P09 SOW for Control of Comm Diseases subscription.docx

Statement of Work Department of Veterans Affairs for Control of Communicable Diseases Manual Subscription

A. GENERAL INFORMATION

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), and VA Library Network (VALNET) requires an existing, commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS), web-based access to a product that offers infectious disease evidence-based medical database, Control of Communicable Diseases Manual subscription.

B. OBJECTIVES

The requirement will enable VA clinicians to access online evidence-based solely in infectious disease and public health medicine.

C. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: 12-month Base year with four (4) 12-month Option years

D. SCOPE OF WORK: The contractor shall provide nationwide access to an authentication system for electronic evidence-based resources and promoting usage of online library resources and other VA services.

E. ACCESS, CONTENT, AND SUPPORT

The contractor shall:

a. Supply and maintain a web-based method of establishing self-registration accounts for VA staff.

b. Provide a system that supports Single Sign-On (SSO), ensuring that access can securely and efficiently be provided to VA staff with on-and-off-site access to electronic resources.

c. Supply a system where individual users can be manually added, edited, and remove by the user.

d. Supply a system which can utilize a link resolver resource, such as Serials Solutions and access to Liblynx IPs. (157.230.189.45 and 162.243.143.27) and VA Gateway IPs.

e. Supply a system which functions independently from the VA computer network and requires no software to be loaded/uploaded to the VA computer network.

f. The system is accessible via a variety of personal mobile devices including Apple and Android devices.

Disease name: each disease is identified by the numeric code assigned by the World Health Organization (WHO)’s International Classification of Diseases, 11th Revision (ICD-11). Common names are also listed and can be matched to the ICD names using the index in the back of the manual.

1. Clinical presentation: Shall present the main signs and symptoms of the disease and differentiates the disease from others that may have a similar clinical picture. Case-fatality rates may also be included.

2. Causative agent(s): Shall identify the specific agent or agents that cause the disease; classifies the agent(s); describes variations, subtypes, and strains; and may indicate important characteristics.

3. Diagnosis: Shall describe the methods most commonly used to diagnose the disease and provides information on how results should be interpreted.

4. Occurrence: Shall provide information on where the disease is known to occur and the magnitude of its burden. Information on past and current outbreaks may also be included.

5. Reservoir(s): Shall describe any person, animal, arthropod, plant, or substance—or combination of these—in which an infectious agent normally lives and reproduces itself in such a manner that it can be transmitted to a susceptible host. Intermediate hosts and animal populations at risk are described in this section.

6. Incubation period: Shall describe the time interval between infection and the first appearance of symptoms associated with the infection.

7. Transmission: Shall provide information on the mechanisms by which the infectious agent is spread to or among humans; the period of time during which it may be transferred to humans from an infected human, reservoir, or vector; and the factors that influence transmissibility.

8. Risk groups: Shall describe human population groups at increased risk of infection or development of disease or that are resistant to either infection or disease. Information on immunity subsequent to infection may also be given.

9. Prevention: Shall describe measures that can be used to prevent infection of individuals and/or groups.

10. Management of patient: Shall give an overview of best clinical practice (including accepted treatment) and other measures necessary for patient management to reduce morbidity and mortality, minimize the period of communicability, and prevent spread to others. This manual is not intended to be a therapeutic guide. Readers must be aware of contraindications and side effects of any treatment recommended in the manual and determine the risk-benefit profile, including for the use of antimicrobials in pregnant women and young children. For example, because tetracyclines, including doxycycline, could pose a small, dose-dependent risk of staining teeth that are under development in young children, the risk of dental staining from their use in children younger than 8 years should be weighed against the potential benefit of its use for treatment. Specific dosages and clinical management are described primarily for those diseases for which delay in instituting therapy might jeopardize the patient’s life.

11. Management of contacts and the immediate environment: Shall describe procedures recommended for managing contacts and the immediate environment that are designed to limit the spread of the disease. General information can be found in themed chapters “Communicable Disease Alert and Response During Mass Gatherings” and “Response to an Outbreak.”

12. Special considerations: Shall describe any special considerations relevant for the disease. For instance, when applicable, it notes reporting requirements, whether free drugs are available through WHO or CDC, and what measures are recommended for public health workers in case of deliberate use of biological agents to cause harm. Disaster implications or special epidemic measures are also described, if applicable. General information can be found in themed chapters “Reporting of Communicable Diseases Under the International Health Regulations,” “Communicable Disease Control in Humanitarian Emergencies,” and “Outbreak Response in Case of Deliberate Use of Biological Agents to Cause Harm.”

1. Content shall provide insight to an understanding of the clinical application of the diagnosis and treatment of infectious disease medicine.

2. Content shall be in a narrative format suitable for health sciences students, residents, and fellows to educate themselves on point of care infectious clinical topics.

3. An overall academic based approach shall be in the presentation and content of the clinical information.

4. Theory/Clinical Insights/Understanding methods shall be presented and included in the infectious disease content provided.

5. The POC information shall be written for a wide range of healthcare infectious disease professionals but is targeted to internal medicine and related infectious disease specialists. Designed to provide concise, practical answers (with recommendations with lists of evidence grades), the topics are written exclusively for clinicians.

6. Content shall be comprised of topic reviews written by recognized physician experts who address specific topics, synthesize research, and make recommendations for treatment in their area of expertise.

7. Content shall be written and reviewed by expert physicians in their specialty and peer-reviewed by other experts in the specialty. Credentials and affiliations of the authors and reviews shall be included in the content, and potential conflicts of interest clearly delineated. Authors or content experts for each section shall be recognizable as experts in that field.

8. Components of the clinical topic review (diseases, conditions, symptoms, and other presentations) shall include the following information fields of infectious diseases.