PWS DRAFT_Healthcare Provider Portal Services 9.18.25.docx

GS-00F-309GA 36C10X22A0001 36C10X24N0109

GS-00F-309GA 36C10X22A0001 36C10X24N0109

SECTION B - CONTINUATION OF SF 1449 BLOCKS

B.1 CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION DATA

1. CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION: All contract administration matters will be handled by the individuals identified in the Contract Point of Contact List (provided with the final award).

Points of Contact (POCs):

Unless and until updated by the responsible Contracting Officer, all contract administration matters will be handled by the following individuals:

Contractor:

2. CONTRACTOR REMITTANCE ADDRESS: All payments by the Government to the Contractor will be made in accordance with 52.232-33, Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer System for Award Management with:

[X] 52.232-33, Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer—System For Award Management, or [] 52.232-36, Payment by Third Party

3. INVOICES: Invoices shall be submitted monthly in arrears based upon delivery and acceptance; review and approval of the hours completed by the COR/ACOR. In accordance with FAR 52.212-4 (g) only proper invoices that contain documentation of services performed will be accepted.

a. Quarterly []

b. Semi-Annually []

c. Other [X] - Within 30 days upon delivery and acceptance by the Government

4. CHANGES: Any changes to this PWS and associated tasks shall only be authorized and approved through written correspondence from the Contracting Officer (CO). A copy of each change will be kept in the contract folder along with all other products of the project. Costs incurred by the Contractor through the actions of parties other than the CO shall be borne by the Contractor.

5. GOVERNMENT INVOICE ADDRESS: All Invoices from the Contractor shall be submitted electronically in accordance with VAAR Clause 852.232-72 Electronic Submission of Payment Requests.

6. FSC MANDATORY ELECTRONIC INVOICE SUBMISSION: Contractors are required to submit payment requests in electronic form in accordance with the submission instructions below.

TUNGSTEN ELECTRONIC INVOICE SUBMISSION

FSC e-INVOICE PROGRAM THRU AUSTIN PORTAL

FSC MANDATORY ELECTRONIC INVOICE SUBMISSION FOR AUSTIN PAYMENTS

***All invoices submitted through OB10 to the VA-FSC should mirror vendor’s current submission of Invoice, with the following items required:

· Contract/Task/Call Order Number:

· Contractor’s Taxpayer ID Number (TIN)

· Contractor’s “Remit Address” information

· Contractor’s contact information: (Personal Name, Email, and Phone)

· Contractor’s VA point of contact information: (Personal Name, Email, and Phone)

· Period of Performance dates (Beginning and Ending)

· All discount information if applicable (Percent and Date Terms)

All invoices need to also be submitted using the same line item format in the contract or order.

Vendor Electronic Invoice Submission Methods:

Fax, email and scanned documents are not acceptable forms of submission for payment requests. Electronic form means an automated system transmitting information electronically according to the accepted data transmissions below.

· VA’s Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment System – The Financial Services Center (FSC) in Austin, TX uses a third-party Contractor, Tungsten, to transition vendors from paper to electronic invoice submission. Please go to this website: http://www.tungsten-network.com/US/en/Veterans-affairs/ to begin submitting electronic invoices, free of charge.

· A system that conforms to the X12 electronic data interchange (EDI) formats established by the Accredited Standards Center (ASC) chartered by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The X12 EDI Web site is http://www.x12.org.

Vendor e-invoice Set-up information:

Please contact Tungsten at the phone number or email address listed below to begin submitting your electronic invoices to the VA Financial Services Center in Austin, TX for payment processing. If you have questions about the payment status of a properly submitted invoice, the e-invoicing program, or Tungsten, please contact the FSC at the phone number or email address listed below.

· Tungsten/OB10 system registration please call 877-752-0900, Option #2

· Tungsten Support call 877-489-6135

· Tungsten e-Invoice email: VA.Registration@tungsten-network.com

· VA TUNGSTEN Number: AAA544240062

· FSC e-Invoice contact information: 1-877-353-9791

· FSC e-Invoice email: vafsccshd@va.gov

· http://www.fsc.va.gov/einvoice.asp

Communications:

· https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2012/11/27/2012-28612/va-acquisitionregulation-electronic-submission-of-payment-requests

· http://fcw.com/articles/2012/11/27/va-epayments.aspx?s=fcwdaily

B.2 PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

PWS Table of Contents

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), Medical Disability Examination Office (MDEO) oversees several major programs in the administration of disability compensation benefits for Veterans and their families, ranging in size and complexity that require program management support and business analysis services. MDEO was established in 2016 to provide oversight for disability contract examinations supporting Veteran’s benefits determination.

A Disability Benefits Questionnaire (DBQ) is a form used by VA to collect medical information that is necessary for processing Veterans’ disability claims. DBQs are designed to capture essential information about a Veteran’s medical condition in order to determine the degree of their disability and eligibility for benefits.

These forms include specific questions related to the Veteran’s medical condition, its severity, and the impact it has on their daily life and ability to work. Examples of information requested in a DBQ can include the Veteran’s medical history, symptoms, physical exam findings, and diagnostic test results.

Disability compensation examinations are a key component of the claims process required to evaluate the extent of disabilities for Veterans seeking benefits. Examinations can be completed and submitted for one or multiple DBQs.

Examinations are completed by contracted examination providers, the Veterans Health Administration and in some cases, non-VA healthcare providers (i.e. private clinicians).

DBQs are submitted in a variety of ways currently:

· Four (4) contracted examination providers have created their own portals for submitting examinations. While all electronic, the portals take different approaches to collecting information and providing results back to VBA. The portals are structured differently, creating challenges in advancing automation and other claims innovations. Maintaining multiple submission pathways requires significant effort and resources to validate and manage data handling and ongoing operations. In some cases, it can also impact the quality\completeness of examinations submissions.

· VHA has two submission pathways for examination completion. The Compensation and Pension Records Interchange (CAPRI), which is outdated\past end of life, and requires extensive development for DBQ updates. Additionally, the Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM) also created its own DBQ submission process using a PowerForms tool.

· Private sector clinicians can submit paper-based DBQs on behalf of their patient/Veteran. These are entirely paper-based submissions and scanned as images allowing minimal automation and innovation opportunities.

A single portal service may standardize processes, increase efficiency, further enable automation and ultimately reduce the costs associated with paying for these services across multiple methods.

Additionally, On January 2, 2025, the president signed into law the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act, or the Dole Act, incorporating and enacting more than 90 pieces of legislation focused on improving health care benefits and services for Veterans and their caregivers.

Section 306 of the Dole Act, titled Modernization of Department of Veterans Affairs Disability Benefit Questionnaires, levies the requirement that VA take those steps necessary to enable the seamless transmission of Disability Benefits Questionnaire (DBQ) data from authorized non-VA healthcare providers using machine-readable formats.

Timely examination and DBQ completions are a critical component of the disability claim process. As in recent years VBA completes approximately 3.4 million examinations per year, resulting in 9.3 million individual completed DBQs, it is crucial that potential vendors providing these services have a proven track record in enterprise level solutions. Projections for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 show increased volumes with an expected 12 million DBQs to be completed. They also must possess deep institutional/corporate experience and knowledge in the development and maintenance of an informational technology (IT) network capable of interfacing with various VA systems in order to process incoming examination requests and to transmit examination results and other data back into the VA’s systems.

A vendor’s experience conducting VA disability compensation examinations and developing DBQs for fast, accurate and easy submission is paramount to ensuring that the claims process operates smoothly and effectively and that Veterans and their families are in no way negatively impacted. If the DBQ process were delayed or halted due to poor product delivery or service, Veterans socioeconomic status and entitlement to healthcare could be significantly delayed. This procurement must consider vendors with demonstrated expertise and proven success in these areas to guarantee the seamless continuation of services to our Veterans.

2.0 PURPOSE

The requirement is for program management support services. Program management services support business activities span three (3) primary task areas: program/project management, Contract Services Required to be Developed, and ATO Stewardship.

The Contractor shall have real and proven experience (not conceptual) in building, implementing, and supporting daily operations in a functioning capacity that allows a provider to complete disability benefit questionnaires (DBQ) or VA disability exam and submit one or more DBQs into the VA system of record through the designed web portal. All 82 DBQs will need to be converted into an online fillable form within 30 business days from the project teams specified date. The contractor shall have a proven track record in creating and implementing into production an enterprise level Government medical web portal meeting all security compliance requirements and being effectively sized to support a user base of disability claim process handling VBA requests with an approximate 3.4 million examinations per year and receives 9.3 million completed DBQs. The Contractor shall provide a professional turnkey solution based on web platform hosting services including but not limited to the setup, configuration, management, maintenance, and support of the web hosting infrastructure. The contractor must have a portfolio of previous projects demonstrating the successful implementation of such portals along with experience in interfacing these portals with the VA system of record. Contractor must have an understanding of federal security regulations such as FISMA, NIST, and HIPAA. Experience with enterprise-level access management and scalability solutions. Recommendations or endorsements from previous government or VA projects required.

3.0 TYPE OF ORDER

The Government shall award a Firm Fixed Price Task Order.

4.0 PERFORMANCE DETAILS

Period of Performance Period-of-Performance (POP) shall be for one (1) year (12-months), with four (4) 12-month option periods.

Place of Performance Although work performed under this contract shall primarily occur at the Contractor’s location; there are instances in which the Contractor must be present at VBA locations. No specified number of staff is mandatory in the performance of this PWS, unless explicitly indicated; but, during the course of performance the Contractor shall either locate key personnel at, or travel to the following government locations:

The VBA locations are

· VBA Central Office, 1800 G Street NW in Washington, D.C.

· Hines Information Technology Center (ITC), Building 215, 1st Ave North of 21st Street in Hines, IL 60141 Senior members of the contractor’s management staff may be required to attend meetings to brief internal and external stakeholders and executive leaders.

No work shall be performed outside the Continental United States (CONUS) Recognized Holidays Work at a Government site shall not take place on Federal holidays or weekends unless directed by the CO.

There are eleven (11) Federal holidays set by law (USC Title 5 Section 6103) that VA follows:

Under current definitions, five are set by dates:

· New Year's Day, January 1

· Juneteenth National Independence Day, June 19

· Independence Day, July 4

· Veterans Day, November 11

· Christmas Day, December 25 If any of the above falls on a Saturday, then Friday shall be observed as a holiday. Similarly, if one falls on a Sunday, then Monday shall be observed as a holiday.

The other six (6) are set by a day of the week and month:

· Martin Luther King's Birthday, Third Monday in January

· Washington's Birthday, Third Monday in February

· Memorial Day, Last Monday in May

· Labor Day, First Monday in September

· Columbus Day, Second Monday in October

· Thanksgiving, Fourth Thursday in November Hours of Operation Contractor is responsible for conducting business between Monday through Friday. The contractor shall, at all times maintain an adequate workforce for the uninterrupted performance of all tasks defined within this PWS.

Travel The Government anticipates minimal travel to or from VBA, VA, U.S. Government, or U.S. Government contracted sites under this effort to perform the tasks associated with the effort, as well as, to attend program-related meetings or conferences through the period of performance. Travel will not be allowed when virtual means of communication will suffice. No travel expense shall be incurred by the Contractor unless authorized in writing by the COR/ACOR. Justification from the Contractor shall be provided to the Government for all contractor requested travel within a minimum of five days advance notice. VBA cannot estimate the total number of trips for this effort, but the Contractor shall use the requirements in the PWS below to form their estimate.

Authorized travel shall be conducted in accordance with the terms of the PWS, and travel expenses shall be made in accordance with Federal Travel Regulations (FTR) and FAR 31.205-46, Travel Costs. Each contractor invoice must include copies of all receipts that support the travel costs claimed in the invoice. For purposes of calculating travel reimbursement, the Contractor shall use its headquarters facility as the duty station. Local travel, within a 50-mile radius from the place of performance is considered the cost of doing business and will not be reimbursed. Non-local travel will require advance written authorization from the COR/ACOR. Expenses for travel will be reimbursed based on actual expenses incurred up to the limits authorized by the current General Services Administration’s (GSA) per diem rates published on the GSA website at https://www.gsa.gov/travel/plan-book/per-diem-rates. Contractors performing official travel shall include copies of all receipts that support the travel costs claimed in the invoice. General and Administrative (G&A) cost shall not be applied. No travel shall be planned unless prior approval has been obtained, in writing, from the COR/ACOR or Contracting Officer.

· FAR 31.205-46 (Travel Costs) can be referenced at Part 31 - Contract Cost Principles and Procedures | Acquisition.GOV.

· The FTR can be referenced at http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/102886.

5.0 TASK STATEMENT

Services performed shall be of a non-personal nature. MDEO will not provide supervision of Contractor personnel. Contractors shall not perform inherently governmental functions including decision-making, supervision of government employees, supervision of other Contractors on other contracts and activities that create the appearance of performing such functions.

The Contractor shall perform the following:

Task 5.1 Program/Project Management The program/project management task requires the Contractor to plan, monitor, and manage the tasks and subtasks outlined in this PWS.

The Government Contracting Officer (CO), Contract Specialist, (CS), Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR), and Assistant Contracting Officer’s Representative (ACOR), will be the Contractor’s key points of contact. The Contractor’s Project Manager will be COR’s key point of contact. The COR will determine the appropriate lines of communication with the Contractor for the delivery of contracted services.

The COR/ACOR will use a Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) (See Section 9 below) throughout the life of the contract to ensure that the Contractor is performing the services required by this PWS at an acceptable level of performance.

The Contractor shall maintain quality control processes and procedures necessary to ensure its products and services meet the requirements of this contract. The Contractor shall identify, record, track, and correct issues and/or problems affecting the performance of this contract, including its deliverables and the timing of the deliverables. The Contractor shall immediately provide the COR with written notification of any issues that will materially alter the Contractor’s performance of this PWS as soon as the Contractor becomes aware of the issue. The Contractor shall submit the records of any issues/problems to the COR/ACOR upon request.

The government, through the COR/ACOR, will review and approve all work products and deliverables submitted by the Contractor. The COR/ACOR will determine the process for final approval and acceptance of all deliverables. Acceptance of deliverables will be based on an assessment of technical accuracy, clarity, timeliness, sufficient level of detail, and completeness. Deliverables shall be complete, well-written, and meet contractual requirements. The Contractor shall proofread all deliverables regardless of whether they are in draft or final version prior to delivery to MDEO or Project Management Team.

A Project Management Plan (PMP) shall be submitted within ten (10) business days of contract award and briefed to the COR/ACOR and other Project Management Team members. The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), Project Schedule, Risk and Issue Log, and Risk Management Plan shall also be submitted within ten (10) business days of contract award. The PMP and Risk Management Plan shall be updated quarterly. The WBS, Project Schedule, Risk Register, and Risk and Issue tracker shall be updated weekly. A negative response is needed if no updates are required.

Where a written milestone deliverable is required in draft form, the Contractor shall deliver the product within five (5) business days from the specified date provided by the COR/ACOR or Program/Project Manager, or otherwise mutually determined by the parties without sacrificing quality. MDEO and Project Management Team will complete their review of the draft deliverable no later than five (5) business days from the date of receipt. The Contractor shall have three (3) business days to submit the final deliverable from date of receipt of the Government's comments.

The Contractor shall:

1. Complete each deliverable by the due date as defined in this PWS and the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan.

Deliverables:

A. Initial Program/Project Management Plan due within ten (10) business days of contract award. Subsequent updates due quarterly.

B. Initial WBS due within ten (10) business days of contract award. Subsequent updates due weekly.

C. Initial Project Schedule due within ten (10) business days of contract award. Subsequent updates due weekly.

D. Initial Risk Register due within ten (10) business days of contract award. Subsequent updates due weekly.

E. Initial Risk and Issue log due within ten (10) business days of contract award. Subsequent updates due weekly.

F. Initial Risk Management Plan due within ten (10) business days of contract award. Subsequent updates due quarterly.

G. Milestone deliverable draft due within five (5) business days from specified date provided by the COR/ACOR or Program/Project Manager, or otherwise mutually determined by the parties without sacrificing quality.

H. Finalized deliverables shall be completed within three (3) business days from date of receipt of the Government's comments.

5.1.1 Kick-off Meeting

The Contractor shall conduct a kick-off meeting at MDEO’s offices, or another site designated by MDEO including TEAMS call NLT 10 calendar days after order award. The agenda and all briefing material for the kick-off meeting shall be provided two (2) business days prior to the meeting. At this meeting, the Contractor shall present its overall approach for meeting MDEO’s and Project Management Teams needs and for ensuring quality deliverables over the course of the contract. Participants will include all key contractor personnel and VA staff. At the kick-off meeting, the contractor shall present the details of its strategic vision, intended approach, and approximated project schedule for review and approval by MDEO and the Project Management Team.

The kick-off meeting will serve to resolve strategic questions, refine goals, define success, and explore the biggest challenges and breakthrough opportunities for MDEO and the Project Management Team.

Following the kick-off meeting, the Contractor shall provide an Action Item List and Meeting Minutes to the COR/ACOR, CO and Program/Project Manager within 2 business days after the kick-off meeting. The Action Item List shall detail all relevant activities and related due dates to be performed by the Contractor in relation to ramping up to begin performance, as well as to administer the contract over all periods of performance. Any anticipated action items and due dates requested of the Government shall be included in the Action Item List, as well. The Contractor shall deliver meeting minutes resulting from the kick-off meeting within two (2) business days after the kick-off meeting so that a written record of the discussion can be made a part of the contract file.

The kick-off meeting shall include the following topics:

1. Management Approach: To include project assumptions, risk management and constraints, and the overall approach to project management;

2. Project Management Plan (PMP): To include the methodology for implementing the project in a phased approach and a preliminary project schedule, including general task descriptions, task dependencies, task durations, milestones, resources, and deliverables for each short- and long-term phase, and identification of the critical path;

3. Staffing Approach: To include the roles, responsibilities, and allocations of each staff resource assigned to the effort; the approach to transitioning staff between each life cycle phase; and the approach to estimating levels of resources required;

4. Communication Approach: To include the methodology for communicating status, issues, and risks to MDEO and the Project Management Team, through the COR/ACOR; and

5. On-boarding: The Contractor shall describe its progress on on-boarding key personnel and other staff as well as working with other MDEO and Project Management Team staff to gain an understanding of the ongoing work.

Deliverables:

A. Kick-off meeting to be scheduled within 10 calendar days of contract award B. Kick-off meeting agenda and all briefing material due two (2) business days before the meeting.

C. Action Item list due two (2) business days after kick-off meeting.

D. Meeting minutes due one (1) business day after kick-off meeting.

5.1.2 Project Management Plan (PMP)/Work Plan

The Contractor shall develop a Program/Project Management Plan that includes the methodology for implementing the project in a phased approach and a draft Integrated Master Schedule (IMS). The IMS shall include general task descriptions, task dependencies, task durations, milestones, resources, and deliverables for each near- and long-term phase, and the identification of critical path activities. The PMP shall contain all deliverables, risks, project tasks, milestones, staffing, the Contractor’s staffing approach and plan, and associated timeframes. The Contractor shall update and maintain the approved PMP throughout the Contract’s period of performance. Due to COR/ACOR and the Project Management Team NLT 10 business days from award of order. Subsequent PMP updates shall be provided quarterly.

Deliverable:

A. Initial Program/Project Management Plan due ten (10) business days from contract award. Subsequent updates due quarterly.

5.1.3 Meetings and Report

The Contractor shall conduct weekly touchpoints and MPSR (also known as monthly status report) to keep the COR/ACOR, Program/Project Manager, and MDEO Leadership informed of program and project status. The Contractor shall maintain meeting minutes for the weekly touchpoint meetings. In addition, if requested by MDEO or Project Management Team, the Contractor shall maintain meeting minutes for any other meetings held for the project. The Contractor shall submit an agenda for all meetings two (2) business days prior to the meeting. The Contractor shall submit all meeting minutes to MDEO and key personnel within one (1) business day after the respective meeting. All minutes shall capture the key discussions and decisions from the meeting and include, at a minimum, the attendees, the action items and outstanding issues discussed at the meeting, the Contractor staff responsible for managing each action item and/or outstanding issue, and any other information determined necessary by MDEO or key personnel. All issues and action items should be discussed during the weekly performance meeting. The Contractor shall create an action item and issue repository within ten (10) business days of contract award. The Contractor shall separately maintain a current record of all action items and outstanding issues for the entire performance period, including those that have been resolved or closed.

The Contractor shall provide oversight of all contracted efforts at the program level. The vendor shall receive an undeveloped project assignment, develop a structure and plan for the assignment, verify the approach with stakeholders, complete the assignment, and brief VA staff up through senior leadership. The contract staff shall write detailed white papers that analyze project challenges and provide recommendations for resolution. The contract staff shall perform Quality Assurance reviews of the project and operational deliverables and provide reports that address variances on a monthly basis (due by the last business day of the month). The contract staff shall be responsible for creating a Microsoft SharePoint site within ten (10) business days of contract award. The vendor shall communicate with the COR/ACOR and Project Management Team on all issues related to project outcomes.

Deliverables:

A. Create a weekly performance meeting B. Facilitate weekly meetings C. Provide an agenda for all meetings two (2) business days prior to the meeting D. Meeting minutes due within one (1) business day after the meeting.

E. Meeting minutes shall include key discussions and decisions, the attendees, the action items and outstanding issues, the Contractor staff responsible for managing each action item and/or outstanding issue, and any other information determined necessary by MDEO or key personnel.

F. Develop and maintain action item list and outstanding issues within ten (10) business days of contract award.

G. Maintain the action item and issue repository for the entire performance period, including those that have been resolved or closed H. Present all issues and action items during the weekly performance meeting I. Create detailed ad-hoc white papers that analyze project challenges and provide recommendations for resolution J. Perform Quality Assurance reviews of the project and operational deliverables and provide reports that address variances on a monthly basis (due by last business day of the month).

K. Develop and maintain a SharePoint site for the program/project within ten (10) business days of contract award L. Maintain new and existing SP Pages, Portals, and Trackers as needed. Maintenance will include but are not limited to page patches and page/portal updates.

5.1.3.1 Monthly Performance Summary Report:

On a monthly basis, in accordance with the due date in the Schedule of Deliverables, the Contractor shall submit a performance summary report which details all activities performed in relation to the program management support services related to anticipated tasks 5.1 – 6.3. At a minimum, this report shall include a description of each discrete project or task performed by Contractor staff, a listing of all labor categories that supported the task, and a breakout of the number of labor hours performed by each labor category in completing the project or task.

Deliverable:

A. Provide monthly Performance Summary Report by last business day of the month

5.1.4 Staffing Approach

The Contractor shall maintain a highly qualified staff of personnel to perform the requirements of the individual tasks and deliverables.

The Contractor shall ensure that team personnel obtain security badging as required and that all team personnel take Government-required training within 30 calendar days of contract award.

(1) Sign and acknowledge (either manually or electronically) understanding of and responsibilities for compliance with the Contractor Rules of Behavior relating to access to VA information and information systems and provide pdf to COR/ACOR;

(2) Successfully complete the VA Cyber Security Awareness and Rules of Behavior training and annually complete required security training and provide pdf completion to COR/ACOR;

(3) Successfully complete the appropriate VA privacy training and annually complete required privacy training and provide to COR/ACOR; and

(4) Successfully complete any additional cyber security or privacy training, as required for VA personnel with equivalent information system access [to be defined by the VA program official and provided to the contracting officer for inclusion in the solicitation document - e.g., any role-based information security training required in accordance with NIST Special Publication 800-16, Information Technology Security Training Requirements.]

