VA HANDBOOK 6500.6 APPENDIX C MARCH 12, 2010 APPENDIX C C-10 C-11 NOTICE OF INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE: The Department of Veterans Affairs Network Contracting Office 4, intends to award a sole source, Firm-Fixed-Price Contract to Topp Business Solutions for the provision of Annual Service and Support for the Dolby Fusion Voice, Fusion Text, and Fusion Speech. Services to be located at the Lebanon VA Medical Center, located at 1700 South Lincoln Avenue Lebanon, PA 17042. This contract action is for services for which the Government intends to solicit from only one source under the authority of FAR 13.106, Justification for Single Source Award. Interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to the requirement or submit proposals. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) for this requirement is 541519 with a small business size standard of $25.0 Million. THIS NOTICE OF INTENT IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE QUOTATIONS. Responsible sources may identify their interest by submitting capability information by 4:30 PM EST, on Monday, November 22, 2021, in order to establish the ability of the source to meet this requirement. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. The Government will not be responsible for any costs associated with the preparation of responses to this notification. All inquiries and submittals must be sent via email to Justin Erdley, Contract Specialist, at
[email protected]. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted. STATEMENT OF WORK: Topp Copy Maintenance/Support A. GENERAL INFORMATION Title of Project: Fusion Voice System Maintenance & Support Scope of Work: Contractor shall provide for the Lebanon Veterans Affairs Medical Center (LVAMC) all necessary software/hardware maintenance regarding the Fusion Voice System to facilitate its proper functioning for the transcription of medical documentation along with support for Transcription Department staff. Background: In 2015, the Transcription Department of the LVAMC began using the Fusion Voice System for the transcription of medical documentation. A one-year warranty was included with this installation that included customer support and routine maintenance. Continued maintenance of system hardware and technical support to Transcription staff are necessary to ensure proper functioning of the Fusion Voice System. Performance Period: The period of performance for this effort is to include the following: Base with Four Option Year Contract. Each period shall not exceed one year in duration, unless mutually agreed upon and a formal modification issued. All terms and conditions applicable to year #1 shall extend to the following years unless otherwise agreed upon. Regular Business Hours: For the purpose of this contract, regular business hours will be defined as Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 4:30 PM. Type of Contract: Firm-Fixed-Price B. CONTRACT AWARD MEETING The contractor shall not commence performance on the tasks in this SOW until the CO has conducted a kick off meeting, or has advised the contractor that a kick off meeting is waived. C. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS In the event of on-site visits, all contract personnel are to be instructed that smoking is prohibited in LVAMC buildings and only allowed in designated outside smoking areas as identified. Contractor must ensure their personnel working in conjunction with this contract possess basic proficiency in spoken and written English. All conduct of contract personnel should be respectable and sensitive to patients and VA personnel. The Contractor shall manage transportation for its staff to and from the LVAMC for instances of maintenance being performed on site. Necessary changes in procedures, i.e. dictation system being unavailable for providers to dictate due to maintenance, should be discussed with the COR and/or chief of HIMS in advance of implementation. All maintenance should be done in a manner that minimizes delay or interruption of medical documentation by the providers. D. CONTRACTOR REQUIREMENTS The Contractor shall be responsible for providing all parts and/or labor needed for maintenance of the Fusion Voice System hardware. The Contractor shall provide necessary on-site support during regular business hours. (Emergency on-site support will be available at the request of the government in necessary situations at an additional cost.) All assigned contractor staff shall be required to undergo a background investigation initiated and undergone Privacy and Security training in accordance with VA Handbook 6500.6 prior to the Contractors employ. The Contractor shall provide qualification of staff or training certificates to the Contracting Officer s Representative (COR) for evaluation. The Contractor shall strictly follow any and all VA national and local policies and Directives. These policies will be provided at the time of the awarding of the contract. In such cases that the vendor needs to interact with patient information included in a dictation (i.e. rebuilding a dictation file not correctly processed by the system), the vendor will ensure that all individually identifiable health information shall be treated with the strictest confidentiality. Access to this information shall be limited to essential personnel only. Information on audio files, etc. shall be secured when stored. Upon conclusion of the issue, all copies of individually identifiable health information shall be destroyed or returned to VA. The Vendor shall comply with the Privacy Act, 38 USC 5701, and 38 USC 7332 and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements. Contractor must certify that all employees working on the contract received VA Privacy training, Information Security training, and have signed the Rules of Behavior Document necessary to obtain access to VA electronic files. Contractor will be responsible for ensuring the confidentiality of all patient information and shall be held liable in the event of any breach of confidentiality. The Contractor shall bear the expense of obtaining background investigations. If the investigation is conducted by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the contractor shall reimburse VA within 30 days. The cost of the background investigation for calendar year 2009 is $305.00 per investigation, this price is subject to change on a year to year basis. E. GOVERNMENT REQUIREMENTS VA will provide space for servers needed for the functioning of the Fusion Voice System as well as access to servers for Contractor staff as requested by the COR. VA staff will provide installation of Fusion Voice System end-user workstation (including Fusion Voice Manager and Fusion Voice Player) to Transcription staff as required. Assistance with initial setup of Fusion Voice Manager and Fusion Voice Player software once installed will be provided by the Lead Transcriptionist and/or chief of HIMS. F. PERFORMANCE STANDARDS Contractor is to provide all labor, travel, parts and annual preventive maintenance inspections following the manufacturers recommended guidelines for equipment related to the Fusion Voice System. The Contractor is to advise the COR and/or chief of HIMS regarding preventive maintenance necessary for Fusion Voice System equipment. All maintenance work shall be performed by competent, experienced personnel qualified to work on the specified equipment in accordance with good manufacturing practices. In cases of temporary dictation system interruption due to routine maintenance, the Contractor shall make arrangements for this with the COR and/or chief of HIMS at least two (2) business days in advance to allow enough time to notify providers. The Contractor shall also provide a timeframe for the interruption and/or time the system will again be available. Contractor staffs are required to maintain all computer access required for this contract to keep it current and operational. This access includes VA network access, CAG access, and server access. As not keeping this computer access current causes delay, the contractor will be required to reply to monthly communications (via email) from the Lead Transcriptionist, the Contracting Officer Representative (COR), or chief of HIMS confirming they continue to have all necessary access to the VA network, CAG access, and necessary servers. If access needs to be restored, the contractor is to contact the COR to begin this process. If unable to contact the COR, the Contracting Officer (CO) should be notified of any lapse in computer access as soon as possible. The Contractor will be expected to maintain 100% competency on all performance standards herein. The COR should be notified immediately of any temporary circumstances encountered by the Contractor (i.e. email interruption, phone line problems, etc.) that might prevent complete adherence to these standards. G. EQUIPMENT FAILURE The Fusion Voice System operates with two servers. A primary server is used to store and maintain dictations being transcribed. A second server is then used to mirror this primary server and provide continued system operation in the event of a failure with the primary server. In the event the primary server fails and the backup server begins operation in its place, the contractor shall provide 24/7 remote support to correct the problem. Notification of the primary server not operating can be made to the Contractor by the COR, chief of HIMS, and/or any Transcription staff member. If on-site support during regular business hours is required, the contractor shall notify the COR and/or chief of HIMS as soon as possible in order to facilitate access to the server. If the primary server is not operational within two (2) hours, the Contractor shall then inform the COR and/or chief of HIMS of the problems affecting the server and provide a timeframe for a possible solution. In the event both servers used for the Fusion Voice System fail, the contractor shall provide 24/7 remote support to correct the problem. Notification of both servers not operating can be made to the Contractor by the COR, chief of HIMS, and/or any Transcription staff member. The Contractor shall immediately notify the COR and/or chief of HIMS of the possible issues affecting both servers and provide a timeline/plan for getting at least one server operational. If on-site support during regular business hours is required, the Contractor will inform the COR and/or chief of HIMS as soon as possible in order to facilitate access to the server. In the event both servers fail, the contractor must put in place an emergency plan and let the COR know of this plan by phone call immediately . If the COR is not available call the CO of what will take place to keep the servers operational. The contractor must have a backup emergency plan in action within 24 hours to get at least one server operational. If emergency on-site support (i.e. support needed outside regular business hours) is required, the contractor shall advise the COR and/or chief of HIMS of this likelihood as soon as possible. Owing to the additional cost of emergency support not included in this contract, a determination for this will be made by the chief of HIMS or their superior. This Approval of the cost will be put on a credit card or an emergency Purchase Order, to oversee that an Unauthorized Obligation does not take place. Any on-site support during regular business hours required for system maintenance and/or the correction of a system malfunction should be coordinated through the COR to ensure access to the server can be arranged. The contractor shall notify the COR of needing access to the server at least two (2) business days in advance for routine/non-emergent situations. In emergency situations, the contractor shall notify the COR and/or chief of HIMS as soon as possible that server access is required. In such cases, server access will be coordinated with FITS staff as much as possible. H. EMERGENCY EXPECTATIONS As the Fusion Voice System is used to provide necessary patient documentation in the operation of a medical facility, all equipment failures/interruptions are expected to be dealt with immediately by contractor staff. Remote support to correct equipment failures/interruptions should be used as a primary means of correcting issues that arise. If on-site support to correct equipment failures/interruptions is deemed necessary, immediate efforts to coordinate access to the server with the COR and/or chief of HIMS should be made by the Contractor. In an emergency situation involving equipment failures/interruptions, the contractor should provide an available point of contact to the government to facilitate easy and efficient communication regarding the issue at hand. Contractor staff should provide the COR and/or chief of HIMS with regular updates on efforts to correct issues when dealing with periods of equipment failures/interruptions lasting longer than two (2) hours. VHA Supplemental Contract Requirements for Ensuring Adequate COVID-19 Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors Contractor employees who work in or travel to VHA locations must comply with the following: Documentation requirements: If fully vaccinated, shall show proof of vaccination NOTE: Acceptable proof of vaccination includes a signed record of immunization from a health care provider or pharmacy, a copy of the COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card (CDC Form MLS-319813_r, published on September 3, 2020), or a copy of medical records documenting the vaccination If unvaccinated and granted a medical or religious exception, shall show negative COVID-19 test results dated within three calendar days prior to desired entry date. Test must be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use or full approval. This includes tests available by a doctor s order or an FDA approved over-the-counter test. Documentation cited in this section shall be digitally or physically maintained on each contractor employee while in a VA facility and is subject to inspection prior to entry to VA facilities and after entry for spot inspections by Contracting Officer Representatives (CORs) or other hospital personnel. Documentation will not be collected by the VA; contractors shall, at all times, adhere to and ensure compliance with federal laws designed to protect contractor employee health information and personally identifiable information. Contractor employees are subject to daily screening for COVID-19 and may be denied entry to VA facilities if they fail to pass screening protocols. As part of the screening process contractors may be asked screening questions found on the following website: COVID-19 Screening Tool. Regularly check the website for updates. Contractor employees who work away from VA locations, but who will have direct patient contact with VA patients shall self-screen utilizing the COVID-19 Screening Tool, in advance each day that they will have direct patient contact and in accordance with their person or persons who coordinate COVID-19 workplace safety efforts at covered contractor workplaces. Contractors shall, at all times, adhere to and ensure compliance with federal laws designed to protect contractor employee health information and personally identifiable information. Contractor must immediately notify their COR or Contracting Officer if contract performance is jeopardized due to contractor employees being denied entry into VA Facilities. END OF NOTICE OF INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE