RFQ 272267320229 MA Rural Hospital Performance and Quality Improvement Initiative bid version.docx

Request for Quotes Template for Service Engagements

SMALL BUSINESS PURCHASING PROGRAM: The Massachusetts Small Business Purchasing Program (SBPP) was established pursuant to Executive Order 599 to increase state contracting opportunities with small businesses having their principal place of business within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Pursuant to the SBPP, it is the intention of the issuing department to award this Small Procurement to one or more SBPP participating business as described below. Small Procurements are defined as procurements with an estimated annual value equal to or less than $250,000. While all businesses, no matter the size or principal place of business, may submit responses to this solicitation, should an SBPP participant respond and meet the best value criteria as described in this solicitation, the SBPP participant shall be awarded the contract. The review team will not evaluate submissions from non-SBPP participants unless no SBPP Bidder meets the RFQ’s best value evaluation criteria.

RFQ File Name/Title: The MA Rural Hospital Performance and Quality Improvement Initiative

RFQ File Number: 272267320229 Object Code: H78 Bid number: BD-27-1031-BCHAP-BCH01-131571

Purchasing Department: State Office of Rural Health

Engagement Team Leader/ Contact Person: Nikki Calaca

Email: nikki.calaca@mass.gov

1. Description Or Purpose of Engagement:

The State Office of Rural Health within the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MA DPH SORH) supports the development and improvement of healthcare systems in rural communities by increasing and sustaining access to quality services to support the health of rural residents. The federally funded MA Rural Hospital Flexibility Program within the MA DPH SORH seeks to support rural hospital financial, operational, and quality improvement, as well as healthy systems development, community engagement, population health management, and rural emergency medical service integration and advancement. In keeping with these program efforts, the MA DPH SORH is seeking quotes from an organization with longstanding rural health expertise to support Massachusetts’ Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) and Small Rural Hospitals (SRHs) ongoing strategic performance and quality improvement efforts.

The MA DPH SORH anticipates awarding a contract of approximately $98,000.00 per year for up to three years for this engagement.

2. Whether Single Or Multiple Contractors Are Required For Engagement(s)

|X| Single Contractor

3. Indicate Engagement Performance and Business Specifications:

Scope of Service

The selected vendor will support rural MA hospitals in ongoing strategic performance and quality improvement efforts. This support will include administrative and meeting support for rural hospital networks, rural specific technical assistance, and coordination of training and capacity-building opportunities for hospitals engaged in the MA Rural Hospital Program.

The scope of contracted activities for this initiative will include:

1. Support statewide and regional rural hospital networks for information exchange with MA CAHs and SRHs to build understanding around evidence-based, rural-specific models of care. Specific vendor activities include:

a. Support MA rural hospital engagement in the New England Rural Hospital Performance Improvement (NEPI) Program, providing rural capacity-building opportunities with counterparts from Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

b. Provide programmatic expertise and administrative support as needed, to convene network meetings, identify educational priorities, build agendas, and secure meeting space for the MA Rural Hospital CEO/CFO Forum, MA Rural Hospital Quality Improvement Network, MA Rural Health Clinic Network, and other statewide networks that may be identified.

2. Provide technical assistance and training support to MA CAHs and SRHs that may include the following topics:

a. Operational and clinical performance improvement with a focus on areas including Emergency Department and Trauma Service responsiveness, ED throughput, and medication safety.

b. Quality Improvement efforts with a focus on areas including strengthening swing bed programs, Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Project (MBQIP) reporting, and advancing quality improvement infrastructure through patient safety, quality culture, and data-driven performance improvement.

c. Support MA rural hospital participation in training available through the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, as well as certifications, accreditations, and similar efforts and initiatives to improve hospital performance and patient outcomes.

d. Other priority topic areas identified by MA CAHs and SRHs.

3. Increase capacity of rural hospital to address underlying barriers to health in partnership with community-based organizations, enhancing community engagement, improving care coordination, and supporting rural health system capacity.

Evaluation Criteria

Applicant agencies must meet the following criteria:

1. Demonstrated knowledge of and experience working with critical access hospitals and small rural hospitals around strategic performance and quality improvement best practices, knowledge around rural models of care, rural stakeholder engagement, administrative coordination and support, and other related needs. Experience may include other New England states, as well as, ideally, also in Massachusetts.

2. Demonstrated experience successfully facilitating collaborative rural networks – ideally including the New England Rural Hospital Performance Improvement (NEPI) Program, as well as supporting other relevant statewide or regional networks that advance rural hospital program performance.

3. Demonstrated knowledge of the federal Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility (Flex) Program, Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program (SHIP), as well as demonstrated ability to establish relationships with rural hospitals in Massachusetts to provide technical assistance to implement strategies.

4. Demonstrated capacity with staff who are respectful, knowledgeable, and sensitive to the unique challenges of rural communities, and who have working relationships with relevant rural organizations on the state, regional, and national levels.

5. Evidence of vendor ability to comply with all requirements and deliverables stated above within the project budget and timeframes.

Small Business Purchasing Program: The department will award a contract to a Massachusetts based Small Business if a response from an eligible SBPP participant is received and meets the department’s best value criteria.

Performance Requirements and Engagement Monitoring

The Department of Public Health is endeavoring to deliver the Best Value to facilitate our needs. However, it is important to measure the Contractor’s performance to ensure the Engagement is in compliance with what has been requested and what the Contractor has offered in this RFQ. The following performance areas will be subject to measurement:

1. Timely Delivery (Commodities, Services, Reports, Billing, etc.)

2. Responsiveness to Departmental Inquiries

3. Quality of Deliverables (Commodities, Services, Reports, etc.)

4. Performance Targets/Benchmarks (Quantities, Outcomes, etc.)

5. Attendance at scheduled meetings

Payment through Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) is required for any engagement awarded through this solicitation.

To ensure performance monitoring, the selected vendor will be required to update the MA DPH SORH on progress toward the goals of the engagement with at least monthly communication, which can be by email, telephone, or in-person meetings.

4. Expected Duration of Engagement

Anticipated Initial Duration up to: ____months; __1__ year(s)

Anticipated Renewal Options: __2__ options to renew for __1___ year(s) each option

Final End Date of this Engagement: __August 31, 2029_ (equals the initial duration plus all renewal options)

5. Anticipated Expenditures, Funding Or Compensation For Expected Duration

Dollar Amount

Estimated annualized amount $98,000

Will Federal Funds be used to fund any part of Engagement(s)?

*Additional information for contracts with Federal Dollars:

Sub-Recipient: Providers receiving federal grant funds will be considered sub-recipients for federal grant purposes and will be required to comply with applicable federal requirements, including but not limited to sub-recipient audit requirements under OMB Circular A-133.

Unique Entity Identifier: On April 4, 2022, the unique entity identifier used across the federal government changed from the DUNS Number to the Unique Entity ID also known as UEI or SAMS number. Any entity that wants to apply for federal contracts or wants to receive federal funds must register with SAM. Entities that use SAM include for profit businesses, nonprofits, government contractors or subcontractors, as well as state and local governments.

Registering with SAM.gov is free and is required for your organization to receive federal funds. Your organization can submit an application to this RFR without being registered on SAM, however if awarded your organization will need to have an active SAM account prior to contract execution.

Unspent Funds: Any funds from Capital, Trust and/or Federal Accounts designated in the budget that are unspent in any fiscal year will not be available for expenditure in the subsequent fiscal year.

6. Confidentiality Agreement: will be required at time of engagement.

|X| Yes |_| No

If yes is checked, a copy of the confidentiality agreement is posted in attachments for informational purposes only. You do not need to sign and return it with your response.

7. Estimated Procurement Calendar

Times are Eastern Standard/Daylight Savings (US), as displayed on the COMMBUYS system clock. Bidders are responsible for checking the Bid record, including Q&A for Procurement Calendar updates.

