Service Dog Study - Auburn Research and Technology Foundation (ARTF)

As required by FAR 5.303 and Department of Veterans Affairs Information Letter 049-04-6, submitted herewith is a notice of award on the following contract(s):



(1) Contracting Office: Veterans Health Administration, Service Area Office (SAO) East, Pittsburgh, PA 15212



(2) Contracting Officer: Cheryl Homison, 412-822-3493



(3) Contractor: (3 contractors) Multiple Award Requirements contract awarded to Auburn Research and Technology Foundation, Canine Companions for Independence, and Armed Forces Foundation. All three awardees are 501(c)(3) organizations which will provide Service Dogs and Emotional Support Dogs to support the VA Office of Research and Development research study titled Post Traumatic Stress Disorder/Service Dog (PTSD/SD).



(4) Contract Number(s): VA268-14-D-0005(Canines Companion for Independence), VA268-14-D-0006(Armed Forces Foundation), and VA268-14-D-0007(Auburn Research and Technology Foundation). The term of the contracts are 5 years consisting of a base year and four 1-year options.



(5) Amount of Award: Each contractor's requirements contract is estimated at the 5- year estimated values of: $5,890,226.11 (Canine Companions for Independence); $5,426,234.00 (Armed Forces Foundation); $4,730,391.00 (Auburn Research and Technology Foundation).



(6) These contract awards will provide an ordering vehicle which will provide Service dogs and Emotional Support Dogs for the VA Office of Research and Development supporting the research study titled Post Traumatic Stress Disorder/Service Dog (PTSD/SD). The VA study will evaluate the potential benefit of both service dogs and emotional support dogs to Veterans with a diagnosis of PTSD.

As required by FAR 5.303 and Department of Veterans Affairs Information Letter 049-04-6, submitted herewith is a notice of award on the following contract(s):



(1) Contracting Office: Veterans Health Administration, Service Area Office (SAO) East, Pittsburgh, PA 15212



(2) Contracting Officer: Cheryl Homison, 412-822-3493



(3) Contractor: (3 contractors) Multiple Award Requirements contract awarded to Auburn Research and Technology Foundation, Canine Companions for Independence, and Armed Forces Foundation. All three awardees are 501(c)(3) organizations which will provide Service Dogs and Emotional Support Dogs to support the VA Office of Research and Development research study titled Post Traumatic Stress Disorder/Service Dog (PTSD/SD).



(4) Contract Number(s): VA268-14-D-0005(Canines Companion for Independence), VA268-14-D-0006(Armed Forces Foundation), and VA268-14-D-0007(Auburn Research and Technology Foundation). The term of the contracts are 5 years consisting of a base year and four 1-year options.



(5) Amount of Award: Each contractor's requirements contract is estimated at the 5- year estimated values of: $5,890,226.11 (Canine Companions for Independence); $5,426,234.00 (Armed Forces Foundation); $4,730,391.00 (Auburn Research and Technology Foundation).



(6) These contract awards will provide an ordering vehicle which will provide Service dogs and Emotional Support Dogs for the VA Office of Research and Development supporting the research study titled Post Traumatic Stress Disorder/Service Dog (PTSD/SD). The VA study will evaluate the potential benefit of both service dogs and emotional support dogs to Veterans with a diagnosis of PTSD.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder/Service Dog Study

Request for Information



THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT/ Request for Information ONLY. It is neither a solicitation announcement nor a request for proposals or quotes and shall not obligate the Government to award a contract. The purpose of this Sources Sought Announcement is for market research to gain knowledge of potential qualified sources interested and capable of performing the work and obtain their size classification relative to the North American Classification System (NAICS) Code 812910.



A. Background. As directed by PL 111-84, VA is conducting a study to determine the efficacy of service dogs in the treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The study was started in late 2011 and continues for Veterans who have already been paired with a dog.

A new full and open contract competition will be conducted to obtain the best possible dogs, regardless of where the potential contract partner might be located in the U.S. Per PL 11-84, dogs must be provided by 501(c)(3) entities. The revised study design will require both service dogs and emotional support dogs.

1. The US Department of Justice defines service dogs as "dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities." In contrast, emotional support dogs are described as "dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support [and] do not qualify as service animals." Although the same health, conformation, and temperament standards will be used for both types of dogs, the emotional support dogs will not have public access rights under the ADA. Service dogs will be required to meet Assistance Dogs International (ADI) Public Access Testing criteria whereas emotional support dogs will be required to meet the new American Kennel Club (AKC) Community Canine© standard, which is an advanced extension of the AKC Canine Good Citizen© testing.

The following table provides a brief summary of the differences between service and emotional support dogs:

Accommodation Description Service Dog

(A dog that is individually trained to perform work or tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability.)

Emotional Support Dog

(A dog that provides comfort or

support for a person with a

disability, but does not have any individualized training to perform work or tasks.)

Reasonable Accommodation in Housing?

Yes. Housing provider may ask for documentation that owner has a disability and there is a disability-related need for a service animal. Yes. Housing provider may ask for documentation that owner has a disability and there is a disability-related need for an emotional support animal.

Reasonable Accommodation in Places of Public Accommodation and Public Entities? Yes. Public accommodations and public entities may not ask for documentation, but can ask if the animal is a service animal and what it is trained to do. No.

Reasonable Accommodation for airline travel?

Yes. Airline may ask whether the animal is a service animal and what it is trained to do.

Yes. Airline may ask for a signed note from a licensed mental health professional, not more than 1 year old, that states that owner has a psychiatric disability and a disability-related need for an emotional support animal.



2. Privacy & Confidentiality. Dogs procured will be used in a research study, which is subject to specific and strict laws and regulations regarding the privacy of Veterans enrolled in the study. The privacy of Veterans participating in this study must be diligently protected at all times by VA contracting partners. VA recognizes that vendor staff must be aware of general challenges faced by individuals with PTSD and understand the possible symptoms of PTSD to choose a suitable service dog and perform an effective pairing or choose an appropriate emotional support dog to facilitate successful placement, but the following restrictions will be required of any VA contracting partner:

a. Veterans in the study will not be named, featured, or pictured in any publications, press releases, web pages, text messages, or any other communications, whether verbal, written, or electronic;

b. Veterans in the study will not be solicited for donations, loans, or favorable considerations of any type for any vendor staff. This prohibition includes will include promotional, monetary, or other requests by the vendor;

c. Veterans in the study will not make personal appearances or be filmed for press or promotional purposes on behalf of the vendor or vendor staff members;

d. Any and all external requests for information about the study or Veterans participating in the study will be referred immediately to the VA Contracting Officer. No information about the study will be released to any third party without the written permission of the VA Contracting Officer;

e. Contracting partners will not be able to provide funds or resources beyond what would normally be provided to any person being paired with a service/emotional support dog;

f. Restrictions shall remain in place until all Veterans in the study paired with dogs, from any VA contracting partner, complete the entire study period. Thereafter, written permission shall be obtained from Veterans for any activities described above.

g. Contracting partners may not encourage Veterans to mislead the VA about how a dog is behaving or about the health status of a dog. Veterans must be encouraged to be forthright when reporting information about their dog to the VA.

h. Veterans in study may not work for or volunteer with the contracting partner until all Veterans in the study have completed the study.

B. Request for Information. Both service dog and working dog organizations will be eligible to provide dogs. VA wishes to receive input from both communities, and would much appreciate receiving the detailed information below to help make the study a success.

1. Assuming that a defined set of tasks will be provided by VA, please provide an estimated cost for each type of dog, broken down into the following categories:



Expense

Category Service Dog Emotional Support Dog

Cost of dog

(purchased

or breeding program)

Basic Care/Housing

Food

Veterinary Care

OFA hip and elbow

dysplasia certification

Other (please specify)







2. If your organization prefers a particular breed(s) of dog, please indicate the breed(s) and explain the rationale for the preference.



3. All dogs used in this study must have a calm and stable temperament, a strong desire to please their owner, and be tolerant of a wide variety of people, other animals, and community environments.



a. Please describe how service and emotional support dogs would be obtained by your agency.

b. If dogs are raised from puppies, how are they socialized?

c. If dogs are purchased, what sources are used?

d. What methods are used to select dogs of appropriate temperament?

e. What methods or procedures do you utilize to ensure that dogs will not be aggressive toward children in home and public environments?



4. Dogs used in this study must be of appropriate temperature but health and physical soundness is equally important. Please describe the program of veterinary care (including any screens used for heritable diseases/conditions), plus immunizations, parasite control, and other components of your veterinary care program.

5. Dog training.

a. Describe the training approach including the method(s) of correction used.



b. When and how will it be determined if an individual dog will be a service dog or an emotional support dog?



6. What are the qualifications of the personnel who train your dogs?



7. PTSD Experience.

a. What experience does your organization have with providing services to individuals with PTSD?

b. Assuming that a Veteran diagnosed with PTSD does not also have mobility challenges, list the tasks you believe to be most valuable for a person with PTSD, and provide a detailed description of the task(s) and how it would be expected to help them:

8. What process does your organization use to match a recipient/handler with a suitable dog? Please be as specific as possible.

9. Experience.



a. How many years of experience does your organization have training service and/or working dogs (specify each and type)?

b. How many years of experience does your organization have training emotional support dogs?



c. How many dogs (service, emotional support and/or working) has your organization placed in the last three years?



10. Based upon past experience, what is an estimated expected pairing failure rate for service or working dogs, and what are the most common handler and dog factors leading to such failures?



11. Please estimate the number of dogs that could be provided in a 12 month period with three months of advanced notice?

a. How many trained service dogs?

b. How many emotional support dogs?

12. What regulatory and/or accrediting agencies inspect your organization and at what interval?





REQUESTED INFORMATION: STATEMENT OF CAPABILITY: Submit a brief description (five [5] pages or less) that shows your company can provide the required services. One additional page may be included explaining experience in performing these services to the VA, other government agencies, or for private facilities. Potential sources should identify business name, point of contact, business size and any applicable business socio-economic category (i.e. small business, SDVOSB, VOSB, SB, etc), DUNS number, address, and any additional information felt to be pertinent. All vendors must be registered in SAM https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/ prior to contract award. Responses to this notice should be electronically mailed in PDF format or word format to Cheryl.Homison@va.gov. Telephone responses will not be accepted. Written responses must be received no later than 3:00 PM (EST), Tuesday, November 19, 2013.



Contracting Office Address:

Department of Veterans Affairs; Service Area Office East, 323 North Shore Drive, Pittsburgh PA 15212.



Delivery and Place of Performance:

Will be more defined Upon the Release of a Solicitation.



Type of Contract:

5 Year (Estimated) Long Term, Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity Contract



Point of Contact(s):

Cheryl Homison

Contracting Officer

412-822-3493

Cheryl.Homison@va.gov