QA Paramedics Ambulance Services (09_18_2026).pdf

09/18/26

Q&A Paramedics & Ambulance Services – Solicitation FA810126R0004

1. Is there any incumbent/recompete or this is a brand-new project? If yes, could you please provide us with their award number or even if the customer bought similar services in the past.

• There is an incumbent, this is not a brand new project. The current contract number is

FA810124C0001

2. Please confirm that the minimum normal-duty staffing requirement is one Oklahoma-licensed

EMT and one Oklahoma-licensed paramedic, with one primary ambulance physically stationed at

Tinker AFB 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

• The government cannot confirm specific minimum staffing ratios or fleet allocations not expressly stated in the PWS.

• It is the offeror’s responsibility to propose a staffing model and fleet plan -including primary and backup coverage- that continuously satisfy all PWS requirements, including maintaining required on-installation vehicle posture and achieving a 12-minute response time at the 90th percentile for initial arriving unit.

3. May the Contract Manager or alternate also work as an on-duty EMT or paramedic when properly licensed, or must management personnel be separate from the required clinical crew?

• The Government cannot confirm specific staffing not expressly stated in the PWS.

• Attachment 2-PWS Para 1.2.1 states that the Contract Manager or alternate must be available to meet with Government personnel to discuss problem areas during specific hours (Monday through Friday, 0700-1700) and have "full authority to act for the Contractor on all matters relating to operation of this contract."

4. The Q&A for predecessor solicitation FA810124Q0017 stated that the primary and secondary ambulances were subject to the 12-minute, 90th-percentile response requirement and that the awardee was responsible for all ambulance coverage. Does that same interpretation apply to this solicitation?

• According to Attachment 2 -PWS, Para 1. This requirement remains the same.

5. Must the secondary ambulance be continuously staffed and dedicated exclusively to Tinker AFB, or may an awardee-controlled off-base ambulance provide secondary response when it can satisfy the required response time?

• In addition to answer provided to question number 2, the attachment 2 -PWS, Para 1.15.3.3 and 1.15.3.4 states all contractor’s personnel must registered in Entry Access List (EAL) and all vehicle must be registered in Vehicle Entry Access List (VEAL) to gain access to installation.

6. What minimum crew and service level are required for the secondary unit—EMT/paramedic ALS crew, two EMTs, or another configuration?

• Please refer to answer provided to question number two.

7. May the secondary unit perform other commercial or 911 work while available for Tinker, or must it remain exclusively available for this contract?

• Please refer to answer provided to question number two.

8. Please provide the previous 12 or 24 months of call data, including:

- Total responses

- ALS versus BLS calls

- Patient transports versus non-transports

- Simultaneous calls

- Secondary-unit activations

- Interfacility transports

- Flight-line responses

- Responses to the listed off-base Tinker facilities

Refer to Appendix A of the PWS:

Present department staff consists of one emergency medical technician and one paramedic on duty at all times.

Runs for the past 12 months: approximately 425 runs.

9. For completed transports, please provide the usual receiving hospitals, average round-trip mileage, average time out of service and the longest normal transport duration.

• Due to fluctuating regional hospital capacities and the dynamic nature of emergency medical routing, these metrics vary.

• The contractor is expected to actively collaborate with medical facilities in the immediate vicinity at the time of dispatch to determine the most appropriate destination based on the patient's clinical needs and real-time hospital capabilities.

• fixed averages for mileage and out-of-service durations are not utilized as static baselines.

The priority remains ensuring rapid transport to the best-suited local facility to maintain optimal 24/7/365 emergency coverage.

10. How many times during the previous 12 months was the primary ambulance unavailable because it was transporting a patient when another call was received?

• Never. Whenever the primary ambulance is transporting a patient, secondary calls are immediately covered by dispatching secondary EMS. Additionally, local fire department personnel are always deployed to the scene in the meantime to provide immediate first response.

11. For the 12-minute standard, when does the response clock begin and end? Is it measured from dispatch notification to arrival on scene?

• The response time will begin from dispatch notification to arrival.

12. Is the 90th-percentile standard calculated monthly, quarterly or annually? Are flight-line access delays, security-gate delays, extreme weather or unusually distant off-base Tinker locations treated as allowable exceptions?

• Compliance with 12-minute response time at the 90th percentile evaluated on monthly basis during routine Government quality assurance surveillance.

• Response delays caused by factors beyond contractor’s reasonable control and without its fault or negligence will not be counted against the contractor’s 90th percentile performance metric. Allowable excusable delays include but are not limited to: (a) Official Force

Protection Condition level change, (b) Airfield command holds, (c) Severe weather events.

13. Please identify any invoice deduction or price-reduction formula applicable to missed staffing, ambulance downtime or response-time failures.

• The PWS does not contain a fixed mathematical deduction formula or standardize penalty rate for missed staffing, ambulance downtime, or response time failure.

• IAW Para 1.1.1 The Contractor shall ensure that qualified back-up paramedics are available to provide coverage during scheduled and unscheduled absences to primary paramedics.

Absences without backup coverage provided will reduce the Contractor’s invoice at an equivalent amount to the costs incurred by the Government.

14. What is the minimum number of ambulances the contractor must have under its control during normal operations, including the primary, secondary and maintenance replacement units?

• Attachment 2-PWS does not mandate a minimum nor maximum ambulances required under the contractor’s control. Offerors are responsible for determining the total fleet size -including primary unit, secondary unit, and maintenance replacement- necessary to meet all performance requirements specified in PWS.

15. Are there minimum ambulance model-year, mileage, vehicle type, state inspection or equipment-certification requirements not expressly listed in the PWS?

• The PWS does not specify restrictions on ambulances model year, maximum milage, or specific vehicle configuration types beyond what is expressly written in the solicitation document.

• However, all contractor-provided ambulances and equipment must comply with all applicable federal, state (e.g, Oklahoma Department of Health EMS regulation), and local laws, certification, and inspection standards required to operate a licensed paramedic-level emergency medical transport service.

• Offerors are responsible for proposing a fleet that is safe, fully operational, compliant with all regulatory requirements, and capable of meeting all performance metrics as specified in

Attachment 2-PWS.

16. If the primary vehicle becomes mechanically unavailable, how quickly must a replacement vehicle be placed in service?

• If primary vehicle becomes mechanically unavailable, the contractor must immediately deploy a fully operational backup/replacement vehicle to restore required on-base ambulance coverage without disruption and meet the 12 minutes response time metric at the 90th percentile during vehicle mechanical failure.

17. Is the contractor responsible for providing its own physician Medical Director, protocol approval and online/offline medical control, or will medical direction be provided by the Government?

• According to Attachment 2-PWS Para 1.20.4 The Contractor shall report to the MTF Director or his/her designee

• However, According to Attachment 2-PWS Para 2.1.3 for special events as “The Contractor shall provide a Medical Branch Director (SME) and support staff to Incident Management

Team/NIMS ICS Structure for the Air Show Event.”

18. Please identify responsibility for purchasing, storing and replacing medications, controlled substances, medical oxygen and disposable medical supplies. Must the contractor maintain separate DEA, pharmacy or controlled-substance registrations for this location?

• IAW PWS Para 1 the Contractor shall furnish all labor, management, supervision, vehicles, supplies, equipment, transportation, and reports.

• The Contractor must hold and maintain all required federal registrations and State of

Oklahoma controlled substances licenses necessary to lawfully purchase, store, handle, and administer schedule ii-V controlled substances in an EMS setting.

19. Will the Government provide an ambulance bay, covered parking, vehicle shore power, secure medication storage, internet service, computer workstations or access to Government networks?

If available, please describe what is included.

• Government provides physical facility space co-located with the Tinker AFB Fire Department for contractor crew staging and 24/7 on-installation posture.

• Government will not provide computer workstations, commercial internet services, or access to the Government network and contractor is responsible for providing all necessary IT hardware, mobile devices, internet connectivity, and electronic patient care reporting systems required for contract operation.

• Contractor is responsible for supplying its own secure, lockable, temperature-monitored, and

DEA-compliant storage units.

20. If the prime contractor subcontracts the complete clinical ambulance operation to an active

Oklahoma-licensed ambulance provider, may the prime rely upon the subcontractor’s Oklahoma ambulance-service license, or must the prime contractor independently possess an Oklahoma ambulance-service license?

• The Prime contractor is not required to independently possess a separate state ambulance service license if it is not directly operating ambulances, employing medical responses personnel, or providing medical oversight; however, the prime contractor must provide proof of the subcontractor’s active Oklahoma EMS license, medical direction agreement, and state certifications within its technical proposal.

21. Please confirm the exact normal-duty ambulance and staffing requirement: Is the contractor required to maintain (1) one fully staffed ambulance—with one EMT and one paramedic— physically stationed at Tinker AFB 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, with a separately staffed secondary ambulance available off base to meet the 12-minute response requirement; or (2) two fully staffed ambulances, each with its own crew, physically stationed at Tinker AFB 24 hours per day, 365 days per year? Please identify the required crew configuration for each ambulance.

• Please refer to the answer to question number 2.

22. Please let me know the number of average runs for the calls between 0600 – 1800 weekdays, and how many were run during weekends and from 1800 – 0600.

• Refer to Appendix A, further detail will not be provided.

23. Will a space on base be provided such as crew space in the base fire station, bunk bed set, and secure location to keep controlled drugs and medical supplies?

• Please refer to answers provided to question 19.

24. Will dispatch operations be managed by the USAF emergency base operations or do we need to provide stand-alone dispatching?

• Primary emergency call reception and dispatching for emergency medical services on Tinker

AFB are managed directly by the Tinker AFB Fire Department Emergency Communication

Center (ECC).

25. Will the contractor be assigned a posting location on base to station the ambulance unit or will it have to be stationed off base?

• Please refer to question number 19.

26. Is there an incumbent contractor?

a. If yes, who is it?

b. What is the current contract cost?

c. What is the current contract number? FA810124C0001

27. Question regarding OSDH EMS License at the time of proposal?

Attachment 3 revision now requires proposals to provide an approved license or be able to prove their application or be able to prove their application or pre-application status.

The "pre-application package or status" must contain these specific items to be deemed technically acceptable:

• Proof of OSDH Initiation: An official receipt or confirmation email from the Oklahoma State

Department of Health showing the application process has started.

• Letters of Intent: Signed agreements with an Oklahoma-licensed Medical Director.

• National Registry Verification: Proof that all proposed key personnel (Paramedics/EMTs) hold current National Registry (NREMT) certifications, making their transition to an Oklahoma state license standard and rapid.

• Draft OSDH Components: Submission of their drafted operational maps and service-area descriptions specific to Tinker AFB

According to PWS Para 1.15.3.1, “Ambulance service provider must have a license to provide ambulance services on and around Tinker AFB from the Oklahoma State Department of Health, EMS Division.”

Offerors are encouraged to review the solicitation and coordinate directly with OSDH, as appropriate, to identify and satisfy applicable licensing requirements. The Government will provide every bona fide prospective offeror the same procurement-neutral Tinker support or non-objection documentation, service-area and jurisdiction information, map assumptions, and site/inspection access assumptions that

OSDH confirms are necessary for a prospective application. Any information provided by the

Government is for solicitation purposes only and does not constitute a commitment regarding award, exclusivity, or authorization to perform ambulance services.

Please refer to PWS Para 1.15.3.1, 1.15.3.7, 1.16.1 for license requirement. Additionally, The Prime contractor is not required to independently possess a separate state ambulance service license if it is not directly operating ambulances, employing medical responses personnel, or providing medical oversight;

however, the prime contractor must provide proof of the subcontractor’s active Oklahoma EMS license, medical direction agreement, and state certifications within its technical proposal.

The Government will issue an amendment revising the pre-proposal licensing requirement. The proposal due date will be extended for a period the Government determines is reasonable and necessary to allow prospective offerors to address the revised requirement, consistent with the Government’s requirements and acquisition schedule. The amendment will identify the revised proposal due date and time.