Attachment 2 QASP and CDR.docx

Contract Deficiency Report

ATTACHMENT 1:

QUALITY ASSURANCE SURVEILLANCE PLAN (QASP)

1. PURPOSE

This Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) provides a systematic method to evaluate performance for the contract. The QASP does not detail how the Contractor accomplishes the work or monitors the quality of its work. Rather, the QASP is created with the premise that the Contractor is responsible for management and quality control actions to meet the terms of the contract. It is the Government’s responsibility to be objective, fair, and consistent in evaluating performance.

This QASP is a “living document” and the Government may review and revise it on a regular basis. However, the Government shall coordinate changes with the Contractor. Copies of the original QASP and revisions shall be provided to the Contractor and Government officials implementing surveillance activities.

1.1 INTENT

The intent of this plan is to hold the Contractor accountable for the terms and conditions of their base contract and to encourage the contractor to take appropriate steps to control and improve quality. The Contractor is responsible to develop an efficient methodology to ensure they meet and/or exceed the required thresholds of service as outlined in this acquisition. The Government intends to perform surveillance on this contract in accordance with (IAW) this Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP), but reserves the right to monitor the contract in any manner necessary, at any times necessary, and at all places necessary to ensure that the rendered services conform to contract requirements. The Government reserves the right to perform quality assurance at the subcontract level and perform quality assurance at the contractor's place of business, if applicable. Non-conforming services discovered with subcontractors will be addressed with the prime contractor for resolution.

1.2 SCOPE

The Contractor, and not the Government, is responsible for management and quality control actions to meet the terms of the contract. The role of Government Quality Assurance is to ensure contract standards are achieved. The QASP provides guidelines and methods for the Government’s oversight of the Contractor’s quality control efforts to assure timely, effective services are provided in accordance with the contract. The QASP provides a framework that enables the Government to monitor the contractor's performance and notify the contractor of deficiencies observed during surveillance and initiate appropriate action to effect correction.

2. GOVERNMENT ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIEs The following personnel shall oversee and coordinate surveillance activities in accordance with the QASP.

a. Contracting Officer (CO) – The CO is a person duly appointed with the authority to enter into, administer and terminate contracts on behalf of the Government. The CO is the only person who can legally commit the Government and only the CO, as the Government’s agent, can modify the contract &/or task order. The CO shall ensure performance of all necessary actions for effective contracting, ensure compliance with the contract terms, and shall safeguard the interests of the United States in the contractual relationship. The CO shall also assure that the Contractor receives impartial, fair, and equitable treatment under this contract. The CO is the final authority for determining the adequacy of the Contractor’s performance. The CO has retained the responsibility of a COR for this contract. A COR will be appointed for each resultant task order.

Assigned CO: Ashley Osborn Organization or Agency: Network Contracting Office (NCO) 15, Department of Veterans Affairs

b. Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) – The COR is responsible for technical administration of the contract and shall assure proper Government surveillance of the Contractor’s performance. The COR shall maintain a quality assurance file. The COR is not empowered to make any contractual commitments or to authorize any contractual changes on the Government’s behalf. Any changes that the Contractor deems may affect contract price, terms or conditions shall be referred to the CO for action.

c. Assigned COR shall be delegated and communicated upon award.

3. CONTRACTOR REPRESENTATIVES

The following employees of the contractor serve as the contractor’s program manager for this contract.

a. Program Manager -

b. Other Contractor Personnel -

4. METHODS OF SURVEILLANCE

Include but are not limited to:

a. 100% Inspection - Reserved for the highest risk areas where consequence of failure is high (i.e. life or limb are threatened) or there is likelihood of mission failure.

b. Random Sampling - When a service is performed relatively frequently and a statistically valid sample can be selected for audit. The most appropriate method for frequently recurring tasks.

c. Periodic Sampling - Planned sampling of a service at specific predetermined dates and times. May be appropriate for tasks that occur infrequently.

d. Customer Feedback – Not necessarily a valid method of surveillance but a good indicator for areas surveillance should be conducted or intensified.

5. QUARTERLY SURVEILLANCE SCHEDULE

Since the COR duties will be retained at the Contracting Officer level, a monthly surveillance will be done to support the statutory and regulatory requirements for the base contract as well as any other critical contractual requirements determined to be higher risk requiring oversight. The surveillance outlined in the quarterly schedule will be as detailed and in-depth as necessary to provide the Government with the objective quality evidence required to support acceptance of the services at the base contract level provided by the Contractor. The schedule is “FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY” and is not releasable to anyone other than authorized Government personnel.

Documentation of Inspections. All inspections/observations will be documented and will include what was inspected, to what standard and the results. Successful or exceptional performance will be documented as well as deficiencies in Contractor performance. Documentation will be maintained for future reference, audit and proof of inspection and past performance documentation. The QASP Quarterly Report shall be used to report a summary of inspection results each quarter of the contracts period of performance.

6. NON-CONFORMING PERFORMANCE

The CO will provide notification to the Contractor each time a contractual noncompliance is observed and require the Contractor to immediately correct the problem. All valid non-conformances observed by the Government will be documented! The CO will record the contract requirement, the specific deficiency to the requirement, and record the date and time it was discovered. Deficiencies that cannot be immediately corrected will be reported via a Contract Deficiency Report for further action.

Contract Deficiency Reports. The Contract Deficiency Report (CDR) will state the Contract Requirement, the specific contract reference and the specific violation (s) to the requirement. The CO will forward copies of CDR to the Contractor and request corrective action to the specific non-conformance, identification of the root cause and corrective action for the root cause with a required suspense date. The Contractor will return a copy of the completed and signed document along with their Corrective Action Plan (CAP) to the CO for review, approval and inclusion in the contract/order file. The CO will conduct a review of the CAP and re-inspect the items that were found deficient to ensure the CAP included adequate root cause analysis, corrective action for the root cause and that it was accomplished in the timeframe agreed upon. The CO will not consider the CDR closed until all deficiencies have been corrected and all agreed upon actions of the CAP have been completed. Contractor’s failure to follow through and complete corrective actions will cause the CO to take for further action. The CO shall follow-up after the Contractor has completed the corrective action to ensure that the Contractor’s corrective action was sufficient to preclude recurrence.

7. PERFORMANCE STANDARDS

All deliverables shall meet the following QASP performance standards to the acceptable quality level. The Government shall perform surveillance to determine if the Contractor meets or does not meet these standards.

8. CPAR Ratings Assigned to QASP Items:

Note: To justify an Exceptional rating, you should identify multiple significant events in each category and state how it was a benefit to the GOVERNMENT. A singular event could be of such magnitude that it alone constitutes an Exceptional rating. There should have been NO significant weaknesses identified.

Note: To justify a Very Good rating, you should identify a significant event in each category and state how it was a benefit to the GOVERNMENT. There should have been NO significant weaknesses identified.

Note: To justify a Satisfactory rating, there should have been only minor problems, or major problems the contractor recovered from without impact to the contract. There should have been NO significant weaknesses identified.

Note: To justify an Unsatisfactory rating, you should identify multiple significant events in each category that the contractor had trouble overcoming and state how it impacted the GOVERNMENT. However, a singular problem could be of such serious magnitude that it alone constitutes an unsatisfactory rating. An Unsatisfactory rating should be supported by referencing the management tools used to notify the contractor of the contractual deficiencies (e.g. Management, Quality, Safety or Environmental Deficiency Reports, or letters).

Metrics and methods are designed to determine rating for a given standard and acceptable quality level.

b. If contractor performance does not meet the Acceptable Quality level, the CO shall inform the contractor. This will normally be in writing unless circumstances necessitate verbal communication. In any case the CO shall document the discussion and place it in the contract file. When the COR and the CO determines formal written communication is required, the COR shall prepare a Contract Discrepancy Report (CDR), and present it to CO. The CO will in turn review and will present to the contractor's program manager for corrective action.

The contractor shall acknowledge receipt of the CDR in writing. The CDR will specify if the contractor is required to prepare a corrective action plan to document how the contractor shall correct the unacceptable performance and avoid a recurrence. The CDR will also state how long after receipt the contractor has to present this corrective action plan to the CO. The Government shall review the contractor's corrective action plan to determine acceptability. The CO shall also assure that the contractor receives impartial, fair, and equitable treatment. The CO is ultimately responsible for the final determination of the adequacy of the contractor’s performance and the acceptability of the Contractor’s corrective action plan.

Any CDRs may become a part of the supporting documentation for any contractual action deemed necessary by the CO.

10. COR AND CONTRACTOR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF QASP

QASP Matrix /Quarterly Report Format

Quarterly Report is due no later than the 15th of the beginning of each new quarter

"FOR Official USE ONLY"

1) Task Order #:

2) Contractor:

3) COR:

4) Surveillance Period:

Contracting Officer’s Representative Comments: Provide an overall summary of the rating period.

Your statements may include observations that Contractor met (or exceeded) all contractual requirements during the reporting period. If there was a specific issue…identify it! If the Contractor went over and above the acceptable quality levels listed or provided extraordinary service, document it!

No deviations accepted.

Random inspection of licenses.

<0.02% of all patient results received per 7.3.3 Notification by Contractor to ordering activity of modified test report.

<3 missed courier pickups per Quarter per 7.3.2 Notification by ordering activity to Contractor of missed courier pickup.

<3 lost specimens per Quarter per 7.3.1 Review of incomplete test list with shipping manifest.

Less than 6 delays from published turnaround times per month.

Review of 20 random tests compared to published turnaround times provided by the vendor. Ordering activities will compare information to published TAT’s and time provided on final report.

Other noted comments related to performance

__________________________ COR’s signature

CONTRACT DISCREPANCY REPORT

1. CONTRACT NUMBER

2. TO: (Contractor and Manager Name)

3. FROM: (Contracting Officer’s Representative Name)

DATES

CONTRACTOR NOTIFICATION:

4. DISCREPANCY OR PROBLEM (Describe in detail; Include reference in PWS / Directive. Attach continuation sheet if necessary.)

5. SIGNATURE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER’S REPRESENTATIVE (COR)

6. TO: (COR)

7. FROM: (Contractor)

8. CONTRACTOR RESPONSE AS TO CAUSE, CORRECTIVE ACTION, AND ACTIONS TO PREVENT RECURRENCE (Attach continuation sheet if necessary.)

9. SIGNATURE OF CONTRACTOR REPRESENTATIVE

10. DATE

11. GOVERNMENT EVALUATION OF CONTRACTOR RESPONSE/RESOLUTION PLAN (Acceptable response/plan, partial acceptance of response/plan, rejection. Attach continuation sheet if necessary)

12. GOVERNMENT ACTIONS (Payment withholding, cure notice, show cause, other.)

CLOSE OUT

CONTRACTOR

NOTIFIED

COR

CONTRACTING

OFFICER

VHAPM Part801.603-70 COR SOP Revision 06 Page 1 of 1 Original Date: 05/20/2011 Revision 05 Date: 03/11/2019