(5) The Contractor shall provide to the contracting officer and/or the COR/ACOR a copy of the training certificates and certification of signing the Contractor Rules of Behavior for each applicable employee within 1 week (five business days) of the initiation of the contract and annually thereafter, as required.

The COR/ACOR and Project Management Team is the Contractor’s representative responsible for managing the full scope of this PWS. The COR/ACOR shall be responsible for all staff employed and all work performed under the PWS. The COR/ACOR and Project Management Team shall be held accountable for the outcomes of the work performed and the resolution of obstacles to achieving the outcomes necessary for success under the PWS. Specific responsibilities include ensuring that deadlines are met; workflow is coordinated across simultaneous, ongoing tasks; work is performed within the project’s allotted budget; and documents are provided to MDEO and required personnel in a timely manner and adhere to MDEO’s and Project Management Teams quality expectations. In addition, the COR/ACOR ensures that any concerns raised by MDEO or the Project Management Team are timely and appropriately addressed.

Deliverables:

A. Onboarding Status Report as part of the monthly progress report in Section 5.1.3 B. Provide onboarding status weekly

5.1.5 Quality Control Plan:

The Contractor shall develop and maintain its own internal Quality Control Plan to ensure all required program management services are performed in accordance with the contract terms and conditions, as well as the delivery schedule timelines stated in the Performance Work Statement (PWS). The plan shall be delivered to the COR/ACOR, Project Management Team and CO within ten (10) business days of contract award. Thereafter the plan shall be updated quarterly. The Contractor shall develop and implement procedures in their plan that shall identify, prevent, and ensure non-recurrence of marginal performance. The Contractor shall be responsible for making required changes in processes and practices to ensure performance is managed effectively. The Contractor shall take corrective action when any task associated with this contract is found to be deficient or substandard. The cost of correction is to be borne by the Contractor.

The Quality Control Plan shall include, but is not limited to the following:

1. The Contractor’s method of early detection and correction of marginal quality of service, to include corrective action records (including customer complaints) in order to determine causes of deficient performance, including external factor(s). This method shall include providing timely written explanation/documentation of the correction of the defectiveness and correction of cause in accordance to Support Priority Response Time in Appendix B.

2. The Contractor’s plan shall provide methods for identifying and preventing deficiencies and how the Contractor shall prevent the level of performance from becoming deficient

3. The Contractor’s chart showing the organizational structure and lines of authority, the names, qualifications, duties, responsibilities, and classification of each member of the Contractor's Quality Control Team.

4. How the Contractor shall maintain records of all inspections conducted by the Contractor and necessary corrective action taken. This documentation shall be stored in a VA repository(ies) and shall be made available to the Government.

5. How the Contractor shall monitor work to ensure that performance complies with all PWS timelines and deadlines.

6. The contractor shall support quality audit activities to external stakeholders as necessary (e.g. IG, OGC, Contract Auditors, etc.)

7. The contractor shall conduct monthly lessons learned for the purpose of continuous performance improvement (CPI) Deliverables:

A. Provide Quality Control Plan ten (10) business days after contract award B. Updated Quality Contral Plan Documentation quarterly, negative response required if there are no monthly updates to report C. Provide monthly report on lessons learned for CPI due the last business day of the month, negative response required if there are no monthly lessons to report

5.1.6 Performance Review

The Contractor shall conduct bi-weekly (every other week) performance review meetings. Meetings shall be set up in advance, considering availability of Government Program Management Office (PMO) staff, providing phone dial-in and/or teleconferencing or web conferencing. An agenda shall be provided two (2) business days prior to the meeting. The Contractor shall facilitate the meeting, track action items, describe any risks associated with performance, schedule, or other concerns during this meeting, and deliver meeting minutes one (1) business days following the meeting. Meeting minutes shall include current statuses of all open issues and any upcoming product development and implementation activities.

The Contractor shall include, at minimum, the following topics:

1. Risk register review with mitigation strategy and status

2. Quality status/issues with resolution plan

3. Product development status/issues with resolution plan

4. Schedule status/issues with resolution plan

5. Performance status/issues with resolution plan (performance improvement plan/remediation plan)

6. Plans for coming weeks (including performance improvement plan/remediation plan efforts)

7. All action items (status (pending, closed, other), duration, and resource assignments)

8. Deliverable status Deliverables:

A. Create and facilitate a bi-weekly performance review meeting B. Provide meeting agenda two (2) business days prior to meeting C. Provide meeting minutes one (1) business days after the meeting

5.1.7 Quality Assurance

The COR/ACOR and Project Management Team shall monitor the Contractor’s performance and ensure services are received and acceptable in accordance with the PWS. The COR/ACOR and Project Management Team shall evaluate the Contractor's performance through periodic inspection of the Contractor's Quality Control Plan. The COR/ACOR shall routinely evaluate the Contractor’s performance in accordance with the Performance Standards and Metrics in Section 10.

