OCSQ39320140170SOW.pdf

Statement of Work (SOW)

Nursing Home Policy and Processes Consultant for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

Purpose and Requirements Overview

The purpose of this procurement is to obtain the consultative services from an experienced

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recognized regional office expert proficient in researching and advising the Division of Nursing Homes (DNH) regarding skilled nursing facilities (SNF) and nursing facility (NF) issues; and has extensive historical and current knowledge of the long term care survey and enforcement processes.

The selected contractor will provide the following high-level professional long term care (LTC) consultative services to DNH and demonstrate expertise in project management, meeting facilitation, and information gathering, interpreting and dissemination. The Deliverables table presents a summary of all deliverables addressed in this procurement.

The selected contractor shall provide consultative services to the DNH and must demonstrate all the following proficiencies:

Extensive skilled nursing facility (SNF) and nursing facility (NF) resident care policy leadership role in a CMS State Survey Agency or CMS Regional Office;

Advising the Division of standards of practice for persons residing SNF and NFs;

Developing, interpreting, revising and enforcing survey regulations and guidelines for

SNF and NF resident care;

Actionable knowledge of the nursing home complaint process, including deficiency enforcement implementation;

Extensive understanding of the survey process and potential citation outcomes;

Statement of Deficiency and SNF and NF closure process experiences;

Expertise to participate as the expert on internal and external SNF and NF issue panels advising the DNH regarding policy and guidance;

Advising the DNH of changing SNF and NF industry and political environments, and implications of the changes;

Substantial collaborative relationships with the SNF and NF advocacy community;

Knowledge of the evolution of LTC surveyor training, and evidence based suggestions for LTC surveyor training improvement;

Proficiencies to assist DNH with the development and finalization of revised LTC surveyor guidance for SNF and NF regulations;

Developing LTC surveyor training utilizing adult learner methodologies;

Skills to collect, interpret, manage, and report data to internal and external customers including but not limited to Congress, Cabinet Level Secretaries, Division leadership and staff, and professional and lay consumers; and

The selected contractor will be fluent in the use of MS Office Suite 2007, Microsoft

Office Project 2010, Internet Explorer 8, and other software as required.

All respondents to this effort must provide current credentials and are subject to a state and federal background check investigation.

Procurement Administration Dependent upon the fluid work of DNH, the scope of this SOW will not exceed 120 days per procurement period. The selected contractor shall provide the resources necessary to perform all tasks of the procurement. No diversion from this SOW shall be made by the selected contractor without the prior written consent of the contracting officer (CO) and contracting officer representative (COR).

Task 1: Monthly Reporting To ensure the expenditure of human and financial resources are consistent with and will lead to successful completion of all SOW tasks, the selected contractor and the COR will meet monthly

(telephonically) to discuss SOW activities.

Additionally, the selected contractor shall provide a work status memorandum via e-mail by the th of each month outlining the work completed during the prior month, planned and in progress work, problems or issues encountered, and the number of hours expended during reporting month.

Task 2: Consultation and Collaboration Services

The selected contractor shall provide consultative and collaboration services to the DNH and its partners regarding nursing home policy issues via telephone, video conferences, in-person meetings, during stakeholder meetings, reports, and email.

Task 3: Development of Revisions to Regulatory Interpretive Guidelines, State Operations

Manual, and Other Related Nursing Home Policies and Materials

Periodically to conform to current standards of practice, DNH initiates tag and guidance revisions to the State Operations Manual (SOM). The selected contractor will be an advisor to the Division’s tag editing and development team and subsequent devolvement of surveyor, survey, state agency, and industry training material by providing opinions regarding SNF and NF policies. Additionally, the selected contractor as directed by the COR will create training mediums which include but are not limited to PowerPoint with speaker notes, broadcast scripts and manuals. (The COR will provide the selected contractor current CMS writing style guidelines.) Lastly, the selected contractor maybe required to serve as a LTC policy training instructor.

Task 4: Summary Report

The selected contractor shall provide a final electronic report summarizing the work performed and deliverables created under this SOW. The final report shall include but not be limited to:

Identification of all deliverables;

Relevance of deliverables to the SOW;

Challenges and barriers to producing SOW deliverables and implemented solutions;

Suggestions for SOW implementation improvement; and

Suggestions for future LTC regulation and policy activities.

Task 5: Meetings and Travel

The selected contractor is required to be accessible to the COR by telephone and to participate

(in person and telephonically) in CMS meetings as designated by the COR. The selected contractor is required to travel up to four times per procurement period. Travel includes, but is not limited to, meetings convened at CMS headquarters in Baltimore, MD, CMS external stakeholder and partner meetings, LTC policy revision training, and as requested by the COR.

Travel cost (local and non-local to the selected contractor) must be pre-approved by the COR and funded entirely through the procurement. No additional funding can be requested by the selected contractor.

Place of Performance

The selected contractor is not required to reside in the greater Baltimore, Maryland metropolitan area, however as stated in Task 5, the selected contractor is required to travel and be telephonically available as directed by the COR.

Period of Performance

The period of performance is one year from award plus one option year.

Requirements All work performed under this SOW shall be performed under the guidance and monitoring of the CMS COR. All SOW task deliverables are subject to CMS approval. Task deliverables which do not meet the requirements and specifications of the COR will not be accepted. The selected contractor is responsible for deliverable re-submission. Repeated non-acceptable deliverables is a breach of contract agreement.

Key Personnel

The selected contractor will provide high-level professional LTC consultative services to CMS and demonstrate expertise in project management, meeting facilitation, and information gathering, interpreting and dissemination. The Deliverables table presents a summary of all deliverables addressed in this procurement.

Government Furnished Property and Information

Independently, and not as an agent of the Government, the selected contractor will furnish the necessary services, qualified personnel, material, equipment, and facilities, not otherwise provided by the Government, as needed to perform the requirements of this SOW. There is no

Government Furnished Property (GFP) provided for this procurement. The selected contractor will supply their own copy of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and have access to a telephone and an e-mail account.

Government Furnished Information (GFI) will be provided in conjunction with required performance under this SOW as determined by CMS. The selected contractor shall become familiar with CMS-provided background materials and shall identify any additional information required from CMS within ten business days of the award of this procurement. All documents and materials pertaining to the nursing policy is confidential, unless otherwise specified by the

COR/designee. As such, any outside party granted access to the confidential materials must have prior written approval from the CMS contracting office (CO) and the granted access party must sign a non-disclosure statement. A signed original copy of an approval document must be on file with the CMS Office of Acquisition and Grants Management and the DNH prior to the review of any related materials. All materials created subsequent to this SOW are and remain the property of CMS.

Acceptance Criteria

The selected contractor will deliver all products to the COR or other designees as directed by the

COR according to the need of the task of this procurement – this may include quick turn-around situations where emergent issues are under a tight deadline. Electronic transmission will be the primary delivery mechanism; however, the selected contractor will also provide hard copies as directed by the COR to CMS. This SOW requires the selected contractor as directed by the COR to be present for consultation with DNH staff and designees as necessary to complete work assigned.

The COR will notify the selected contractor of deliverable acceptance and provide written comments within ten (10) business days of receipt of a deliverable. Within ten (10) business days of the receipt of the COR’s written comments, the selected contractor will resubmit the deliverable to the COR/designee.

SECTION 508 - ACCESSIBILITY OF ELECTRONIC AND INFORMATION

TECHNOLOGY

(a) This task order is subject to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C.

794d) as amended by the workforce Investment Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-220). Specifically, subsection 508(a)(1) requires that when the Federal Government procures Electronic and

Information Technology (EIT), the EIT must allow Federal employees and individuals of the public with disabilities comparable access to and use of information and data that is provided to Federal employees and individuals of the public without disabilities.

(b) The EIT accessibility standards at 36 CFR Part 1194 were developed by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board ("Access Board") and apply to contracts and task/delivery orders, awarded under indefinite quantity contracts on or after June 25, 2001.

(c) Each Electronic and Information Technology (EIT) product or service furnished under this contract shall comply with the Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility

Standards (36 CFR 1194), as specified in the contract, as a minimum. If the Contracting

Officer determines any furnished product or service is not in compliance with the contract, the

Contracting Officer will promptly inform the Contractor in writing. The Contractor shall, without charge to the Government, repair or replace the non-compliant products or services within the period of time to be specified by the Government in writing. If such repair or replacement is not completed within the time specified, the Government shall have the following recourses:

1. Cancellation of the contract, delivery or task order, purchase or line item without termination liabilities; or

2. In the case of custom Electronic and Information Technology (EIT) being developed by a contractor for the Government, the Government shall have the right to have any necessary changes made or repairs performed by itself or by another firm for the noncompliant EIT, with the contractor liable for reimbursement to the

Government for any expenses incurred thereby.

(d) The contractor must ensure that all EIT products that are less than fully compliant with the accessibility standards are provided pursuant to extensive market research and are the most current compliant products or services available to satisfy the contract requirements.

(e) For every EIT product or service accepted under this contact by the Government that does not comply with 36 CFR 1194, the contractor shall, at the discretion of the

Government, make every effort to replace or upgrade it with a compliant equivalent product or service, if commercially available and cost neutral, on either a contract specified refresh cycle for the product or service, or on a contract effective option/renewal date; whichever shall occur first.

