Notice_to_Sole_Source_Adler.pdf

OIG149944

Notice of Intent to Sole Source

Pursuant to the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(1)(i), the Contracting Officer may solicit from one source if the Contracting Officer determines that the circumstances of the contract action deem only one source is reasonably available. The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Program Support Center (PSC), Office of the Inspector General (OIG), Office of Evaluations and Inspections (OEI) intends to issue a sole source task order (TO) to:

Dr. Lee Adler 145 N. Spring Terrace Altamonte Springs, FL 32714-3462

Dr. Adler is a leading national expert in patient safety, hospital care, and infectious diseases with nearly 40 years of experience as a practicing clinician, researcher and administrator. He has served as Vice President for Quality and Safety for a major hospital network, as an associate professor of internal medicine, on the faculty of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and is the author of numerous peer-reviewed articles relevant to hospitals and infectious disease. In both his professional and academic work, Dr. Adler has led and participated in many studies focused on hospital safety and infection control. OEI has had a great deal of experience contracting physicians for clinical work. In no other case have we had access on a consulting basis to a physician with even close to Dr. Adler’s clinical and hospital experience.

Dr. Adler uniquely meets the core requirements of this project due to his extensive past experience with OIG/OEI, and his education and professional experience centered on hospital management of infectious diseases. Dr. Adler previously served as Lead Physician Reviewer for a series of Congressionally-mandated OIG/OEI reports regarding adverse events in hospitals.

The series of reports required that Dr. Adler work weekly and at times daily with OEI staff from June 2008 – present. His easy-going manner combined with professional precision has made for a very productive team dynamic. In prior situations of hiring physicians by contract, we have found it difficult to establish a daily team dynamic; most prefer to receive instructions and submit deliverables. This “black box” method of clinician consultation has resulted in the past in products of questionable quality, given that the team is not working together to resolve issues and come to consensus from both the clinical (physician) and policy (OEI) viewpoints, and we are able to more fully communicate OIG’s unique objective and role in the Department. We have had a great deal of success instead in incorporating Dr. Adler has a full team member, attending team calls, communicating often by email, and working fully in unison.

For the prior work in adverse events, Dr. Adler performed similar tasks to what is required for this study, assisting OEI staff in designing our research, developing protocols, training and consulting with OEI staff, and analyzing clinical results to contribute to writing report findings.

The resulting reports received much attention from the stakeholder community and resulted in Dr. Adler presenting findings along with OEI staff at five prominent healthcare conventions. We mention this success in that it speaks to our and OIG leadership’s deep trust in and respect for Dr. Adler, and his proven ability to succeed in providing assistance to OEI in completing important and complex work. We could not have predicted the need to undertake this work prior to the Ebola outbreak, but we have access in Dr. Adler to a long-time and trusted colleague who has exactly the education, experience, and skill set that we need for this study

OIG149944

Notice of Intent to Sole Source

This is not a solicitation for competitive proposal as the Government intends to issue an award on a sole source basis to Dr. Adler. All responsible sources that have determined that they can provide the same services may submit a technical and price quote in accordance with the solicitation. All responses are due by May 8, 2015, 6:00PM Eastern Time and can be sent to Daren Davis at daren.davis@psc.hhs.gov. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract base upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.