RFQ Release Date

Deadline for Submission of RFQ Q&A.1

nikki.calaca@mass.gov

Deadline for Submission of Responses Also known as the BID Opening Date in COMMBUYS

Anticipated Engagement Start Date

1All Questions must be received in writing. Questions can be sent by email no later than the date and time indicated in the Procurement Calendar. All questions should be sent to the email listed in the calendar and should include the RFQ title and number in the subject of the email. All Questions with answers will be posted on the COMMBUYS Attachment section for this procurement.

8. Instructions for Submission of Responses:

Required elements of response include rates, budget, and deliverables.

1. Complete the Application Response Cover Page and include it as the first page of your response

2. Provide a summary of your proposal, approximately 1 page

3. Provide a proposal narrative of no more than 8 pages that includes the following, in the same or similar order:

· A brief statement describing and affirming that the organization has the fiscal and administrative capacity to provide the scope of services requested

· Experience working with and knowledge of rural hospitals, rural health clinics, and other rural models of healthcare service delivery

· Experience facilitating rural hospital networks providing content on a range of both standard and emerging topics

· Experience with partnerships and affiliations that will support successful implementation

· Provide response to Scope of Services detailed in Section #3, above, with the inclusion of:

· How your organization will address health equity and underlying barriers to health, as well as integration with community-based concerns while working with MA rural hospitals

· Past example(s) of collaborations with rural hospital partners to support your provision of technical assistance and capacity-building opportunities, administrative support, and networks you have managed

· Provide a budget and budget justification narrative

· Provide qualifications of staff who will oversee and work on the project, job descriptions if additional staff need to be hired, contingencies if staffing changes take place.

Proposal should use 12-point font, be double-spaced, and have one-inch margins. The application cover page, budget and budget justification narrative, and staffing backgrounds are not included in the page limit.

Additional Response Requirements/Information:

All responses are to be submitted electronically using the online submission tools available to Vendors registered in COMMBUYS. There is no charge to register in COMMBUYS. To Register go to www.COMMBUYS.com and click on the “Register” link on the front page. COMMBUYS Vendor Registration Job Aide is also available.

All Quotes must be received by the Department of Public Health before the specified date, month, year and time of the Bid Opening Date displayed on COMMBUYS. Times are Eastern Standard/Daylight Savings (US), as applicable.

All Bidders are advised to allow adequate time for submission by considering potential online submission impediments like Internet traffic, Internet connection speed, file size, and file volume. DPH is not responsible for delays encountered by Bidders or their agents, or for a Bidder’s local hardware failures, such as computers or related networks, associated with bid compilation or submission. Bids submitted via COMMBUYS are time stamped by the COMMBUYS system clock which is considered the official time of record.

Bidders are encouraged to upload attachments well in advance of the Bid Opening Date. This will help to reduce disqualified submissions that can occur if upload is not fully completed or if an attachment is missing at the deadline. Prior to the Bid Opening Date listed in the Procurement Calendar above, documents can easily be deleted and revised versions can be uploaded. If you wish to revise or delete a quote after submission, you may do so prior to the bid opening date. Please review the Withdraw, Reopen, and Resubmit a Quote in COMMBUYS Job Aide for additional instructions.

No Bid in COMMBUYS Quote If you plan to submit a quote to this RFQ “No Bid” should not be checked anywhere in your quote in COMMBUYS. This includes on the General Screen and the Items tab. Checking No Bid sends your quote to a different location in COMMBUYS than the rest of the quotes for that Bid and you run the risk of the Department not receiving your response. The department will not guarantee that a bid received with a “No Bid” checked will be reviewed.

COMMBUYS Electronic Signatures Quotes submitted via COMMBUYS must be signed electronically by the Bidder or the Bidder’s Agent by accepting the terms and conditions of the bid on the “Terms & Conditions” tab in COMMBUYS. Bidders do this by selecting “Save & Continue” on the “Terms and Conditions” tab after accepting the terms and conditions of the bid. By agreeing to this the submitter attests that s/he is an agent of the Bidder with authority to sign on the Bidder’s behalf, and that s/he has read and assented to each document’s terms.

File Format Scanned documents will be accepted and must be scanned in such a way that they can be read on a computer monitor and printed on 81/2” x 11” paper, unless otherwise specified. Attachments must be uploaded individually and cannot be combined in a zipped file.

File Size Limits COMMBUYS will not accept files that approach or exceed 10 MB. If a large file fails to upload, the Bidder must save the contents as multiple files.

9. COMMBUYS Support

A link to a job aid on How to Submit a Quote on COMMBUYS COMMBUYS Resource Information at www.mass.gov/osd/commbuys Email: Send inquiries to the COMMBUYS OSD Help Desk at OSDHelpDesk@mass.gov Telephone: Call the COMMBUYS Help Desk at 1-888-627-8283 or 617-720-3197. The Help Desk is staffed from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Monday through Friday Eastern Standard or Daylight time, as applicable, except on federal and state holidays.

Technical assistance is available during the procurement process. Every effort is made to respond to inquiries within one business day.

Bidders are advised that COMMBUYS will be unavailable during regularly scheduled maintenance hours of which all users will be notified.

Other Requirements Pertaining to this RFQ

Amendments to BID MDPH reserves the right to make amendments to the RFQ after the initial publication. It is each Bidder’s responsibility to check COMMBUYS for any amendments, addenda or modifications to this Bid and any Bid Q&A records related to this Bid. MDPH and the Commonwealth accept no responsibility and will provide no accommodation to Bidders who submit a quote based on an out-of-date Bid or on information received from a source other than COMMBUYS.

CORI Requirements: In accordance with EOHHS policy, an individual's background, including any CORI and other relevant information, must be carefully considered so that the vulnerable populations served by EOHHS are protected. It is also EOHHS policy that qualified rehabilitated offenders are given a fair opportunity to be employed and successfully reintegrated into the workforce. In accordance with this policy, prior to any work engagement, the awarded Contractor shall obtain a Standard (Employer) Access Massachusetts Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) check on any and all individual employees who are to enter public offices of the Commonwealth or provide services to any Hiring Entity of the Commonwealth. The awarded Contractor must 1) utilize the Internet-Accessible CORI (iCORI) system maintained by the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services (DCJIS) to request and receive CORI in accordance with 801 CMR 2.00 et seq. and 2) comply with the EOHHS CORI check regulations, 101 CMR 15.00 et seq. in reviewing CORI and in documenting its hiring determination as set forth in 101 CMR 15.09. Any associated costs are the responsibility of the awarded Contractor.

Fraud Risk Management and Reporting Requirements: Fraud is defined as any intentional illegal act characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust, committed by an individual or organization to obtain money, property, or services; to avoid payment or loss of property or services; or to secure personal or business advantage.

DPH requires that all providers have a zero-tolerance policy for fraud. All DPH providers must maintain internal fraud risk management policies and procedures that include regular risk assessments, internal controls, and a process for reporting and investigating incidents of suspected fraud. Such policies and procedures shall be made available to DPH for review upon written request.

Additionally, in connection with their work for DPH, providers are required to comply with the following obligations related to incidents of suspected fraud:

· Notification to DPH. Written notification of any incident of suspected fraud must be made as soon as possible, but no less than 5 business days, following discovery to your DPH program contract manager.

· Responsibility for Personnel. Providers are solely responsible for the actions of any individuals or entities it employs, contracts with, or otherwise uses in connection with the provision of the work under this RFQ to DPH, including, without limitation, any actions by such personnel that may result in an incident of suspected fraud and/or the misuse and/or abuse of Commonwealth funds.

