Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Clinical Center/Office of Purchasing & Contracts, 10 Center Drive, RM 1N262, MSC 1189, Bethesda, MD, 20892-1189

Q -- CALL CENTER TELEPHONE SERVICE OPERATIONS SOL N02-CL-00008 DUE 072000 POC Larry Hunter, Contracting Officer, Phone (301) 594-5915, Fax (301) 594-5920, Email lhunter@cc.nih.gov WEB: Visit this URL for the latest information about this, http://www.eps.gov/cgi-bin/WebObjects/EPS?ACode=R&ProjID=N02-CL-00008&; LocID=2971. E-MAIL: Larry Hunter, lhunter@cc.nih.gov. This is a Sources Sought Synopsis. This Sources Sought Synopsis requests information needed by the Government prior to release of any potential solicitation. This is not a request for proposals or quotes and in no way obligates the Government to award any contract. The Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center is the clinical research facility of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Clinical Center (CC) provides patient care, services, training and the environment in which clinician-scientists creatively translate emerging knowledge into better understanding, detection, treatment, and prevention of human disease. The Clinical Center is the nation's foremost federally funded biomedical research institution. It is comprised of twenty-four (24) Institutes, Centers, and Divisions. The CC is the onsite hospital for the NIH campus, providing full support for clinical research in inpatient and outpatient settings. The CC facility comprises more than three million square feet of clinical, laboratory, and administrative space with the capacity to serve three hundred and fifty (350) inpatients participating in research studies at the NIH. In three years this inpatient space will move to a new facility that is currently under construction. As a federally funded facility, continuous effort is made to use financial resources of the Clinical Center to acquire the needed products, equipment, and services at the best possible price. The acquisition staff is therefore looking to form partnerships with a limited number of companies capable of providing timely deliveries of products and services at the best possible advantage, cost/price considered, to the hospital. It is expected that for each of the requirements publicized, a very limited number of contracts, blanket purchase agreements, or purchase orders will be issued. Performance measures will be a key factor in the assurance and continuation of all agreements. Under this announcement, the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health is seeking sources capable of providing Call Center Telephone Service Operations in accordance with the Statement of Work provided below. The Clinical Center is searching for a cost effective and efficient solution for this project and will consider proposals using intelligent call routing, skill -based routing, multimedia centers and speech recognition technologies. Your comments and questions regarding the statement of work are also welcomed. The Standard Industrial Classification Code (SIC) is 8099, Health & Allied Services N.E.C. The proposed performance-based contract will be for a base period of one year with a provision for four option years. IF you are interested in competing for this requirement, please indicate your interest and provide your comments by sending an e-mail to lhunter@cc.nih.gov no later than July 20, 2000. You may also respond via fax to Larry Hunter @ (301) 594-5920. Please indicate your firm's relevant experience where work in the healthcare arena has been of similar volume and complexity as required in this project. All valid Internet/fax responses from prospective offerors must provide the return Internet e-mail address, mailing address, telephone number, and facsimile number in the body of the response. Responses without the aforementioned information will not be recognized as valid. In addition to assist in the acquisition planning strategy for this requirement, please respond to the following questions: For SIC Code 8099, please indicate the following: (1) Is your business a large or small business? (2) If small, does your firm qualify as a small, emergent business, or a small disadvantaged business? If disadvantaged, specify under which disadvantaged group and whether your firm is certified under section 8(A) of the Small Business Act? (4) Is your firm a Certified "hub zone" firm? (5) Is your firm a woman-owned or operated business? (6) Is your firm a JWOD participating nonprofit agency? No solicitation exists at this time. It is recommended that you respond to this synopsis, including all requestedinformation above, if you would like to be notified electronically/or via fax upon release of the solicitation. All offerors who request to be notified will be informed via -email/fax that the solicitation has been posted to the CBD. STATEMENT OF WORK: C.1 GENERAL. C.1.1 REQUIREMENTS: Independently and not as an agent of the Government, the Contractor shall provide all necessary services, materials, supplies, supervision, labor, facilities and equipment, not otherwise provided by the Government, as needed to perform call center services as specified below in accordance with all terms, conditions, general and special contract requirements, specifications, attachments, exhibits, etc. contained within the contract document or incorporated by reference. C.1.2 CONTRACTOR RESPONSIBILITY: Call Center Telephone Service Operations. The contractor shall perform the following: C.1.2.1 Comply with all Telephone Service performance standards. C.1.2.2 Receive telephone inquiries from 8:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except for federal holidays, Eastern Standard Time. Note that call hours may need to be expanded on a temporary or permanent basis due to increased call volume and/or specific recruitment /outreach campaigns identified by the Government. C.1.2.3 Provide accurate and complete answers to callers' questions, based on NIH Clinical Center's Patient Recruitment Public Liaison Office (PRPL) policies and procedures, and federal guidelines. The PRPL and contractor will monitor calls for accuracy, comprehensive responses, and customer service. C.1.2.4 Provide callers with protocol information via phone, fax or mail. C.1.2.5 Conduct protocol searches, using the PRPL database, to match prospective patients with protocols. C.1.2.6 Conduct screening for designated protocols. C.1.2.7 Refer patients, per PRPL guidelines to the appropriate Institute contact. Fax referral information to the Institute contact person. Refer callers to other health care resources should callers request other types of health information, i.e. no CC protocols are available or the prospective patient does not meet the screening criteria. C.1.2.8 Perform all "After call-wrap up" activities (see Definitions, Section C.2). C.1.2.9 Perform "Follow-up" activities (see Definitions, Section C.2) C.1.2.10 SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS: C.1.2.10.1 In addition to handling English calls, the Call Center shall respond to inquiries from Spanish speaking callers. Adequate staff must be present to respond to Spanish speaking callers during working hours. C.1.2.10.2 The Call Center shall have the technology available to respond to hearing impaired individuals. i.e. TTY. Adequate staff must be present to respond to hearing impaired callers during working hours. A more complete SOW can be found at www.eps.gov Posted 06/23/00 (D-SN468116). (0175)

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