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FBO DAILY ISSUE OF MAY 04, 2006 FBO #1620
SOLICITATION NOTICE

R -- Intent to sole sourceCouncil of Ethical Organizations.

Notice Date
5/2/2006
 
Notice Type
Solicitation Notice
 
NAICS
611430 — Professional and Management Development Training
 
Contracting Office
Department of Veterans Affairs;VA Central Office;Acquisition Operations Service (049A3);810 Vermont Avenue, NW;Washington DC 20420
 
ZIP Code
20420
 
Solicitation Number
VA-101-06-RQ-0093
 
Response Due
5/12/2006
 
Archive Date
5/27/2006
 
Small Business Set-Aside
N/A
 
Description
The Department of Veteran Affairs intends to procure professional consultant services on a Sole Source basis with the Council of Ethical Organizations. This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. This acquisition will be accomplished using commercial item procedures in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 12 and accordance with FAR 6.302-1, for Other Than Full & Open Competition. This notice is not a request for offers. A determination not to compete this proposed procurement based on response to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. The anticipated date of award is May 12, 2006. Written inquiries or comments regarding this announcement may be emailed to gabriel.wright@va.gov. Please reference Intent to Sole Source - Council of Ethical Organizations. This solicitation document incorporates provisions and clauses in effect through FAC 05-05. The associated NAICS Code work shall be performed under is 6411430. This acquisition is unrestricted. The provisions at 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items, and 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items apply to this solicitation. Offerors are responsible for returning a copy of the Representation and Certifications at FAR 52.212-3 with their proposal. A copy of the provision can be obtained at www.arnet.gov . Commercial items FAR clauses 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items, and 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statues or Executive Orders - Commercial Items, apply to this acquisition. All Contractors are required to register in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database prior to being awarded a contract. Contractors are responsible for the accuracy! of info rmation added to CCR. To register go to http://www.ccr.gov/. STATEMENT OF WORK General Objectives and Requirements Title of Project FY 2006 Compliance and Business Integrity (CBI) Annual Report A. General Objectives and Requirements 1. Background The Veterans Health Administration (VHA), within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), administers the largest integrated health care system in the nation. In 1999 VHA established the Office of Compliance and Business Integrity (CBI) and modeled it after the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) Compliance Program Guidance for Hospitals of 1998. The purpose of the CBI Office is to serve as the principal adviser to the Office of the Under Secretary for Health in matters relating to compliance and organizational integrity in the business arena. In 2004, the HHS OIG supplemented its original guidance. The new guidance confirmed that hospital compliance programs should periodically review the effectiveness of their programs. The CBI Office was, and is, developing methodologies to be used in this evaluative effort. One major aspect of that effort is the CBI Annual Report. The CBI Annual Report is a survey-style questionnaire administered by the VHA Central CBI Office which inventories the program activities taking place at the facility level, sets policy in terms of required program elements to be in place at all medical centers, and serves as an educational tool as it references the source documentation for many elements. 2. Overview The VHA CBI serves in an oversight capacity reviewing the VHA Chief Business Office (CBO) revenue program and ensures that appropriate internal and external controls are in place to adequately assure the Under Secretary that VHA is compliant in its business dealings with external parties, to include veterans, through the issuance of co-payments, and to third party payors such as private insurance companies. The CBI Program in VHA is organized as follows: Central Office in Washington has a Chief CBI Officer and ten to twelve analysts. Each VISN has one VISN CBI Officer. Each medical center has one CBI Officer. Some facilities and VISNs have support personnel, but that is not the norm. Each level has a "dotted line" reporting relationship to the CBI office above and below in the organization, but the officers directly report to the various medical center and VISN directors. 