SOURCES SOUGHT
70 -- VA RTLS Middleware (data aggregation)
- Notice Date
- 2/2/2011
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541512
— Computer Systems Design Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Veterans Affairs;Center for Acquisition Innovation-Austin;1701 Directors Blvd;Suite 600;Austin TX 78744
- ZIP Code
- 78744
- Solicitation Number
- VA798A11RI0062
- Response Due
- 2/14/2011
- Archive Date
- 2/21/2011
- Point of Contact
- Lateefah S Parker
- E-Mail Address
-
ct
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- INTRODUCTION THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION : This Request for Information (RFI) is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The purpose of this RFI is to identify qualified sources able to meet VA requirements, to assist in planning possible future technical requirements, determine the appropriate acquisition strategy, and understand commercial pricing practices and other market information readily available. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Any contract that might be awarded based on information received or derived from this RFI will be the outcome of the competitive process. Telephone inquiries and responses will not be accepted at this time since there is no further information available. This announcement is based upon the best information available and is subject to future modification. VA will not be responsible for any costs incurred by responding to this RFI. OVERVIEW: The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has a requirement to implement Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) in all VHA facilities over the next several years. As currently envisioned, each VHA Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISN) or facility will have its own RTLS database, similar to the situation with Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA). However, there is a need to aggregate some data from the individual RTLS systems, so that VA/VHA leadership can have an enterprise-wide view of RTLS data. The RTLS Integrated Project Team (IPT), lead under the VHA Major Initiative 15 known as Health Care Efficiency (HCE), requests the provision of a Middleware system, allowing key stakeholders to collect and analyze data, and generate reports from VA/VHA wide RTLS. This Middleware system will have the ability to integrate information from multiple front-end RTLS databases; provide analytical and reporting capabilities for aggregated RTLS information; and possibly interface to VistA, Maximo, and other VA corporate information systems. BACKGROUND: The RTLS Middleware (data aggregation) requirement is managed under an overall RTLS effort within VHA Major Initiative 15 - Health Care Efficiency: Facility Automation. This initiative is charged with incorporating the existing VHA RTLS platforms into a national plan that will ultimately deploy RTLS, and its chosen middleware application VA-wide. The existing RTLS platforms currently support locating and tracking equipment/supplies, clinical staff, patients, and patient/staff movement. This type of information helps to improve the quality and efficiency of health care delivery to our Veterans by improving workflow, and many other clinical/management processes. These RTLS platforms use an array of technologies to include:wireless LAN, wired Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) with Infrared, and Ultrasound. Future plans for expansion include developing requirements, standards and overseeing broader RTLS deployment. As RTLS expands, the need for facility, VISN and National level reporting will greatly increase. VA does not presently offer ongoing regional/national reporting support via a Middleware application tool. Active RTLS platforms are located in Veteran Affairs Medical Centers (VAMCs) St. Louis, Minneapolis, Loma Linda, San Juan and Houston. These projects started over the past few years for either inventory or more niche applications, and were "grandfathered" into the official VHA Major Initiative 15 - Health Care Efficiency: Facility Automation Program. Four applications were determined to be a starting point for current RTLS efforts which includes: Asset Management, Inventory Management, Automated Temperature Monitoring, and Sterilization Processing and Decontamination (SPD) Workflow. Ultimately, as RTLS is deployed VA-wide, a myriad of applications and work functions will be added to the platform including the need for data aggregation within RTLS Middleware servers. The VA is looking for sources capable of providing an integrated, enterprise-wide solution for a Real Time Location System (RTLS) Middleware (i.e. data aggregation). The VA understands the breadth and depth of the desired RTLS Middleware solution and is looking to determine the ability of industry to provide a total integrated solution. VHA is comprised of 21 VISNs that are each responsible for managing health care activities within their geographic area that can include six to ten medical facilities and a number of supporting outpatient facilities. Details can be found at http://www.va.gov/directory/guide/division_flsh.asp?dnum=1. VA medical centers within a VISN work together to provide efficient, accessible health care to Veterans in their areas. With 153 VAMCs nationwide, VHA manages one of the largest health care systems in the United States. VHA seeks an integrated RTLS Middleware (data aggregator) to be deployed nationwide. The purpose is to improve the efficiency of certain business processes in its hospitals and clinics. The goals for data aggregation are to interface with the regional RTLS databases to help: oImprove operational efficiency oDecrease operational costs oMaximize equipment utilization oIncrease clinical efficiencies and staff productivity oReduce delays in patient care oMinimize lost and misplaced items o Improve the quality of service from patient, physician, and institution perspectives o Provide national-level reporting and information sharing through an enterprise database with a common interface and reporting tool. For the purpose of this RFI, "enterprise" is defined as deployment within one or more VISNs. Solutions to be considered shall include: application software and all necessary hardware (servers). REQUIREMENTS: 1.RFI Requirements Summary - the VA understands that very few large healthcare delivery organizations have deployed RTLS Middleware (data aggregation) in the scope or on the scale that the VA requires. The VA goal is to provide a feasible solution for aggregating all RTLS data from disparate tags/technologies/vendors at a given site. The optimal solution would use validated data interchange standards for aggregating data from multiple sites into a single corporate database. The requirement includes the use of application programming interfaces in terms of data interchange between RTLS systems and external systems (such as Maximo). Individual vendors are required to provide solutions for aggregating data to a highest level specified. The VA objective is to obtain facility-level data aggregation (one-stop shopping), to VA headquarters-level data aggregation for overall national reporting. 