Section 508 Compliance for Communications

The contractor shall comply with the standards, policies, and procedures below. In the event of conflicts between the referenced documents below, this statement of work shall take precedence.

Rehabilitation Act, Section 508 Accessibility Standards

1. 29 U.S.C. 794d (Rehabilitation Act as amended)

2. 36 CFR 1194 (508 Standards)

3. http://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-section-508-standards/section-508-standards (508 Standards)

4. FAR 39.2 (Section 508)

5. CMS/HHS Standards, policies and procedures (Section 508)

In addition, all contract deliverables are subject to these 508 standards as applicable.

Regardless of format, all Web content or communications materials produced, including text, audio or video - must conform to applicable Section 508 standards to allow federal employees and members of the public with disabilities to access information that is comparable to information provided to persons without disabilities. All contractors

(including subcontractors) or consultants responsible for preparing or posting content must comply with applicable Section 508 accessibility standards, and where applicable, those set forth in the referenced policy or standards documents above. Remediation of any materials that do not comply with the applicable provisions of 36 CFR Part 1194 as set forth in the statement of work shall be the responsibility of the contractor or consultant.

The following Section 508 provisions apply to the content or communications material identified in this statement of work:

http://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-section-508-standards/section-508-standards http://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-section-508-standards/section-508-standards

36 CFR Part 1194.21 a - l

36 CFR Part 1194.22 a - p

36 CFR Part 1194.31 a - f

36 CFR Part 1194.41 a – c

The contractor shall provide a completed Section 508 Product Assessment Template and the contractor shall state exactly how proposed EIT deliverable(s) meet or does not meet the applicable standards.

The following Section 508 provisions apply for software development material identified in this statement of work. For software development, the Contractor/Developer/Vendor shall comply with the standards, policies, and procedures below:

Rehabilitation Act, Section 508, Accessibility Standards

(1) 29 U.S.C. 794d (Rehabilitation Act as amended)

(2) 36 CFR 1194 (508 Standards)

36 CFR Part 1194.21 (a – l)

36 CFR Part 1194.31 (a – f)

36 CFR Part 1194.41 (a – c)

(3) http://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-section-508-standards/section-508-standards (508 Standards)

(4) FAR 39.2 (Section 508)

(5) CMS/HHS Standards, policies and procedures (Section 508)

a. Information Technology – General Information

(http://www.cms.hhs.gov/InfoTechGenInfo/)

For web-based applications, the Contractor shall comply with the standards, policies, and procedures below:

Rehabilitation Act, Section 508, Accessibility Standards

(1) 29 U.S.C. 794d (Rehabilitation Act as amended)

(2) 36 CFR 1194 (508 Standards)

36 CFR Part 1194.22 (a – p)

36 CFR Part 1194.41 (a – c)

(3) http://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-section-508-standards/section-508-standards (508 Standards)

(4) FAR 39.2 (Section 508)

(5) CMS/HHS Standards, policies and procedures (Section 508)

a. Information Technology – General Information

(http://www.cms.hhs.gov/InfoTechGenInfo/) http://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-section-508-standards/section-508-standards http://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-section-508-standards/section-508-standards http://www.cms.hhs.gov/InfoTechGenInfo/ http://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-section-508-standards/section-508-standards http://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-section-508-standards/section-508-standards http://www.cms.hhs.gov/InfoTechGenInfo/

Deliverables

Task Task/Sub-

Task

Number

Deliverable Deliverable

Time

Monthly

Reporting 1 Provide a work status memorandum via e-mail outlining the work completed during the prior month, planned and in progress work, problems or issues encountered, and the number of hours expended during reporting month.

No later than the 10 th of each month

Consultation and

Collaboration

Services

Provide consultative and collaboration services to the DNH and its partners regarding nursing home policy issues via telephone, video conferences, in-person meetings, during stakeholder meetings, reports, and email.

As directed by the COR

Development of

Revisions to

Regulatory

Interpretive

Guidelines, State Operations

Manual, and

Other Related

Nursing Home

Policies and

Materials

Advisor to the Division’s tag editing and development team and subsequent devolvement of surveyor, survey, state agency, and industry training material by providing opinions regarding SNF and NF policies; will create training mediums which include but are not limited to PowerPoint with speaker notes, broadcast scripts and manuals; and maybe required to serve as a

LTC policy training instructor. (The COR will provide the selected contractor current

CMS writing style guidelines.)

As directed by the COR

Summary

Report

Final report identifying SOW deliverables;

challenges and barriers to producing SOW deliverables and implemented solutions;

suggestions for SOW implementation improvement; and suggestions for future

LTC regulation and policy activities

30 day prior to cessation of procurement period of performance

Meetings and

Travel

The selected contractor is required to travel up to four times per procurement period.

As directed by the COR

Document created: February 2014