3. Period of Performance The period of performance for this contract shall begin at the date of award and last eight (8) weeks; the period of performance may be concluded prior to that date. The contract will end upon the government's official acceptance of the Fiscal Year 2006 CBI Annual Report. The contractor shall begin work within 5 working days after contract award or as soon thereafter as is mutually agreed upon. 4. Place of Performance The government anticipates that this contract work will take place in the contractor's facility. 5. Contract Type This will be a Firm-Fixed Price contract. 6. Scope and Objectives This Annual Report will be the third of its type conducted by the CBI Office. The CBI Annual Report was established to meet several major objectives in the compliance and business integrity effort: To provide a standardized and consistent report, in both format and substance, to facilitate annual reports by VA medical center and VISN CBIO as required by the CBI Program. To provide VHA leadership at the VA medical center, VISN, and VA Central Office levels with information regarding the state of facility compliance programs on an annual basis. To provide standard and consistent information to the Compliance Advisory Board (CAB) and the CAB Certification Subcommittee for their use in reporting to the Executive Committee of National Leadership Board (NLB). To provide a standardized database of CBI program elements to facilitate the evaluation and assessment of the effectiveness of CBI programs, and assessment of those program elements that make the most difference in compliance outcomes. To promote excellence in the compliance arena by highlighting best practices, supporting program effectiveness, and providing a vehicle for marketing effective compliance strategies in VHA. The Annual Report is used to inventory facility-based CBI program initiatives throughout a fiscal year. It is a survey style instrument which asks yes/no questions, provides an opportunity to comment on each question to clarify an answer, and requests that evidence of the CBI program structure and activities be attached in the form of policies, procedures and plans. Although it is survey-style in how it collects data, the Annual Report is not a survey. Rather than an attempt to gather opinions or basic data, the report looks to collect fact-based verifiable data from facilities about their actions in the business compliance arena. In some ways, however, the Annual Report is similar to a survey. The data received must be wholly accurate so that CBI Central Office may implement strategies to fill gaps in the program and recommend other actions, as appropriate, to the Under Secretary for Health. It is therefore of paramount importance that the questions asked in the Annual Report tool are absolutely clear in what they are asking. Performance of this contract will require extensive knowledge of the healthcare compliance arena; healthcare billing practices and industry standards applicable to those practices; and knowledge of VHA's CBI program. Because of scheduling issues, there will not be adequate resources or time available to train contracted staff extensively in these areas. Because of this, the contractor must adequately document, in its proposal, expert knowledge of healthcare compliance, VHA and the VHA CBI program. This knowledge can be demonstrated by prior exposure to healthcare compliance and VHA's CBI Program through conferences, educational sessions, prior work in the field, or a variety of other methods. B. Tasks and Associated Deliverables This project consists of three major tasks, with associated deliverables: a) Development of a Work Plan for project implementation, b) Development of a First Draft FY 2006 CBI Annual Report, and c) Focus Group Administration and Analysis and Finalization of the FY 2006 CBI Annual Report. Task 1: Development of a Work Plan for project implementation The contractor will develop and submit a project plan. This plan will include resource allocation, timelines for completion of each task and completion of each deliverable. Task 1 Deliverable: Contract Schedule and Work Plan Government Acceptance/Rejection of Task 1 Deliverable: Upon receiving the Work Plan from the contractor, the government will have three (3) working days to approve, or request changes to, the Plan. Task 2: Development of First Draft FY 2006 CBI Annual Report Enhancement of FY 2006 CBI Annual Report: A draft FY 2006 CBI Annual Report has been developed by VHA CBI staff (Attachment 1) to assist potential contractors in developing bids. CBI, in collaboration with other VHA stakeholders has determined the basic content of the report, seeking to inventory facility-level CBI program initiatives undertaken in FY 2006. The CBI Annual Report will have all closed ended questions. Closed ended questions can be distinguished as those questions that have a definitive (yes/no, a/b/c/d or date/dollar amount) answer. The contractor will enhance both reliability and validity in the report through the employment of psychometrics, expertise in healthcare compliance (specifically in the area of program effectiveness and measurement), and working