Q999--Questions for Government- VHA Integrated Staffing Program

PURPOSE OF THIS MODIFICATION:

There are still seats open to register for the May 2, 2023 event for industry day, thus the registration is hereby extended to Tuesday, April 25, 2023 or until all seats are full. Please read through the information below and in Section B: How to reserve your spot, use the link provided or QR code to register.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Office of Healthcare Transformation (OHT) and Strategic Acquisition Center Frederick (SAC-F), in conjunction with Georgetown University, will be hosting a day of Conversations on VHA Workforce Strategies for the future VHA Integrated Critical Staffing Program supporting Veterans, VHA Healthcare Personnel, VHA National Program Offices, Veterans Integrated Service Networks, VA Medical Centers and other VHA organizations.Â

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Details of the event are as follows:Â

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What: Conversations on VHA Workforce StrategiesÂ

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Why: VHA is facing health care staffing shortages, much like the rest of the U.S. health care industry. In response, VHA is launching the Integrated Critical Staffing Program (ICSP), an effort to engage the broader health care recruiting, temporary staffing, and professional services sector to provide necessary services. VHA encourages the formation of interdisciplinary, intersectoral, integrated teams prepared to support the ICSP. To that end, this event aims to:Â

Explore broader health system issues around health care labor shortages and workforce capacity through a panel discussion with health care workforce scholars and experts;Â

Share important data and trends about VHA s critical staffing shortages and rising health care demands, to allow all participants to understand the challenges being addressed;Â

Explain the ICSP approach and provide the details about the acquisition from program and contracting perspectives to ensure better understanding of the requirements;Â

Obtain feedback from industry and event participants and answer common questions in order to reduce overall programmatic risks and clarify the requirements;Â

Promote fairness, competition, and quality of responses by educating participants with a transparent explanation of VHA s staffing challenges and proposed ICSP approach; andÂ

Facilitate integrated team development and partner formation by sharing a list of interested event participants and encouraging networking opportunities.Â

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Who:Â Â

Health care workforce policy experts from VHA and industry and VHA senior leaders;Â

Recruiters and Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) representatives;Â

Contracting and program personnel; andÂ

Industry (interested SDVOSBs, VOSBs, Small Businesses, Other than Small Businesses, national health care recruiters, recruitment process outsourcing firms, health professional organizations, credential verification organizations, professional services companies, and others interested in supporting VHA)Â Â

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When:Â Tuesday, May 2, 2023 (8:00AM - 1:00PM EST)Â

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Where: Rafik B. Hariri Building  Â

Lohrfink Auditorium Â

3613-3625 Canal Road NWÂ

Washington, DC 20007Â

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How to reserve your spot:

Due to space constraints, event participants and industry personnel will be registered for this event in the order received. Vendors will be permitted to register up to two personnel per firm. At the discretion of the organizers, only Attendee #1 Primary Contact may be permitted to attend. If your firm s attendance will be limited to one attendee, the Government will notify you by April 27, 2023. To register, please follow the attached link or scan the QR code and submit the requested information. Please respond by 12pm ET April 25, 2023.Â

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VHA ICSP Registration SurveyÂ

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https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GF38737Â

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Note: In the event you do not make the cut off, your name will still be added to the list of interested event participants and you will receive a copy of event notes, slides, etc.Â

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Upon confirmation of your registration, additional information about the event and the Integrated Critical Staffing Program will be distributed. Questions regarding this special notice and additional documentation shall be submitted to the Contract Specialist, April Bloom at April.Bloom@va.gov no later than 12pm ET, April 24, 2023. Please note, although your firm may submit specific question(s), the Government will only address common themes at the event due to time constraints. A later posting will be released that will answer all submitted questions.Â

********************************END OF SPECIAL NOTICE*******************************

Background

Request for Information (RFI) 36C10X23Q0083 VHA Integrated Staffing Program was released February 28, 2023. The purpose of the RFI was to perform market research to better understand industry capabilities to broadly fulfill clinical, non-clinical, and program support temporary staffing needs within the Veterans Health Administration. Question B4 of the RFI presented the following:

B4. When facing similar challenges where national reach, breadth and depth of capability and experience, and integration of diverse skillsets were necessary, VA has successfully deployed innovative, large-scale Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract solutions that included contract awards to multiple teams comprised of prime contractor (experienced integrator) and dozens of subcontractors (individual firms). Led by an SDVOSB prime contractor that coordinated with dozens of formal teaming partners (SDVOSBs, VOSBs, small businesses, large business partners, universities, and non-profit organizations), each team combined their reach and collective capabilities to tackle some of VHA s largest professional service requirements. Figure 1 below depicts a representative team built using these principles.

Figure 1: Representative Integrated Team

When considering potential strategies to address worsening critical VHA staffing shortages, the Government anticipates that a similar encompassing solution may also require the establishment of vendor teams led by an expert integrator (prime contractor). To be a viable solution, prime contractors would require access to national healthcare recruiting companies, health professional training programs, medical specialty societies, credentialing and privileging, and recruitment process outsourcing companies.

To provide insight in the area, please describe examples as a prime or subcontractor involving work related to the LGD that required reach back and integration with the specialty providers listed above. Please provide size, scope, duration, and level of complexity for each example; specifically include:

Managing sizable vendor teams with national spread/reach

Managing interdisciplinary staffing teams

Contract management with numerous subcontractors, efficiency in invoicing

Respondent Contact Information

To aid in the teaming arrangements depicted in the Question B4 integrated team concept, the Government is sharing interested respondent contact information. The following RFI respondents have made their contact information available and agreed to sharing with industry:

Company

POC Responding

Email Address (POC)

Phone No. (POC)

Allied Search Partners

Melissa Owens

melissa@alliedsearchpartners.com

407-697-1175

Allpro Staffnet LLC

Adrian Scioli

ascioli@allprohcs.com

615-843-1377 x 111

AMI Expeditionary Healthcare LLC

Thomas Kouloganis

Thomas.Kouloganis@ami.health

910-364-5456

Ansible Government Solutions LLC

Derek Johnson

Derek.Johnson@ansible-gs.com

443-956-3150

Arete Health Group

Derrick Griggs

DGriggs@8020group.com

213-267-1607

Aspire-Luke JV LLC

Gilbert Perales

gilbert.perales@aspireluke.com

210-554-2630

Blue Water Thinking

John Lee

john.lee@bw-thinking.com

703-731-9190

BTL Technologies Inc

Jennifer Mitchell

Jlmitchell@btltech.com

210-467-5033

CLFC Consultants

Richard Palmer

r.palmer@clfchealthcare.com

703-651-2103

COGENT Infotech Corporation

Justin Acord

justin.acord@cogentinfo.com

412-889-7700

Customer Value Partners LLC

Cheree Hodges

contracts@cvpcorp.com

703-345-9138

Dignity Health Global Education

Katelyn Michtich

Katelyn.michtich@dhge.org

1-480-210-8351

EGA Associates LLC

Jeremy Mock

Jeremymock@egaassociates.com

215-565-1004

Everson Advisory Group LLC

Jeff Baetz

bd@everson-ag.com

703-867-7053

Forte Human Capital Inc

Luis Gonzalez

lgonzalez@fortehumancapital.com

915-443-3858

Global Dynamics LLC

Lewis Weaver

lhweaver@theglobalway.com

443-539-7931

Infojini Inc

Sandeep Harjani

sandeep.harjani@infojiniconsulting.com

443-257-0086

InSync Consulting Services LLC

Sue Hitchcock

shitchcock@insynconline.net

321-223-9227

InterTrauma Consulting

M. Alex Guerrero

guerrero@InterTrauma.com

718-618-4321

Korn Ferry U.S. Government Consulting Services

Wendy Monsen

wendy.monsen@kornferry.com

703-439-5921

Laredo Technical Services Inc

Joseph Lukowski

joseph@laredotechnical.com

210-705-2904

Loyal Source Government Services LLC

Chad Janovec

cjanovec@loyalsource.com

407-591-3088

Maclean Health

Tony Campos

tcampos@themacleangroup.net

916-233-6769

Maxim Healthcare Staffing Services Inc

Chris Remily

chremily@maximstaffing.com

312-577-7524

MedOne Pro LLC

Shannon Schleiden

shannon@med1pro.net

814-341-6270

Millbrook Support Services Inc

Alison Wiege

Awiege@Millbrooksupport.com

480-757-5737

Na Kahu Malama Nurses Inc

Nicci Olds

nolds@staffingsolutionsofhawaii.com

808-951-0111

Nexien Inc

Kay Kang

chanhee.k@nexien.com

571-224-1492

North American United Healthcare Services J.V. LLC

Veronica Lane

vlane@wjmps.com

301-789-2964

Optum Serve

Regina White

regina.white@optum.com

761-361-7483

Patriotic Holdings LLC

Michael Matthews

Michael@patrioticholdings.com

254-371-4161

Posterity Group LLC

Radcliffe Antoine

rantoine@pgllc.us

202-604-9456

Premier Healthcare Services

Georgiana Johnson

georgiana.johnson@premierhealthva.net

757-410-2754

Prometheus Federal Services

Shawn Boo

sboo@pfs.us

202-792-1005

Resource Personnel Consultants Company LLC

Billy Kent

bkent@rpcstaffing.com

972-371-2932

Sharecare Inc

Alicia Oehmke

Alicia.Oehmke@sharecare.com

615-969-4427

Siemens Healthineers

Danielle Wilson

Danielle.Wilson@siemenshealthineers.com

978-519-0271

SigNetCyber LLC

Rufus Jackson

jackson@signetcyber.com

719-229-3193

Synergy Staffing Inc

Paschal Duru

federal@synergystaffing.org

720-266-4007

Synergy Tech Consulting LLC

Fred Merritt

fred@synergytechconsulting.com

800-279-9214

United Anesthesia

Brenda Lambert

blambert@unitedanesthesia.com

336-423-0226

Vighter LLC

Tom Harrison

tharrison@vighter.com

210-774-5393 x 413

Wisestaff LLC

Sandi Ward

sward@wisestaff.com

650-799-0890

Now What?

Industry partners (Clinical/ Non-Clinical/ Program Staffing and Recruiting firms) interested in participation in a formal, future solicitation competition should consider using this list and other sources when assembling teams for future proposals (assuming an integrated teaming approach is required in the future solicitation).

Monitor SAM.gov for future related Industry engagement events, including formal information on a day of Conversations on VHA Workforce Strategies , tentatively planned for on May 2, 2023, in Washington, DC.

If you re a Staffing or Recruiting firm that did not respond to the initial RFI, but would like your contact information included in any future distribution, please email the following information to April Bloom (april.bloom@va.gov), David Warnert (david.warnert@va.gov), and Dennis Rogers (dennis.rogers4@va.gov) by April 17, 2023 COB.

***********************END OF CONTRACTING OPPORTUNITIES NOTICE***********************

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veterans Health Administration (VHA)

Request for Information (RFI) Integrated Critical Staffing Program

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY (as defined in FAR 15.201(e)), this is not a solicitation. Solicitations are not currently available. Requests for a solicitation will not receive a response. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received, provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted, or respond to any questions or comments that may be submitted in response to this RFI. This notice does not constitute a commitment by the United States Government and does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI; the Government assumes no financial responsibility for any costs incurred. Submission of any information in response to this market survey is purely voluntary.

The agency does not intend to award a contract but rather gather information on capability, delivery and other market information pertinent for acquisition planning. The result of this market research will contribute to determining the method of procurement and identify parties having an interest in and the resources to support a potential future requirement. The Government may use response information to conduct one on one discussions as well as industry days to further market research efforts.

The information provided in the RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government.

RFI PURPOSE This Request for Information (RFI) is for Market Research Only.

BACKGROUND The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is America s largest integrated health care system, with over 370,000 employees providing care in approximately 1,300 facilities (including 171 medical centers and over 1,100 outpatient sites of care of varying complexity organized into 18 Veteran Integrated Service Networks (VISN) See VISNs in Interactive US Map at https://www.va.gov/directory/guide/map.asp?dnum=1 ), serving 9 million enrolled Veterans each year. VHA faces growth in health care demand due to changes in demographics, the care backlog from the COVID-19 pandemic, trends in shifting sites and modalities of care, greater reliance on VHA health care with increased transitions to VA priority groups 1 through 3, new enrollees related to the PACT Act, and other factors. There are critical shortage occupations where at least 20% of VA health care systems have a shortage in the labor market, for both clinical and non-clinical occupations.

It is essential that VHA have access to a broad network of professional and allied healthcare staffing services and pipeline development partners that include national healthcare recruiting companies, recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) companies, medical and nursing specialty societies, health professional training programs, credential verification organizations, and other partners who can provide pre-positioned staffing capacity with broad geographical coverage; agile, rapid response capabilities to fill clinical and non-clinical vacancies until new VHA employees can be onboarded; flexibility in meeting a comprehensive array of temporary staffing needs; and ease of use for all VHA stakeholders.

PROBLEM The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has critical staffing shortages across multiple occupational series including clinical and non-clinical positions. Staffing shortages are expected to worsen in the coming years due to rising health care demand and the challenge of promptly recruiting and onboarding new hires to meet that demand. VHA predicts an annual need of 10K temporarily staffed positions across 171 medical facilities as well as many, community-based outpatient clinics, domiciliary care, and nursing homes and other sites of care.

VISION To reduce staffing shortages across VA in order to increase access to care for Veterans.

SCOPE VHA is exploring all (or near-all) encompassing solutions to support implementation and healthcare staffing requirements nationally at all levels within VHA. Solutions will likely include the following support for clinical service environments: On demand clinical and non-clinical services, to fill emergent staffing needs; Staffing coverage for fixed periods of time to allow normal recruitment and onboarding processes to proceed without gaps in Veteran access to timely and high-quality health care and other services; and Temporary staffing coverage for ongoing program management and support needs that allow VHA to accomplish its strategic goals and objectives.

ATTACHMENTS See attached for Labor Group Descriptions. (LGD)

INSTRUCTIONS FOR RESPONDING TO THIS RFI

CONFIDENTIALITY: No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).

Response Format/Page Limitations: The overall total page limit for responses to this RFI is fifteen (15) pages. Responses should be submitted in Microsoft Word format with Times New Roman font, 12 pt. or greater font size. Interested parties should limit marketing material to allow sufficient space for adequately, directly, and substantively responding with the information of most interest to the Government.

In all correspondence relevant to this RFI please identify it as a response to the Integrated Clinical Staffing Program - RFI 36C10X23Q0083 - . (Response and Subject Line of email)

Any organization with potential capability and capacity responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed. Respondents are requested to limit responses to the information and in the format provided below.

A - GENERAL INFORMATION (Cover Sheet 1 page)

Organization name, address, and web site. (include any previous names used)

Company Ownership (public, private, joint venture)

Point of contact to include e-mail address and telephone number.

Business size (large or small). If small, please provide type of small business/socio economic status.

Proposed single North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) that best fits these task areas, or if multiple proposed include rationale.

If applicable, identify any VA FSS/GSA contract number(s), schedule(s), and SIN category or other contract vehicles that support this work as described in the Labor Group Description (LGD). B CAPABILITY AND MARKET INFORMATION

Index 1 page (Please provide an index to assist the Government in identifying where you have addressed each question below in your Capabilities Statement and Market Information. Please provide question number and corresponding page and section heading and/or paragraph number.)

The scope of the work of the contract is complex and requires staffing across numerous disciplines, geographic locations, and licensing requirements. Therefore, having supported contract(s) similar in nature and complexity is important to successful fulfillment of VHA requirements.

Describe how your experience in commercial and Government healthcare and current capability as a prime contractor (within the last 5 years) has equipped you with the knowledge, skills and ability to support integrated staffing requirements for large, complex regional or national health care networks or organizations. For each contract mentioned, please provide the size of the organization(s) supported in terms of dollars (budget), whether it was government or commercial, regional or national, regional locations served, number of people (employees/patients/enrollees), number of partners, and number of locations. Please provide occupational series or labor categories provided under the experience(s); describe how you verified and managed qualifications; describe how you assessed competence; discuss how you managed recruitment; and provide time-to-fill metrics. Under the attached LGD there is great potential for variation in resource requirements and a need for a diverse skill set compliment. Due to the complexity of programs, it is probable that multiple concurrent requests for staffing crossing several labor groups will be required. Additionally, VHA demands will require simultaneous wide geographic dispersion of contracted resources, some with limited notice. Therefore, it is essential that any contractor supporting the work under the attached LGD have the availability to quickly recruit high quality personnel through multiple channels, the ability to staff on short notice with experienced personnel, extensive reach back capability, and access to unique subject matter experts.

Please describe the scope and scale of support provided at the Veterans Affairs Central Office (VACO) level, or private sector federated healthcare network, as a prime contractor managing a complex program, with multiple lines of effort which required agility and staffing of unique and diverse requirements. Please describe the scope and scale of support provided at the VISN and Medical Center level, or an integrated health system or healthcare facility, as a prime contractor managing a complex program, with multiple lines of effort which required agility and staffing of unique and diverse requirements.

When facing similar challenges where national reach, breadth and depth of capability and experience, and integration of diverse skillsets were necessary, VA has successfully deployed innovative, large-scale Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract solutions that included contract awards to multiple teams comprised of prime contractor (experienced integrator) and dozens of subcontractors (individual firms). Led by an SDVOSB prime contractor that coordinated with dozens of formal teaming partners (SDVOSBs, VOSBs, small businesses, large business partners, universities, and non-profit organizations), each team combined their reach and collective capabilities to tackle some of VHA s largest professional service requirements. Figure 1 below depicts a representative team built using these principles.

Figure 1: Representative Integrated Team

When considering potential strategies to address worsening critical VHA staffing shortages, the Government anticipates that a similar encompassing solution may also require the establishment of vendor teams led by an expert integrator (prime contractor). To be a viable solution, prime contractors would require access to national healthcare recruiting companies, health professional training programs, medical specialty societies, credentialing and privileging, and recruitment process outsourcing companies.

To provide insight in the area, please describe examples as a prime or subcontractor involving work related to the LGD that required reach back and integration with the specialty providers listed above. Please provide size, scope, duration, and level of complexity for each example; specifically include: Managing sizable vendor teams with national spread/reach Managing interdisciplinary staffing teams Contract management with numerous subcontractors, efficiency in invoicing

If relying on a previous response, please reference the applicable question; negative responses are required.

The complexities and scale potentially associated with a structured solution to the critical staffing problem may require resources well above those typically available through the Small Business community. To promote Small Business participation and ensure future opportunities for companies owned and controlled by Veterans, the VA is seeking input and ideas on how best to satisfy the 38 U.S.C. § 8127(d), VA Rule of Two and 38 U.S.C. § 8128 At https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/38/8127 & https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/38/8128 while still operating at an acceptable program risk level in an environment with extensive resource and specialized expertise requirements. VA foresees a possible need for robust teaming arrangements with a compliment of contractor partnerships, potentially with dozens of firms or more. Please provide any suggestions, input, or ideas to meet the demand and address and mitigate program risks, while acknowledging VA s desire to consider Veteran firms first.

Optional Question (for future pricing insight) --Government pricing for temporary staffing services often involves hourly labor rate contracts or firm fixed price contracts for annual employment. Please describe alternative pricing mechanisms that may be more responsive to local market conditions and indicate if you have any Government contracts using these alternative pricing mechanisms (if so, please provide a contract number and point(s) of contact).

**************************************************************************** Submission: Responses to this RFI shall be submitted to the following points of contact: Allen.Smith3@va.gov, April.Bloom@va.gov, David.Warnert@va.gov, and Dennis.Rogers4@va.gov respectively no later than at 10:00AM ET on Monday, March 22, 2023.

Questions: No questions are being accepted at this time.

RFI Expansion: Depending upon the responses received, VA may request additional information, may conduct future question and answer sessions, or may conduct meetings or an industry day. 52.215-3 Request for Information or Solicitation for Planning Purposes (Oct 1997)

(a) The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this solicitation or to otherwise pay for the information solicited except as an allowable cost under other contracts as provided in subsection 31.205-18, Bid and proposal costs, of the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

(b) Although proposal and offeror are used in this Request for Information, your response will be treated as information only. It shall not be used as a proposal.

(c) This solicitation is issued for the purpose of: Information.

(End of provision)