Multi-station medical specimen transport

The solicitation to follow is for Medical Specimen Courier services for the VA- at the locations and sites listed below. Requirements include Time and Temperature sensitive specimens as well as non-time and temperature requirements. Services are both recurring and emergency shipments on an as needed basis.

The solicitation to follow is set-aside for Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) only. Responses from other than SDVOSB will not be considered.

Please contact the Contracting Officer with questions via email at: stacy.dion@va.gov



MEDICAL COURIER SERVICE STATEMENT OF WORK

General Overview of Services: Vendor shall be able to pick up patient specimens (blood products and miscellaneous materials) from VA Medical Centers and other medical facilities within VISN 1 and deliver them to said facilities on scheduled courier runs and as needed 24 hours per day 365 days per year. Locations include but not limited to VA Northampton, Leeds, MA, VA Manchester, NH and VA White River Junction, VT.

Contractor to provide all labor, equipment, transportation, gasoline, insurance, and anything else needed to provide courier service for the Department of Veterans Affairs:

VA Central Western Massachusetts, Northampton Campus, Leeds, MA. , VA Manchester, NH, VA White River Junction, Vermont.

The Contractor is expected to pick up and deliver items such as blood and blood components, laboratory specimens, laboratory transport containers, patient records, medical supplies, and other related items as requested.

Federal Holidays: Federal Holidays are as follows and include any other days specifically declared by the President of the United States to be a national holiday:



New Year's Day Martin Luther King's Birthday

President's Day Memorial Day

Independence Day Labor Day

Columbus Day Veteran's Day

Thanksgiving Christmas

INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS: Contractor shall meet all Federal, State and City codes regarding operation of this type of business and furnish the required Insurance Certificates required to work on a Government installation. These requirements will be described in the Special Contract Requirements section.

INCLEMENT WEATHER: Contractor shall contact the Laboratory Manager or Laboratory Administrative Officer should weather conditions delay or cause cancellation of services. Due to the nature of this business it is necessary for the Contractor to furnish vehicles that operate safely in difficult weather conditions. Cancellations should only occur as a last resort or due to acts of God.

TOLLS: Costs of all tolls must be included in the bid price.

DRIVERS: All drivers must be of legal age, possess valid licenses and maintain a neat, clean and professional appearance. Drivers must be able to speak, understand and write English. Drivers shall possess identification showing Contractor name and job title. Contractor is responsible for the actions and conducts of its employees and shall assure that they are consistently compliant with all VA building and parking regulations, policies and guidelines while conducting business on Government property and for VA. Drivers shall not make any personal stops in performance of duties under this contract nor shall any unauthorized passenger accompany the driver during contract work. Drivers shall observe the smoking policy of the VA and only smoke in designated areas. Drivers transporting laboratory specimens must be trained in Universal Precautions for handling of biohazard materials and include use of proper procedures in case of spills or accidents. This training shall also include mandatory Hazardous Materials training. Written statements documenting Hazardous Materials training and training that meets the laws and regulations of the US Department of Transportation and the Centers for Disease Control governing the transport of clinical specimens shall be provided to the Laboratory Manager annually or upon request.

VEHICLES: All vehicles used in performance of this contract shall be registered, licensed and meet the minimum vehicle requirements as mandated by the Department of Transportation. The Government reserves the right to inspect the vehicles and investigate the responsibility of bidder to perform the work outlined in this contract and reject any offer should contractor be lacking.

CONFIDENTIALITY OF RECORDS: Contractor shall assure that the confidentiality of all patient information and records being transported and shall be held liable in the event of any breach of confidentiality. The contractor shall comply with provision of the Federal Privacy Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-579).

REPORTABLE INCIDENTS: Contractor shall furnish a written report should any delivery incidents occur. This report shall be delivered to the Contracting Officer within 24 hours of the incident. Incidents/actions involving blood components or laboratory specimens must be reported immediately to the Laboratory Manager. Incidents/actions involving breach of patient records or patient identifiable information must be reported immediately to either the VA Information Security Officer of the VA Privacy Officer.

