Attachment 1 VA-24-00016627 VA Audio Response Software as a Service Solution Narrative Description.docx

1. BACKGROUND

The Office of Integrated Veteran Care (IVC) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Office of Information & Technology (OIT), strive to provide high quality, effective, and efficient Information Technology (IT) services to those responsible for providing care to the Veterans at the point-of-care as well as throughout all the points of the Veterans’ health care in an effective, timely and compassionate manner. VA depends on Information Management/Information Technology (IM/IT) systems to meet mission goals.

VHA is seeking a solution to provide Enterprise-wide Software License(s), and maintenance for Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technologies. The Government requires that the solution be provided as Software as a Service (SaaS). The solution will be branded “VA Audio Response”. The AudioCARE Systems product is currently in use at 140 VA Medical Centers (VAMCs) throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. There are 155 instances to include preproduction and test environments. The Enterprise solution will cover all VA Medical Centers. The VA Audio Response IVR technology is needed to support the following Business Functions:

· Provide Outpatient Pharmacy Services;

· Provide Reminders for Preventative Care;

· Monitor and Follow-up on Patients Health Status and Outcomes; and

· Provide Patient Care Education.

2. DESCRIPTION

The Office of Integrated Veteran Care requires a commercial enterprise Interactive Voice Response (IVR ) technology solution (henceforth referred to as VA Audio Response) designed especially for the healthcare industry delivered in a SaaS model.

The Contractor shall provide services, resources, and tools to support successful implementation and maintenance of the VA Audio Response IVR solution as a subscription service with floating license(s) utilizing a Flexible License Manager or FLEXLM system for a single region, the VA Enterprise. The Enterprise solution shall consist of an estimated 171 licenses per module (e.g., pharmacy, scheduling, clinical, financial, etc.) The Contractor shall provide software licenses, software license manager technology, software maintenance which includes periodic updates, enhancements, and corrections, technical support and Tier 3 independent help desk support, utilization reporting, and virtual staff user training

The VA Audio Response (IVR) solution shall leverage existing VA solutions on the back end when applicable.

The Contractor shall provide a functional and bidirectional interface between VA Audio Response and the Electronic Health Record (EHR)with capabilities for inbound and outbound automated communications (via IVR) to Veterans through telephone, web services, and Short Message Service (SMS) text messages.

The Contractor shall configure the VA Audio Response solution to ensure full compatibility with any electronic health record (EHR) in use by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) during the period of performances.

The VA Audio Response solution shall have 2-factor authentication that does not require the use of Social Security Number( SSN) or Protected Health Information (PHI).

The Contractor shall provide remote software maintenance support to ensure that the system is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year not including scheduled routine downtimes or updates. Software maintenance support shall include software patches and updates required to keep the system compatible with VA Veterans Health Information System and Technology Architecture (VistA) system. Routine downtimes or updates shall not exceed four (4) hours per month.

The Government requires delivery of a computer software that does not contain any code that will, upon occurrence or the nonoccurrence of any event, disable the software. The computer software must be complaint with Privacy Act, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA); Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS), and VA security and privacy directives and handbooks. The computer software must be complaint with Section 508 requirements.

For Cloud Services hosting, the vendor will also ensure compliance with the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP). VA requires a VA Audio Response solution that is cloud-based, hosted in Contractors’ cloud environment, and is Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) certified at a high impact level at time of award. For the duration of the contract, the Contractor will comply with FedRAMP requirements as mandated by Federal laws and policies, including making available any documentation and logical access needed to support this requirement. For the duration of the contract, the Contractor will provide, deliver, and update all artifacts necessary to obtain and maintain both the FedRAMP at a high impact level and VA ATO.

The Period of Performance (PoP) is anticipated to be one (1) 24-month base year and five (5) 12-month option years.