2.Develop and implement an RTLS middleware database and reporting capability. Capable of capturing data. Upstream data from a given facility must consolidate into a single database, and be accessible via a single user interface. 3.Describe your approach to achieve an efficient data aggregation solution. Data aggregation will support analysis of the data, high-level reporting (including ad hoc report and query capability), and dashboarding. Include a description of how your approach incorporates ways to boost performance. 4.Describe your approach to provide an enterprise-class business intelligence [BI] solution that shares industry standard characteristics. Include a description of how your approach ensures high availability, easy maintenance, allows for multi-server environments, adopts to changing business environments, and integrates with existing applications and systems. 5.Describe your approach to Flexible architecture that allows for exponential growth, flexibility, and responsiveness to the shifting needs of the VA customers who must operate in an business environment that is always changing. 6.Describe your approach to Performance as it refers to the speed, responsiveness, and quality of the application. The VA environment demands current information with fresh data in "Google-like" response times in order to make judicious business decisions. Explain how your approach does not require users to trade excessive build times for query performance. Also describe how performance is not dependent on the number of concurrent users, data, query complexity, or time-of-day variations. 7.The amount of data being collected is increasing and is expected to grow exponentially as RTLS technologies are proliferated and this initiative is executed VA-wide. Describe how your approach includes a flexible architecture that fosters scalability. 8.Describe how your approach ensures a fast implementation time; include a clear explanation of the implementation methodology. In describing the Graphical User Interface [GUI] include descriptions of any wizards that speed development, offer help to users, or minimize training. 9.Describe your approach to creating all required interfaces, from end-to-end, in accordance with industry standards, to communicate with the VA's legacy information systems. a.Examples of the type of interface issues to be considered: i.Programming M code (i.e. MUMPS - Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System), to add/modify within the VistA application, allowing for the exchange of data between the facility level RTLS platforms and VistA. ii.Use of a government provided VistA test environment iii.Ability to capture interface details through the creation of a formal RTLS Middleware Interface Control Document (ICD). Potential Future Phases: 10. Ability to incorporate a data minining product in addition to the BI product. a.Examples of the type of interface issues to be considered: i.The predictive analytics product shall provide a simple interface with which to build data sets for modeling ii.The predictive analytics product shall be able to save mining "Sets" (data plus formulas run) as individual files. iii.The predictive analytics product shall be able to auto schedule or auto run a pre defined set of inquiries on a recurring iv.The predictive analytics system shall have its own processing/computing platform. v.No aspect of running the predictive analytics system will in any way impact the BI app or any other aspect of the aggregated data. INFORMATION REQUESTED FROM INDUSTRY: In response to the RFI, interested contractors shall submit the following information: 1.Company Information/Socio-Economic Status - a.Provide the company size, the CAGE code, DUNS (Data Universal Numbering System) Number and the POC information (name, email address, telephone, and fax numbers). Identify the NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) code your company believes best represents the predominate work to accomplish the requirements. b.Indicate whether your company, subcontractors, teaming partners, joint ventures have a Federal Socio-Economic status, e.g., Small Business, Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, Veteran Owned Small Business, Woman-Owned Small Business, Disadvantaged Small Business, and Hub Zone. If Service-Disabled or Veteran Owned Small Business, is your company and or partners registered in VA's VetBiz repository? 2.Background/Past Experience - Provide the following information on a maximum of three similar projects in a healthcare environment completed within the last three years for which the responder was a prime or subcontractor. a.The name, address, and value of each project b.The Prime Contract Type, Firm Fixed-Price, Cost Reimbursement or Time and Material c.The name, telephone and address of the owner of each project d.A description of each project, including difficulties and successes e.Your company's role and services provided for each project. 3.Capabilities/Qualifications - Overview of proposed solution(s). a.Include a description of the capabilities/qualifications/skills your company possesses to perform the work as described in Requirements 1-10. 4.Teaming Arrangements - Description of Teaming Partners, Joint Ventures that your company would consider to perform the work. 5.Price information - Provide your commercial price history and rough order of magnitude for the same or similar products/solutions. 6.Other Market Information - Provide any other relative information, however this information must be included within the 15 page limitation. 7.Other Federal Experience - Identify the federal contract vehicles to which you are party. SPECIFIC RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS: Please submit your response to this RFI in accordance with the following: 1) No more than 15 pages (excluding transmittal page). Include the name, email address and phone number of the appropriate representative of your company; 2) Address each of the sections described above; 3) Submit your response via email to Lateefah.parker@va.gov; 4) Submit your response by 2:00 P.M. Central Time on February 14, 2011; 5) Mark your response as "Proprietary Information" if the information is considered business sensitive. 6) NO MARKETING MATERIALS ARE ALLOWED AS A PART OF THIS RFI. The Government will not review any other data, attachments that are in excess to the 15 pages.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/55ca13ce00b53d6db82bb2fe4ce14730)
- Record
- SN02371294-W 20110204/110202233856-55ca13ce00b53d6db82bb2fe4ce14730 (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 |