36C25620Q0097-003.pdf

Request for Quote: 36C25620Q0097

1. This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 12.6, in conjunction with FAR Part 13.5, Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation. Quotes are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. This requirement will be evaluated under the lowest price technically acceptable evaluation methodology.

2. The Request for Quote number is 36C25620Q0097.

3. Solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2019-06 (effective 10/10/2019).

4. This requirement is a total service-disabled veteran owned small business set-aside. The North American Industry Classification System number is 561421 with a size standard of

$16,500,000.00.

5. Place of Performance:

Micheal E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center

2002 Holcombe Blvd

Houston, Texas 77030-4298

6. Period of Performance:

The period of performance shall be a base period of 12 months with four 12-month option periods exercisable at the discretion of the Government.

7. The provision at FAR 52.212-1, Addendum to Instructions to Offerors-Commercial, applies to this acquisition.

8. The provision at FAR 52.212-2, Addendum Evaluation-Commercial Items applies to this acquisition. See FAR 52.212-2 Addendum for additional information. Please review the section entitled Teaming Agreements for additional information on required information for

Contractor Team Arrangements and Joint Ventures.

9. Questions regarding this solicitation shall be submitted via email to Contract Specialist, Orlando Whitaker at Orlando.whitaker@va.gov no later than 11:00A.M. Central Standard Time on December 4, 2019.

10. COMPLETING A QUOTE FOR SUBMITTAL

a. The Offeror shall provide the name, title, address, email address and telephone number of the company/division point of contact regarding business decisions made with respect to the quote and who can contractually obligate the company. The Offeror shall identify those individuals authorized to negotiate with the Government.

b. Pricing for each CLIN must be submitted in the proper format. The proper format consists of

QUANTITY *UNIT PRICE = AMOUNT/NET AMOUNT. In the event there is a discrepancy in the calculation, the UNIT PRICE will be held to the intended price multiplied by the

QUANTITY. If the offeror shows only the AMOUNT/NET AMOUNT, but fails to enter a UNIT

PRICE, the AMOUNT/NET AMOUNT divided by the QUANTITY will be held to be the intended price.

c. You must submit a technical approach with your quote to be considered for award. Your technical quote shall address whether you are subcontracting this effort or performing as the prime, your approach to how will you accomplish these services, technical capability/expertise, manpower, schedule, and resources available to provide these services. Failure to provide this information may render your quote unacceptable. Please review the section entitled Teaming

Agreements for additional information on required information for Contractor Team

Arrangements and Joint Ventures.

Subcontracting Limitations: In accordance with FAR 52.219-14, this requirement is subject to the limitation on subcontracting requirements in 13 CFR 125.6. This requirement is for services.

The service-disabled veteran owned small business prime Contractor shall not pay more than

50% of the amount paid by the Government to its subcontractors that are not service-disabled veteran owned small business Contractors. Any work a service-disabled veteran owned small business subcontractor further subcontracts will count towards the 50% subcontract amount that cannot be exceeded. Evidence of the service-disabled veteran owned small business owned prime contractor’s 50% should be clearly stated in your technical approach.

11. All services shall be performed in accordance with the Performance Work Statement (PWS).

12. Offeror must submit both a Technical Approach and Price volume. See FAR Clause 52.212-2

Addendum for basis for award.

13. All offers shall remain valid for 120 calendar days.

14. Quotes are due no later than December 13, 2019 at 11:00A.M. Central Standard Time and shall be submitted electronically via e-mail to the Contract Specialist, Orlando Whitaker at

Orlando.whitaker@va.gov and the Contracting Officer, Mr. Anthony Marion at

Anthony.Marion2@va.gov.

mailto:Orlando.whitaker@va.gov mailto:Orlando.whitaker@va.gov

36C25620Q0097

SECTION B - CONTINUATION OF SF 1449 BLOCKS

CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION DATA

1. Contract Administration: All contract administration matters will be handled by the following individuals:

a. CONTRACTOR:

b. GOVERNMENT: Contracting Officer 36C256

Department of Veterans Affairs

Network Contracting Office 16

Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center

2002 Holcombe BLVD

Houston TX 77030 4298

2. CONTRACTOR REMITTANCE ADDRESS: All payments by the Government to the contractor will be made in accordance with:

[X] 52.232-33, Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer—System For Award Management, or

[] 52.232-36, Payment by Third Party

3. INVOICES: Invoices shall be submitted in arrears:

a. Quarterly []

b. Semi-Annually []

c. Other [X] Monthly

4. GOVERNMENT INVOICE ADDRESS: All Invoices from the contractor shall be submitted electronically in accordance with VAAR Clause 852.232-72 Electronic Submission of Payment Requests.

Department of Veterans Affairs

Financial Service Center

PO Box 149971

Austin TX 78714-9971

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF AMENDMENTS: The offeror acknowledges receipt of amendments to the

Solicitation numbered and dated as follows:

AMENDMENT NO DATE

B.1 IT CONTRACT SECURITY

VA INFORMATION AND INFORMATION SYSTEM SECURITY/PRIVACY

1. GENERAL

Contractors, contractor personnel, subcontractors, and subcontractor personnel shall be subject to the same Federal laws, regulations, standards, and VA Directives and Handbooks as VA and VA personnel regarding information and information system security.

2. ACCESS TO VA INFORMATION AND VA INFORMATION SYSTEMS

a. A contractor/subcontractor shall request logical (technical) or physical access to VA information and

VA information systems for their employees, subcontractors, and affiliates only to the extent necessary to perform the services specified in the contract, agreement, or task order.

b. All contractors, subcontractors, and third-party servicers and associates working with VA information are subject to the same investigative requirements as those of VA appointees or employees who have access to the same types of information. The level and process of background security investigations for contractors must be in accordance with VA Directive and Handbook 0710, Personnel Suitability and

Security Program. The Office for Operations, Security, and Preparedness is responsible for these policies and procedures.

c. Contract personnel who require access to national security programs must have a valid security clearance. National Industrial Security Program (NISP) was established by Executive Order 12829 to ensure that cleared U.S. defense industry contract personnel safeguard the classified information in their possession while performing work on contracts, programs, bids, or research and development efforts. The

Department of Veterans Affairs does not have a Memorandum of Agreement with Defense Security

Service (DSS). Verification of a Security Clearance must be processed through the Special Security

Officer located in the Planning and National Security Service within the Office of Operations, Security, and Preparedness.

d. Custom software development and outsourced operations must be located in the U.S. to the maximum extent practical. If such services are proposed to be performed abroad and are not disallowed by other VA policy or mandates, the contractor/subcontractor must state where all non-U.S. services are provided and detail a security plan, deemed to be acceptable by VA, specifically to address mitigation of the resulting problems of communication, control, data protection, and so forth. Location within the U.S.

may be an evaluation factor.

e. The contractor or subcontractor must notify the Contracting Officer immediately when an employee working on a VA system or with access to VA information is reassigned or leaves the contractor or subcontractor's employ. The Contracting Officer must also be notified immediately by the contractor or subcontractor prior to an unfriendly termination.

3. VA INFORMATION CUSTODIAL LANGUAGE

a. Information made available to the contractor or subcontractor by VA for the performance or administration of this contract or information developed by the contractor/subcontractor in performance or administration of the contract shall be used only for those purposes and shall not be used in any other way without the prior written agreement of the VA. This clause expressly limits the contractor/subcontractor's rights to use data as described in Rights in Data - General, FAR 52.227-14(d)

(1).

b. VA information should not be co-mingled, if possible, with any other data on the contractors/subcontractor's information systems or media storage systems in order to ensure VA requirements related to data protection and media sanitization can be met. If co-mingling must be allowed to meet the requirements of the business need, the contractor must ensure that VA's information is returned to the VA or destroyed in accordance with VA's sanitization requirements. VA reserves the right to conduct on site inspections of contractor and subcontractor IT resources to ensure data security controls, separation of data and job duties, and destruction/media sanitization procedures are in compliance with VA directive requirements.

c. Prior to termination or completion of this contract, contractor/ subcontractor must not destroy information received from VA, or gathered/ created by the contractor in the course of performing this contract without prior written approval by the VA. Any data destruction done on behalf of VA by a contractor/subcontractor must be done in accordance with National Archives and Records Administration

(NARA) requirements as outlined in VA Directive 6300, Records and Information Management and its

Handbook 6300.1 Records Management Procedures, applicable VA Records Control Schedules, and VA

Handbook 6500.1, Electronic Media Sanitization. Self-certification by the contractor that the data destruction requirements above have been met must be sent to the VA Contracting Officer within 30 days of termination of the contract.

d. The contractor/subcontractor must receive, gather, store, back up, maintain, use, disclose and dispose of VA information only in compliance with the terms of the contract and applicable Federal and VA information confidentiality and security laws, regulations and policies. If Federal or VA information confidentiality and security laws, regulations and policies become applicable to the VA information or information systems after execution of the contract, or if NIST issues or updates applicable FIPS or

Special Publications (SP) after execution of this contract, the parties agree to negotiate in good faith to implement the information confidentiality and security laws, regulations and policies in this contract.

e. The contractor/subcontractor shall not make copies of VA information except as authorized and necessary to perform the terms of the agreement or to preserve electronic information stored on contractor/subcontractor electronic storage media for restoration in case any electronic equipment or data used by the contractor/subcontractor needs to be restored to an operating state. If copies are made for restoration purposes, after the restoration is complete, the copies must be appropriately destroyed.

f. If VA determines that the contractor has violated any of the information confidentiality, privacy, and security provisions of the contract, it shall be sufficient grounds for VA to withhold payment to the contractor or third party or terminate the contract for default or terminate for cause under Federal

Acquisition Regulation (FAR) part 12.

g. If a VHA contract is terminated for cause, the associated BAA must also be terminated and appropriate actions taken in accordance with VHA Handbook 1600.01, Business Associate Agreements.

Absent an agreement to use or disclose protected health information, there is no business associate relationship.

h. The contractor/subcontractor must store, transport, or transmit VA sensitive information in an encrypted form, using VA-approved encryption tools that are, at a minimum, FIPS 140-2 validated.

i. The contractor/subcontractor's firewall and Web services security controls, if applicable, shall meet or exceed VA's minimum requirements. VA Configuration Guidelines are available upon request.

j. Except for uses and disclosures of VA information authorized by this contract for performance of the contract, the contractor/subcontractor may use and disclose VA information only in two other situations:

(i) in response to a qualifying order of a court of competent jurisdiction, or (ii) with VA's prior written approval. The contractor/subcontractor must refer all requests for, demands for production of, or inquiries about, VA information and information systems to the VA contracting officer for response.

k. Notwithstanding the provision above, the contractor/subcontractor shall not release VA records protected by Title 38 U.S.C. 5705, confidentiality of medical quality assurance records and/or Title 38

U.S.C. 7332, confidentiality of certain health records pertaining to drug addiction, sickle cell anemia, alcoholism or alcohol abuse, or infection with human immunodeficiency virus. If the contractor/subcontractor is in receipt of a court order or other requests for the above mentioned information, that contractor/subcontractor shall immediately refer such court orders or other requests to the VA contracting officer for response.

l. For service that involves the storage, generating, transmitting, or exchanging of VA sensitive information but does not require C&A or an MOU-ISA for system interconnection, the contractor/subcontractor must complete a Contractor Security Control Assessment (CSCA) on a yearly basis and provide it to the COR.

4. INFORMATION SYSTEM DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

a. Information systems that are designed or developed for or on behalf of VA at non-VA facilities shall comply with all VA directives developed in accordance with FISMA, HIPAA, NIST, and related VA security and privacy control requirements for Federal information systems. This includes standards for the protection of electronic PHI, outlined in 45 C.F.R. Part 164, Subpart C, information and system security categorization level designations in accordance with FIPS 199 and FIPS 200 with implementation of all baseline security controls commensurate with the FIPS 199 system security categorization (reference Appendix D of VA Handbook 6500, VA Information Security Program).

During the development cycle a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) must be completed, provided to the

COR, and approved by the VA Privacy Service in accordance with Directive 6507, VA Privacy Impact

Assessment.

b. The contractor/subcontractor shall certify to the COR that applications are fully functional and operate correctly as intended on systems using the VA Federal Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC), and the common security configuration guidelines provided by NIST or the VA. This includes Internet

Explorer 7 configured to operate on Windows XP and Vista (in Protected Mode on Vista) and future versions, as required.

c. The standard installation, operation, maintenance, updating, and patching of software shall not alter the configuration settings from the VA approved and FDCC configuration. Information technology staff must also use the Windows Installer Service for installation to the default "program files" directory and silently install and uninstall.

d. Applications designed for normal end users shall run in the standard user context without elevated system administration privileges.

e. The security controls must be designed, developed, approved by VA, and implemented in accordance with the provisions of VA security system development life cycle as outlined in NIST Special Publication

800-37, Guide for Applying the Risk Management Framework to Federal Information Systems, VA

Handbook 6500, Information Security Program and VA Handbook 6500.5, Incorporating Security and

Privacy in System Development Lifecycle.

f. The contractor/subcontractor is required to design, develop, or operate a System of Records Notice

(SOR) on individuals to accomplish an agency function subject to the Privacy Act of 1974, (as amended), Public Law 93-579, December 31, 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a) and applicable agency regulations. Violation of the Privacy Act may involve the imposition of criminal and civil penalties.

g. The contractor/subcontractor agrees to:

(1) Comply with the Privacy Act of 1974 (the Act) and the agency rules and regulations issued under the Act in the design, development, or operation of any system of records on individuals to accomplish an agency function when the contract specifically identifies:

(a) The Systems of Records (SOR); and

(b) The design, development, or operation work that the contractor/ subcontractor is to perform;

(1) Include the Privacy Act notification contained in this contract in every solicitation and resulting subcontract and in every subcontract awarded without a solicitation, when the work statement in the proposed subcontract requires the redesign, development, or operation of a SOR on individuals that is subject to the Privacy Act; and

(2) Include this Privacy Act clause, including this subparagraph (3), in all subcontracts awarded under this contract which requires the design, development, or operation of such a SOR.

h. In the event of violations of the Act, a civil action may be brought against the agency involved when the violation concerns the design, development, or operation of a SOR on individuals to accomplish an agency function, and criminal penalties may be imposed upon the officers or employees of the agency when the violation concerns the operation of a SOR on individuals to accomplish an agency function. For purposes of the Act, when the contract is for the operation of a SOR on individuals to accomplish an agency function, the contractor/subcontractor is considered to be an employee of the agency.

(1) "Operation of a System of Records" means performance of any of the activities associated with maintaining the SOR, including the collection, use, maintenance, and dissemination of records.

(2) "Record" means any item, collection, or grouping of information about an individual that is maintained by an agency, including, but not limited to, education, financial transactions, medical history, and criminal or employment history and contains the person's name, or identifying number, symbol, or any other identifying particular assigned to the individual, such as a fingerprint or voiceprint, or a photograph.

(3) "System of Records" means a group of any records under the control of any agency from which information is retrieved by the name of the individual or by some identifying number, symbol, or other identifying particular assigned to the individual.

i. The vendor shall ensure the security of all procured or developed systems and technologies, including their subcomponents (hereinafter referred to as "Systems"), throughout the life of this contract and any extension, warranty, or maintenance periods. This includes, but is not limited to workarounds, patches, hotfixes, upgrades, and any physical components (hereafter referred to as Security Fixes) which may be necessary to fix all security vulnerabilities published or known to the vendor anywhere in the Systems, including Operating Systems and firmware. The vendor shall ensure that Security Fixes shall not negatively impact the Systems.

j. The vendor shall notify VA within 24 hours of the discovery or disclosure of successful exploits of the vulnerability which can compromise the security of the Systems (including the confidentiality or integrity of its data and operations, or the availability of the system). Such issues shall be remediated as quickly as is practical, but in no event longer than 2 days.

k. When the Security Fixes involve installing third party patches (such as Microsoft OS patches or Adobe Acrobat), the vendor will provide written notice to the VA that the patch has been validated as not affecting the Systems within 10 working days. When the vendor is responsible for operations or maintenance of the Systems, they shall apply the Security Fixes within 2 days.

l. All other vulnerabilities shall be remediated as specified in this paragraph in a timely manner based on risk, but within 60 days of discovery or disclosure. Exceptions to this paragraph (e.g. for the convenience of VA) shall only be granted with approval of the contracting officer and the VA Assistant

Secretary for Office of Information and Technology.

5. INFORMATION SYSTEM HOSTING, OPERATION, MAINTENANCE, OR USE

a. For information systems that are hosted, operated, maintained, or used on behalf of VA at non-VA facilities, contractors/subcontractors are fully responsible and accountable for ensuring compliance with all HIPAA, Privacy Act, FISMA, NIST, FIPS, and VA security and privacy directives and handbooks.

This includes conducting compliant risk assessments, routine vulnerablity scanning, system patching and change management procedures, and the completion of an acceptable contingency plan for each system.

The contractor's security control procedures must be equivalent, to those procedures used to secure VA systems. A Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) must also be provided to the COR and approved by VA

Privacy Service prior to operational approval. All external Internet connections to VA's network involving VA information must be reviewed and approved by VA prior to implementation.

b. Adequate security controls for collecting, processing, transmitting, and storing of Personally

Identifiable Information (PII), as determined by the VA Privacy Service, must be in place, tested, and approved by VA prior to hosting, operation, maintenance, or use of the information system, or systems by or on behalf of VA. These security controls are to be assessed and stated within the PIA and if these controls are determined not to be in place, or inadequate, a Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M) must be submitted and approved prior to the collection of PII.

c. Outsourcing (contractor facility, contractor equipment or contractor staff) of systems or network operations, telecommunications services, or other managed services requires certification and accreditation (authorization) (C&A) of the contractor's systems in accordance with VA Handbook 6500.3, Certification and Accreditation and/or the VA OCS Certification Program Office. Government- owned

(government facility or government equipment) contractor-operated systems, third party or business partner networks require memorandums of understanding and interconnection agreements (MOU-ISA) which detail what data types are shared, who has access, and the appropriate level of security controls for all systems connected to VA networks.

d. The contractor/subcontractor's system must adhere to all FISMA, FIPS, and NIST standards related to the annual FISMA security controls assessment and review and update the PIA. Any deficiencies noted during this assessment must be provided to the VA contracting officer and the ISO for entry into

VA's POA&M management process. The contractor/subcontractor must use VA's POA&M process to document planned remedial actions to address any deficiencies in information security policies, procedures, and practices, and the completion of those activities. Security deficiencies must be corrected within the timeframes approved by the government. Contractor/subcontractor procedures are subject to periodic, unannounced assessments by VA officials, including the VA Office of Inspector General. The physical security aspects associated with contractor/ subcontractor activities must also be subject to such assessments. If major changes to the system occur that may affect the privacy or security of the data or the system, the C&A of the system may need to be reviewed, retested and re- authorized per VA

Handbook 6500.3. This may require reviewing and updating all of the documentation (PIA, System

