36C24926Q0378.docx

Cardiac Event Recorder Services – DRAFT Statement of Work

GENERAL INFORMATION

SET-ASIDE

Network Contracting Office 9 (90C)

NCO 9

1639 Medical Center Parkway, Suite 204 Murfreesboro TN 37129

POINT OF CONTACT*

Contract Specialist Laura Edelman laura.edelman@va.gov

PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

1101 Veterans Drive

Lexington, KY 40502-2236

POSTAL CODE

COUNTRY

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

AGENCY’S URL

URL DESCRIPTION

AGENCY CONTACT’S EMAIL ADDRESS

EMAIL DESCRIPTION

DESCRIPTION

Sources Sought This is a Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of all qualified sources to perform a potential requirement.

Background: The Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, NCO 9 Network Contracting Office, on behalf of the Lexington VA Medical Center is conducting market research through this Sources Sought notice to seek sources to identify potential experienced businesses that are capable of meeting the requirements per the attached DRAFT Statement of Work (SOW). This Sources Sought is being conducted to determine the possibility of a potential set aside.

Purpose and Objectives: Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method.

NAICS code: 621999 and sized standard is $20.5 million.

NOTE: Respondent claiming SDVOSB and VOSB status must be registered and CVE verified in VetCert Registry Veteran Small Business Certification. Additionally, all Offerors responding to a solicitation must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) at the time of proposal submission.

Period of Performance: Period of performance is projected to be for a base period of one (1) year with four (4) one-year ordering periods but is subject to change.

Estimated Award Date November 01, 2027 Place of Performance: VA Medical Center Lexington 1101 Veterans Drive Lexington, KY 40502-2236 Scope: This requirement is for providing looping cardiac event recording services.

Capability statement / information sought: Response to this announcement shall not to exceed 10 pages and should include the following information: (1) A tailored capability statement indicating the firm’s ability to provide a product and related services; (2) The respondents’ DUNS number, Unique Entity Identification (UEI), organization name, address, point of contact, and size and type of business (e.g., SDVOSB/VOSB, etc,) pursuant to the applicable NAICS code; (3) Information should be provided electronically in a Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format.

Please email your response with the above information to laura.edelman@va.gov. Any questions must be submitted by email to laura.edelman@va.gov. Phone calls will not be answered.

SOURCES SOUGHT QUESTIONNAIRE

Company Name ___________________________________________

POC ___________________________________________

Phone Number ___________________________________________

Email Address ___________________________________________

UEI ___________________________________________

1. Is your firm considered a Small Business? The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is tentatively 621999; the small business size standard for this NAICS code is $20.5 Million.

A size standard, which is usually stated in number of employees or average annual receipts, represents the largest size that a business (including its subsidiaries and affiliates) may be to remain classified as a small business for Small Business Administration and federal contracting programs. The definition of "small" varies by industry. Is your business considered any of the following?

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

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

[ ] yes [ ] no Historic Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZONE)

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

[ ] yes [ ] no Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB)

[ ] yes [ ] no Small Business (SB)

**If you responded ‘yes’ to SDVOSB or VOSB, submit a copy of your current Vendor Information Pages (VIP) Certificate.

2. Does your firm have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM)?

[ ] yes [ ] no

3. In your opinion, what are the risks associated with this effort? Comment on any current or potential technical, cost, schedule, or performance risks that you would like to make the Government aware of that concern Physician Services and/or this requirement.

4. Provide any additional feedback that you feel is relevant (i.e., problems or any other issues experienced with similar contracts).

Note: Do not include proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information in responses.

Disclaimer and Important Notes. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. 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 may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.

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).

Sources Sought Notice Sources Sought Notice

Sources Sought Notice

WORK STATEMENT: Contractor shall provide looping cardiac event recording services provided by qualified personnel. The contractor’s care shall cover the ranges of services normally provided in a similar civilian healthcare facility for patients of the Lexington VA Medical Center, 1101 Veterans Drive, Lexington, Kentucky 40502. The contractor’s personnel shall be of a quality meeting or exceeding currently recognized national standards as established by the Department of Veteran Affairs and other regulatory agencies. The contractor shall maintain compliance with established regulatory requirements. The contractor shall provide the facility, staffing, equipment, and supplies required to perform all requested external cardiac monitoring services in accordance with the terms of the contract. The contractor shall be responsible for all contractor personnel, subcontractors, agents, and anyone acting for or on behalf of the contractor. The services provided under this contract are not to be performed outside the United States. Malpractice coverage is to be provided for as well as General Liability coverage.

1. The contractor shall be responsible for management of all aspects of the contract, and this includes the following:

(a) Provide professional external cardiac monitoring coverage 24/7/365 for patient calls and ECG transmissions during each patient study. Each transmission shall result in a report containing ECG strips, patient data and technician's observations. ECG data received that meets agreed upon Physician Notification Criteria shall immediately be communicated to the Lexington VAMC. A final written cardiac monitoring summary report shall be made available upon completion of each test study.

(b) The contractor shall maintain compliance with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and VA regulations. The Lexington VAMC hereby grants authorization and requests the contractor to provide secure internet access to follow-up with referred patients by assigning a unique Identification (ID) and password. Contractor shall be required to be in compliance with all U.S. Laws and VA regulations regarding sensitive information, patient confidentiality, and information security, as set forth in; Privacy Act of 1974, Computer Security Act of 1987, Clinger Cohen Act of 1996, OMB A-130 Appendix IIIk and VA, VHA Directives 6210, and all other applicable regulations. See FAR clauses 52.224-1 and 52.224-2 included herein.

(c) Provide reasonable access to care. The Lexington VAMC reserves the right to refer its patients to other contractors should the primary contractor fail to sustain operations (e.g. telecommunication, supplies, etc.) resulting in delayed patient access and/or care. Repeated failure to provide timely patient access and/or care could result in contract cancellation.

(d) Routine cardiac event recording procedures will be interpreted and communicated to the Lexington VAMC within 24 hours of each transmission. The report shall contain at a minimum the ECG strips, patient data and technician's observations. Failure to provide a final report to the Lexington VAMC within the established timeline will result in a reduction in payment as follows:

· 10% reduction for all reports that exceed the 24 hour timeline.

· 25% reduction for all reports that exceed the 48 hour timeline.

· 50% reduction for all reports that exceed the 72 hour timeline.

· 75% reduction for all reports that exceed the 96 hour timeline.

· 100% reduction for all reports that exceed the 120 hour timeline.

Consistent failure to provide timely, accurate reports within 5 business days may result in contract cancellation.

(e) ECG data meeting established physician notification parameters must be immediately communicated to the Heart Station within 30 minutes. The verbal report will be followed with a written report within 24 hours as stated above. The physician notification parameters are as follows:

· All Bradycardia rates equal to or below “LOW RATE TRIGGER” (Default = 40 bpm)

· All Tachycardic rates equal to or above “HIGH RATE TRIGGER” (Default = 150 bpm)

· New onset SVT sustained greater than 30 seconds, or any symptomatic SVT with ventricular rates greater than 130 bpm sustained for 30 seconds

· New onset Atrial Fibrillation/Flutter

· Atrial Fibrillation/Flutter with ventricular rates greater than 150 bpm

· IVR/AIVR of more than 10 beats or IVR/AIVR of 10 beats or more with symptoms

· IVR = Sequential ventricular ectopics with rates 40 bpm and below

· AIVR = Sequential ventricular ectopics with rates from 40 to 100 bpm

· Ventricular Tachycardia (VT) of 10 or more beats

· VT of 3 or more beats with symptoms

· VT = Sequential PVCs with rates of 100 bpm or above

· Ventricular Fibrillation/Flutter or Torsades de Pointes

· All Second Degree AV Blocks with associated Bradycardia rates as described above

· Complete Heart Block or AV Dissociation

· All pauses 3 seconds or longer

· Angina accompanied by ventricular ectopy

· Pacemaker failure

· ICD Discharge

· Any Syncope or episodes of fainting

· Other events which may be representative of acute disease which may or may not be accurately assessed by ECG strip (i.e. patient expressed symptoms of numbness in head, focal numbness, dysphasia, or other symptoms representative of neurological insult or acute cardiac compromise)

In the event of an immediate life- threatening emergency, the EMS shall be notified prior to notification of the Heart Station.

