, interactive, digital, and virtual platforms that offer live yoga, live tai chi, live meditation/mindfulness, and other live modalities described in this Statement of Work. These wellness services are considered a virtual care offering. These virtual care offerings are live, interactive, two-way videos within a digital platform that offer access to an assortment of wellness services. Wellness services include yoga, tai-chi, meditation, and mindfulness with all the support and person interaction. These services shall be offered daily with a variety of times. No transportation will be required. These services offer the accountability of taking a class without having to be onsite at medical center, additional VA staff, and needing to route through community. Thus, providing services faster while staff/space limited onsite additionally reduces use of community. This wellness program aligns with Lt.

Col. Luke Weathers Jr VA Medical Center intent to encourage self-care among its employees and Veterans (these mandates are outlines in VHA Directive 1137 and VHA Directive 1445).

B. Service and Operational requirements:

(1) Participants may choose an assortment of digital classes (i.e., yoga, tai-chi, mediation, mindfulness, etc.)

(2) Participants can easily log into digital classroom of choice with established username and password. Participants may set up person space for digital classes of choice.

(3) Veteran-trauma focused trained, professional instructors offering variety of wellness services shall teach interactive digital classes of choice.

(4) Training shall accommodate real-time, live feedback while interacting and exercising in digital classes of choice. Class size needs to be unlimited in number to accommodate all interested Veterans and VA staff.

(5) Services offered shall expand virtual wellness offerings by providing two-way video streaming that staff/Veterans can access with or without VA network from personal devices (i.e., smartphone, laptop, tablet, etc.).

(6) Appropriate level of encryption to ensure security of user information.

i. User information involves self-reported data such as name, email, and password.

ii. No protected health information or personally identifiable information is transferred to or shared with any 3rd party vendors or customers.

(7) Must have the following platform capabilities/compliance:

i. Database encryption at rest

ii. Regular data backups

iii. Encrypted data backups

iv. Secure password hashing

v. Encryption in transit

vi. Cross-Site Scripting &Cross-Site Request Forgery attack protections

vii. Protection against Structured Query Language injection attach

viii. Application Program Interface access test coverage

ix. Source code protection.

(8) Ability to track and monitor de-identified user information.

i. Only transferable data is anonymized usage reports.

ii. System automatically de-identifies and anonymized user personal information when propagating usage metrics.

iii. Metrics that are tracked should include at a minimum the number of signups, total classes taken, popular classes.

iv. When provided with questions should be able to track resiliency markers as it relates to improvements in Veterans and VA staff wellbeing and/or physical health.

(9) Ability to provide digital marketing and printable materials within 72 hours or less.

This may include copy, designs, or other. Train VA health coaches on the respective platform so they can speak knowledgeably about it when working with Veterans. Provide kick-off to Veterans and staff to market and offer education on programming.

(10) Ability to hold Q&A sessions with VA staff to see a demo of the service to get questions answered.

C. CONTRACTOR RESPONSIBILITES:

(1) Contractor shall provide qualified and professional personnel for live, two-way interaction, virtual wellness services to Veterans and Veterans Administration employees.

(2) Contractor shall provide access to specific services tailored for Veterans.

(3) Wellness services shall be Veterans-focused and trauma-focused trainings.

(4) Contractor shall provide access to all necessary services and modalities to maintain full operation with no disruptions within two weeks of date of contract award.

(5) Contractor shall establish Standard Operating Procedure. Contingency and safety procedures for addressing physical safety concerns of participants during live classes.

i. Must have protocols in place to get first responders onsite in the event of a major incident and all staff must be trained on these protocols.

ii. Operating procedures and website management structure.

iii. Procedures for gaining acceptance/access into website.

iv. Quality assurance and quality control procedures.

v. Contractor and project management procedures.

(6) Contractor shall indicate how to identify authorized users shall determine the required registration information, how it shall be used and how it shall be protected.

(7) Contractor shall provide Lt. Col. Luke Weathers Jr VA Medical Center detailed de-identified information on attendance/completion for and attend live, synchronous classes. Information to be provided by SharePoint site accessible 24/7 and/or by weekly report to aggregate data of date/time of class attended.

(8) Contractor shall provide all participations with daily or weekly certificates of attendance/completion via e-mail, which they may submit to Lt. Col. Luke Weathers Jr VA Medical Center as desired by Veteran to document participation.

(9) UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES shall user information be provided to anyone outside the government. The CO and COR are the only individuals authorized to request user information.

D. INSTRUCTOR CREDENTIALS & CORE COMPETENCIES:

(1) Yoga

i. Certification through a Yoga Alliance e-RYT20 (experienced registered yoga teacher) or equivalent program (200 contact hour training plus 1000+ documented teaching hours), RYT 500, or C-IAYT (certified yoga therapist.

ii. Completion of trauma informed yoga training preferred (Trauma Informed or Trauma Sensitive certification offered through an accredited, national organization such as Yoga Alliance, Veterans Yoga Project, or other similarly accredited organizations.)

(2) Tai Chi & Qigong

i. American Tai Chi and Qigong Association (TCQGA) certified Tai Chi instructor Level I or equivalent (150 hours documents formal Tai Chi training); Level I Qi Gong Instructor certified by the National Qi Gong Association, or equivalent. Appropriate trainings include (but are not limited to):

1. Tai Chi Fundamentals programs through Tai Chi for Health

2. Tai Chi for Arthritis Programs through Tai Chi for Health

3. Taijiquan: Moving Better Balance

4. Evidence Based Qigong through Center for Taiji Studies

5. Evidenced Bases Taiji through Center for Taiji Studies

6. Tree of Life Tai Chi Teacher Training

7. Tai Chi Easy through Integral Institute of Qigong and Tai Chi

8. Tai Chi Instructor training through Integral Institute for Qigong and

Tai Chi.

9. Qigong /Tai Chi teacher trainings through Energy Arts.

Taijiquan/Qigong trainings through International Yang Family Tai Chi Association

10. Other trainings recognized by American Tai Chi and Qigong Association or Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as acceptable to qualify for documented formal Tia Chi/Qigong training. *This list does not represent any program endorsement.

(3) Meditation

i. Meditation requires completion of IRest Training Levels I and II

(4) Other wellness-based services to not require certification but require documentation of experiential hours spent offering that approach as vetted by contracted vendor.

(5) Other

i. Any sessions for taught for pelvic floor disorders needs to be provided by a licensed pelvic Floor Physical Therapist.

E. GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBILITES:

(1) Government will provide Veterans and Veterans Administration Medical Center employees all necessary information for access to contractor’s digital platform.

(2) Lt. Col. Luke Weathers Jr VA Medical Center will allow for coverage and access for all its employees and Veterans.

F. Other Considerations:

(1) Contracting Officer Representative: The Contracting Officer representative shall be the technical point of contact for all service-related requirements. The Contracting Officer Representative does not have authorization to change, alter, or remove any requirements stated in the Statement of Work.

(2) Contracting Officer: The Contracting Officer has the authority to enter, administer, and terminate contracts. The Contracting Officer can make related determinations and findings on behalf of the Government. The Contracting Officer is the only individual legally authorized to bid the Government and modify the contract.

(3) Place of performance: Contractor’s website

i. Lt. Col. Luke Weathers Jr VA Medical Center employees and Veterans can access service anywhere with electronic devices (i.e., laptops, tablets, smartphones) with internet capability and a suitable connection.

ii. Can access with or without VA network from personal electronic devices (i.e., smartphones, tablets, laptops).

iii. Digital, online platform, two-way video.

1. Personal interaction.

2. No transportation required.

(4) Work Hours: Various Hours to include weekends and evenings (flexible)

i. Offer a variety of time scheduled for access to live wellness services to include a large variety of times, and night offerings to maximize accessibility for Veterans and staff who work alternate work shifts.

ii. Participants would be able to access these live wellness services at their convenience.

iii. Online access to an assortment of wellness services tailored to Veterans with various time schedules daily.

iv. Services shall be available 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

(5) Period of Performance: The period of performance shall be for a base year plus four (4) option year contract beginning for May 01, 2025, to April 30, 2030.

Base year from May 01, 2025, to April 30, 2026 Option year 1 from May 01, 2026, to April 30, 2027 Option year 2 from May 01, 2027, to April 30, 2028 Option year 3 from May 01, 2028, to April 30, 2029 Option year 4 from May 01, 2029, to April 30, 2030

(6) Invoice Requirement: Contractor must submit monthly invoice with pre-printed company name. All invoices from Contractor must be electronically in accordance with VAAR Clause 852.232-72 Electronic Submission of Payment Request.

i. Invoice Number and Date.

ii. Contract Number.

iii. Purchase Order/Obligation Number.

iv. Net Payment Due.

(7) Security Requirements:

a. The contracted personnel shall not have access to VA information systems or sensitive information.

b. The contracted personnel shall not have a need to be onsite at a VA facility.

(8) Holidays:

i. The Contractor is not required to provide services on the following

National Holidays, but the contractor may choose to do so. The Government shall not incur any cost associated for services rendered on National Holidays. All additional cost that may incur shall be the sole responsibility of the contractor. The VA will not reimburse any additional cost. The contracted personnel shall not have a need to be onsite at a VA facility.

ii. When a National Holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday shall be observed as a National Holiday. When a National Holiday falls on a Saturday, the proceeding Friday is observed as a National Holiday by U.S> Government agency. Also, included, would be any other day, specifically declared by the President of the United States of America to be a National Holiday.

iii. Any other date that the President deems a holiday.

(9) Overtime & Holiday Pay: Any overtime and /or holiday pay that may be entitled to the contractor’s employees shall be sole responsibility of the Contractor and shall not be billed to nor reimbursed by the Government.