EVIDENCE OF RESPONSIBILITY: Contractor must have a minimum of five years experience, be financially responsible, and possess all the necessary equipment, licenses, and manpower necessary to perform the work specified in this contract.

QUALITY CONTROL AND ASSURANCE: Contractor shall develop and maintain a quality control program to assure the above qualifications are consistently met. Contractor must demonstrate ability to immediately remedy any violations of the above requirements. VA reserves the right to perform periodic inspections to ensure compliance.

CONTRACTING OFFICER ROLE: The Contracting Officer or designee is the only person authorized to make any changes to this agreement. This includes changes to price, quality and performance. Should any other person make changes, the changes will be regarded as void and no adjustment to costs will be considered.

PERSONNEL POLICY: Employees working for the Contractor shall not be considered Government employees. The Contractor shall provide Workers Compensation, Professional Liability insurance, health examinations, Income Tax Withholding and Social Security Payments.

PACKAGING AND TRANSPORTATION: All specimens shall be properly packaged and labeled to indicate the general nature of the material being transported. They shall be packaged in a container secured in the vehicle body to prevent movement. Laboratory specimens are to be transported in accordance with specified temperature requirements. Room temperature specimens will be transported inside a cooler and remain at temperature between 20-25°C. Refrigerated specimens must be transported in a cooler with regular ice or cold packs and remain at temperature between 2-10°C. Frozen specimens will be transported in a cooler packed with dry ice and remain at temperature of -18°C or colder. Contractor must provide necessary ice, cold packs or dry ice to maintain temperatures required for specimen stability. Contractor will provide and deliver dry ice, in an approved container for dry ice transport, to the VA Medical Center pathology laboratory upon request. The VA Laboratory and the Contractor will agree upon time of delivery and appropriate amount (measured in pounds) of dry ice to be provided. This dry ice is used for temporary storage of frozen medical specimens during transport.

Vendor must have the capability of tracking specimens and other items from pickup location to delivery location. Documentation of tracking must be presented to COR or COR designee upon request. All documentation for billing should include the pickup location, date, time, person requesting and the delivery location, date, time, person receiving.



Special transport items for Manchester:

1. Claim files (C-files) are confidential health care protecting information of physical paper files which need to be reviewed by the VBA raters and C&P examiners. C-files will be transported in black lockable bins weighing up to 40 lbs. each. There may be multiple bins per run. C&P staff and VBA staff will lock and unlock the bins.



2. Medical records and Pharmacy prescriptions may be transported in Blue/Red lockable mailbags in multiples weighing up to 20 lbs each to be delivered to Primary Care and Pharmacy or a designated location.



Vendor will meet, as necessary, with COR to discuss immediate administrative and problem areas.



Delivery to:



VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System

Northampton Campus

Laboratory 113 (413-584-4040 ext 2380)

421 N. Main Street

Leeds, MA 01053-9764



Pick up:



1. Baystate Franklin Medical Center

163 High St. (413-773-2210)

Greenfield, MA



2. Fitchburg CBOC (781-687-4867)

Burbank Hospital

275 Nichols Road

Fitchburg, MA 01420



3. Worcester Clinic (508-856-0104x 17032)

605 Lincoln St.

Worcester, MA 01605



4. Springfield Outpatient Clinic (413-731-6000)

25 Bond St.

Springfield, MA 01104



5. Pittsfield Outpatient Clinic (413-499-2672)

73 Eagle St

Pittsfield, MA 01201



6. Pittsfield Quest PSC (413-499-8718)

42 Summer St., 3rd Floor

Pittsfield, MA 01201



Courier runs from Baystate Franklin Medical Center Laboratory to Northampton Campus daily, Monday-Friday excluding Holidays and weekends. Expected pick up time: 3:30-4pm. Expected delivery time at Northampton 5-5:30pm.



Courier runs from Springfield OPC to Northampton Campus daily, Monday-Friday excluding Holidays and weekends. Expected pick up time: 9:45 am-10:15 am. Expected delivery time at Northampton 12pm-12:30pm.