(f) All reports shall meet or exceed established standards for timeliness, accuracy and content. All reports shall be customizable to ensure compliance with VA standards. Only VA approved abbreviations are allowed for documentation within the patient health record. Contractor shall maintain the security and integrity of patient information in accordance with applicable HIPAA, VA, and other applicable regulatory agency requirements as stated above.

(g) Install, secure and maintain internal and external communication systems required to perform the requested services established within the terms of this contact (e.g. report delivery, patient education, support, etc.). The communication link(s) between the contractor’s facility and the VA facility shall be at the contractor’s expense and meet VA encryption and security requirements.

(h) Provide all equipment and all disposables supplies necessary to perform above requested procedures. All event kits, recorders and supplies, and associated shipping will be at no additional charge. Quantity of devices will be adjusted by the contractor based on actual usage to ensure an adequate supply. Contractor owned equipment shall be returned to the contractor upon termination of this agreement. The contractor is responsible to maintain the working condition of all provided equipment.

(i) Provide maintenance and ensure cleaning of all equipment and installed systems provided by the contractor. The contractor shall make provisions for the proper maintenance and functioning of all associated equipment, facilities and fixtures as may reasonably be required to perform services hereunder.

(j) Provide patient in-service and obtain an initial baseline recording to acclimate the customers with the product and service upon request. Maintain continued unlimited customers phone support during the duration of the cardiac event study at no additional cost.

(k) Develop a project implementation strategy in collaboration with the Lexington VAMC to include, reporting and billing procedures, operational readiness, etc.

(l) Provide a system that maintains a minimum 98% up time performance rate with appropriate emergent contingency plans. Failure to provide consistent service coverage could result in contract cancellation.

(m) Provide hardware and selected software to be utilized at contractor site.

(1) Contractor to provide facsimile, telephone, networking and other telecommunications equipment to be utilized at contractor facility.

(2) Contractor to provide all supplies, services, maintenance, repairs and upgrades required at contractor facility to provide services as described above.

(3) Contractor’s equipment hardware, software and supplies must be compatible with the VA’s software and hardware used during performance of this contract including critical patches and antivirus updates. Contractor shall provide proof of installation of critical patches and/or antivirus updates to the VA upon request.

(4) Contractor’s network and security system must be compatible with the VA’s network and security system.

2. The Lexington VAMC will be responsible for:

(a) Lexington VAMC will be responsible for reviewing the credentials of the contractor personnel in a timely fashion.

(b) Prepare site for installation of the contractor system/equipment if required. Authorize installation of a separate internet connection, located inside the hospital but outside the firewall, and a network connection that will be installed inside the Lexington VAMC. The VA will establish accounts and authorize privileges for the use by contractor. Provide pertinent historical and demographic information on each patient sufficient for the contractor to perform its services.

IF REQUIRED

(c) Floor space, workspace and power adequate for a PC tower computer, monitor and keyboard.

(d) Physical space in computer/Telco room for installation of Contractor-provided router and any remoter connectivity devices typically used by communications provider.

(e) Physical security to computer systems.

(f) Access to server and object forge devices for the installation of Category 5 cabling.

(g) Availability of technician for two hours of assistance.

(h) Information Resource Management (IRM) designated staff for testing and approval of installed remote connectivity solution.

3. PROCEDURE FOR TRANSMISSION OF REPORTS:. The contractor shall provide a final report and interim transmissions using a secure internet website provided by contractor. Access to the secure internet site will be provided by the contractor to already established VA personnel.