SOLICITATION NOTICE
D -- Internet-based Secure Data Exchange Services
- Notice Date
- 12/5/2008
- Notice Type
- Combined Synopsis/Solicitation
- NAICS
- 541512
— Computer Systems Design Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Office of Information Service Center, Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Information Service Center, Department of Veterans Affairs;Cleveland Business Center;Building 3, Second Floor;10000 Brecksville Road;Cleveland OH 44141
- ZIP Code
- 44141
- Solicitation Number
- VA-776-09-RQ-0006
- Response Due
- 12/9/2008
- Archive Date
- 1/8/2009
- Point of Contact
- Kristina KolodziejContracting Officer<br />
- Small Business Set-Aside
- Total Small Business
- Description
- This is a SOLE SOURCE 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; quotations are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. The solicitation number is VA-776-09-RQ-0006 and is issued as a request for quotation (RFQ) using Simplified Acquisition Procedures found in FAR 13.1. The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 05-29. This solicitation is 100% set-aside for small business; the associated NAICS code is 541512 and the small business size standard is $25 million. All responsible sources may submit a capability statement or quotation which shall be considered by the agency. However, The Department of Veterans Affairs intends to award a SOLE SOURCE contract to VisionShare, Inc., using the authority at FAR 6.302-1, only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements, for the services described in the statement of work below. SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has a need to receive data from Trailblazer Health Enterprises, the fiscal intermediary for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), in order to process claims accurately for veterans that are eligible for both VA and Medicare benefits. Market research revealed that only two vendors, VisionShare, Inc., and IVANS, are authorized by CMS for Internet-based connectivity with the Medicare fiscal intermediary, Trailblazer Health Enterprises. The VA's Information Technology infrastructure and associated disaster recovery policies discourage leased lines/frame relay connections with external data trading partners. A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is the VA's preferred method for obtaining external data. Furthermore, the VA's information security policy discourages installing commercial software on VA systems, if possible, in order to limit vulnerabilities and additional time and money required for system certification and accreditation. Thus, the VA needs the vendor to host the data transfer services at the vendor site. Additional market research revealed that VisionShare is the only authorized CMS vendor that can transmit the data from Trailblazer to VA via a VPN. IVANS does not offer data exchange services that can transmit the data from TrailBlazer to VA via VPN. IVANS is also unable to host the data transfer services and would require the VA to install its software on VA systems. As a result, the VA determined that IVANS cannot satisfy VA requirements, necessitating a negotiated sole source contract with Visionshare. STATEMENT OF WORK FOR SECURE EXCHANGE SERVICES FOR MEDICARE DATA PURPOSE: The purpose of this contract is for the Department of Veterans Affairs to obtain Medicare patient deductible and co-insurance amounts related to non-VA health care to ensure billing accuracy and prevent claim denials. BACKGROUND: The Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Chief Business Office (CBO) has established several initiatives to comply with legislative mandates put in place by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). One such initiative is the electronic Medicare-equivalent Remittance Advice (e-MRA) initiative. Unlike the commercial health insurance companies, VHA is not permitted to bill Medicare and does not receive reimbursement from Medicare for VA healthcare services provided to veterans. However, VHA is permitted to recover costs associated with treatment of patients non-service-connected conditions from insurance companies in situations where veterans have secondary insurance to supplement the primary coverage provided by Medicare. In order to determine the appropriate amount of reimbursement due to VHA, the secondary insurance companies require adjudication information from Medicare. The purpose of the e-MRA initiative is to obtain the adjudication information that would be generated if VA were permitted to bill and receive reimbursement from Medicare. The VA acquires this adjudication information through Trailblazer Health Enterprises, LLC, the fiscal intermediary under contract to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Trailblazer processes these Medicare claim transactions from VA Medical Centers and renders a Medicare-equivalent Remittance Advice. Emdeon is the VA-contracted healthcare clearinghouse used in these electronic data exchanges between VA and TrailBlazer. The VA Austin Information Technology Center hosts the e-MRA application and manages the communications between Emdeon and VA. When a patient receives care from VA and non-VA sources, problems with proper adjudication of the healthcare claim arise, which can result in denied claims or inaccurate billing to the patient. This is the consequence of VA not billing Medicare. This problem can be alleviated if TrailBlazer provides the VA with Medicare patient deductible and co-insurance amounts related to non-VA health care. This information is essential to optimizing VHA billing and recovery efforts. CMS has agreed to provide the data using TrailBlazer-initiated data transfers (also known as unsolicited response transactions). SCOPE: Provide secure data transport services between TrailBlazer Health Enterprises and VA using CMS-approved, commercially available Internet-based connection services that enable the VA to obtain TrailBlazer-initiated Unsolicited Response transactions and provide fail-over connectivity between TrailBlazer and VA should the Emdeon connectivity be disrupted. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: One year from date of award. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE: Contractor site. TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS: TASK ONE - ESTABLISH ENTRY POINT: The contractor shall provide the entry point into the TrailBlazer Health Enterprises processing system within twenty-one (21) business days after award. If the VPN between VA and VisionShare, which shall be established by the VA Austin Information Technology Center (AITC) is not available within this 21-day window, then the Contractor is required to establish the connection to TrailBlazer Health Enterprises within two (2) working days after the AITC enables the VPN connection. TASK TWO - SECURE DATA EXCHANGE SERVICE: The contractor shall provide a secure data transport service between VA and TrailBlazer Health Enterprises that is recognized by CMS as an authorized Internet-based commercially available connection. The service shall comply with the following constraints: 1) The service shall not require VA to install vendor software within the VA environment; 2) The service shall enable VA/TrailBlazer data exchanges utilizing a VA/vendor VPN and secure File Transfer Protocol (FTP) as approved by the VA Office of Information and Technology Configuration Management Division and the Enterprise Security Configuration Control Board; 3) The service shall support unlimited transactions; 4) The service shall not entail development of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) transaction set translation or mapping processes, non-CMS or non-VA generated data or messages, or data reformatting; 5) The service shall conform to the information agreements to be established via an Interconnection Security Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding between the VA and the contractor. The service shall also conform to a business associate agreement to be established between the VA and the contractor. TASK THREE - MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT: The contractor shall support end-to-end communication testing, implementation and daily operations of the data transfers from TrailBlazer to VA;, which shall include, at a minimum: 1) The contractor shall provide routine technical support to implement corrections to service occurring as a result of errors, flaws or other failures within their service. 2) The Contractor shall notify a designated VA point of contact (Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR)) of any scheduled maintenance that shall result in downtime at least two (2) days prior to the maintenance period. 3) The contractor shall notify a designated VA point of contact of any issues at their facility or at TrailBlazer Health Enterprises that result in a disruption of data exchange capabilities. This notification shall occur as soon as the disruption is identified. 4) The contractor shall provide customer support for reporting, documenting, tracking and resolving of service problems, which shall be available via telephone and email to VA technical staff during the period 8:00 a.m. through 6:00 p.m. Central Standard Time. TASK FOUR - BACK-UP SITE DATA RECOVERY SERVICE: The Contractor shall provide VA/VPN connectivity with the AITC or the AITC backup site for the recovery of data transfers from the VA healthcare clearinghouse in the event of a connectivity disruption disaster. The VPN and the data transfers are expected to be operational within seventy-two (72) hours of the AITC declaring a disaster. SOLICITATION PROVISIONS: The provision at FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items (JUN 2008), applies to this acquisition. The provision at FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation - Commercial Items (JAN 1999), applies to this acquisition. The evaluation criteria in paragraph (a) of this provision are as follows: 1) Technical capability of the solution offered by the contractor to fulfill all VA requirements, including all constraints, in the Statement of Work; 2) Price. The offeror shall include a completed copy of the provision at FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications - Commercial Items (JUN 2008) with its quote. CONTRACT CLAUSES: The clause at FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions - Commercial Items (FEB 2007), applies to this acquisition. ADDENDUM TO FAR 52.212-4: Clauses that are incoporated by reference (by Citation Number, Title, and Date), have the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Upon request, the Contracting Officer will make their full text available. The following clauses are incorporated by reference into 52.212-4 as an addendum to this contract: VAAR 852.203-70 Commercial Advertising (JAN 2008); VAAR 852.237-70 Contractor Responsibilities (APR 1984); 52.224-1 Privacy Act Notification (APR 1984), 52.224-2 Privacy Act (APR 1984); 52.227-17 Rights in Data - Special Works (Dec 2007) The clause at FAR 52.212-5, Contract and Conditions Required To Implement Statues or Executive Orders - Commercial Items (OCT 2008), applies to this acquisition. The following additional FAR Clauses cited in this clause are also applicable to this acquisition: 52.219-5, Notice of Total Small Business Set-Aside (June 2003)(15 U.S.C. 644); 52.219-28, Post Award Small Business Program Representation (June 2007)(15 U.S.C. 632(a)(2)); 52.222-3, Convict Labor (June 2003)(E.O. 11755); 52.222-21, Prohibition of Segregated Facilites (Feb 1999); 52.222-26, Equal Opportunity (Mar 2007)(E.O. 11246); 52.222-35, Equal Opportunity for Special Disabled Veterans, Veterans of the Vietnam Era, and other Eligible Veterans (Sept 2006)(38 U.S.C. 4212); 52.222-36, Affirmative Action for Workers with Disabilities (Jun 1998)(29 U.S.C. 793); 52.222-37, Employment Reports on Special Disabled Veterans, Veterans of the Vietnam Era, and Other Eligible Veterans (Sept 2006)(38 U.S.C. 4212); 52.222-50, Combating Trafficking in Persons (Aug 2007); 52.223-16, Alternate I, IEEE 1680 Standard for the Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer Products (DEC 2007)(E.O. 13423); 52.225-13, Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases (Jun 2008)(E.O.'s, proclamations, and statutes administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury); 52.232-34, Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer-Other than Central Contractor Registration (May 1999)(31 U.S.C. 3332); 52.239-1, Privacy or Security Safeguards (Aug 1996)(5 U.S.C. 552a). ELECTRONIC INVOICE SUBMISSION: To improve the timeliness of payments and lower overall administrative costs, VA strongly encourages contractors to submit invoices using its electronic invoicing system. At present, electronic submission is voluntary and any nominal registration fees will be the responsibility of the contractor. VA intends to mandate electronic invoice submission, subject to completion of the federal rulemaking process. At present, VA is using a 3rd party agent to contact contractors regarding this service. In the meantime, contractors interested in registering for the electronic system should contact the VA's Financial Services Center at http://www.fsc.va.gov/einvoice.asp. ALL RESPONSES TO THIS RFQ ARE DUE BY 3:00 PM EST ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2008. RESPONSES SHALL BE SUBMITTED VIA E-MAIL TO THE CONTRACTING OFFICER AT KRISTINA.KOLODZIEJ@VA.GOV.
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