Responses_to_Solicitation_Questions.pdf

Responses to Solicitation Questions

1) Being that Suburban Hospital is a current “Contractor”, we know that the NIH currently supports 20% of the service contract expense for the 3T MRI. Under the proposed new contract, is this an allowable cost? There is a statement in the RFP that specifies MRI scanner upgrades can be an allowable cost on a case-by-case basis. What specific case-by-case guidelines be provided?

Yes, a percentage cost for the MRI service contract would be an allowable cost. MRI scanner upgrades would be an allowable cost on a case-by-case basis. There are no additional guidelines the Government can provide at this time to determine what cases would warrant Government reimbursement for MRI scanner upgrades.

2) The proposed contract notes the MRI scanner shall be “available” 24/7 for use in the evaluation of acute stroke and TBI patients. What qualifies as 24/7 coverage (i.e., must have staff in the building 24 hours/day, can use on-call coverage, etc.)?

If 24/7 in-house coverage is not available please provide what the coverage plan is (i.e., how much in-house and how much on-call).

3) Research pharmacists: The proposal states, “a pharmacist must be available always in hospital

(24/7) to perform the functions required by the protocol on an emergency basis. Only actual effort associated with preparing study materials or providing research pharmacy services as related to implementation of research protocols shall be an allowable cost to the contract.”

What additional information can be provided relating to the definition or quantity of these needs?

At present, the NINDS Stroke Team does not have any protocols that require the service of a pharmacist. However, we ask that the Contractor provide in their response whether they have an in hospital pharmacist 24/7 and if not then what in-house coverage they have available.

4) Monthly meetings: Under the current contract, the Contractor and NIH hold monthly meetings to discuss and review protocols that are not addressed in quarterly reports. How will the Suburban team be compensated for this effort?

Part of submitting a proposal for supporting our contract is that the Contractor will provide an environment that is conducive to our conducting our research at their site. In the past, these monthly meetings have been helpful in that regard. If there is going to be a per-person charge for attendance then we will limit our meetings to only include the Medical Director of the Stroke Program (who we provide salary support) and he in turn can facilitate the solution to any issues/barriers that we encounter. Thus, there would not need to be any additional compensation.

5) Being in the current “Contractor” role, Suburban Hospital has provided 2.0 FTE Nurses that are funded for research at a rate of 1.75 FTE. In the proposal, only 1.0 FTE Nurses are funded for research. What additional information (and suggested scheduling pattern) can be provided on the rationale for 1.0 FTE being sufficient to provide coverage for the research duties associated with stroke and TBI patients who arrive irrespective of time?

This is anticipated to be a multi-awarded contract with two awardees and for one of the two awardees, it is anticipated that one FTE nurse will be funded for stroke, and one FTE will be funded for TBI nurse, if applicable.

6) Being in the current role of the “Contractor”, Suburban Hospital has on record the current contract end date of 9-27-19. The current RFP notes the Base Period to start 9-1-19. Please comment on the overlapping dates and any details related to budgeting / timing?

One incumbent contractor expires 8/31/19 and the other incumbent contract expires 9/27/19.

The new awardees will have an anticipated period of performance date that will begin after the period of performance expiration of each respective incumbent contract.

7) Our hospital is not set up to quickly triage patients with acute MRI, but we do an excellent job with CT, CT angiogram & CT perfusion. Would the NIH will consider applications from a program that would utilize acute CT? It seems this might provide an interesting comparison to the MR data from MWHC.

The RFP is open to any offeror who meets the mandatory requirements and can fulfill the additional requirements in the statement of work. The proposals will be evaluated and rated based on how adequately the offeror meets all the requirements in the statement of work.