Request for Information (RFI) - National Home Oxygen Contract

This is a request for information (RFI) seeking feedback from industry on a proposed national contract for home oxygen.  The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) seeks feedback from industry partners who believe this acquisition strategy is feasible, as well as from those who have concerns about its viability.

An offeror would need to ensure a hypothetical proposal could cover all transportation, labor, fuel, parts, ancillary supplies, and supervision nationally. The offeror will furnish home oxygen and respiratory equipment, conduct in-home pulmonary assessments and re-assessments by registered Respiratory Therapists, set-up/complete overnight oximetries, provide assessments for conserving devices and portable oxygen concentrators, and provide documentation of patient education. Additionally, the offeror will need to provide respiratory services including but not limited to invasive and non-invasive ventilators (BiPAP ST), heavy duty compressors, liquid oxygen, portable oxygen concentrators, conserving devices, tank-only rentals (cluster headache patients), and CPAP/BiPAP.

The offeror will be expected to support all VA Medical Center’s (VAMC) across the country, including contacting VA beneficiaries across all 50 states (including Puerto Rico) for delivery and/or pick up arrangements as ordered by the VAMC. The total number of home respiratory care patients at each VA site is highly variable and subject to change. The Home Respiratory Care Program, Pulmonary Section, Medical Service, at all VA facilities admits patients into the Home Respiratory Care Program after performing assessment of their clinical condition.

This information will be used for preliminary planning purposes only.  No proposals are being requested or accepted at this time.  This is not a solicitation, and no contract shall be awarded by this RFI.  Feedback will drive the future acquisition strategy. 

The purpose of this RFI is to gain industry feedback on the following questions.  VHA asks that parties who are interested and parties who believe this is not feasible respond with the following information:   

1. General Information: Company name and address, point of contact with phone number, and UEI number.

   1. Company socio-economic status to identify business as being an SDVOSB, VOSB, Small Business, Hubzone, 8a, Woman Owned, EDWOSB, etc.  
   2. All interested firms must be registered in SAM (www.sam.gov).
   3. Past (or current) performance examples on a somewhat relevant size and scope (for example, at the VISN level – or multiple VISN’s) 
      1. If you are currently a provider of home oxygen services to the VA, please cite your contract #’s.
2. Overall Feedback: Provide a bottom line up front (BLUF) synopsis of your perspective on a national procurement strategy and its viability. 
3. Local/State Regulations: Explain how you currently (or would) navigate states with varying licensing, accreditation requirements, state regulations on storage and transportation of oxygen.  This includes obtaining licenses, having specific liability insurance for HME, and meeting very specific safety requirements.  This would also include meeting and exceeding the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) standards across different geographic areas.
4. Clinical Concerns: Home oxygen clinical requirements are unique for each Veteran.  This means different delivery/response times (hours to days/weeks), pricing, size of tanks, # of home visits, required monitoring, peripherals needed, etc.  Even for VISN wide contracts, they can have massive price schedules to try and capture all possible scenarios.  Do you have any insight into how extrapolating this to a national level would be possible? If you believe it is possible, how would you build redundancy? How would you address vulnerable patient notifications in cases of natural disasters and maintain coverage during weather related issues?
5. Mitigating Risk: VHA is concerned about the risks of a national contract, such as natural disasters causing outages or downtime due to contractor IT/logistics failures. Financial risk/challenges could also affect performance on a national scale, as past performance at the VISN level has shown issues. How would you mitigate these risks? If you think this is not feasible, what other risks should be considered?
6. Avoiding Bundling: Bundling can make it difficult for small businesses to compete, as they lack the resources, scale, or capabilities to bid on a contract this large.  The Government’s concern is that by aggregating multiple VISN contracts into one, it can reduce the number of competitors, potentially leading to monopolistic or oligopolistic market conditions. This reduction in competition can increase costs and reduce innovation. How would you build a subcontracting network inclusive of small businesses?  Do you have any insight into how small business could be incorporated to offset such a consolidation? 
7. Protest Risk: Home Oxygen has historically been one of the most frequently protested VHA requirements. This market is already highly competitive at the VISN level. On a national scale, the concern is that there could be continuous protests (agency, GAO, COFC, COFC appeal) that could realistically halt solicitations and awards for years. Your perspective or insight into this area would be greatly appreciated.
8. Other Information: What other information would you like the Government to know while planning this procurement? 

The response date to this RFI is August 31st at 17:00 EST, but the Government appreciates responses as soon as possible.  Please submit to Bill Nalls (Contracting Officer) at  William.nalls@va.gov and Alison Cormier (Program Manager) at Alison.Cormier@va.gov.

This market research is for informational and planning purposes only.  This RFI does not constitute a solicitation.  All information received in response to this RFI that is marked as proprietary will be handled accordingly.  In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract.  Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI.