SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- PROTECTED CLINICAL PEER REVIEW
- Notice Date
- 9/14/2008
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- NAICS
- 813920
— Professional Organizations
- Contracting Office
- Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Acquisition Operations Service, Department of Veterans Affairs Acquisition Operations Service, Department of Veterans Affairs;VA Central Office;Cntr. for Acquisition Innovation (049A3);810 Vermont Avenue, NW;Washington DC 20420
- ZIP Code
- 20420
- Solicitation Number
- VA-101-08-RP-0252
- Response Due
- 10/22/2008
- Archive Date
- 12/21/2008
- Point of Contact
- SHAUNDRA J. DUGGANSCONTRACT SPECIALIST<br />
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The Department of Veterans Affairs Center for Acquisition Innovation (CAI) on behalf of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Office of Quality and Performance (OQP) intends to issue an unrestricted solicitation to the Federal Business Opportunities website for Protected Clinical Peer Review. The applicable NAICS code is 813920 with a small business size standard of $7.0M. Preference will be given to SDVOSB and VOSB concerns. The solicitation will result in the award of a Firm Fixed Price Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. The period of performance shall consist of a base year and four option years. As the largest Federal provider of health care with 152 medical centers and 732 associated outpatient clinics, the Veterans Health Administration's (VHA) clinical peer review program is a critical element of quality management and demonstrates the agency's commitment to provide the highest quality care possible for veterans. Recent audits of clinical peer review conducted internally by VHA staff have identified opportunities for improving the clinical peer review process within VHA, and in response a new directive "Peer Review for Quality Management" (Reference VHA Directive 2008-004) was issued. To facilitate implementation of the requirements of this directive and to develop a process for improving the rigor and objectivity of peer review, VHA seeks a national Contractor with proven expertise in conducting clinical peer review across all provider disciplines. Clinical peer review is defined to include critical reviews of an episode of care performed by a peer and/or group of peers. A peer is an individual of similar education, training, licensure, and clinical privileges or functional statements. Clinical peer review, when conducted systematically and credibly, fosters collaborative learning and can result in both immediate and long-term improvements in care by revealing areas for improvement in either provider practice or local processes of care. VHA Directive 2008-004 describes the current VHA policy on Clinical peer review in detail. Authority for protected clinical peer review is found in Title 38 United States Code (U.S.C.) 5705, "Confidentiality of Medical Quality Assurance Records" and its implementing regulations. Peer review data collected by a Contractor shall be designated as protected by VHA's Under Secretary for Health, and as such, is subject to the confidentiality provisions of 38 U.S.C. 5705 and its implementing regulations. The term "Contractor" includes any individual hired by the Contractor (including the Contractor's employees, agents, affiliates, a subcontractor and its employees, or others to whom the Contractor provides VA information in the performance of this contract). Additionally, the provisions of 38 U.S.C. 5705 and its implementing regulations apply to the Contractor in the same manner as they apply to VA employees and peer review data gathered by such VA employees. The objective of this effort is twofold: "To assess the accuracy and adequacy of clinical peer review conducted internally within any VA Medical Center (VAMC) through an audit of randomly selected as well as high risk cases. To achieve this end, the Contractor shall be tasked with providing standardized feedback to individual VAMCs that identifies opportunities to improve care as well as improve the process of internal clinical peer review. This Audit Review will provide additional assurance of high quality care in small and large VAMCs by conducting focused, independent (external) case level quality of care assessment. "To provide external expertise in order to conduct the primary clinical peer review of selected episodes of care, either upon request of the facility (Facility-Requested Review) or for other special circumstances (Triggered Reviews). To achieve this end, the Contractor shall provide standardized feedback to individual VAMCs that identify opportunities to improve care. b. Use of a single national source for external clinical peer review would achieve the following: "Coordination of external reviews to validate our internal processes to our stakeholders ""Calibrating" our clinical peer review processes against the best available industry standard "Clinical peer review, even in the best hands, is subject to variation and inter-rater reliability but use of external reviewer removes one potential source of bias All prospective offerors must have a Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code, be registered with the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) at http://www.ccr.gov, and VETS 100 at http://vets.dol.gov/vets100/. There will be an electronic solicitation release. A written Request for Proposals (RFP) will be posted on or about September 19, 2008 for download on the FedBizOpps website under solicitation title: Protected Clinical Peer Review. No offers are being requested at this time. No paper copies of the solicitation will be issued. All amendments to the solicitation will be posted to this FedBizOpps website. Contractors are cautioned to check this website for amendments. No solicitation mailing list will be complied. The Contractor is responsible for all costs for producing and submitting its proposal. The Point of Contact is Shaundra J. Duggans, Contract Specialist, Shaundra.Duggans@va.gov, Dept. of Veterans Affairs, Office of Acquisition & Logistics, Center for Acquisition Innovation, 810 Vermont Ave., NW, Room 765Q, Washington DC 20420. No requests for information, requests for clarification or questions concerning this notice will be provided in response to telephone calls. Formal communications such as requests for clarification and/or information or questions concerning this notice should be submitted via email.
- Web Link
-
FedBizOpps Complete View
(https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=36dbe8cdb0db63f9b7f65d20ee3b120a&tab=core&_cview=1)
- Record
- SN01670180-W 20080916/080914213053-36dbe8cdb0db63f9b7f65d20ee3b120a (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |