Palliative Care Rural Initiative

The Department of Veterans Affairs Midwest Healthcare Network (VISN 23) intends to solicit a requirement for a contractor to perform a survey leading to the development of a plan for enhanced communication, coordination, and streamlined community hospice services for Veterans residing in rural communities. Contractor duties will include surveying all “rural†hospice sources (list provided by VA), as well as identifying and surveying community healthcare providers offering end of life services within VISN 23’s catchment area (throughout ND, SD, NE, IA, MN – see VISN 23 Web site). The survey will be aimed at producing a plan of action to increase access, improve communication, and streamlining the reimbursement process for veterans residing in rural areas in need of these services. This task is 10% of the total project. Utilizing the results of the survey, the contractor will be ultimately be responsible to collaboratively work with interested hospice / end of life organizations to develop four care coordination models. These models will consist of tools and resources, (utilizing VA provided models). The contractor will also provide one model of their own. All models will serve the purpose of bridging the gap between the VA and rural community hospice or other end-of-life care providers to produce a replicable program for entire Midwest Healthcare Network, and will be shared nationwide with the Veteran Health Administration. This task is 75% of the total project. At completion of the project, the contractor will compile and provide the VA 10 hard copy and electronic versions of the survey results and five models created. All reports, surveys, and models created under this contract will be the sole property of the VA. This acquisition shall be conducted through full and open competition and shall result in a single award of a firm-fixed price contract to the offeror whose proposal is most advantageous to the Government, technical, price and other factors considered. The NAICS Code is 541611, $7.0M. Further details regarding the services required and proposal submission instruction will be included in the solicitation, which will be issued on/about April 29, 2011. All potential offerors are reminded that in accordance with FAR 52.212-4(t) all contractors are required to be registered with the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database in order to conduct business with the Federal government. Lack of registration in the CCR database may make an offeror ineligible for award. The website is located at http://www.ccr.gov/. Vendors must not contact station health representatives regarding this upcoming requirement. All inquiries must be directed to the contracting officer. Each Offeror must have an established firm in the business called for, be financially sound, able to show evidence of reliability, ability, experience, facilities, and personnel directly employed by them to render prompt and satisfactory service. All responses to the upcoming solicitation will be required in hard copy (as described in the solicitation instructions), and mailed Attention: Stu Eidenschink (04-S), VA Health Care Center, 2101 Elm Street, Fargo ND 58102. The award notice to this solicitation will be posted to this site, and may serve as formal non-award notice to those not selected for this contract.