Another expected pick up time: 11:45am - 12:15pm. Expected delivery time at Northampton 2:00pm - 2:30pm.



Courier runs from Pittsfield OPC/Pittsfield Quest PSC to Northampton Campus daily, Monday-Friday excluding Holidays and weekends. Expected pick up time: 2:15pm Pittsfield OPC and 2:30pm Pittsfield Quest PSC. Expected delivery time at Northampton, 4pm- 4:30pm.



Courier runs for Fitchburg and Worcester to Northampton Campus daily, Monday-Friday excluding Holidays and weekends (times subject to change):



1. Monday-Friday: Expected pickup at Fitchburg is 2pm and 3pm at Worcester with delivery to

Northampton by 5pm.



2. Emergent/unscheduled pick-ups from Fitchburg to Worcester and/or Leeds and Worcester to Leeds on an as needed basis. This need will be infrequent and only needed when a lab draw from a patient is performed after the regular lab pick up and the specimen needs to be tested STAT or is unstable for storage until the next scheduled courier run. It is not expected that this will occur more than 25 times in a year. Emergent/STAT specimen pick up should be made in 30-60 minutes from time of request.



VA and/or the sending/receiving facility may request driver signatures as written documentation of pick-up and delivery by use of specimen/package track logs or other similar mechanism.











Service from Franklin Baystate Medical Center to Northampton Campus of VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare system 1 250

Service from Fitchburg to Worcester to Northampton 1 250

Service from Fitchburg to Worcester 1 25

Service from Springfield OPC to Northampton Campus 1 250

Service from Pittsfield OPC to Northampton Campus 1 250

Service from Pittsfield Quest PSC to Northampton Campus 1 250



Delivery to:



VA Manchester (603-624-4366 ext. 6639)

718 Smyth Road

Manchester, NH 03104



Special transport items:

1. Claim files (C-files) are confidential health care protecting information of physical paper files which need to be reviewed by the VBA raters and C&P examiners. C-files will be transported in black lockable bins weighing up to 40 lbs. each. There may be multiple bins per run. C&P staff and VBA staff will lock and unlock the bins.



2. Medical records and Pharmacy prescriptions may be transported in Blue/Red lockable mailbags in multiples weighing up to 20 lbs each to be delivered to Primary Care and Pharmacy or a designated location.



STAT PICKUPS-These calls or any calls requiring immediate pickup for any Stat Lab specimens will be made within 15 minutes of the call, URGENT CARE STAT PICKUPS to the Elliot Hospital will be made within 15 minutes of the call, Urgent Care specimens will be delivered to Elliot Hospital within 15 minutes of pickup from the Manchester VAMC.

Routine pickups or deliveries shall be performed within 1 hour. Upon arrival the VA will have a list of items being transported. Service to be provided 24/7.



SCHEDULE OF PICKUPS-The below schedule of pickups is subject to change at any time by the contracting officer. Performed Monday-Friday except on Holidays.



Monday - Friday -11:45 AM Conway & 1:30 PM Tilton delivery to Manchester VAMC

2:00 PM



UNSCHEDULED PICKUP- Pickup that may be assigned as needed usually for an unforeseen event.



Monday - Friday- 11:45 AM Somersworth & Portsmouth 12:30 PM delivery to Manchester VAMC

1:30 PM



MAIL PICKUP- Monday-Friday except on Holidays

MANCHESTER Pickups

MANCHESTER VA MEDICAL CENTER (MAILROOM) 9:00 AM

VETERANS CENTER Hooksett 9:15 AM

BRADY SULLIVAN BUILDING 9:25 AM

NORRIS COTTON FEDERAL BUILDING 9:35 AM

USPS PERIMETER ROAD 9:45 AM

MANCHESTER VA MEDICAL CENTER (MAILROOM) 10:00 AM



AS NEEDED PICKUPS:

Veterans Center Auburn

15 Dartmouth Drive STE 202

Auburn, NH. 03032



STAT CBOC PICKUPS: Performed Monday-Friday except on Holidays

Stat Pickups at all CBOC's: pickup needed within 15 minutes to meet the OSHA requirements for RAPID HIV NEEDLESTICK TESTING (Total 2 Hour Turn-around time from pick up call to test result):



Conway to Memorial Hospital (Conway)

Tilton to Manchester VAMC Laboratory

Somersworth to Manchester VAMC Laboratory

Portsmouth to Manchester VAMC Laboratory



ADDRESSES OF DESTINATIONS

Veterans Administration 718 Smyth Road, Manchester, NH 03104

Tilton (CBOC) Soldiers Home, 139 Winter St, Tilton, NH 03276

Conway CBOC, 71 Hobbs Street, Suite 304, Conway, NH 03818

Somersworth CBOC, 200 Route 108, Somersworth, NH 03878

Portsmouth CBOC (Pease), Pease International Tradeport, 302 Newmarket Street

Portsmouth, NH 03803-0157

Veterans Center, 1461 Hooksett Road, Hooksett NH

Veterans Center Auburn, 15 Dartmouth Drive STE 202, Auburn, NH. 03032

Brady Sullivan Building, 1750 Elm Street, Manchester, NH. 03104

Norris Cotton Federal Building, 275 Chestnut Street, Manchester, NH 03101

USPS, 7 Perimeter Road #2, Manchester, NH. 03103

Elliot Hospital, One Elliot Way, Manchester, NH. 03103



Service From

Location below to Manchester VAMC Estimated Qty Estimated Yearly Unit of Runs Unit Price Total Cost

Somersworth CBOC (Daily) 1 251

Portsmouth CBOC (Daily) 1 251

Tilton CBOC (Daily) 1 251

Conway CBOC (Daily) 1 251

Brady Building (Daily) 1 251

Norris Cotton Federal Building (Daily) 1 251

Veterans Center (Daily) 1 251

USPS Perimeter Road (Daily) 1 251

Vario Auburn (As Needed) 1 12

Somersworth CBOC STAT 1 2

Portsmouth CBOC STAT 1 2

Tilton CBOC STAT 1 2

Conway CBOC STAT 1 2

STAT PICKUP Elliot Hospital (From Manchester to the Elliot Hospital) 1 365

Unscheduled Pickup 1 10





VA White River Junction (802-295-9363 ext. 5500)

215 N. Main Street

White River Junction, VT 05001



Courier Runs for VA White River Junction will be identified as emergent, urgent, immediate, or STAT.



a. Pick up will be within 30 minutes of receipt of the VA telephone request unless the distances involved make it a physical impossibility to do so. If this is the case the VA and Contractor shall agree upon mutually acceptable pick-up/delivery times at the time of the request.



b. VA and/or the sending/receiving facility may request driver signatures as written documentation of pick-up and delivery by use of specimen/package track logs or other similar mechanism.



Courier Runs from VA White River Junction to VA Manchester or vice versa will be identified as routine with desired pick-up and desired delivery times specified at the time of the request.



Pick-up and/or Delivery Sites:

VA White River Junction (802-295-9363 ext. 5500)

Clinical Laboratory

215 N. Main Street

White River Junction, VT 05001



Vermont Department of Health Laboratory (802-863-7335)

359 South Park Drive

Colchester, VT 05446



Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (603-650-2200)

Clinical Laboratory

Borwell Research Building, Level 4

One Medical Center Drive

Lebanon, NH 03756



Greyhound Lines Bus Station (802-295-3011)

44 Sykes Mountain Avenue

White River Junction, VT 05001







VA Manchester (603-624-4366 ext. 6639)

Clinical Laboratory

718 Smyth Road

Manchester, NH 03104









Service From Service To Estimated Qty Estimated Yearly Unit of Runs

VA White River Junction Lab Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center 1 40-120

VT Bus Station VA White River Junction Lab 1 0-30

VA White River Junction Lab VT State Dept of Health Laboratory 1 0-30

VA White River Junction Lab VA Manchester Lab 1 0-30

VA White River Junction Lab Other area hospitals and medical clinics 1 0-10