· Cooperation. Irrespective of any actions taken by the provider, providers are expected to cooperate fully in any investigation, litigation, or other action deemed necessary by the Commonwealth in connection with an incident of suspected fraud.

· Corrective Measures. Immediately upon becoming aware of an incident of suspected fraud, the provider shall, at its own expense, take all reasonable and appropriate action necessary to mitigate, to the extent practicable, any harmful effect of the incident. Upon request, the provider, at its own expense, shall take such further actions as the Commonwealth may reasonably request, or shall take such additional action to assist the Commonwealth to further mitigate any harmful effect of the incident and prevent recurrence, including, without limitation, strengthening internal controls.

Failure to report incidents of suspected fraud in a timely manner may result in adverse consequences, including, but not limited to, any of the following: recoupment of funds, suspension of payments, required corrective action plans, suspension/termination of program participation and/or any contract with DPH, or civil or criminal penalties.

MDPH use of DocuSign for Execution of Contracts: Contracts and Engagements for the Department are sent through DocuSign. Vendors will be able to use DocuSign to electronically sign and return all applicable contract forms to DPH. A web browser and valid email are all that are needed to access the documents through DocuSign. A DocuSign account is not required. Contracted vendors will be expected to keep their contract contact information updated through the life of their contract with the Department. The Job Aide “How to Sign MDPH Contracts and Engagements” is available in the attachment section for this RFQ on COMMBUYS.

MBTA Communities Compliance Grant Policy: The receipt of grant funds is contingent upon the grantee being able to certify that it will comply with the Massachusetts General Laws, including G.L. c. 40A, § 3A, the MBTA Communities Act. Compliance with the MBTA Communities Act is determined by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities.”

Public Records: All information, documents, and attachments submitted as a response to this RFQ are considered a public document subject to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L., c. 66, s. 10, and to c. 4, s. 7, ss. 26. Please be aware that checking the “confidential” box in COMMBUYS does not bar these documents from being released as a public record pursuant to these statutes once the procurement is awarded, unless statutorily exempt from disclosure.

Small Business Purchasing Program (SBPP) Award Preference: The Massachusetts Small Business Purchasing Program (SBPP) was established pursuant to Executive Order 599 to increase state contracting opportunities with small businesses having their principal place of business within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Pursuant to the SBPP, it is the intention of the issuing department to award this Small Procurement to one or more SBPP participating business(es) as described below.

· SBPP Award Preference: While all businesses, no matter the size or principal place of business, may submit responses to this solicitation, should an SBPP participant respond and meet the best value criteria as described in this solicitation, the SBPP participant shall be awarded the contract. The SST will not evaluate submissions from non-SBPP participants unless no SBPP Bidder meets the SST’s best value evaluation criteria.

· SBPP Participation Eligibility: To be eligible to participate in this procurement as an SBPP participant, an entity must meet the following criteria, and be marked as an SBPP registered business in COMMBUYS:

1. Have its principal place of business in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts;

1. Been in business for at least one year;

1. Employ a combined total of 50 or fewer full-time equivalent employees in all locations, or employees work less than a combined total of 26,000 hours per quarter; and

1. Have gross revenues, as reported on appropriate tax forms, of $15 million or less, based on a three-year average.

Non-profit firms must additionally be registered as a non-profit or charitable organization with the MA Attorney General’s Office and be up to date with all filings required by that office and by tax exempt under Section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code.

· SBPP Compliance Requirements: It is the responsibility of the Bidder to ensure that their SBPP status is current at the time of submitting a response and throughout the life of any resulting contract. Misrepresentation of SBPP status by Bidders and Contractors will result in disqualification from consideration, and could result in debarment, contract termination, and other actions. To learn more about SBPP, including how to apply, visit the SBPP Webpage.

· Program Resources and Assistance: Bidders and Contractors seeking assistance regarding SBPP may visit the SBPP webpage, http://www.mass.gov/sbpp, or contact the SBPP Help Desk at sbpp@mass.gov.

RFQ Standard Template 1-2026