5.1.8 Quarterly Performance Meeting

The Contractor shall conduct quarterly performance review meetings. Meetings shall be set up in advance, considering availability of Government Program Management Office (PMO) staff, providing phone dial-in and/or teleconferencing or web conferencing. An agenda shall be provided two (2) business days prior to the meeting. The Contractor shall facilitate the meeting, track action items, describe any risks associated with performance, schedule, or other concerns during this meeting, and deliver meeting minutes one (1) business days following the meeting. Meeting minutes shall include current statuses of all open issues and any upcoming product development and implementation activities. Representatives from each organization shall participate in the quarterly performance meeting to review performance, quality control, progress, requirements, and other matters. Suggested representation is the COR/ACOR, Project Management Team, the Contractor’s Program Manager, and the Contractor’s designated quality control resource. A date, time and location (teleconference or physical meeting) shall be established following contract award.

Deliverable:

A. Provide quarterly Performance Status Report B. Create and facilitate a bi-weekly performance review meeting C. Provide meeting agenda two (2) business days prior to meeting D. Provide meeting minutes one (1) business days after the meeting KEY PERSONNEL – See Section 7.

Task 5.2 Contract Services Required to be Developed (Mandatory Tasks Requirements)

5.2.1 Portal Services

To enable the creation, authentication, authorized completion and secure electronic submission of DBQs, user-friendly web portal services are required to streamline the assessment process for Veterans, their families, caregivers, VA and VA contracted examiners, and non-VA medical providers.

The Contractor shall provide a professional turnkey solution based on web platform hosting services including but not limited to the setup, configuration, management, maintenance, and support of the web hosting infrastructure.

A web portal shall be designed and developed that is architected for scalability and performance to meet current and future program needs. Claims intake is not static. Legal requirements, eligibility categories, user roles and organizational use cases shift over time, impacting the volume of completed DBQs. Scalability includes the ability to support planned an unplanned events, including increased numbers of authorized users as new use cases emerge or as external circumstances change, such as expanded benefits programs, surges in claims activity or increases in Veteran population.

Current daily business day receipts of DBQs can average to near 36,000. While multiple DBQs are often completed by one examiner, potential concurrent user counts can be estimated at 10,000. Scalability ensures the portal remains effective, compliant and user-friendly under different circumstances.

The portal will not only be used for non-VA provider DBQ submission but for future submissions of DBQ by all MDEO contract providers. Through the incorporation of other and automation initiatives it is anticipated that volume may significantly increase.

The web platform shall support all capabilities documented within PWS Tasks (5.2 through 6.3) and shall comply with all VA and Federal Security requirements. The environment shall have a scalable architecture to support expanding requirements, innovations in AI, continuous process improvement and a dynamic user base.

The Contractor shall:

1. Develop a turnkey Web Portal Services (PS) ready within 120 business days upon contract award for immediate use of DBQ submission for all 82 DBQs, prioritizing delivery of 71 public-facing DBQs first.

2. Establish machine readable, standardized data delivery structure for DBQ transmission that are optimized for automated workflows, implement a data model to ensure consistency of data fields, formats and metadata across all intake channels.

3. Provide documentation (schemas, metadata definitions, integration specifications, etc.) and conduct knowledge sharing to ensure implementation of standardized and required structure by non-VA users of portal services.

4. Design a portal to handle increasing user demand, data volumes and functionality without degradation of performance, security or availability.

5. Design a portal to meet performance benchmarks, including system response time, throughout and availability.

6. Design for redundancy, failover, and disaster recovery including support of offsite storage to ensure data integrity and portal continuity of operations.

7. Provide automated daily backups of all hosted websites and databases.

8. Provide documented disaster recovery plan, ensuring a maximum recovery time objective (RTO) of 4 hours and a recovery point objective (RPO) of 24 hours.

9. Design a portal that supports integration with external systems, data services, and authentication providers using APIs and standardized protocols.

10. Design a portal that accommodates enhancements, new features, and evolving mission requirements with minimal disruption.

11. Develop and deliver a detailed requirements specification and system design document for Government approval.

12. Develop the web portal to support user authentication, role-based access, and secure form creation, completion and submission.

13. Implement mapping of medical condition to appropriate DBQ to ensure selection of the appropriate DBQ form for non-VA providers

14. Develop PS for an interactive user experience leveraging innovation of automation in Artificial Intelligence (AI) to increase submission accuracy and efficiency.

15. Provide mechanisms for form version control, testing, error checking, and validation prior to submission

16. Implement data storage, encryption, and transmission protocols consistent with federal information security standards (e.g., FISMA, NIST)

17. Develop and execute a comprehensive test plan, including unit, test scripts, bug/issue documenting, remediation process, integration, security accessibility and user acceptance testing,

18. Correct identified issues and provide documented test results for Government review and approval prior to production deployment

19. Deploy the portal in a government-approved hosting environment that ensures scalability, redundancy and disaster recovery

20. Establish procedures for defect tracking, remediation, enhancement requests, and transition to operations and maintenance

21. Integrate with VA systems to enhance processing efficiency and support accurate disability compensation decisions, such as VBMS Rating Evaluation Builders and Automated Decision Support (ADS) processes to maximizing the use of automation and artificial intelligence to improve the VA disability claims process.

22. Assist and engage other groups responsible for the development of some aspects of such interface and integration, including VA OI&T .

23. Implement a delivery structure most conducive to automation, document and share structure with non-VA participants

24. Provide reporting capabilities, including submission metrics, error rates and processing status.

25. Comply with all applicable VA Privacy and Security standards

26. Comply with all laws under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act

27. Provide hosting environment that must include a reliable and secure server infrastructure with guaranteed minimum uptime 24 hours a day 7 days a week

28. Provide the environment support of major content management, securely storing both metadata, data and documents

29. Provide support intersystem connections, APIs, plug-ins and other integrations to provide seamless DBQ submission servers among multiple user classes

30. Provide both shared and dedicated server options, including Virtual Private Servers (VPS) and cloud hosting solutions compliant with Federal data hosting regulations.

31.

Deliverables:

A. Create Web PS within 120 business days of contract award B. Create and continually update requirements specification document C. Create and continually update System Design Document D. Create and continually update Wireframes/mockups/prototypes E. Create Test Plan, Test Scripts, Issue Tracker, Remediation Tracker and Test Results Report F. Create and continually update Deployment Plan G. Create and continually update System Documentation and Knowledge Transfer H. Create Deployment summary report for each deployment including any issues encountered.

I. Create standardized data delivery structure for DBQ submission J. Create data model for consistency of data fields, formats, and metadata K. Create knowledge sharing documentation for standardized implementation by non-VA users of portal services L. Design and continually update portal services M. Create and continually update Technical specifications documentation N. Create Test Plan, Test Scripts, Issue Tracker, Remediation Tracker and Test Results Report for scalability testing O. Create and continually update Capacity planning reports P. Create and continually update Performance Objectives Q. Create and continually support hosting environment that will include a reliable and secure server infrastructure with guaranteed minimum uptime of 24 hours a day 7 days a week R. Create and continually support hosting environment to support content management along with securely storing both metadata, data and documents S. Create and support intersystem connections, APIs, plug-ins and other integrations to provide seamless DBQ submission servers among multiple user classes T. Provide shared and dedicated server options, including Virtual Private Servers (VPS) and cloud hosting solutions compliant with Federal data hosting regulations. Provide automated daily backups of all hosted websites and databases.

U. Provide documented disaster recovery plan, ensuring a maximum recovery time objective (RTO) of 4 hours and a recovery point objective (RPO) of 24 hours.

V. Document Recovery Plan W.

X.

Y. Upload all deliverable documentation into SharePoint site Z. All reporting deliverable documentation to be provided within one (1) business day unless specified

5.2.2 DBQ Forms

VA DBQs are essential tools used to collect standardized medical evidence required to evaluate disability claims accurately and efficiently. Forms are categorized by body system and cover various medical conditions. There are 80 plus specific questionnaires, and 71 are available to the public for non-VA provider completion. DBQs are meticulously aligned with the VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities (VASRD) to ensure that the medical evidence gathered is relevant, comprehensive, and facilitates accurate disability ratings. Therefore, the accuracy of the form content, associated workflows, logic and data capture is vital to accurate claims evaluation.

Medical Disability Examination Office’s (MDEO)Vendors are in the process of implementing standard XML and VBA’s API service to ensure all DBQs have a consistent format when placed into the Veteran’s eFolder in VBMS. Upon integration with CAPRI (Compensation and Pension Record Interchange) VHA utilizes the same Content Management Tool (CMT) DBQ Information Exchange Package Documentation (IEPD)and have the same standard XML and consistent DBQ format as contracted examiners. Private clinicians (non-VA providers) do not use a system that interfaces with the VBMS eFolder, or any other VA systems, and currently those DBQs require Optical Character Recognition (OCR) scanning and screen-scraping processes to capture the DBQ meta-data.

The product shall allow clinicians to complete DBQs and to standardize DBQs CMT DBQ IEPD to make the universe of DBQs for medical disability exams standard and consistent.

The Contractor shall:

1. Convert all DBQ forms to structured web-based, interactive style interview format.

2. Implement access controls that restrict users to initiating forms not relevant to their designated role (e.g., only public facing DBQs to non-VA…