knowledge of the VHA CBI Program, to recommend changes to the FY2006 Annual Report. Task 2 Deliverable: First Draft FY 2006 CBI Annual Report Government Acceptance/Rejection of Task 2 Deliverable: Upon receiving the First Draft FY 2006 CBI Annual Report from the contractor, the government will have three (3) working days to approve, or request changes to, the Draft. Task 3: Finalization of the FY 2006 CBI Annual Report 3.1 Focus Group Analysis of Survey Instrument: The Draft developed in Task 2 above will be discussed in a focus group of field CBI Officers administered by the contractor. This small group should be large enough to test the reliability of the questions in the report. The population for the survey shall include 138 medical centers or health systems across the nation. Task 3.1 Deliverable: Written Summary Report of Focus Group Analysis Government Acceptance/Rejection of Task 3.1 Deliverable: Upon receiving the Summary Report of Focus Group Analysis from the contractor, the government will have one (1) working day to approve, or request changes to, the Summary. 3.2 Survey Finalization: Results of the Focus Group Analysis of the draft CBI Annual Report will be used to review, update, and make changes to the Report, prior to actual full survey data collection. The key deliverable of Task 3 is the Final FY 2006 CBI Annual Report. Task 3.2 (Final) Deliverable: Final FY 2006 CBI Annual Report Government Acceptance/Rejection of Task 3.2 Deliverable: Upon receiving the Final FY 2006 CBI Annual Report from the contractor, the government will have five (5) working days to approve, or request changes to, the Report. EVALUATION Quotes will be reviewed and evaluated in accordance with the evaluation criteria identified below: Each offeror's submission is evaluated according to the factors shown below. Factors A. Knowledge and Experience of Offeror, B. Past Performance Performing Similar Tasks, C. Understanding of the Problem, Factor D Personnel Assigned to the Task, and Factor E. Price is less important. Factors are listed in order of importance. TECHNICAL QUOTE (Volume 1) Knowledge and Experience of Offeror - The offeror demonstrates experience and a performance record for required tasks to include expert knowledge of survey construction and psychometrics and provide evidence of prior experience, expert knowledge of Health Care Compliance, expert knowledge of compliance program effectiveness and measurement, expert knowledge of heath care business operations, and expert knowledge of the VHA Compliance and Business Integrity Program. The expert knowledge of the VHA Compliance and Business Integrity Program can be evidenced by participation in educational activities where the VHA CBI program has been highlighted or discussed. One place this could have occurred is at trade conferences such as the Health Care Lawyers Association; Health Care Compliance Association, etc. Past Performance Performing Similar Tasks - Please provide three references of similar efforts performed by your organization for the last three years. Include a description of the project, project title, contract number, contract amount, client identification including agency or company name, contracting and technical reviewing official, address and telephone number. In addition, provide one example (with reference contact information) of corporate experience that demonstrates how the corporation responded when a project went off tract, either over budget, behind schedule, below quality standards or some other difficulty. (References will be checked) Your quote must demonstrate that both your organization and proposed key personnel can successfully complete this project. The Government may also consider information obtained through other sources. Past performance information will be utilized to determine the quality of the contractor's past performance as it relates to the probability of success of the required effort. C. Understanding of the Problem - Submit a project plan for performing the tasks. This plan will include resource allocation, timelines for completion of each task and completion of each deliverable. The offeror clearly demonstrates full understanding of the problem, technical requirements, and the tasks to be performed - the approach proposed is complete and adequate. D. Personnel Assigned to Task - The qualifications of the professionals and technical experts proposed are adequate for performing the task order. Provide resumes for key personnel. PRICE QUOTE (Volume 2) Price/Cost Technical Factors are more important than cost or price. Selection of the firm to perform this task order will be based on the Government's assessment of the best overall value.
 
Place of Performance
Address: 810 Vermont Ave, NW;Washington DC 20420
Zip Code: 20420
Country: USA
 
Record
SN01039014-W 20060504/060502220451 (fbodaily.com)
 
Source
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)

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