Response to questions.pdf

RFP AHRQ-22-10009 Page 1 of 13 Response to Questions

Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP)

AHRQ-22-10009

July 8, 2022

Thank you for your interest in this Request for Proposal (RFP). Below is a key to the responses to the questions found on the following pages:

• “No solicitation amendment necessary” – This response is given when:

1) the requirements are clearly articulated in the solicitation to the maximum extent possible, or

2) the information is not available, or

3) it is dependent on the offeror’s proposed approach.

• “Please see solicitation amendment” – This response is given if the response to the question affects a revision to the RFP. Please see the amended RFP.

• A response to the question is provided - A response/answer is given if clarification is necessary, but the response does not require a revision to the RFP.

RFP AHRQ-22-10009 Page 2 of 13

Number Page Reference Question and Response

109 C.33.10 Modernize Processing Programs

The RFP states: “The Contractor shall implement the proposed redesign of the processing programs and data infrastructure documented in the memo summarizing the results of the assessment developed under C.31.3.” There does not appear to be a task C.31.3 in the RFP. Please confirm that the reference should be to the memo in task C.33.3.

Please see solicitation amendment

2 5 B.4 CLIN

Pricing

The Period of Performance for CLIN 0001 HCUP Startup Activities is listed as: 12/21/2022-02/20/2022. Please confirm that the end date should be 02/20/2023.

Please see solicitation amendment

3 5 and 115 B.4 CLIN Pricing and

F.2 Deliverable

Schedule

The start date for the Period of Performance for CLIN 0001 is listed as 12/21/2022 and the start date for CLIN 0002 Operations is listed as 02/21/2023. Some of the CLIN 0002 deliverables have due dates that are listed as 1 month or less from CED, the Contract Effective Date for the Base and Each Option Period. Please confirm that the CED for these deliverables is based on the CLIN 0002 start date of 02/21/2023 and not the CLIN 0001 start date of 12/21/2022. Similarly, please confirm that the CED date for CLIN 0003 and CLIN 0004 deliverables is 02/21/2023.

The task order for work under CLIN0002 has an anticipated effective date of 02/21/2023 and deliverables are due based on that date.

The anticipated effective date for CLINs 0003 and 0004 is 02/21/2023.

4 119 and 133 F.2 Deliverable

Schedule

The RFP shows that the due date for deliverable C.11.8.4 is 3/15/19 and the due date for deliverable C.29.2.2 is 1/15/19. Can AHRQ please confirm the dates for these deliverables?

Please see solicitation amendment

5 135 F.2 Deliverable

Schedule

Please confirm the Contract Effective Date (CED) for the Section H deliverables. Is it the IDIQ start date of 12/21/2022?

Please see solicitation amendment.

6 34 C.9 State databases

Is the Government’s expectation that, in producing the state databases (SOW C.9), the Contractor should only use the processing programs provided by AHRQ and described in C.9.2.1? In other words, the Contractor should not create new processing programs or introduce new processes, except for the purposes of adapting the existing programs to accommodate Partners’ data submissions (C.9.2.1), or performing annual updates (C.9.2.2), or under a task order to modernize processing programs (C.33.10).

No solicitation amendment necessary

7 35 and 41 C.9 State Databases

C.9.2.4 indicates that State Comparative Data Reports will be created and delivered to the COR and HCUP Partners upon request only, while C.9.7.2

RFP AHRQ-22-10009 Page 3 of 13

Number Page Reference Question and Response indicates all state Partners shall receive a comparative data quality report generated as a byproduct of data processing. Please confirm if this report is on request or an annual deliverable, or if C.9.2.4 and C.9.7.2 refer to different reports.

C.9.2.4 Please see solicitation amendment C.9.7.2 No solicitation amendment necessary

8 117-134 F.2 Deliverable

Schedule

The table lists SAS files as the format for processing programs e.g., C.9.7.3, C.10.6.2. Does the Government require that only SAS be used where SAS is listed as the delivery format for processing programs, or may other programming languages or software be used in addition to SAS?

The Government requires that processing programs be delivered in SAS, however the Contractor may use other processing programs to achieve the required deliverables. In the event that AHRQ requests task C.33.3 “Data Processing Evaluation” and other programming languages or formats are approved, future formats for processing programs would be permitted and identified in the task order.

9 75-78 C.21 Software tools

ICD-11 is not mentioned in the SOW, in C.21 or elsewhere. Please confirm that any tool development or coding work related to ICD-11 is out of scope for this contract.

No solicitation amendment necessary

10 14 C.3 Resources Please provide a list of software that the prior Contractor is currently using and will need to be purchased for HCUP operations (other than those already mentioned in the SOW or commonly used office productivity software).

No solicitation amendment necessary

11 96-97 and

F.2 Deliverable

Schedule

The “HCUP Overview Slides” and “HCUP ‘Rolling’ Slides” deliverables are listed under task C.28.4 in the table. Per the Work Statement, these deliverables are part of task C.28.5. Can AHRQ please confirm the SOW task for these deliverables?

Please see solicitation amendment

12 65 and 132 F.2 Deliverable

Schedule

The “HCUP Calendar of Events” deliverable is listed under task C.29.2.3 in the table. Per the Work Statement, this deliverable is part of task C.17.1.1.

Can AHRQ please confirm the SOW task for this deliverable?

Please see solicitation amendment

13 133 F.2 Deliverable

Schedule

The table lists two deliverables that are not referenced under task C.29.2.2 (or elsewhere) in the Work Statement: Update HCUP-US Web Site Technical Support Web pages; Memo on Improving Calendar of Events.

The latter also includes a due date of 1/15/2019, which is outside of the performance period. Can AHRQ please confirm whether these deliverables should be included and confirm the due date?

RFP AHRQ-22-10009 Page 4 of 13

Number Page Reference Question and Response

Please see solicitation amendment

14 32 and 116 C.9 State Databases, F.2 Deliverable

Schedule

C.9.1.2 suggests that the Contractor constructs a memo after the initial review of data for each Partner, but the C.9.1.2. deliverable “Memo on Initial Review of Source Data” is due 1 month after CED and annually thereafter. Please confirm if this is an annual deliverable, and if so, what data files are in scope for the annual memo.

Please see solicitation amendment

15 117 F.2 Deliverable

Schedule

The table lists two deliverables named “HCUP Public Release Annual State Databases”, one for C.9.8 and one for C.9.9. In the SOW, C.9.9 does not reference the public release files. Please confirm whether this deliverable should be included in C.9.9.

Please see solicitation amendment

16 188 Section L The instructions for the project management plan state that we should include a person-level task-loading chart showing labor hours for all major tasks. Are major tasks the CLINs? If not, what is the definition of major task?

Please see solicitation amendment.

17 185 and 190 L.6 (b) II and L.8

Please verify that the prime and each of its major subcontractor are allowed 10 pages each to describe their five (5) contracts.

Please see solicitation amendment

18 23 C.8 Can AHRQ make available existing MOAs in order for bidders to better understand the existing contractual relationships?

No solicitation amendment necessary

19 27 C.8.7 With the successful bidder negotiating MOAs on behalf of AHRQ, is there an existing set of contract standards the contractor must work to? Will the contractor be working with the COR on any HCUP Partner contract markup on an MOA-by-MOA, redline-by-redline basis?

Please see solicitation amendment

20 27 C.8.7 In order to purchase data currently on the HCUP website, purchasers are required to agree to an indemnification clause indemnifying the incumbent HCUP contractor against any liability arising from the use of HCUP data.

Does AHRQ anticipate that the same practice will continue under this agreement?

No solicitation amendment necessary.

21 28 C.8.10 The Additional Proposal Instructions provide assumptions for the total cost of data purchasing from the HCUP Partners. How would any actual acquisition costs in excess of that estimate be handled?

No solicitation amendment necessary.

RFP AHRQ-22-10009 Page 5 of 13

Number Page Reference Question and Response 22 2 Proposal

Submission Can you provide instructions for subcontractors submitting sealed bids to the AHRQ Proposal Module?

It is expected that subcontractor proposal information will be submitted with the Prime offeror’s submission.

16 C.5.2 Receive

HCUP

materials

With regards to "Limited, minimal assistance will be provided by the prior Contractor…", can AHRQ specify for how many weeks the prior Contract would overlap with the CLIN 0001 and CLIN 0002 base periods?

No solicitation amendment necessary

24 19 C.6.1.1 With regards to the kickoff, is it correct to assume that the kickoff will not be scheduled until CLIN 0002 is awarded?

Please see solicitation amendment

25 32 C.9.1.1 When the SOW is silent on the software or data formats to be used for a given task, does the Contractor have the flexibility to use appropriate software or data formats of its choice (subject to para 3 of C.9.2.1), or does the Government prefer SAS in all instances?

No solicitation amendment necessary.

26 34 C.9.2.2 Should the Contractor expect to pay any licensing fees for CPT, UB 04, or other proprietary coding terminologies under this task or other tasks?

Please see solicitation amendment.

27 41 C.9.7.2 Is the Nielsen Claritas data variable provided by states or derived by the HCUP Contractor? If derived by the HCUP Contractor, should the offeror assume any licensing fee associated with this software?

Please see solicitation amendment

28 50 C.12 With regards to "…from States that had verified patient linkage numbers…", how is the verification communicated to the HCUP Contractor?

No solicitation amendment necessary

53 C.13.7 With regards to "estimates provided by other data sources, such as Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)," is this in reference to public use files, or estimates derived from CMS claims analysis performed by the HCUP contractor?

Please see the solicitation amendment

30 70 C.20 Online HCUP Data

Query Resources

For all subtasks under C.20, can AHRQ provide information to delineate scope, similar to Table 7 on page 85, delineating the responsibilities of the HCUP Contractor vs. the Contractor alluded to that maintains Fast Stats and HCUP Net (on Page 75)?

RFP AHRQ-22-10009 Page 6 of 13

185 L.6 Technical

Proposal Instructions

Are there any formal requirements for the font size and spacing within tables or figures?

No solicitation amendment necessary.

32 68 C.18.5 Technical Advice to Individual

HCUP

Partners

Are HCUP Partners supported via the same technical support mechanism that supports the general public? I.e., are Partner requests/inquiries made via the same phone number and email address that is provided to the general public, or is there a separate contact for HCUP Partner support?

Please see solicitation amendment

33 68 C.18.4 HCUP-

US Partners’

Web Page

Is it possible to see any part of the Partner’s technical support web page, or get a description of the components, since it is not accessible to the public?

Content of Partner’s technical support web page:

Partner Events & Activities What's New Partner Calendar Partner Meetings Partner Workgroups and Topical Presentations Partner State Contacts My MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) Contacts for Questions and Feedback

HCUP Partner Resources Exclusive Tools and Reports for Partners National Data Standards Clostridium Difficile Infection (CDI) Toolkit Community-Level Statistics HCUPnet Readmission Resources Race and Ethnicity Data Resources Archives & Other Resources

HCUP Information HCUP Fact Sheet HCUP Description HCUP Overview Binder

Also, the Work Statement specifies that all content in the Partner’s technical support web page “must be user-friendly and searchable.” Are there specific criteria that constitute user-friendliness? Is content searchable there in the same way that an HCUP user can search for relevant publications via the HCUP-US website?

RFP AHRQ-22-10009 Page 7 of 13

34 81 C.23.1 Respond to Technical Assistance Inquiries

Do response times specified in the Work Statement refer to full resolution of a technical assistance inquiry, or are these response times meant to designate the minimum period of time before an inquiry is acknowledged?

For example, the Work Statement says: “The Contractor shall respond to user inquiries within two business days of receipt of a user’s question.”

Does this mean that AHRQ’s expectation is that inquiries will be fully resolved within two business days, or that the Contractor will acknowledge receipt of the inquiry within two business days?

Please see solicitation amendment.

35 82 C.23.1 Respond to Technical Assistance Inquiries

Will the previous contractor’s routing protocol for technical assistance be made available at any point?

No solicitation amendment necessary

36 82 C.23.1 Respond to Technical Assistance Inquiries

Can any information be offered regarding the tracking mechanism that AHRQ will provide for technical assistance inquiries?

No solicitation amendment necessary

37 83 C.23.3 Locate and Peruse

HCUP

Publications

The Work Statement says: “the Search terms used under the previous contract to find publications that reference HCUP will be provided to the Contractor by AHRQ.” Will any information be provided regarding the websites or databases searched?

Yes, search terms and searched sites will be provided after award.

38 113 F.2 Deliverable

Schedule

Could AHRQ confirm that they would like all financial and management reports to be delivered with one bound hard copy?

Yes

39 15 C.5. RECEIVE

HCUP

MATERIALS

AND TAKE

OVER

OPERATIONS

Can the government provide description and/or documentation on current As-Is IT infrastructure (on-premises or Cloud?), software architecture for each of the HCUP Databases, Applications, and Research Tools, including Hardware, OS, and Data by volume and physical location(s) from where Data and Applications will be shifted?

No solicitation amendment necessary

40 15-18 C.5. RECEIVE

HCUP

MATERIALS

AND TAKE

OVER

OPERATIONS

Can the government provide the As-Is staffing plan and organization structure for supporting the operations of each HCUP Database and Research Tools?

No solicitation amendment necessary

41 15-18 C.5. RECEIVE

HCUP

Can the government please confirm that the incumbent will maintain operations during transition?

RFP AHRQ-22-10009 Page 8 of 13

Number Page Reference Question and Response

MATERIALS

AND TAKE

OVER

OPERATIONS

42 16-18 C.5.3.1 Take Over

Management of the Public

Release Database

Fulfillment Process

Due to the large size and scope of the HCUP DBs and the importance to seamlessly continue operations during contract transition, is it an option to lease or make the As-Is back-end environment available for continued operations of 4-6 months?

No solicitation amendment necessary

43 24 C.8.1.1 What is the “recruitment database”? Could you describe the structure and contents of this database? The activities (who updates? How often? How many records?)

Please see solicitation amendment.

44 190 L.8 Past Performance Information

AHRQ requests five contracts for the prime contractor and for each major subcontractor but limits past performance information to only 10 pages.

Would AHRQ consider increasing the page count to 15 pages?

See response to Question 17.

45 190 L.8 Past Performance Information

The government requires five past performance citations from each significant subcontractor. Given that a significant subcontractor may be a small business, and the requirement is restrictive to valuable potential small business partners, would the government please consider a reduction to three projects?

No solicitation amendment necessary.

46 190 L.8 Past Performance Information

The government requires five past performance citations from each significant subcontractor, including small businesses. Would the government consider adjusting the requirement to a minimum of three and up to five past performance citations for major subcontractors (or for small businesses only)?

No solicitation amendment necessary.

47 190 L.8 Past Performance Information

The government requires five past performance citations from each significant subcontractor which would include small business subcontractors. Given that significant subcontractors may be contributing only to a limited percentage of the overall contract execution, would the government consider removing the dollar amount required for the past performance and/or consider evaluating past performance based on scale of the subcontractor's support to HCUP or solely on relevant competencies and services delivered by the subcontractor?

RFP AHRQ-22-10009 Page 9 of 13

Number Page Reference Question and Response 48 191 L.9.2 Business

Proposal Instructions

If labor rates are based on the offeror’s GSA Schedule rates, will the resultant award be made under the GSA Schedule and follow typical GSA order procedures including collecting and remittance of IFF?

No solicitation amendment necessary.

49 34 C.9.2 The SOW states that AHRQ will facilitate the Contractor’s license with 3M.

Would AHRQ confirm that the associated license costs should be excluded from the business proposal?

Please see solicitation amendment.

50 85 C.24.4 Would AHRQ provide an estimate of the number of physical data shipments processed on an annual basis?

Please see solicitation amendment.

51 14 C.3 Please provide an inventory of all purchased data files, their source, and their cost needed for the current performance of this project.

No solicitation amendment necessary.

52 16 C.5.2 "Limited, minimal assistance will be provided by the prior Contractor to answer questions about the files and data organization, and for questions about making the processor programs operational. " To ensure a more productive transition plan, could the government provide documentation as to the current team size and workload to properly estimate the transition effort required?

No solicitation amendment necessary.

53 18 C5.3.3 Please provide statistics on the size of the website (in GB), the average number of visits per day, and the amount of data transferred in and out (GB/day) to properly estimate the cost for hosting.

See response to Question 60.

54 20 C.7.1 What is the current data center hosting the solution? What software workflow, document management, and other collaboration tools are currently in use? With a rapid transition as specified here, we will need to support these tools in the short-term before any potential modernization efforts.

No solicitation amendment necessary.

55 20 C.7.1 Please elaborate on the "trimming" process. Is this running a TRIM on the physical storage, or does it refer to a data archival process? Is AHRQ retiring old data files? Removing temporary processing files?

No solicitation amendment necessary

56 22 C.8. Could the government provide an overview of the team currently dedicated to this, how many FTEs are involved, and how much time they spend on various activities? In similar tasks, sometimes the acquisition

RFP AHRQ-22-10009 Page 10 of 13

Number Page Reference Question and Response team's work is highly automated and requires minimal staff, or in other cases this work is not automated and requires large numbers of staff

22 C.8. By partner, how are data files transferred? Email? Physical mail? SFTP?

Other EDI service?

No solicitation amendment necessary

58 28 C.8.10 Please provide a breakdown of all data purchases by organization and over time so we can estimate baseline and future costs for this task.

No solicitation amendment necessary

59 34 C9.2.1 What is the technical nature of the "software used to process individual state data"? SAS Scripts? Besides the DRGs listed in this section, are any other tools or technologies utilized for orchestration? storage? query?

No solicitation amendment necessary

60 65 C17 Please provide a technical overview of the web content management system hosting environment of the HCUP-US website, including where it is hosted, what software is used on the server(s), and the team size/roles that maintain it currently.

The existing HCUP-US makes use of several key technologies: JavaServer Pages (JSP), JSP Standard Tag Library (JSTL), eXtensible Markup Language (XML), and eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT).

The production site for HCUP-US is hosted by the Contractor on a virtualized server utilizing VMWare technologies. The virtual server is roughly equivalent to a dual core Intel Xeon CPU running at 2.3GHz and having 16GB of RAM. The development site is also hosted on a similar class virtual server.

Operating System: The HCUP-US production site uses Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 7.9.

Web Server Software: The HCUP-US sites use version 2.4.6 of Apache Software Foundation’s HTTPD Web Server for static file requests and use version 7.0.76 of Apache Software Foundation’s Tomcat Web server.

Runtime Environment: The HCUP-US sites use the OpenJDK Java runtime environment (version 1.8.0_302).

Average number of visits to HCUP-US per year are 70,000.

61 63 C.16.2.1 Are the processing programs currently maintained in a version control system? If yes, which one?

RFP AHRQ-22-10009 Page 11 of 13

Number Page Reference Question and Response

No solicitation amendment necessary

62 40 C.9.6 In the following sentence: "The Contractor shall create documentation for the annual and data files that will include a file composition document, summary statistics, SAS file information, information on SAS development programs, and a logistics memo that describes each step in processing and any state-specific restrictions that were followed", are the SAS development programs the processing programs that create the HCUP databases?

No solicitation amendment necessary

63 108 C.33.3 Section C.33.3 begins with: "To improve efficiency and address quality, the Contractor shall conduct an assessment of the current master data processer...", and ends with: "The contractor shall summarize the results of the assessment and detail a proposed redesign of the processing programs and data infrastructure". Is the master data processor a single program, or a system composed of multiple programs?

Please see solicitation amendment.

64 109 C33.10 This section mentions section C.31.3. However, C.31.3 does not exist.

Please advise.

Please see solicitation amendment.

65 18 C.5.3.2 What is the volume of HCUP-US Technical Support inquiries on average in one month?

No solicitation amendment necessary

66 186 L.7 Due to the size of the proposal, could we include a compliance matrix outside of page count?

No solicitation amendment necessary.

67 186 L.7 in Section L.7 begins with: "The technical proposal shall be limited to 100 pages not including appendices. The page limit shall include all other technical proposal content including but not limited to the following: cover page, table of contents, introduction, and technical discussion." However, the introduction is not shown in the Page Limit Summary table. Is the Introduction part of the Technical Proposal?

Please see solicitation amendment.

68 190 L.8 Please specify which volume should include past performance information.

The past performance information will have its own unique upload section.

69 15 C.5. "The Contractor shall maintain HCUP historical files back to the 1988 data year and related materials to document the project." the government provide an estimate of the historical data archive (in size)?

RFP AHRQ-22-10009 Page 12 of 13

Number Page Reference Question and Response

Please see solicitation amendment.

70 15 C.5. "The Contractor will be provided with a proposed transition plan report that provides an inventory of and process for transferring HCUP data files, documentation, and software for use under the contract." Does this suggest that the government has already developed a Transition Plan?

No solicitation amendment necessary

71 90-95 C 26 & C.27 There appears to be redundancy in the purposes for C26 (pp90 -94) and C 27 (pp94-95). Can you clarify?

Task C.26 occurs at the conclusion of the contract period, requiring wrap up and documentation activities, along with maintaining a few key operations. C. 27 occurs when a transition period is required between Contractors and involves project tasks during that transition.

72 113, 144-145 F.1, H.5. F.1 states that the PoP is 60 months from Dec 21, 2022 through Dec 20, 2027. H.5 states that CLIN0001 is 2 months, CLIN0002 will be 60 months starting 2/21/2023. Does that mean the total PoP is 62 months? Please confirm.

The ordering period of the IDIQ contract is 60 months, which limits the start of new task orders and options thereunder. Task Orders may conclude beyond the end of the ordering period.

73 188 B. "Staffing plans shall be organized by CLIN…Personnel selection as demonstrated in an organizational chart accompanied by a person-level task-loading chart with number of labor hours including consultants and subcontractors showing all major tasks." Does it mean each CLIN will need an organization chart and LOE table?

Please see solicitation amendment.

74 185 A In a 12 point TNR font, charts, graphs and tables can be quite large. Would the government consider a 10 point font?

No solicitation amendment necessary.

75 190 L.8 In order to give more information about each referenced project within the 10-page limit, would the government consider amending the past performance requirement to a total of five references for the team, rather than five for the prime offeror and five for each major subcontractor?

See response to Question 17.

76 2 SECTION A -

SOLICITATION

FORM,

Proposal

Submission

What is the file size limit for submissions uploaded to the AHRQ Proposal Module?

Each proposal (volume) submitted shall be a single file, either Word, PDF, and/or Excel not to exceed 40 MB (40,000 KB).

RFP AHRQ-22-10009 Page 13 of 13

Number Page Reference Question and Response 77 18 C.5.3.3. Take over HCUP- US Website

Will the government provide all relevant HCUP-US Website documentation and specifications, including source code repository and required tools, database size, server requirements, and deployment?

Yes, all relevant documentation for HCUP-US will be provided after award.

78 65 Section:

C.17.1

Maintain Content on the HCUP-US Website

Does AHRQ prefer the site to be on contractor-provided servers? Are there specific configurations or requirements that make hosting it within AHRQ untenable?

No solicitation amendment necessary

79 84-85 C.24 Public Release

Database Fulfillment

The government describes CDORS as an “ordering and payment system,” however, in Table 7, the HCUP Contractor is listed as the party responsible for receiving and processing payments. Will the government please provide documentation on standard operating procedures, CDORS technologies, responsibilities, and details on the envisioned payment processing mechanism, payment gateways, etc.?

Detailed information on the CDORs will be provided at award.