36C26118Q9418-001.doc

VA SIERRA NEVADA HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

STATEMENT OF WORK

COURIER SERVICE – AUBURN CBOC

10/28/2013

1. MEDICAL COURIER SERVICES: The Department of Veterans Affairs, Sierra Nevada Health Care System (VASNHCS) intends to award a contract for the procurement of courier services. The contractor shall provide services to transport laboratory test specimens from one location to another once a day, in accordance with the terms and conditions of this Statement of Work (SOW).

2. ITEMS TO BE TRANSPORTED: Biological specimens for delivery/pickup are a combination of room temperature, refrigerated, and/or frozen specimens. Additional items beyond biological specimens include instruments for sterile processing, secured pharmacy bags, and interoffice mail.

a. Laboratory test specimens, i.e. body fluids (blood, urine and stool), will be properly packaged in inner containers and stored at the proper temperature by Government personnel.

b. VASNHCS will provide two coolers per each delivery. One large sized cooler (approximate 70 quart capacity) will be for refrigerated items targeting 2-8 degrees Centigrade (routine refrigerator temperature) and a second smaller sized cooler (approximate 35 quart capacity) for frozen sample (less than 0 degrees Centigrade) and will require dry ice. The contractor will provide the dry ice as necessary to ensure that specimens remain at the proper temperatures during transport. Test specimens stored in the refrigerated cooler should remain upright during transportation. Test specimens that are stored at room temperature can be placed near the top of the refrigerated cooler during transport.

c. All specimens must be transported in accordance with all Department of Transportation and OSHA Codes of Federal Regulations (CFR) 29 and 49.

d. A packed and sealed biohazard container will be provided to transport instruments for processing.

e. A locked Pharmacy bag will be provided to transport pharmacy prescriptions.

f. Interoffice mail will be sealed in a large envelope.

3. HOURS OF OPERATION: The contractor shall perform services required by this contract primarily close to the end of the clinic operations. Pick up times must be consistent with each site.

a. VA Sierra Foothills Outpatient Clinic operate five days per week. Pick up is required in the afternoon not sooner than 1400 and prior to 1600. The clinic operations are conducted Monday through Friday 0800 to 1630, with the exception of Federal holidays.

4. PICK UP/DELIVERY SCHEDULE:

4.1. Contractor shall transport laboratory test specimens, instrument totes, pharmacy bags & interoffice mail between the VA Sierra Foothills Outpatient Clinic, 11985 Heritage Oak Place, Auburn, CA 95603 and the VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System (VASNHCS), Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Clinical Laboratory, Building 1, Room 136, 975 Kirman Ave, Reno Nevada 89502.

a. Courier services between the VA facilities will be conducted daily, Monday through Friday except on federal holidays. Federal Holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Day, President’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and any other day specifically declared by the President of the United States to be a federal holiday.

b. The Courier will pick up the laboratory test specimens in locked coolers from the VA Sierra Foothills Outpatient Clinic, 11985 Heritage Oak Place, Auburn, CA 95603 and deliver to VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System (VASNHCS), Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Clinical Laboratory, Building 1, Room 136, 975 Kirman Ave, Reno Nevada 89502 no later than 7PM , Monday through Friday. Building access is the entrance to the Emergency Department is on Burns Street between Locust Street and Kirman Avenue. The courier will swap the full sample coolers for empty coolers to be used on the next run. All other items will be left in the laboratory, building 1.

c. The condition of the laboratory test specimens will be checked at time of delivery. A daily tracking log will be completed and submitted to the VA Triage Clinic at time of delivery. The Courier will exchange the delivered coolers with two empty coolers to be used for the next regular work day pick up.

d. In cases where courier service cannot be made due the weather conditions, etc. the VA must be notified in advance.

5. PERFORMANCE STANDARDS:

a. Contractor pickup and delivery time will be within a 15-minute leeway time with exact pickups when they are just prior to clinic closure times. Pickup/delivery times greater than 15 minutes require a telephone call to the laboratory contact with reason stated. Final traffic routes/patterns and times will be established prior to implementation of the contract, with mutual agreement.

b. Customer service skills must be evident to VASNCHS staff with no more than five (5) complaints or referrals to the Laboratory Manager per year.

6. CONTRACTOR’S DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: Contractor must be a courier company with a state license and carry a minimum of $1,000,000.00 liability insurance. All couriers transporting specimens under this contract must be bonded and carry cellular phones and pagers for communications purposes.

a. The Contractor shall provide all courier services with a company vehicle and uniformed driver(s) to transport laboratory specimens. The Contractor shall ensure the confidentiality of all patient information being transported and will be held liable in the event of breach of confidentiality. The Contractor shall comply with the provisions of the Federal Privacy Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-579).

b. Upon award of the contract and prior to actual start date, the Contractor shall provide the Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative (COR) a copy of their most current certificate of training of couriers (employees), Valid Drivers license, vehicle insurance, and registration.

c. Training: Contractor’s couriers transporting laboratory test specimens must be trained in “Universal Precautions” in the handling of biohazard materials (specimens). Training must include using clinical procedures in case of biohazard spills and accidents.

d. Driver: All drivers must maintain a valid driver’s license for the type of vehicle operated as required by the States of Nevada and California. A record of each driver as to character and physical capabilities of performing the duties as a courier must be maintained and made available to the COR for inspection upon request.

e. The contract manager, drivers, and alternates, must be able to read, write, speak, and understand English. The name of this person, and an alternate, or alternates, who shall act for the contractor when the manager is absent, shall be designated in writing to the COR. An updated listing will be provided as changes in personnel occur.

f. The Contractor’s personnel shall present a neat appearance and be easily recognized as a contract employee. The Contractor’s employees shall wear identification tags that include the company’s name/logo and employee name. Contractor’s vehicle shall have the company name/logo prominently displayed.

g. The Contractor shall direct all questions and problems regarding this contract to the Contracting Officer and/or COR. The Contracting officer is the sole authority to amend the terms and conditions of this requirement. All changes will be issued via amendment and/or modifications in writing from the Contracting Officer to the Contractor.

h. The COR SHALL BE NOTIFIED within two (2) hours, via phone and confirmed via facsimile of Contractor’s knowledge of any conditions which may adversely affect the Contractor’s ability to perform under the terms and conditions as stated in the specifications of this requirement.

i. Should specimens be lost or broken, the contractor shall be required to submit a written report to the COR within twenty-four (24) hours explaining the circumstances. Failure to provide the report within the specific timeframe will cause further review by the Government to determine if the infraction warrants suspension/termination of the contract.

j. Contractor must have a back up for specimen delivery in the event the regular driver/vehicle breaks down.

7. QUALITY CONTROL: The Contractor shall develop and maintain a quality control program that ensures courier services are performed in accordance with these specifications. The contractor shall develop and implement procedures to track, identify, prevent, remedy, and ensure non-recurrence of defective services. The contractor shall provide a method to accept and resolve customer complaints and notify the customer of the resolution. The contractor shall immediately notify the COR upon receipt of a customer complaint so joint validation may be accomplished. The contractor is responsible for quality control and specification compliance.

Under no circumstances shall any person other than the driver or designated employee of the contractor handle items being transported. Driver shall go directly from the Auburn VA facility to the Reno VA facility. There shall not be any non-emergent stops, for any reason, during the transport of items under this contract. Drivers shall not make any personal stops in performance of duties during the Auburn VA facility to the Reno VA facility trip, nor shall any unauthorized passenger accompany the driver during contract work.

A record of each employee as to character and physical capabilities of performing the duties of a courier shall be maintained by the Contractor and made available to the Contracting Officer for inspection upon request. A background check record shall be submitted to the Contacting Officer when requested.

The contractor shall provide a list of driver's names and names of alternate drivers for each route, in case of emergency. Included in the list shall be contact phone numbers or pager numbers of each driver. Updated lists shall be provided to the COR.

The cargo may contain bio-hazardous material and dangerous goods. The Contractor shall certify that all individuals involved in shipping clinical specimens have been trained and tested as specified in the training requirements of 49 CFR Part 172, Subpart H. Written statements documenting Universal Precautions training, Hazardous Materials training and training that meets the laws and regulations of the US Department of Transportation and the Centers for Disease Control governing the transport of clinical specimens shall be provided to the COR annually.

VEHICLE: All vehicles used in performance of this contract shall be registered, licensed and meet the minimum vehicle requirements as mandated by the Department of Transportation. The Government reserves the right to inspect the vehicles and investigate the responsibility of contractor to perform the work outlined in the contract. The Contractor shall provide all vehicles needed to perform this effort.

Each vehicle shall have some type of identification representing the contractor and be prominently displayed. . Each vehicle shall be adequately stocked with at least one up-to-date complete "SPILL KIT" for a bio-hazard cleanup in case of leakage or accidental discharge.

The Contractor shall maintain proper temperature in vehicles to preserve medical supplies, specimens and films. There shall be climate control in the vehicles, so that the internal vehicle temperature can be maintained at a temperature between 65°F and 85°F. The vehicle shall meet the requirement that all efforts shall be made to assure that all items are delivered upright, without spoilage/damage from temperature conditions, rough handling and/or negligence.

The courier who is to transport medical instruments must place the secured, locked, leak proof container in a secured, confined area in the vehicle, for instance, the trunk. Avoid situations/conditions where the container can be a projectile object in case of sudden breaking of the vehicle.

The vehicles shall not be abandoned between transports from facility to destination. Specimens will not be left in an unsecured vehicle at any time.

8. QUALITY ASSURANCE: The Government will evaluate the contractor’s performance using customer complaint, periodic on-site inspection, and may at the Government’s discretion, inspect each task to incur conformance and acceptance prior to payment.

9. EVIDENCE OF RESPONSIBILITY: To determine responsibility, an offeror must possess a minimum of three (3) years experience, along with all necessary equipment, and personnel who are financially responsible to perform courier service as required under this contract. Offerors must submit with their proposal the following:

1. Proof of Insurance

2. Proof of Bonded

3. Three commercial references

Successful bidders must meet all requirements of federal, state, or city codes and licenses regarding operations of this type of service. A description of offeror’s experience shall be submitted with the proposal.

a. The Government reserves the right to thoroughly inspect and investigate the contractor’s vehicles, facilities, business reputation, and other qualifications of any offeror and to reject any offer irrespective of price if it shall be administratively determined lacking in any of the essentials necessary to assure acceptable standard of performance.

10. VA SECURITY CLAUSE:

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).

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.

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.

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;

TRAINING

Before being granted access to VA information or information systems, all contractor employees and subcontractor employees requiring such access shall complete on an annual basis either: (i) the VA security/privacy awareness training (contains VA’s security/privacy requirements) within 1 week of the initiation of the contract, or (H) security awareness training provided or arranged by the contractor that conforms to VA’s security/privacy requirements as delineated in the hard copy of the VA security awareness training provided to the contractor. If the contractor provides their own training that conforms to VA’s requirements, they will provide the COR or CO, a yearly report (due annually on the date of the contract initiation) stating that all applicable employees involved in VA’s contract have received their annual security/privacy training that meets VA’s requirements and the total number of employees trained. See VA Handbook 6500.6, Appendix C, paragraph 9.

RULES OF BEHAVIOR

Before being granted access to VA information or information systems, all contractor employees and subcontractor employees requiring such access shall sign on an annual basis an acknowledgment that they have read, understand, and agree to abide by VA’s Contractor Rules of Behavior which is attached to this contract.” See VA Handbook 6500.6, Appendix C, paragraph 9, Appendix D. Note: If a medical device vendor anticipates that the services under the contract will be performed by 10 or more individuals, the Contractor Rules of Behavior may be signed by the vendor’s designated representative. The contract must reflect by signing the Rules of Behavior on behalf of the vendor that the designated representative agrees to ensure that all such individuals review and understand the Contractor Rules of Behavior when accessing VA’s information and information systems

(End of Statement of Work)