PSAS Responses to Solicitation Questions HT001120R0020 3-9-21 PHD RPM clean version (002).pdf

Responses to Questions for Solicitation HT0011-20-R-0020

1. In the instructions for Volume 3, Price Instructions on page 17 of the instructions, there is a reference to a “Pricing Sheet” with tabs for the contractor to fill out. Will the government be providing this formatted worksheet?

Response: No, the Pricing sheet, provided by your company, should contain at a minimum: the Labor Category, number of hours proposed, and the labor hour costs for the Base and all Options.

2. On page 20 of the instructions to offerors there is a reference to restrictions contained in the Limitation of Future Contracting clause but we are unable to locate this clause in the solicitation. Can the government provide a copy of that clause for review?

Response: Limitation of Future Contracting

3052.209-73 Limitation of Future Contracting.

As prescribed in (HSAR) 48 CFR 3009.507-2, the Contracting Officer may insert a clause substantially as follows in solicitations and contracts:

Limitation of Future Contracting (JUN 2006)

(a) The Contracting Officer has determined that this acquisition may give rise to a potential organizational conflict of interest. Accordingly, the attention of prospective offerors is invited to FAR Subpart 9.5 - Organizational Conflicts of Interest.

(b) The nature of this conflict is: As a condition of award, the Offeror’s eligibility for future prime contract or subcontract awards will be restricted as provided in the Limitation of Future Contracting clause provided in this solicitation. The terms of the clause are not subject to negotiation.

(c) The restrictions upon future contracting are as follows:

(1) If the Contractor, under the terms of this contract, or through the performance of tasks pursuant to this contract, is required to develop specifications or statements of work that are to be incorporated into a solicitation, the Contractor shall be ineligible to perform the work described in that solicitation as a prime or first-tier subcontractor under an ensuing DHA contract. This restriction shall remain in effect for a reasonable time, as agreed to by the Contracting Officer and the Contractor, sufficient to avoid unfair competitive advantage or potential bias. DHA shall not unilaterally require the Contractor to prepare such specifications or statements of work under this contract.

(2) To the extent that the work under this contract requires access to proprietary, business confidential, or financial data of other companies, and as long as these data remain proprietary or confidential, the Contractor shall protect these data from unauthorized use and disclosure and agrees not to use them to compete with those other companies.

(End of clause)

3. The PWS has 38 total pages, which includes 16 pages of specific tasks, but a response limit of only 30 pages. These 30 pages must include the proposed staffing, the quality control plan, discussion of deliverables 1-8 and discussion of the requirements in the 16 pages of specific tasks. Given the scope and complexity of the requirements, would the government consider a limit of 50 pages for the technical approach?

Response: Yes, we will accept up to 50 pages for the technical approach.

4. In Section 1.0 of the PWS Scope (page 1) and Section 5.0 Basic Services (page 22), 9 functional areas are listed. The ninth area is “Optimization and Scenario Modeling Tool associated with the financing and delivery of the MHS using TRICARE.” There is no discussion of this task in the Specific Tasks. Is task 9 missing or should it not be listed in sections 1.0 and 5.0?

Response: The Optimization and Scenario/Simulation Modeling Tool uses DoD Comptroller and CMO data to update models with workload, purchased care and manpower targets regarding prescriptive analytics as provided by the government. The tool also provides an analysis of cost containment opportunities through various policy changes in benefit design, organization of service delivery, and provider reimbursement. The tool includes actuarial modeling and projecting changes in health care utilization and cost under various policy and program scenarios.

5. In Section 5.0 of the PWS (page 22), there is a reference to the WISDOM course. However, WISDOM is not discussed in detail in the specific tasks. Is WISDOM or any other new training part of the scope for this contract or should this reference be removed from section 5.0?

Response: Yes, the Working Information Systems to Determine Optimal Management (WISDOM) Course is part of the scope. This will remain in Section 5 of the Performance Work Statement listed on page 22.

The WISDOM Course is vital to analyst/customers who retrieve and utilize Military Health System (MHS) data. This course provides detailed information regarding the Military Health System Management and Reporting Tool also known as M2 Data to help leadership in their decision-making regarding the data analysis. The course details access and where to find the data repositories. The course demonstrates how to use the Business Intelligence Common Services (BCS) and M2 Tools. For decision analysis it describes the processes for decision-making and formulating questions to facilitate interaction with the requestor.

6. Specific Tasks 5.7.14-16 discuss the presentation of education and training. Does this include

HealtheIntent training? Does this include the WISDOM course? Does this include the MDR users’ group?

Response: Task 5.7.14-16, has general language regarding training. It is best to refer back to page 33, 5.7.14-16 on the needs of Analytics and Evaluation provided in the PWS rather than noting specific training.

7. Specific Task 5.3.2 as Part of Task 3 discusses the requirements for Independent Cost Analyses for procurements. We note that Task 5.2.1 c 2 describes actuarial analyses of benefit modifications. Is it the intention of the solicitation that one of these sections provide for the contractor to prepare analyses of the cost impacts of modifications to the ongoing MCS contracts?

Response: The Independent Cost Analysis will be for contracts related to Tricare Programs as noted on page 26, Section 5.3.2 a-e. This does not include Independent Government Cost Estimates that are typically done by a Contracting Officer Representative.

8. According to page 7 of the Instructions to Offerors, the period of performance is set to start on

May 3, yet the current PSAS contract is set to end on June 24th. For this overlapping period, which contract should offerors assume that common tasks will be performed under?

Response: The Period of Performance will start on June 25, 2021.

9. In Task 5.8.1, could the government please provide clarity about the support triage of MHS

Portal requests:

a. Will the PSAS contractor only need to help triage requests that DHA has first determined might fall within the PSAS scope of tasks, or will the PSAS contractor be expected to help triage all MHS portal requests?

Response: The Contractor will be expected to respond to PSAS requests/requirements within their scope in the Analytics and Evaluation Request Portal (AERP). Any PSAS items that A&E Triage Team determine as a PSAS request within the scope will require support.

This information is provided in Sections 5.8.1, 5.8.2, and 5.8.3.

b. For portal requests that are not ultimately assigned to be performed by the PSAS contractor, will the PSAS contractor be expected to recommend the appropriate organization or contract to fulfill that work? Or will the PSAS contractor’s role be limited to determining that the request is out of scope for the PSAS contract?

Response: Requests that are specific to the PSAS Contract will be the responsibility of the contractor. For more information, please refer to page 37, Sections 5.8.1, 5.8.2, and 5.8.3.

c. There are currently many vendors fulfilling some of these requests. Is it expected that all this work and all future tasks within scope will be shifted to the PSAS? If so, could the government provide a list of portal requests for the last year?

Response: No, tasks will be based on the capabilities and distributed among all contracts within A&E. No, A&E will not provide a list of portal requests for the last year.

10. Attachment 3 presents an estimate of 9 FTEs for four labor categories, but the hours total only

12,368. Could the government please clarify this table to be consistent between FTEs and hours.

Response: The incorrect document was sent out regarding Attachment 3 – Estimated Workload Data. Please see the updated Attachment 3 Estimated Workload Data document.

11. The 2013 RFP for the current PSAS contract included a government estimate of 26,476 hours.

During the contract’s performance, the tasks described in the PWS in Task 5.7.17 were added with an estimate of 2,900 hours. This totals 29,376 hours or 15.6 FTEs using 1,880 hours per FTE. The PWS for this solicitation adds Task 8 (portal triage) and perhaps a Task 9 (Optimization and Scenario Modeling Tool). Can the government explain why the estimated level of effort was reduced from 15.6 FTE to 9 FTE (a reduction of 42%)?

Response: The incorrect document was sent out regarding Attachment 3 – Estimated Workload Data. Please see the updated Attachment 3 Estimated Workload Data document.

12. On page 23 of the instructions to offerors, the section “Basis for Award” describes a best-value tradeoff process that will be used to determine the award. However, the next paragraph appears to describe a process where the award is made to the lowest price offeror whose technical proposal is rated “Acceptable” or higher and whose past performance is rated “Substantial Confidence.” Can the government clarify the basis for award and explain how these two paragraphs relate?

Response: The Basis for Award will be a Performance Price Tradeoff not a Best-Value Tradeoff.

Past Performance will be evaluated only if the Offeror receives an overall Acceptable technical rating.

13. In determining “substantial confidence” the RFP states the relevancy and recency of the five past performance questionnaires will be considered. There are 4 categories for the questionnaires, including 1) budgeting, pricing, and financial analysis, 2) policy analysis, 3) reimbursement support, and 4) triage and scenario modeling. How will the government evaluate substantial confidence in the range of the 8 task areas if an offeror only submits references in 1, 2, or 3 of these areas? Will the government require that at least one questionnaire be submitted in each of the four areas?

Response: We have added two more categories (1) budgeting, pricing and financial analysis; (2) policy analysis (3) reimbursement support; (4) cost certification; (5) information systems and data mining; and (6) Optimization and Scenario/Simulation Modeling Tool. This should cover a more wide range of task areas covered in the PWS.

14. The Past Performance Questionnaire (Attachment 4) does not include any questions for the references about work related to Task 7. How will past performance for this task be evaluated?

Should there be a fifth category added at the bottom of page 1 of this Attachment (like “policy analysis” and “reimbursement”) for Health Care Information Systems Analytic Subject Matter Expertise and Data Mining (that would address Task 7)? How can the government have substantial confidence if there are no questionnaires related to the work in Task 7?

Response: Task 7 has now been added. Task 7 is listed as information systems and data mining in the PWS on page 1 in the scope.

15. How will performance risk be assessed? The RFP states how the past performance questionnaires will be used but there does not seem to be any role for the assessment of the offeror’s risk of performing tasks across all 8 areas immediately at the start of the contract.

Response: The RFP specifies the evaluation criteria and adjectival ratings that will be assessed to proposals during evaluation. See Basis for Award and various adjectival rating tables.

16. Given that many PSAS tasks involve identifying or analyzing potential TRICARE program changes worth hundreds of millions of dollars per year (or more), how will the best-value evaluation consider differences in potential offerors’ impacts on the larger overall government costs of the MHS and the TRICARE program?

Response: We have added two more categories to provide additional areas to consider concerning impacts on government costs. Those categories include information systems and data mining and Optimization and Scenario/Simulation Modeling Tool.

17. On page 23 of the instructions to offers, sub-factor 1 includes 4 numbered items and 5 additional un-numbered items but does not include evaluation of any subject matter related to Task 7. How will the technical approach for task 7 be evaluated? Will such items as: 1) the development of performance measures 2) the design, development, and maintenance of MHS corporate data, 3) the maintenance of core MHS, MTF, and geographic reference materials, and 4) education and training be included?

Response: We have added two more categories (1) budgeting, pricing and financial analysis; (2) policy analysis (3) reimbursement support; (4) cost certification; (5) information systems and data mining; (6) and Optimization and Scenario/Simulation Modeling Tool. This should cover a more wide range of task areas covered in the PWS. Task 7 has now been added. Task 7 is listed as information systems and data mining in the PWS on page 1 in the scope.

18. Under Task 2, is the annual development of premiums for TRICARE Young Adult, TRICARE Retired Reserve, TRICARE Reserve Select, and the Continued Health Care Benefit Program a requirement?

Response: Yes. We have added two more categories (1) budgeting, pricing and financial analysis; (2) policy analysis (3) reimbursement support; (4) cost certification; (5) information systems and data mining; (6) and Optimization and Scenario/Simulation Modeling Tool. This should provide additional areas to cover concerning premium information.

19. Under the actuarial work for Task 2, is the annual calculation of updated TRICARE copays prior to enrollment open season a requirement?

Response: Yes. We have added two more categories (1) budgeting, pricing and financial analysis; (2) policy analysis (3) reimbursement support; (4) cost certification; (5) information should provide additional areas to cover concerning TRICARE information.

20. Is the monthly data feed of direct care and private sector care data that is provided to the T17 contractors a requirement in Task 7?

Response: Yes. The data feed and direct care data should be included. We now have added two more categories that covers this. Those categories are (1) budgeting, pricing and financial analysis; (2) policy analysis (3) reimbursement support; (4) cost certification; (5) information should provide additional areas to cover concerning TRICARE information.

21. Can the government please clarify Task 5.7.9? This appears to be a requirement that applies to work orders under this procurement rather than a specific requirement for performance indicators.

Response: Task 5.7.9 does not apply to work orders. Task 5.7.9 states the following under Performance indicators, “Assigned analytic requests are completed by their due dates at least 90% of the time (adjustments may be made to due dates depending on changes to customer requirements). Analytic requests will be completed as requested 95% of the time. Functional specification and report authorship will demonstrate sufficient Subject Matter Expertise as judged by the customers of the reports and the functional manager of MDR and M2.”

22. Under Task 7, is a requirement under 5.7.12 that the contractor will provide monthly updates on HEDIS and other clinical communities measures? Does this task include obtaining NCQA certification for the new HEDIS programs?

Response: Yes, this task will require monthly updates on HEDIS and other measures. Yes, this will require obtaining a NCQA certification for the new HEDIS Programs.

23. Is the calculation of the amount that VA owes the DoD each quarter for care that MTFs provide for VA referred patients (National DoD/VA Payment Reform) included in Task 7 or under Task

5.5.6 or 5.5.4?

Response: Yes, the calculation is included in Task 7 which is now included regarding additional categories covered.