Security Plan, Contingency Plan). The Certification Program Office can provide guidance on whether a new C&A would be necessary.

e. The contractor/subcontractor must conduct an annual self assessment on all systems and outsourced services as required. Both hard copy and electronic copies of the assessment must be provided to the

COR. The government reserves the right to conduct such an assessment using government personnel or another contractor/subcontractor. The contractor/subcontractor must take appropriate and timely action

(this can be specified in the contract) to correct or mitigate any weaknesses discovered during such testing, generally at no additional cost.

f. VA prohibits the installation and use of personally-owned or contractor/ subcontractor-owned equipment or software on VA's network. If non-VA owned equipment must be used to fulfill the requirements of a contract, it must be stated in the service agreement, SOW or contract. All of the security controls required for government furnished equipment (GFE) must be utilized in approved other equipment (OE) and must be funded by the owner of the equipment. All remote systems must be equipped with, and use, a VA-approved antivirus (AV) software and a personal (host-based or enclave based) firewall that is configured with a VA-approved configuration. Software must be kept current, including all critical updates and patches. Owners of approved OE are responsible for providing and maintaining the anti-viral software and the firewall on the non-VA owned OE.

g. All electronic storage media used on non-VA leased or non-VA owned IT equipment that is used to store, process, or access VA information must be handled in adherence with VA Handbook 6500.1, Electronic Media Sanitization upon: (i) completion or termination of the contract or (ii) disposal or return of the IT equipment by the contractor/subcontractor or any person acting on behalf of the contractor/subcontractor, whichever is earlier. Media (hard drives, optical disks, CDs, back-up tapes, etc.)

used by the contractors/ subcontractors that contain VA information must be returned to the VA for sanitization or destruction or the contractor/subcontractor must self-certify that the media has been disposed of per 6500.1 requirements. This must be completed within 30 days of termination of the contract.

h. Bio-Medical devices and other equipment or systems containing media (hard drives, optical disks, etc.) with VA sensitive information must not be returned to the vendor at the end of lease, for trade-in, or other purposes. The options are:

(1) Vendor must accept the system without the drive;

(2) VA's initial medical device purchase includes a spare drive which must be installed in place of the original drive at time of turn-in; or

(3) VA must reimburse the company for media at a reasonable open market replacement cost at time of purchase.

(4) Due to the highly specialized and sometimes proprietary hardware and software associated with medical equipment/systems, if it is not possible for the VA to retain the hard drive, then;

(a) The equipment vendor must have an existing BAA if the device being traded in has sensitive information stored on it and hard drive(s) from the system are being returned physically intact; and

(b) Any fixed hard drive on the device must be non-destructively sanitized to the greatest extent possible without negatively impacting system operation. Selective clearing down to patient data folder level is recommended using VA approved and validated overwriting technologies/methods/tools.

Applicable media sanitization specifications need to be pre-approved and described in the purchase order or contract.

(c) A statement needs to be signed by the Director (System Owner) that states that the drive could not be removed and that (a) and (b) controls above are in place and completed. The ISO needs to maintain the documentation.

6. SECURITY INCIDENT INVESTIGATION

a. The term "security incident" means an event that has, or could have, resulted in unauthorized access to, loss or damage to VA assets, or sensitive information, or an action that breaches VA security procedures. The contractor/ subcontractor shall immediately notify the COR and simultaneously, the designated ISO and Privacy Officer for the contract of any known or suspected security/privacy incidents, or any unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information, including that contained in system(s) to which the contractor/ subcontractor has access.

b. To the extent known by the contractor/subcontractor, the contractor/ subcontractor's notice to VA shall identify the information involved, the circumstances surrounding the incident (including to whom, how, when, and where the VA information or assets were placed at risk or compromised), and any other information that the contractor/subcontractor considers relevant.

c. With respect to unsecured protected health information, the business associate is deemed to have discovered a data breach when the business associate knew or should have known of a breach of such information. Upon discovery, the business associate must notify the covered entity of the breach.

Notifications need to be made in accordance with the executed business associate agreement.

d. In instances of theft or break-in or other criminal activity, the contractor/subcontractor must concurrently report the incident to the appropriate law enforcement entity (or entities) of jurisdiction, including the VA OIG and Security and Law Enforcement. The contractor, its employees, and its subcontractors and their employees shall cooperate with VA and any law enforcement authority responsible for the investigation and prosecution of any possible criminal law violation(s) associated with any incident. The contractor/subcontractor shall cooperate with VA in any civil litigation to recover VA information, obtain monetary or other compensation from a third party for damages arising from any incident, or obtain injunctive relief against any third party arising from, or related to, the incident.

7. LIQUIDATED DAMAGES FOR DATA BREACH

a. Consistent with the requirements of 38 U.S.C. 5725, a contract may require access to sensitive personal information. If so, the contractor is liable to VA for liquidated damages in the event of a data breach or privacy incident involving any SPI the contractor/subcontractor processes or maintains under this contract.

b. The contractor/subcontractor shall provide notice to VA of a "security incident" as set forth in the

Security Incident Investigation section above. Upon such notification, VA must secure from a non-

Department entity or the VA Office of Inspector General an independent risk analysis of the data breach to determine the level of risk associated with the data breach for the potential misuse of any sensitive personal information involved in the data breach. The term 'data breach' means the loss, theft, or other unauthorized access, or any access other than that incidental to the scope of employment, to data containing sensitive personal information, in electronic or printed form, that results in the potential compromise of the confidentiality or integrity of the data. Contractor shall fully cooperate with the entity performing the risk analysis. Failure to cooperate may be deemed a material breach and grounds for contract termination.

c. Each risk analysis shall address all relevant information concerning the data breach, including the following:

(1) Nature of the event (loss, theft, unauthorized access);

(2) Description of the event, including:

(a) date of occurrence;

(b) data elements involved, including any PII, such as full name, social security number, date of birth, home address, account number, disability code;

(3) Number of individuals affected or potentially affected;

(4) Names of individuals or groups affected or potentially affected;

(5) Ease of logical data access to the lost, stolen or improperly accessed data in light of the degree of protection for the data, e.g., unencrypted, plain text;

(6) Amount of time the data has been out of VA control;

(7) The likelihood that the sensitive personal information will or has been compromised (made accessible to and usable by unauthorized persons);

(8) Known misuses of data containing sensitive personal information, if any;

(9) Assessment of the potential harm to the affected individuals;

(10) Data breach analysis as outlined in 6500.2 Handbook, Management of Security and Privacy

Incidents, as appropriate; and

(11) Whether credit protection services may assist record subjects in avoiding or mitigating the results of identity theft based on the sensitive personal information that may have been compromised.

d. Based on the determinations of the independent risk analysis, the contractor shall be responsible for paying to the VA liquidated damages in the amount of $37.50 per affected individual to cover the cost of providing credit protection services to affected individuals consisting of the following:

(1) Notification;

(2) One year of credit monitoring services consisting of automatic daily monitoring of at least 3 relevant credit bureau reports;

(3) Data breach analysis;

(4) Fraud resolution services, including writing dispute letters, initiating fraud alerts and credit freezes, to assist affected individuals to bring matters to resolution;

(5) One year of identity theft insurance with $20,000.00 coverage at $0 deductible; and

(6) Necessary legal expenses the subjects may incur to repair falsified or damaged credit records, histories, or financial affairs.

8. SECURITY CONTROLS COMPLIANCE TESTING

On a periodic basis, VA, including the Office of Inspector General, reserves the right to evaluate any or all of the security controls and privacy practices implemented by the contractor under the clauses contained within the contract. With 10 working-day's notice, at the request of the government, the contractor must fully cooperate and assist in a government-sponsored security controls assessment at each location wherein VA information is processed or stored, or information systems are developed, operated, maintained, or used on behalf of VA, including those initiated by the Office of Inspector General. The government may conduct a security control assessment on shorter notice (to include unannounced assessments) as determined by VA in the event of a security incident or at any other time.

9. TRAINING

a. All contractor employees and subcontractor employees requiring access to VA information and VA information systems shall complete the following before being granted access to VA information and its systems:

(1) Sign and acknowledge (either manually or electronically) understanding of and responsibilities for compliance with the Contractor Rules of Behavior, Appendix E relating to access to VA information and information systems;

(2) Successfully complete the VA Cyber Security Awareness and Rules of Behavior training and annually complete required security training;

(3) Successfully complete the appropriate VA privacy training and annually complete required privacy training; and

(4) Successfully complete any additional cyber security or privacy training, as required for VA personnel with equivalent information system access [to be defined by the VA program official and provided to the contracting officer for inclusion in the solicitation document - e.g., any role-based information security training required in accordance with NIST Special Publication 800-16, Information

Technology Security Training Requirements.]

b. The contractor shall provide to the contracting officer and/or the COR a copy of the training certificates and certification of signing the Contractor Rules of Behavior for each applicable employee within 1 week of the initiation of the contract and annually thereafter, as required.

c. Failure to complete the mandatory annual training and sign the Rules of Behavior annually, within the timeframe required, is grounds for suspension or termination of all physical or electronic access privileges and removal from work on the contract until such time as the training and documents are complete.

(End of Clause)

Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System

(a) FAR 42.1502 directs all Federal agencies to collect past performance information on contracts. The

Department of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has implemented Contractor Performance

Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) to comply with this regulation. One or more past performance evaluations will be conducted in order to record your contract performance as required by FAR 42.15.

(b) The past performance evaluation process is a totally paperless process using CPARS. CPARS is a web-based system that allows for electronic processing of the performance evaluation report. Once the report is processed, it is available in the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS) for

Government use in evaluating past performance as part of a source selection action.

(c) We request that you furnish the Contracting Officer with the name, position title, phone number, and email address for each person designated to have access to your firm's past performance evaluation(s) for the contract. Each person granted access will have the ability to provide comments in the Contractors portion of the report and state whether or not the Contractor agrees with the evaluation, before returning the report to the Assessing Official. The report information must be protected as source selection sensitive information not releasable to the public.

(d) When your Contractor Representative(s) (Past Performance Points of Contact) are registered in

CPARS, they will receive an automatically-generated email with detailed login instructions. Further details, systems requirements, and training information for CPARS are available at http://www.cpars.csd.disa.mil/. The CPARS User Manual, registration for On Line Training for

Contractor Representatives, and a practice application may be found at this site.

(e) The Assessing Official will complete an interim or final past performance evaluation and the report will be accessible at http://www.cpars.csd.disa.mil/. The Contractor Representative has the option to provide comments on the evaluation, indicate if they concur or do not concur with the evaluation, sign, and then return the evaluation to the Assessing Official. The Contractor Representative has a total of 60 days following the Assessing Official’s evaluation signature date to send comments. If the Contractor

Representative sends comments within the first 14 days following the Assessing Official’s signature date and the Assessing Official or Reviewing Official closes the evaluation, the evaluation will become available in PPIRS-RC within 1 day. On day 15 following the Assessing Official’s evaluation signature date, the evaluation will become available in PPIRS-RC with or without Contractor Representative comments and whether or not it has been closed by the Assessing Official or Reviewing Official. If no

Contractor Representative comments have been sent and the evaluation has not been closed, it will be marked as “Pending” in PPIRS-RC. If the Contractor Representative sends comments at any time prior to

61 days following the Assessing Official’s evaluation signature date, those comments will be reflected in

PPIRS-RC within 1 day. On day 61 following the Assessing Official’s evaluation signature date, the

Contractor Representative will be “locked out” of the evaluation and may no longer send comments.

(f) The following guidelines apply concerning Contractor Representative use of the past performance evaluation:

(1) Protect the evaluation as "source selection information." After review, transmit the evaluation by completing and submitting the form through CPARS. If for some reason you are unable to view and/or submit the form through CPARS, contact the Contracting Officer for instructions.

(2) Strictly control access to the evaluation within your organization. Ensure the evaluation is never released to persons or entities outside of your control.

(3) Prohibit the use of or reference to evaluation data for advertising, promotional material, pre award surveys, responsibility determinations, production readiness reviews, or other similar purposes.

B.2 SUPPLEMENTAL INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS

In accordance with FAR 28.307-2 and FAR 52.228-5, the following minimum coverage shall apply to this contract:

(a) Workers' compensation and employers liability: Contractors are required to comply with applicable

Federal and State workers' compensation and occupational disease statutes. If occupational diseases are not compensable under those statutes, they shall be covered under the employer's liability section of the insurance policy, except when contract operations are so commingled with a Contractor's commercial operations that it would not be practical to require this coverage. Employer's liability coverage of at least

$100,000 is required, except in States with exclusive or monopolistic funds that do not permit workers' compensation to be written by private carriers.

(b) General Liability: $500,000.00 per occurrences.

(c) Automobile liability: $200,000.00 per person; $500,000.00 per occurrence and $20,000.00 property damage.

(d) The successful bidder must present to the Contracting Officer, prior to award, evidence of general liability insurance without any exclusionary clauses for asbestos that would void the general liability coverage.

(End of Clause)

B.3 PRICE/COST SCHEDULE

ITEM INFORMATION

ITEM

NUMBER

DESCRIPTION OF

SUPPLIES/SERVICES QUANTITY UNIT UNIT PRICE AMOUNT

0001 12.00 MO __________________ __________________

The Contractor shall provide Telephone Switchboard Operator services in accordance with the Performance Work Statement at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center.

Contract Period: Base

POP Begin: 04-01-2019

POP End: 03-31-2020

0002 12.00 MO __________________ __________________

The Contractor shall provide Telephone Switchboard Operator services in accordance with the Performance Work Statement at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center.

Contract Period: Option 1

POP Begin: 04-01-2020

POP End: 03-31-2021

0003 12.00 MO __________________ __________________

The Contractor shall provide Telephone Switchboard Operator services in accordance with the Performance Work Statement at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center.

Contract Period: Option 2

POP Begin: 04-01-2021

POP End: 03-31-2022

0004 12.00 MO __________________ __________________

The Contractor shall provide Telephone Switchboard Operator services in accordance with the Performance Work Statement at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center.

Contract Period: Option 3

POP Begin: 04-01-2022

POP End: 03-31-2023

0005 12.00 MO __________________ __________________

The Contractor shall provide Telephone Switchboard Operator services in accordance with the Performance Work Statement at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center.

