W065--VISN 1 Home Oxygen/Respiratory Care and Durable Medical Equipment (DME) Services

THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY. 

This announcement is seeking information from industry, which will be used for preliminary planning purposes.  No quotes are being requested or accepted with this Sources Sought Notice. THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION FOR QUOTES AND NO CONTRACT SHALL BE AWARDED FROM THIS Sources Sought Notice.

The purpose of this notice is to gain knowledge of interest, capabilities and qualifications of various members of industry, namely Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB) and/or Veteran Owned Small Businesses (VOSB) in accordance with the requirements of Public Law 109-461.  However, all capable small businesses are encouraged to respond. 

The Department of Veterans Affairs New England Healthcare System (VISN 1) has a requirement for combined Home Oxygen/Respiratory Care and Durable Medical Equipment (DME) Services as follows:

Home Oxygen:

This requirement includes Home Oxygen/Respiratory Care Services with related equipment furnishing, ancillary supplies and installation.   More specifically, the services include furnishing home oxygen and respiratory equipment, ancillary supplies, conduct in-home pulmonary assessments and re-assessments by contractor provided respiratory therapists, set-up/complete overnight oximetries and provide documentation of patient education.  Services are to be provided in the States of VT, NH, ME, MA, RI and CT, and may also be required for those patients that may live across the state border in New York. 

VISN 1 rents concentrator systems, oxygen cylinders and liquid oxygen systems under the contract.  VISN 1 currently serves 4123 home oxygen patients.  The Contractor will be required to provide said home oxygen equipment through rental.  

The current requirement includes an estimated 10,500 patients that will require PAP/ASV and APAP devices over the life of the contract. The equipment for these patients will be Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) stored at the Contractors’ warehouse facilities.  The Contractor will utilize the GFE as necessary when prescribed by a VA provider, to include installation, setup, in home fittings, instructions to patients requiring PAP/ASV therapy, and documentation of patient education.

Respiratory Therapist services will also be provided. Currently, VISN 1 has approximately 24,620 CPAP/BiPAP/ASV and APAP respiratory care patients, which require respiratory therapist services to be provided under contract. 

The Home Oxygen Program is a 24 hour/day service, seven days a week and encompasses (i) the delivery and set up of prescribed Home Medical Equipment (HME); (ii) Veteran/caregiver education on services, equipment, basic home safety review, and establishing the schedule for ongoing deliveries (iii) preventive maintenance / inspection’s (PMI) for equipment (iv) Pick-up and cleaning of equipment when services are discontinued (v) providing 24-hour emergency services with the ability to provide services at the VA beneficiary’s (Veteran) home with a maximum of 6 hours of a call (most emergency services to be provided within 2 hours of a call) (vi) compliance with standards and regulatory bodies governing home care and oxygen usage (e.g.  American Respiratory Care Foundations for Respiratory Equipment Used in the Home; American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) minimum standards specification for electrically powered home care portable ventilators; Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI); Joint Commission Standard for Home Care, current year standard; etc.); (vii) Quarterly reports to VA (e.g. incidents reports, infection control, customer service, etc.) There are three primary methods for providing oxygen therapy in the home: (1) Compressed gas (2) Oxygen concentrators, and (3) Liquid oxygen.  The orders for these services are based upon submission of a prescription submitted by a VA provider. 

DME:

Services for the purpose of this effort involves the pickup, delivery, storage, in-house instruction and routine service/refurbishment of Government Furnished Durable Medical Equipment (DME) and Home Telehealth Technology devices, where applicable. Standard and power wheelchair competencies to perform regular maintenance and repairs are required as well.  These services are in support of Veteran patients served by VISN 1’s eight medical centers and associated outpatient clinics. The total number of DME & Home Telehealth patients at each VA site is subject to change.  The total current combined DME patients for the 8 stations is 2165.   Equipment will be supplied by the VA except for rare emergency requirements with prior approval from the VA.  The orders for these services are based upon submission of a prescription submitted by a VA provider.  Services to be provided in the States of VT, NH, ME, MA, RI and CT, and may also be required for those patients that may live across the state border in New York.

Additional Information

1.  Vendor shall provide a Certified or Registered Respiratory Therapist (CRT/RRT) licensed in the state where he/she performs services.  Some VISN 1 patients live outside of the normal VA New England Service area, namely the State of New York.  The Vendor must have staff that has licenses for the State of New York in order to provide the same level of care and maintain timeliness. Nearly all of the VISN 1 facilities have patients that live both in the state where the VA facility is located but also neighboring states.  The Contractor must have staff that has licenses for neighboring states in order to provide the same level of care and maintain timeliness.

These are the VISN1 Medical Center Facilities:

VA Maine Healthcare System/Togus, ME

1 VA Center

Togus, ME 04330

VAMC Manchester, NH

718 Smyth Road

Manchester, NH 03104

VAMC White River Junction, VT

215 North Main Street

White River Junction, VT 05009

VAMC Bedford, MA

200 Springs Road

Bedford, MA 01730

VA Boston Healthcare System

150 South Huntington Avenue

Boston, MA 02130

VA Connecticut Healthcare System

950 Campbell Avenue

West Haven, CT 06516

VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System/Northampton,

MA

421 North Main Street

Leeds, MA 01053

VAMC Providence, RI

830 Chalkstone Avenue

Providence, RI 02908

This is not a request for proposal currently.  The prospective solicitation will outline exact requirements to include evaluation criteria.  It is expected that evaluation criteria will consist of Technical Capability, Past Performance and Price.  The successful contractor under the prospective solicitation shall meet or exceed the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations. Documentation of accreditation under the Joint Commission, or other like governing entity, shall be required with any offer submitted in response to the prospective solicitation, and is required in response to this Sources Sought Notice.  This requirement will be a matter of solicitation compliance.  

The intent of the project is to award a single Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contract for a five (5) year period of performance. The NAICS Code is 532283 and the size standard is $35 Million.

Requested Information

This notice is published to determine sources capable of providing the services required. Those companies capable and interested in a future procurement should respond via email to david.heslin@va.gov; subject line to read: “Sources Sought Response – Home Oxygen/DME Services” and provide the following information:

(1) name of company

(2) DUNS Number

(3) POC with phone number and email address

(4) Socio-economic status (very important)

(5) Capability statement to include capability to provide the estimated services stated above in this notice. 

(6) What is your plan on coverage of the estimated number of patients and the entire performance area?  (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and those counties in New York that boarder Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont).

(7) The transition/switch out time from award is 45 days.  Provide a brief statement on how you would successfully transition all Home Oxygen patients appropriately without interruption to medical care.

(8)  Provide documentation regarding Joint Commission (JCAHO) Accreditation (or other like governing entity) or ability to meet Joint Commission Standards.

(9)  Provide past performance information for at least three (3) current similar service contracts provided for healthcare facilities of similar complexity and magnitude.  Include contract number, date and estimated value.

(10) In the event that this requirement is “set-aside” for SDVOSB/VOSB or SB, the applicable “Limitations on Subcontracting (LOS)” clauses will be included.  If you plan to subcontract any portion of the requirement, how do you propose to meet those LOS requirements?  Please be aware of the VA’s Deviation regarding “similarly situated” first-tier subcontractors.

Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses and Veteran Owned Small Businesses must be verified in the VA’s VetBIz Vendor Information Portal at https://www.vip.vetbiz.va.gov/.  Respondents must have a valid registration in www.SAM.gov. A DUNS number MUST also be provided for verification purposes.  THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION REQUEST. A solicitation will be published in the near future – set aside requirements to be determined based on information received in response to this notice.

Responses are due by close of business July 30, 2020.

This market research is for informational and planning purposes only to determine if a SDVOSB, VOSB, or SB set-aside is appropriate.  This is not a solicitation and does not obligate the Government to issue a solicitation.  Please be advised the Government will not pay any costs for responses and information submitted.  This announcement constitutes an official Request for Information (RFI) as defined by FAR 15.201(e).  RESULTS INFORMATION:  Respondents will not be notified of the results of the evaluation.  Firms responding to this sources sought announcement, who fail to provide ALL the required information requested, will not be used to help the Government make the acquisition decision to set-aside, which is the intent of this sources sought announcement.