Revised_SOW_OHI_Court_Reporter.docx

Department of Health and Human Services

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Offices of Hearings and Inquiries / Offices of Hearings

Court Reporting Section J -1 Statement of Work Base Period

Table of Contents

1. Background Court reporter/transcription services for statutorily and regulatory required administrative hearings. All formal administrative hearings be conducted “on the record.” In order to meet that requirement, formal hearings conducted by The Provider Reimbursement Review Board (PRRB) and CMS Hearing Officers are transcribed by a court reporter. The transcript of the administrative hearing is part of the record that goes with all cases through the administrative and judicial appeals process.

The Provider Reimbursement Review Board (Board) was created by Congress to serve as an administrative appeals tribunal whereby providers participating in the Medicare program may request and be afforded a full and fair hearing to adjudicate reimbursement issues (which include matters under prospective reimbursement).

The agency is also charged with the responsibility of resolving union/management grievances. When an employee grievance is processed in accordance with the Agency's Master Labor Agreement and is unresolved during the grievance process, it may be referred to arbitration. Arbitrations may be invoked by the agency or the Union and will result in a hearing before a mutually selected arbitrator.

The hearings fall within the scope of 5 U.S.C. § 554 (Administrative Procedure Act) as adversarial hearings requiring a record to be prepared as part of the adjudication of the case. Since the appeals are adversarial in nature, the parties are generally represented by counsel and evidence is introduced and witnesses examined and cross-examined so that the Board/Arbitrator can fully understand their respective positions. The Agency must ensure due process. All hearings are required to have a verbatim transcript which becomes part of the hearing record. Also, the hearing record established by the Board/Agency becomes the sole record for review on judicial appeal.

2. Scope of Work The Contractor must furnish the necessary personnel, materials, services and facilities (except as otherwise specified), and otherwise do all things necessary for furnishing verbatim court reporting of appeals, hearings, arbitrations, or other administrative proceedings and deliver final hard and soft copy transcripts for legal purposes.

A "transcript" is defined as a verbatim transcript of a hearing or meeting taking place on one or more days.

3. General Requirements

a) Furnish verbatim court reporting of appeals, hearings, arbitrations, and meetings on an as required basis. Hearings could be held on any business day the federal government is open. There is potential for multiple hearings in one day. Transcripts of hearings will be approximately 90-225 pages. The estimated number of meetings is 35-45 per year.

b) The Contractor must hold inviolate and in the strictest of confidence any and all information of an official nature which he may gain in the performance of the duties under this agreement. Also, the Contractor, his agents, or employees must not, during the contract with the Government, hold any position or official relationships with, own any stocks or bonds of, or have any pecuniary interest in any participant of the proceedings.

c) Deposition must be taken by a duly authorized notary; no separate fee is to be charged for notary service, administering an oath or affixing a seal in any proceeding in which any of these are necessary.

3.1. Scheduling of Deliverables or Reporting Requirements

The OHI Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) or designated alternate will notify the Contractor of the requirements for attendance at proceedings or meetings as soon possible and will endeavor to give one week notice; however, in the event that a session must be scheduled, the contractor will receive a minimum of 20 hours’ notice in advance of the time and place of a contemplated proceeding/meeting.

The Contractor must immediately acknowledge acceptance of the Government's order in writing or verbally by contacting the COR or Alternate.

In the event a session is continued for more than one day, the Contractor agrees that it will assign the same court reporter for each continued segment of that given deposition whenever possible. Should the Contractor not be able to provide the same court reporter, it will notify CMS and transmit that person’s name before the scheduled session.

3.1.1. Location of Services Provided:

The primary hearing site will be at the Provider Reimbursement Review Board, 1508 Woodlawn Drive, Suite 100, Baltimore, Maryland 21207. Building and Room location will be provided to the Contractor when services are scheduled.

Most Hearings are scheduled to start promptly at 9:00 a.m. and may last until 5:00p.m. Occasionally, hearings will exceed 5:00p.m. The start and end times for meetings will vary.

3.2. Transcript Requirements

a) Unless otherwise stated, transcripts and recordings must be provided and delivered within the turnaround times set forth below.

b) All original and electronic transcripts will be completed and delivered on or before the 10th business day after the conclusion of the hearing/meeting to the COR as well as any designated alternates. The COR reserves the right to decrease the delivery date of the transcript for additional cost.

c) The original transcript must be in the official mini-page format with four (4) pages per copy page , be in black print on 8 x 11 inch standard paper with a 1 inch left margin, and 3/8 inch right margin.

d) The original will contain a title page showing name, case number, place and date of proceedings/meetings, appearance, and location. There will be an index page or pages indexing key words, witnesses and exhibits to testimony. Each transcript must also include one complete cumulative index of witnesses and exhibits. The cumulative index must indicate the pages devoted to the testimony of each witness, and must include pages devoted to the exhibits, where applicable. Testimony is to be properly hyphenated when necessary. A number indicating each line of transcription upon each page: i.e., 1 to 25 inclusive, must be printed at the left marginal line of the original transcript. The transcript must be securely bound in at least two (2) areas e.g., top and bottom.

e) The paging of the transcript must be in a single series of consecutive numbering regardless of the number of days of the hearing. The paging of the transcript of a further hearing must follow consecutively the paging of the last previous hearing in the same proceeding, unless otherwise directed by the Chairman. Page numbers are to be placed at the bottom, center of each page.

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3.3. Recording Requirements

a) Recording must be taken by qualified reporters. Regardless of the type of equipment used, it is mandatory that there be an accurate read back capability and that a back-up system is utilized

b) Recording devices must be of such quality as to ensure against error, misinterpretation, or loss of voice. Equipment must be operator-monitored and include simultaneous playback, listening, pre-amplification and speaker identification facilities. Equipment must be placed to accurately record the speech of persons participating in the hearing proceedings/meetings who are normally located at specific but separate physical locations; e.g., one (1) mike at the witness stand, two (2) mikes at the counsel tables (one for each party's table, e.g., the provider's table and the intermediary's table), and three (3) speaking devices at the bench where there are normally five (5) Board Members.

4. Schedule of Deliverables Unless otherwise directed by the COR or designee, all deliverables shall be delivered within the turnaround times set forth below:

1. Attend scheduled events.

2. Record Proceedings.

3. Furnish the original and one copy, and electronic copy of the completed transcript along with all exhibits.

4. Furnish a DVD copy of recordings as necessary.

Transcripts: All original, condensed, and electronic transcripts will be completed and delivered on or before the 10th business day after the date the deposition is completed. Original paper copy transcripts of each hearing/meeting must be delivered to COR or designee. The electronic transcripts must be delivered by e-mail as directed by the COR or OH designee Key Word Indexing: The Contractor must provide a keyword index with each transcript which provides an alphabetical listing of each word within the transcript and a page and line reference.

4.1. Project Status Report

The contractor must deliver monthly Project Status Reports. These reports must outline the contractor’s monthly accomplishments, difficulties/barriers/issues, mitigation strategies, financial status, and action items for the following reporting period. The Project Status Report shall be presented to the CMS COR and designated Project Team. Additionally, the contractor must provide an update of the planned expenditures vs. the actual expenditures, and a revised projection as needed.

4.2. Final Program Deliverable Transmittal

Prior to the end of each option year the contractor must prepare a final transmittal of all materials and documents via electronic media (zip files, cd) with all files delivered during that period

5. Other Requirements:

a) It must be the responsibility of the Contractor to furnish a complete transcript in the format which accurately reflects the full and complete verbatim record of the hearing/meeting.

b) Accuracy: Where errors, attributable to the Contractor's performance, appear in the transcript (i.e., those which change or obscure the meaning of the testimony/minutes, but not including typographical errors or misspelling if the intended meaning is clearly evident) in the excess of one (1) error per 200 words of the transcript, the ordering agency must demand and the Contractor must correct the errors and furnish the corrected transcript within five (5) calendar days after the receipt of same, regardless of the delivery time the original order specified.

c) To ensure the accuracy of the transcript, the Contractor must have a quality control person responsible for proof reading and correcting mistakes.

d) Work Hours: The Contractor must be available during normal business hours of 7:30am – 5:00pm Monday – Friday excluding federal holidays. The Court Reporter/Transcriptionist will be required to arrive in advance of the scheduled start time and be ready to begin reporting at the scheduled start of the hearing. The Contractor's personnel must stay for the duration of the hearing/meeting.

e) The Contractor must designate specifically named, trained, and experienced personnel in adequate number to be responsible for performing the work under this contract and managing that work. The resumes of these named persons must be submitted to the COR for review and approval upon request; the COR may request changes in personnel when deemed necessary. Where a hearing or arbitration meeting is scheduled for more than one day, the Contractor must provide the same reporter for each of the scheduled days unless waived by prior arrangements with the COR.

f) A cancellation fee may apply if, after presenting himself to the Presiding Officer, or other person in charge, at the time and place of a scheduled proceeding/arbitration/meeting, notice is given to the reporter that the proceedings/arbitration/meetings have been canceled or postponed. If notice is given by 4:00p.m., prevailing time, the day preceding a scheduled hearing/meeting that the hearing/meeting is canceled, no fee will be paid to the reporter. If for some reason a transcript is needed when a proceeding is canceled, such as when specific information has to be read into the record, the cancellation fee will not be paid when transcripts ordered at rates quoted equal or exceed the amount of the cancellation calendar.

g) If, after the notice of a proposed proceeding/arbitration/meeting, the Contractor does not appear at the time and place specified for the proceeding, the COR may call in a substitute and the Contractor must reimburse the Government's expenses over and above that which would have been obtained if the Contractor had performed the same work. The Government may deduct such expense from any other sum due or that may become due to the Contractor.

6. Government – Furnished Property:

The contractor must provide all supplies and equipment required to perform this contract. The government will not be responsible for the contractor’s supplies, equipment, materials, or an item necessary for the performance of this contract.

7. Period of Performance

8. Travel:

No Travel costs will be paid by the government.

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