SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- TRANSCRIPTION SERVICES
- Notice Date
- 6/24/2003
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- Attn: Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Contracting Of= ficer, (90C), 1970 Roanoke Boulevard, Salem, Virginia 24153-5483
- ZIP Code
- 24153-5483
- Solicitation Number
- 246-03-00342
- Response Due
- 7/31/2003
- Archive Date
- 8/30/2003
- Point of Contact
- Point of Contact - Kathy Allen, Contract Specialist, (540) 224-191= 1, Contracting Officer - Kathy Allen, Contract Specialist, (540) 224-1911
- E-Mail Address
-
Email your questions to Kathy Allen
(kathy.allen6@med.va.gov)
- Description
- This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepare= d in accordance with the format in FAR subpart 12.6 as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This procurement is conducted under simplified acquisition procedures in accordance with FAR Part 13. This announcement constitutes a formal Request for Proposals (RFP) and a written solicitation WILL NOT be issued. The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2001-14. RFP 246-03-00342 should be referenced on all bids. The applicable NAICS code is 561410 with a size standard of $6 million. This procurement is a Small Business Set-Aside. The VA Medical Center, 1970 Roanoke Blvd., Salem, Virginia 24153 and the VA Medical Center, 1100 Tunnel Road, Asheville, North Carolina 28805 have a requirement for Transcription Services. This procurement is to obtain the services of off-site dictation and medical transcription services, for the period September 1, 2003 up to and including August 31, 2004 with four (4) available one (1) year option renewal periods. Transcription services shall be provided seven days a week, 24 hours a day, within prescribed turn-around-times (=93TAT=94). Contractor shall transcribe reports utilizing headers and footers and appropriate formats. Contractor shall also transmit and/or upload completed reports to VA using transmission and batch protocols provided by VA. The dictated material includes highly technical medical terminology, and requires a comprehensive (minimum of three years) knowledge of specialized vocabularies. Specialized vocabularies shall encompass a variety of subjects in the field of medicine and surgery to include, but are not limited to: ambulatory care, anesthesiology, cardiology, dermatology, dentistry, drug and alcohol treatment, endocrinology, general medicine, gastroenterology, general surgery, geriatrics, gynecology, hematology immunology, internal medicine, neurology, neurosurgery, nuclear medicine, oncology, ophthalmology, oral surgery, orthopedics, otolaryngology, otorhinolaryngology, vascular, pathology, psychiatry, psychology, plastic surgery, pulmonary, renal, radiology, rheumatology, spinal cord injury, thoracic surgery, transplant, and urology.=20 Material is dictated by a variety of clinical staff and requires adaptation to variations in accents, speech, tone, voice volume, delivery, pronunciation, and enunciation. The dictated material includes, but is not limited to the following: discharge summaries, operative and non-operative (cardiac catheterization, endoscopy, dermatology) reports, medical history and physical exam reports, radiology reports, emergency department notes, compensation and pension examination reports, transfer summaries, outpatient and inpatient progress notes, cardiology reports (Holter monitors, echocardiograms, stress treadmills), neurology reports (EEG, EMG, Dopplers), surgical pathology reports, cytology reports, autopsy reports, mental status examinations, Persian Gulf examinations, Agent Orange examinations, procedure notes, consultations, miscellaneous medical and other administrative reports. System: The Salem and Asheville VAMC=92s have their own dictation equipment, Dictaphone Enterprise Express System.=20 The transcribed documents are either typed directly into the VAMC=92s Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VISTA) system or are typed and uploaded into the VISTA system. Contractor capability to perform both functions is necessary. Contractor must be able to dial into the system, transmit transcribed documents, monitor jobs in the dictation system database and produce management reports from the database. Equipment necessary to comply with the terms of this contract is the responsibility of the Contractor. Contractor must use communications software that is compatible with the VAMC=92S VISTA system. The Contractor shall connect to the VAMC=92s system utilizing a secure Virtual Private Network (VPN). The VA shall provide the license for the VPN. Note: Currently, there is no cost to the Contractor for a VPN license, but this may be subject to change. Contractor shall pay for connect/toll charges for dialing any and all VA-provided telephone numbers. Adequate power and connections will be maintained by the Contractor to provide uninterrupted service. Any equipment, material, or services required in the performance of this contract (i.e. dialing toll charges, site visit(s) to the VAMC=92s for training the Contractor, background investigations, etc.) shall be included in the price of the line items. Line Count: A Character Gross Line shall consist of a maximum of sixty-five (65) characters in length, with margins set for (65) maximum characters per visual line. Font will be Courier New 11 Point. Any line with typed text is counted as a billable line. No charges are assessed for blank lines (a line containing no text). There will be no bolding or underlining of words in transcribed reports due to incompatibility with VISTA. Transcription is completed in Microsoft Word. (Specifically, Dictaphone=92s EX TEST database). Site must be configured with the following line counting options enabled, unless otherwise specified in the contract or elsewhere in this section: Include Headers and Footers; Include Template; Include Tokens; Adjust character count to include spaces between words. For billing purposes, lines are calculated by adding the number of characters in a report and dividing by 65. Header text is non-printable and non-billable characters. Not all characters in a report are countable for line counting and billing purposes. Only those characters in a report following the header up to and including the footer are countable for line counting and billing purposes. None of the text/characters in the header of a transcribed report shall be counted for line counting or billing purposes. The header includes all text/characters including and between $HDR and $TXT. The Contractor shall not bill the VA for any other typed characters - this includes but is not limited to transcriptionist comments, logs, TAT reports, e-mails or correspondence to the VA, and/or any typing required to upload patient reports into the patient=92s electronic medical record. The VA shall be responsible for payment of lines received rather than lines transmitted. TAT (Turn-Around-Time): The VA's Dictaphone system shall allow the Contractor to immediately access jobs through a pool assignment as soon as they are dictated. TAT is the difference in time between the time the author hangs up at the conclusion of dictating into the Dictaphone system, and the time the Contractor's completed transcribed report is uploaded (regardless of upload methodology) into the correct patient electronic record in VISTA/CPRS. When the author hangs up at the completion of a dictation, the dictation system shall record the date and time that the dictation was completed/closed. The system shall also record the date and time the transcription of that report was completed. However, it must clearly be understood that the date and time that transcription was completed has absolutely no bearing on the overall TAT. It is not until the date and time that the transcription is uploaded into the correct patient=92s electronic record that the TAT can be calculated. Turnaround Times: History and Physicals 4 hours; Emergency Room Notes 4 hours; Transfer and Interim Summaries 4 hours; Stat Radiology reports 2 hours; Other STAT dictation=092 hours; Compensation and Pension Exam 24 hours; Discharge Summaries 24 hours; Progress notes 24 hours; Operative Reports 24 hours; Procedure Reports 24 hours; Radiology Reports 24 hours; Other non-stat dictation 24 hours. Note: TAT is calculated on a 24-hour basis, including weekends and holidays. Technical proposal required to be submitted which shall address contract staffing and oversight; operations and quality assurance; contingency plan and security; and past performance on contracts of similar size and scope (refer to 52.212-1 of uploaded documents). The Contractor shall furnish to the Contracting Officer with their proposal a Certificate of Insurance which shall contain an endorsement to the effect that cancellation of, or any material change in the policies which adversely affect the interests of the Government in such insurance shall not be effective unless a 30-day written notice of cancellation or change is furnished to the Contracting Officer.=20 Provisions and clauses found at 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items; 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications =96Commercial Items; 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items; 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items apply to this RFP. The following FAR and VAAR clauses and provisions are added by addendum: 52.203-6 Restrictions on Subcontractor Sales to the Government, with Alternate 1; 52.219-8 Utilization of Small Business Concerns; 52.212-2 Evaluation =96 Commercial Items; 52.216-1 Type of Contract; 52.216-18 Ordering; 52.216-19 Order Limitations; 52.216-22 Indefinite Quantity; 52.217-8 Option to Extend Services; 52.217-9 Option to Extend the Term of the Contract; 52.219-6 Notice of Total Small Business Set-Aside; 52.222-21 Prohibition of Segregated Facilities; 52.222-26 Equal Opportunity; 52.222-35 Equal Opportunity for Special Disabled Veterans, Veterans of the Vietname Era, and Other Eligible Veterans; 52.222-36 Affirmative Action for Workers with Disabilities; 52.222-37 Employment Reports on Special Disabled Veterans, Veterans of the Vietnam Era, and Other Eligible Veterans; 52.225-13 Restriction on Certain Foreign Purchases; 52.232-34 Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer =96 Other than Central Contractor Registration; 52.239-1 Privacy or Security Safeguards; 52.222-41 Service Contract Act of 1965, As Amended; 52.222-42 Statement of Equivalent Rates for Federal Hires GS-5 - $25,000 Annually; 52.222-43 Fair Labor Standards Act and Service Contract Act-Price Adjustment; 52.224-1 Privacy Act Notification; 52.224-2 Privacy Act; 52.232-18 Availability of Funds; 52.232-19 Availability of Funds for the Next Fiscal Year; 52.233-2 Service of Protest; 52.237-3 Continuity of Services; 852.203-71 Display of VA Hotline Poster; 852.216-70 Estimated Quantities for Requirements Contracts; 852.233-70 Protest Content; 852.233-71 Alternate Protest Procedures; 852.237-71 Indemnification and Insurance; 852.237-70 Contractor Responsibilities; 852.270-1 Representatives of Contracting Officers; and 852.270-4 Commercial Advertising . Contracting with Parties Listed on the OIG List of Excluded Individuals/Entities: In accordance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and the Balanced Budget Act of 1977, the Office of Inspector General has established a list of parties and entities excluded from Federal Health Care programs. Specifically, the listed parties and entities may not receive Federal Health Care program payments due to fraud and/or abuse of the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Therefore, all offerors shall review the OIG List of Excluded Individuals/Entities on the OIG web site at www.hhs.gov/oig to ensure that the proposed candidate(s) and/or firm(s) are not listed.=20 Offerors should note that any excluded individual or entity that submits a claim for reimbursement to a Federal health care program, or causes such a claim to be submitted, may be subject to a Civil Monetary Penalty (CMP) of $10,000 for ach item or service furnished during a period that the person or entity was excluded and may also be subject to treble damages for the amount claimed for each item or service.=20 CMP=92s may also be imposed against health care providers and entities that employ or enter into contracts with excluded individuals or entities to provide items or services to Federal program beneficiaries. The Contractor shall be responsible to provide the following to its employee(s): Workers=92 Compensation Insurance; Income Tax Withholding; Social Security Payments. Payment: Sums due the Contractor shall be paid monthly in arrears. Payment address is Chief, Resources Support Service (04A), VAMC, 1970 Roanoke Blvd., Salem, VA 24153 for services performed for VAMC Salem and Chief, Resources Support Service (04A), VAMC, 1100 Tunnel Road, Asheville, North Carolina 28805 for services performed for VAMC Asheville. Contracting Officer: Kathy L. Allen; telephone number is (540) 224-1911; FAX number is (540) 983-1065.=20 Bidders are responsible for obtaining any amendments and documents relative to this solicitation on this website. All responsive, responsible sources that submit a proposal received by 4:30 p.m. EST, July 31, 2003, will be considered by the Government. Bids shall contain the completed clauses FAR 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items.
- Web Link
-
RFP 246-03-00342
(http://www.bos.oamm.va.gov/solicitation?number=3D246-03-00342)
- Record
- SN00355682-W 20030626/030624213447 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |