Amendment 1.doc

SAP

State of South Carolina Request for Proposal

Solicitation:

Date Issued:

Procurement Officer:

Phone:

E-Mail Address:

Mailing Address:

5400025266 07/11/2023

KATHY SANTANDREU

8038965304 ksantandreu@mmo.sc.gov SFAA, Div. of Procurement Services PO Box 101103 Columbia SC 29201-3734

DESCRIPTION: Measurement of Agency Performance Standards (MAPS)

USING GOVERNMENTAL UNIT: SC Department of Disabilities and Special Needs (SCDDSN)

SUBMIT YOUR OFFER ON-LINE AT THE FOLLOWING URL: http://www.procurement.sc.gov

SUBMIT OFFER BY (Opening Date/Time): 08/23/2023 9/7/2023 11AM ET (See "Deadline For Submission Of Offer" provision)

QUESTIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY: 07/27/2023 10:00 AM ET (See "Questions From Offerors" provision)

NUMBER OF COPIES TO BE SUBMITTED: See page labeled “Page 1”

INITIAL HERE IF NO REDACTED COPY IS NEEDED: __________

CONFERENCE TYPE: Pre-proposal

DATE & TIME: 7-25-2023, 1:00 PM ET

(As appropriate, see "Conferences - Pre-Bid/Proposal" & "Site Visit" provisions) LOCATION: Teams Web Conference Details in the document.

You must submit a signed copy of this form with Your Offer. By signing, You agree to be bound by the terms of the Solicitation. You agree to hold Your Offer open for a minimum of 120 calendar days after the Opening Date. (See "Signing Your Offer" provision.)

NAME OF OFFEROR

(full legal name of business submitting the offer) Any award issued will be issued to, and the contract will be formed with, the entity identified as the Offeror. The entity named as the offeror must be a single and distinct legal entity. Do not use the name of a branch office or a division of a larger entity if the branch or division is not a separate legal entity, i.e., a separate corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, etc.

AUTHORIZED SIGNATURE

(Person must be authorized to submit binding offer to contract on behalf of Offeror.)

DATE SIGNED

TITLE

(Business title of person signing above)

STATE VENDOR NO.

(Register to Obtain S.C. Vendor No. at www.procurement.sc.gov)

PRINTED NAME

(Printed name of person signing above)

STATE OF INCORPORATION

(If you are a corporation, identify the state of incorporation.)

OFFEROR'S TYPE OF ENTITY: (Check one) (See "Signing Your Offer" provision.)

___ Sole Proprietorship ___ Partnership ___ Other_____________________________ ___ Corporate entity (not tax-exempt) ___ Corporation (tax-exempt) ___ Government entity (federal, state, or local)

COVER PAGE - ON-LINE ONLY (MAR. 2015)

SAP

SAP

PAGE TWO

(Return Page Two with Your Offer) HOME OFFICE ADDRESS (Address for offeror's home office / principal place of business)

NOTICE ADDRESS (Address to which all procurement and contract related notices should be sent.) (See "Notice" clause) _______________________ Area Code - Number - Extension Facsimile _____________________________________________ E-mail Address

PAYMENT ADDRESS (Address to which payments will be sent.) (See "Payment" clause) ____Payment Address same as Home Office Address ____Payment Address same as Notice Address (check only one) ORDER ADDRESS (Address to which purchase orders will be sent) (See "Purchase Orders and "Contract Documents" clauses) ____Order Address same as Home Office Address ____Order Address same as Notice Address (check only one)

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF AMENDMENTS

Offerors acknowledge receipt of amendments by indicating amendment number and its date of issue. (See "Amendments to Solicitation" Provision)

DISCOUNT FOR PROMPT PAYMENT

(See "Discount for Prompt Payment" clause)

PREFERENCES - A NOTICE TO VENDORS (SEP. 2009): Preferences do not apply

PREFERENCES - ADDRESS AND PHONE OF IN-STATE OFFICE: Preferences do not apply.

____In-State Office Address same as Home Office Address ____In-State Office Address same as Notice Address (check only one)

PAGE TWO (SEP 2009)

End of PAGE TWO

AMENDMENTS TO SOLICITATION (JAN 2004) (modified): (a) The Solicitation may be amended at any time prior to opening. All actual and prospective Offerors should monitor the following web site for the issuance of Amendments: www.procurement.sc.gov(b) Offerors shall acknowledge receipt of any amendment to this solicitation by identifying the amendment number and date in the space provided for this purpose on Page Two and returning with solicitation response (c) If this solicitation is amended, then all terms and conditions which are not modified remain unchanged.

Questions from Offerors - amendment (Jun 2017)

The solicitation is amended as provided herein. Information or changes resulting from questions will be shown in a question-and-answer format. All questions received have been reprinted below. The “state’s response” should be read without reference to the questions. The questions are included solely to provide a cross-reference to the potential Offeror that submitted the question. Questions do not form a part of the contract; the “state’s response” does. Any restatement of part or all of an existing provision of the solicitation in an answer does not modify the original provision except as follows: underlined text is added to the original provision. Stricken text is deleted. [02-2a097-1]

Changes to timeline:

· SUBMIT OFFER BY (Opening Date/Time): 09/07/2023 11:00:00 AM EST

· Award will be posted on: 10/10/2023 Combined vendor questions:

1. Page 21: For the ACIS report requirements (section e), how will the contractor obtain access to previous reports and how many previous years of results are required to be included in the report?

Data from the most recent review will be provided to the Contractor. There will be one data set per provider, based on that most recent review.

2. Page 31: Regarding the on-demand reporting, will we be required to trend data collected from the previous vendor with data we collect, or will we be starting fresh with our own collected data?

The trend data will begin with the new contract.

3. Page 34: SCDDSN states that the contractor must be a “Federally Designated Quality Improvement Organization, under contract with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) or PRO-like Entity as designated by CMS”. Does SCDDSN consider a contractor being certified as QIO-Like the same as being a “PRO-like entity”?

YES.

4. Page 1: Please confirm that the proposal needs to be submitted online and one USB drive has to be mailed.

YES.

5. Page 21: The proposal states the following: The Exit Conference must take place upon the completion of the review, no later than 30 days after the review start date. The exit meeting may be in-person or via electronic communication during regular business hours and will provide an opportunity for the provider to reconcile findings. An opportunity to reconcile any findings shall be permitted within a timeframe that corresponds to the provider and sample size.

Regarding the last sentence, please describe the correlation between the provider and sample size to the timeframes required for a provider to reconcile any findings.

This statement is intended to allow flexibility, at the Contractor’s discretion, to allow for additional time for larger providers to respond. Typically, the provider would have 48 hours to submit any information during the reconciliation period. For a larger provider, due to the sample size, the Contractor may use their professional discretion when allowing additional time, up to 96 hours, for the submission of information to be considered.

6. Page 21: Will SCDDSN provide a list of all providers and the date of their last ACIS review?

Yes. See Appendix A.

7. Page 21: How will the contractor be notified of a new provider rendering services?

DDSN will provide the Contractor with the names of any new providers and their first date of service delivery.

8. Page 23: How will we ensure/measure “proper handling of records” if we are not onsite? The Contractor will determine compliance based on information available through the review of ACIS Key Indicators. Any irregularities will be noted in the Report of Findings.

9. Page 25: Will SCDDSN provide a list of all current provider sites and the date of their last licensing?

Yes. See Appendix B.

10. Page 25: How will the contractor be notified of new provider sites that need to have an initial licensing review? DDSN will provide the Contractor with a packet of information for any new settings to be licensed. This packet will include the Application to Operate, Electrical Inspection, HVAC inspection, and State Fire Marshal Inspection. A maximum two-week turnaround is expected for completion of the Initial Licensing Review, upon receipt of the packet from DDSN.

11. Page 26: The Licensing Review section is using the same language as for the Administrative Compliance and Individual Services (ACIS) Reviews and suggests we are sampling records for the licensing review and would do an additional sample of records for the follow up review. Is that correct?

Yes. The intent of the follow-up review is to ensure successful implementation of the Plan of Correction. That review will include previously cited indicators and a review of a new file to ensure compliance.

This section also suggests there may be 10 additional special requests, like for the ACIS. Is that correct or is this just copied over from the ACIS section and is not correct?

DDSN may request up to 10 additional special circumstance reviews for both ACIS and Licensing.

12. Page 26: Do annual licensing reviews include non-ICF/IID and non-CRCF Residential services, Respite, and all Facility-based Day Services? Yes.

13. Page 27: Do we need a clinical staff onsite for the Licensing Reviews and is that the same as the clinical expert? The terms “clinical staff” and “clinical expert” have been used interchangeably. A clinical staff is not required to be on-site for Licensing Reviews, but must be available for remote consultation, as needed.

14. Page 26 & 27: What are the sampling parameters for the persons served and staff record reviews for initial and annual licensing?

For Residential Settings, each participant’s Medication Administration Records will be reviewed for the 3 calendar months prior to the review date. For Day Service Settings, participants receiving medications at the day program will have their Medication Administration Records reviewed for the 3 calendar months prior to the review date. In addition, for Day services, staff records will be reviewed to measure compliance with specific Licensing Indicators. Please refer to the Residential Services Licensing Indicators and the Day Services Licensing Indicators.

15. Pages 25 & 27: This section states the licensing review exit conference must take place at least 15 days prior to the start of the review and it states that no more than 30% of a provider’s residential settings may be reviewed during a 60-day period. It also states that all locations must receive an annual licensing review. These statements conflict with one another, can you please clarify.

Page 25 states, “The Exit conference must take place upon the completion of the review, no later than 15 days after the review start date. The exit meeting may be in-person or via electronic communication during regular business hours and will provide an opportunity for the provider to reconcile findings. An opportunity to reconcile any findings shall be permitted within a timeframe that corresponds to the provider and sample size. The Contractor will not leave the premises when there is an immediate and serious threat to a participant until the provider has taken adequate measures to remediate.”

Examples provided for clarification:

a) Annual Licensing Review starts August 1, 2023. Exit Conference would then be required no later than August 15, 2023. The Exit Conference could be in person or virtual and may provide preliminary results for more than one setting that was reviewed.

b) A provider operates 12 CTH IIs. No more than 4 CTH IIs should receive a licensing inspection within a 60-day period.

c) All settings must receive an annual inspection. This is based on a twelve-month period, versus 365 days. If a CTH II was previously licensed on July 10, 2022, then an annual licensing inspection must be completed by July 31, 2023. Inspections may be completed early, as long as more than 30% of the settings are not reviewed in a 60-day period. Reorganization of the schedule will be permitted.

16. Page 28: The proposal states the following: “The Contractor will observe and evaluate the implementation of Residential Habilitation by staff for 25% of the provider operated settings providing Residential Habilitation, with a minimum of two (2) settings per provider agency. (The total number of settings statewide is approximately 1,600).” Later, it states, “the Contractor will observe and evaluate the implementation of SCDDSN’s Day Services for 100% of the 88 Day Services settings. A 5% sample of the total number of participants in attendance, or a minimum of two participants, will be required for participant interviews.”

a) Does this mean that interviews with staff are only conducted as part of the residential program observation and participant interviews are only conducted for day service settings? No. Both Day and Residential Observation will include Participant and Staff Interviews.

b) If participant interviews are to be conducted for residential programs, what is interview sample requirement? It is expected that 2 people will be interviewed during each Residential Observation at a CTH II or CRCF location. 1 person will be interviewed at each SLP I, SLP II, and CTH I selected for review.

c) If staff interviews are to be conducted for day service sites, what is the interview sample requirement? 5% of the staff present at the site, or a minimum of two staff.

17. Page 29: For the Provider Sample Determination section:

a) Is this referencing the sample required for each provider who receives an ACIS review, or

b) Is the requirement to select a statewide sample of all people receiving services that “will reflect a minimum of 5% for each of the three (3) HCB Waivers operated by SCDDSN and include representation from among each service type available” and the providers who serve those people are the providers who receive the ACIS?

The Provider Sample is based upon each individual provider selected for review. Please see Appendix C.

18. Page 30: Regarding the following sentence: “For individual provider samples, a maximum sample size may be established for the largest providers and the sample size may be greater for smaller providers with a minimum of 7 records selected for review but will achieve a sample size of 6-8%”; does this mean that for smaller providers a larger proportion of people they serve could be selected? Please clarify what is meant by the “6-8%.”

Please refer to Appendix C. There is a minimum of 7 individual participant files per provider, and a maximum of 45. Depending on the number of participants supported by a provider, 7 files may represent a greater proportion of participants.

19. Page 37: It states, “The Contractor shall provide a full description of the capabilities of its information management system, including its ability to meet the specifications outlined in this solicitation. Data extracts will be available from SCDDSN to obtain necessary information for review samples.” How often will data extracts be made available? Daily, weekly, monthly?

SCDDSN will have real-time availability for the data extracts.

20. Page 30: When referencing the “up to a total of four (4) days of virtual education/orientation sessions for provider agencies”, is the expectation that up to four (4) eight (8) hour day sessions are conducted? Yes. The Contractor may be asked to design, develop, and execute virtual education/orientation sessions for providers. The topics may include the overall review process, guidance for making the review process easier for providers, instructions for use of the vendor portal, or content specific topics related to trends in service delivery. The time frames for the sessions will be dependent on the subject matter and objectives for the training. There should be at least 4 opportunities for training on different dates, which may include up to 32 hours of training, as needed.

21. Page 30: For the quarterly report, it requests results demonstrating the, “length of time for remediation of different types of citations.” Is the remediation referencing the Appeals process? If not, what is being referenced? The remediation is not referencing appeals. SCDDSN seeks information about the providers’ remediation of individual indicators. Providers must indicate the target date for completion on their Plan of Correction for any indicators cited during the review. SCDDSN desires information about the length of time providers may require to implement these steps, as approved by the Contractor through the Plan of Correction process.

22. Page 30: For the quarterly report, it requests, “Compliance data for designated, individual indicators required for ad-hoc reporting.” Does this mean that specific indicators will be identified and results of these will be specifically reported on quarterly? If not, please explain what is meant by “ad-hoc reporting.”

Based on observed trends, or to address a specific area of non-compliance, SCDDSN may request data related to a specific Key Indicator or group of Key Indicators. As an example, a report may be requested to measure compliance on Administrative Indicator A-104 (The Provider utilizes an approved curriculum or system for teaching and certifying staff to prevent and respond to disruptive behavior and crisis situations) and Residential Habilitation Indicator 206 and 207 (Residential Staff must successfully complete competency-based crisis management curriculum certification prior to working alone with service participants and continue to successfully complete approved crisis-management certifications at the frequency required by the certifying entity).

23. Page 31: Please share an example of a Provider MAPS Dashboard.

Current On-line Provider Reporting Dashboard: https://app.ddsn.sc.gov/public/ratings/landing.do Example of Provider Dashboard Information for Residential Habilitation:

24. Page 31. It states, “The Contractor shall provide on-demand reporting access to data through a secure portal which includes the availability of pivot tables or data systems that allow for the selection of discreet data points for comparison.” What are the specific reports and data points required for this system? Can you provide examples of what these might be?

a) DDSN expects an electronic reporting portal will include an electronic copy of the provider’s Report of Findings and Plan of Correction for each phase of the review cycle (annual or follow-up review), storage of documentation uploaded by the provider for the review process (not otherwise found in the EHR), and the ability to run reports based on specific indicator types, service types, Waiver enrollment, and selected date ranges.

b) The reports will need to have an option to select one, many, or all providers within the query.

c) When selecting reports for individual indicators, the system will need to have the ability to list individual participants, by provider, service selected, and Waiver type, that had unmet (non-compliant) indicators.

d) As an example, a data system would have the ability to search data points across review types to review trends related to medication administration. The ACIS Review would identify non-compliance with the requirement for Medication Technician Curricula, the Licensing Review would identify unsafe medication administration practices. The Residential Observation would include a response about whether the staff felt they had training needed to do their jobs.

25. Page 31: It states, “Quarterly reports will be summarized into a final, year-end report with comparisons to prior fiscal years.” Is it the expectation that both an annual and 4th quarter report be completed or can the 4th quarter data be part of the summary in the annual report?

The annual report may be submitted in lieu of the 4th quarter report.

26. Page 36: Under Tab 4, what type of interviews are being referenced?

Please strike the following text from Page 36, Tab 4, which was copied in error: “The Contractor will describe its experience in carrying out such interviews and specify the staff who will be carrying out the terms of the contract including their qualifications and credentials.

27. What is the total volume of reviews for each review category completed in FY22 and FY23?

28. What is the total contract dollar amount for the current contractor for FY23?

Amount is irrelevant. Please note that the scope of the prior contract was substantially different from the current solicitation.

29. What is the total number of providers?

Please refer to Appendix A for a listing of currently contracted providers and the service types.

· Some providers are a Disabilities & Special Needs Board (DSN Board), and some are qualified providers. DSN Boards may provide Case Management and Early Intervention in addition to Residential Habilitation, Day Services, Employment, and In-Home Supports. Others may not provide all services. The qualified providers (non-DSN Boards) do not provide both Case Management and direct services. Direct services are reviewed for each participant identified by the Case Management type noted above.

· Approximately 1,100 individual participant records were reviewed in FY23 for Case Management, ID/RD Waiver Case Management, HASCI Waiver Case Management, or Community Supports Case Management.

· There were approximately 860 individual participant records reviewed in FY23 for Early Intervention.

30. How many services are there and how many people receive each service?

Please note: A provider review will include all services provided to the participant as a single review. For example, a participant may receive Residential Habilitation, Career Preparation, and Day Activity from the same provider. The three services would be reviewed for that participant as a part of the provider’s ACIS Review.

31. What is the total number of people served? Approximately 21,500 people receive at least one of the services identified in question #30.

32. Please provide a list of all providers and the total number of people served by each provider.

See Appendix A.

33. How many new providers are expected each year? It is difficult to estimate the number of new providers expected. DDSN has recently developed a new provider qualifications and enrollment process that will be implemented in FY24Q2.

34. How many people are there in each of the residential and day settings?

*CRCF locations are subject to Residential Observation, but they will not receive a licensing review from the vendor. CRCF locations are licensed by SCDHEC in SC.

Day Service Licensing Type*

*The numbers for day services are not unduplicated.

More than one license type may apply to a single setting.

35. It seems a Follow Up review will be conducted on any provider who doesn’t achieve 100% on the ACIS? Is that correct? Yes.

36. Will SCDDSN consider providing an extension of up to two weeks for the due date? Given the complexity of this request, we want to ensure there is sufficient time to provide a comprehensive response.

DDSN will agree to extend the solicitation response period by a period of 15 calendar days.

Appendix A

SCDDSN Contracted Providers for FY23 with date of last ACIS Review, Service Type, and Current Review Cycle (based on performance during last ASIC Review on record).

Appendix B