Contract Period: Option 4

POP Begin: 04-01-2023

POP End: 03-31-2024

GRAND TOTAL __________________

Except when it is determined in accordance with FAR 17.206(b) not to be in the Government’s best interests, the Government will evaluate offers for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement. This includes options under FAR 52.217-8, Option to Extend Services, which applies to this solicitation. Evaluation of options under FAR 52.217-8 will be accomplished by using the prices offered for the last option period to determine the price for a 6-month option period, which will be added to the base and other option years to arrive at the total price.

Evaluation of options will not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s).

B.4 PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

SWITCHBOARD OPERATOR SERVICES

1. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR VETERANS AFFAIRS HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

1.1 The Contractor shall provide all labor, supervision, transportation, and other items/services necessary to perform Telephone Operator / Switchboard services to Veterans Affairs Health Care System (VA), located at Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 2002 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, TX

77030.

1.1.1 The work required under this contract consists of providing Telephone Switchboard Operators for the effective operations for a 24-hour, 7-days week 365-day 1A medical facility for the operations of six to eight NEAX 2400 electronic telephone attendant consoles to process incoming and outgoing telephone calls. The telephone operators shall complete all calls not completed by the automated call processor. In addition, operators shall to assist in placing outgoing local and long-distance calls, using the commercial system and the Federal

Telecommunications System (FTS).

1.1.2 Work includes coverage of the following equipment: console switchboard, fax machine and audio, radio, radio and digital paging systems, and reporting and recording trouble calls.

1.1.3 VA reserves the right to increase or decrease workload quantities as the need arises at the same prices, terms and conditions based on changes in the mission of VA, or any other changes warranting changes.

1.1.4 All incoming calls both internal and external shall be answered within three (3) rings.

1.1.5 Appropriate staffing levels shall consist of no less than 7 telephone operators (not including the

Working Supervisor) during peak hours of operation i.e., second shift 0800-1630, Monday through Friday only, excluding Federal Holidays. Appropriate staffing levels during non-peak hours of operation i.e., first shift (0000-0800) and third shift (1630-000) and Federal Holidays require no less than 2 telephone operators (including one lead operator).

1.1.6 The operators shall respond immediately to 911, fires, Code Blue, disasters, security alarms and other emergency situations and initiate emergency procedures as warranted. Any delay or incorrect response can result in the death or endangerment of patients and/or staff.

1.1.7 The operators shall handle complex calls, which require the highest degree of personal involvement. They shall respond to all callers, which include confused, abusive, or even suicidal individuals in a compassionate and caring manner. In the case of suicidal patients, they shall attempt to calm the caller, suggest possible sources of help, and, if possible, get the caller’s location and dispatch police or others who can render aid to the patient.

1.1.8 The operators shall monitor alarms as well as a two-way radio to provide required support to the Fire and Police Departments. In the case of fires or disasters this shall include, but is not limited to, making appropriate notifications as indicated in the MEDVAMC protocol.

1.1.9 All references to locations of rooms, building or functions are for informational purposes only.

Such references do not necessarily indicate that these locations or functional designations shall remain stable. Changes of functional designations or locations which shall affect this contract, and which require permanent changing in staffing requirements, and/or revenues, shall be coordinated with the Contracting Officer (CO) prior to initiation of such changes to assure adequate contractual coverage. The COR is defined as a Government employee who shall serve as the Contracting Officer’s Representative to ensure adequate performance for the

Government.

1.1.10 Established services, functions, programs, staffing patterns and hours, and days of operation, shall not be altered without prior written approval of the CO. Any changes to the requirements of this solicitation shall be negotiated under the change clause.

1.1.11 Contractor Furnished Items

1. Except for those items or services specifically identified to be Government furnished in Section 5 and 6, the Contractor shall furnish everything required to perform this PWS.

2. The Contractor shall furnish headsets of a quality compatible with the telephone equipment.

3. The Contractor shall be responsible for the orderliness and cleanliness of all areas not covered by custodial service.

1.1.12 Building Security

KEYS: The Government shall provide the Contractor with keys to allow access to rooms required to be accessed to fulfill provisions of this contract.

1.1.13 Correspondence

All Correspondence relative to this contract shall bear the VAMC Contract Number, Title of the PWS, name and location of the Medical Facility, and shall be addressed to the CO.

1.2 Definitions/Acronyms - Terms used in this contract shall be interpreted as follows unless the context expressly requires a different construction and/or interpretation. In case of a conflict in language between the Definitions and other sections of this contract, the language in this section shall govern.

1.2.1 Contracting Officer (CO) – The person executing this contract on behalf of the Government with the authority to enter into and administer contracts and make related determinations and findings.

1.2.2 Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) – A person appointed by the Contracting Officer to take necessary action in ensure the Contractor performs in accordance with and adheres to the specifications contained in the contract and to protect the interest of the Government. The COR shall report to the Contracting Officer promptly any indication of non-compliance in order that appropriation action can be taken.

1.2.3 CPARS – Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System

1.2.4 Federal…