Sources Sought Notice – Q– Telephonic Tobacco Cessation Counseling
Notice Type: Sources Sought Notice
Posted Date:
Office Address:
Subject: Q-- Telephonic Tobacco Cessation Counseling
Classification Code: Q - Medical services
Solicitation Number: VA24416N0503
Contact:
Setaside: N/AN/A
Place of Performance (address): VISN 4
Place of Performance (zipcode): 19104
Place of Performance Country:
Description:
Network Contracting Office 4
This is a request for information (RFI) this is in preparation for a solicitation that will tentatively be advertised around March 2016.THE VISN 4 Healthcare System has a requirement for a Contractor to provide telephonic tobacco cessation counseling services. The Statement of Work is below. Interested companies must be registered in SAM, have a DUNS and TAX ID. The companies will have to provide the following information:
1. Company name and address, DUNS and TAX ID numbers
2. P.O.C. name, telephone number, email address
3. Business size (small, large, women owned, VOSB, SDVOSB)
All inquiries concerning this
The
DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/WORK STATEMENT
1. DEFINITIONS:
a) "Program" shall mean the tobacco cessation program as described herein.
b) "Participant" shall mean those Client Eligibles (Veterans Enrolled in VISN 4) who are at least 18 years old and who are enrolled in the Program.
c) "Registration Specialist" means an individual employed and/or retained by the vendor Contractor who enrolls Eligibles into the Program, and are pre-screened by the contractor and appropriately trained in the contractor tobacco cessation registration practices.
d) "Tobacco Treatment Specialist(s)" means those individuals employed and/or retained by the contractor to provide telephonic support, information and counseling to Participants. Each Tobacco Treatment Specialist is pre-screened by the contractor and appropriately trained in the contractors tobacco cessation practices to provide telephonic support, information, and counseling to beneficiaries under this Contract.
e) Contract Officer's Representative (COR):
Pittsburgh VA HCS MDP 130P-A
Fully Operational Program Required by
f) "VISN 4" shall mean the
2. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS:
a) General Intention - The VISN 4 Healthcare System has a requirement for a Contractor to provide telephonic tobacco cessation counseling services as described herein to Veteran participants. The
b) The Contractor will provide up to six (6) outbound telephone interventions, and one additional end-of-program data collection call per participant enrolled in the program. The Contractor will determine where and when the participant would like these calls to be delivered. Participants can initiate unlimited calls to the Contractor at any time during the work hours indicated and as often as he/she feels the need for additional help for twelve (12) months from the date of enrollment in the program.
c) Enrollment is anticipated to be approximately 600 Veteran participants by the end of the twelve-month contract period. Veterans will be referred through entry of electronic consults to this program via
d) The Contractor will provide to each Participant a "quick kit" of printed materials to assist with tobacco cessation before counseling begins. A "quick kit" is all materials needed for each Veteran to participate in the program as designated by the contractor providing the Veteran with step-by-step instructions on how the program works and what is expected from the Veteran. The kit also includes information for tobacco users about why they should quit tobacco, what steps they need to take to quit and other motivational materials which will be stage appropriate and may include materials for individuals with special needs.
e) The Contractor will provide to all participants enrolled in the program a toll-free telephone access to a
f) There shall be offered to every Participant Veteran six (6) counseling calls. Each counseling call will be documented as a Progress Note, the content of which will be mutually agreed upon by the Contractor and the
g) The Contractor will provide to participants decision support and recommendations for tobacco cessation based on criteria developed by the Contractor. After the Contractor's Tobacco Treatment Specialist assesses the need for pharmacotherapy for a Veteran participant and the recommended quantity, this recommendation will be documented in the VA CPRS Progress Note which is entered to document counseling. A
h) The Contractor will provide on-going consultation to VISN 4 with an assigned Contractor's Client Services Manager (CSM) regarding the most effective means of marketing and distribution of the Program to Veterans.
i) The Contractor will provide a monthly Veteran Participant Activity Report that includes the enrollment status (new enrollments, current enrollments, and disenrollment) of the Veterans enrolled in the program for each hospital facility, including Nicotene Replacement Therapy (NRP) dispensed.
j) VISN 4 will pay for all eligible individuals enrolled in the Program. Names of all enrollees will be made available by the Contractor for a cross-check by VISN 4.
k) VISN 4 will develop with the Contractor and carry out a mutually agreeable recruitment plan to encourage self-referrals of eligible Veterans to the Program.
l) The Contractor will be required to provide all labor, supplies, management and expertise necessary to fulfill the requirements of a comprehensive Veteran tobacco cessation program throughout VISN 4 within two (2) months of award and contract.
1. Vendor shall have ability to provide intense tobacco cessation counseling, particularly for tobacco, to Veteran Participants throughout VISN 4.
i. Coaches and counselors must possess appropriate levels of education, training, and demonstrable competency providing interventions in health behavior change.
2. Vendor shall have the ability to determine degree of nicotine dependence, and make recommendations about pharmacotherapy for tobacco cessation, which may include Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) as part of a comprehensive personalized quitting strategy.
i. For Veterans deemed appropriate for nicotine replacement, the medical center will provide the medication by mailing the medication to the Veteran's home address.
3. Vendor shall have extensive experience, as well as, strong evidence of high quit rates in telephone based tobacco cessation counseling and intervention that would indicate a high probability of success among VISN 4 Veteran Participants.
i. Evidence of success should include computing similarly sized organization(s), counting all enrolled participants who enter counseling in the denominator, and those who report being totally tobacco free six months later as the numerator (also known as intent to treat), resulting in six month quit rates that approach 20%.
4. Vendor shall have a well developed approach and evidence of success in motivating tobacco users to make a quit attempt.
i. The contractor will provide on-going consultation to VISN 4 with an assigned F&C Client Services Manager (CSM) regarding the most effective means of marketing and distribution of the
ii. Contractor will provide one (1) tobacco cessation kit per Veteran, which shall be the standard for the program. Each kit will contain a cessation manual, various quit aids, and a cover letter explaining the use of the program.
iii. Contractor will provide to all Veterans enrolled in the program a toll-free telephone access to registration personnel and
5. Vendor must provide extensive documentation and reporting of tobacco cessation program activity including; but not limited to, tailored/customized financial reporting, invoicing, and performance measurements for each facility/hospital, and individual Participant to measure the success of the program.
i. The contractor will document all encounters involving tobacco cessation counseling within 24 hours of each counseling intervention/contact.
ii. Ability to track quit rates on an ongoing basis and provides frequent data to VISN 4 during the program, at the end of counseling, and additional time points as requested.
iii. Significant interactive discussion between the vendor's counselors and Veterans are required.
iv. Ability to report on level of each enrolled Veteran's engagement in treatment.
6. All forms of electronic communication between contractor and VISN 4 that include patient identifiers must be secure and encrypted in accordance with
m) The Contractor will provide a monthly Contractor's Participant Activity Report that includes the status of the Veterans enrolled in the program for each of the 10 facilities in VISN 4 which are entering into this contract. The Contractor reserves the right to revise the format and content of the Reports for its own business reasons.
The ten (10) facilities are:
1.
2.
3.
One
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
n) The Contractor shall provide all hardware, software, peripherals, communications lines, maintenance and equipment as mutually agreed by the parties and necessary to access the VISTA system. The Contractor shall be responsible for installation and maintenance of the network infrastructure within the facility including, but not limited to, cabling located inside the walls of the structure. The Contractor shall provide necessary antivirus software for PC's and ensure that data definition files are current. In addition, the Contractor will ensure that all
o) The Contractor will be required to provide the specific requirements for all of the ten (10) listed items:
1. Ability to provide intense tobacco cessation counseling via the telephone to a large population of smokers.
2. Ability to initiate the program throughout the healthcare system by
3. Capable of assessing degree of nicotine dependence and making recommendation about pharmacotherapy for tobacco cessation.
4. Extensive experience in tobacco cessation telephonic interventions that would indicate a high chance of success with patients, many of whom who have smoked for many years.
5. Evidence of prior success showing tobacco cessation six month quit rates that approach 20%. Evidence of this success should include counting all smokers who enter counseling in the denominator and those who report being totally tobacco free 1 year later as the numerator (also known as intent to treat). Evidence of success should be available in scientific publications based on randomized controlled trials by authors who conducted investigations with the vendor, such that there is high confidence that the rate of tobacco cessation claimed is accurate and conclusions about the success of the program is valid.
6. Track record of ability to work with a large, complex, geographically dispersed organization.
7. Counselors who have competency in providing counseling to economically disadvantaged populations and to a population with high prevalence of racial minorities.
8. A well developed approach and evidence of success in recruiting smokers to make a quit attempt with the assistance of telephonic counseling.
9. Willingness to document tobacco counseling in the
10. Ability to track on an ongoing basis and provides frequent data to VISN 4 regarding:
i. The quit rates for enrolled Veterans during the program, at the end of counseling, and additional time points as requested. Significant interactive discussion between the vendor's counselors and Veterans are required. This discussion means the Veteran and counselor will spend time discussing the Veterans past attempts to quit, current motivations to quit, current belief that he/she can quit successfully. The counselor will provide personalized advice to the Veteran toward assisting them in quitting tobacco permanently.
ii. Level of each Veteran's engagement in treatment.
3. APPROVAL OF CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL: The
4. NON-SOLICITATION: Neither the Contractor nor any employee, agent, or subcontractor of the Contractor shall solicit or attempt to convince or otherwise persuade any patient not to participate or to discontinue participation in the services provided under this contract.
5. THE JOINT COMMISSION AND OTHER SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:
a) The Contractor will be responsible to ensure that Contractor employees providing work on this contract are fully trained and completely competent to perform the required work.
b) Although this contract does not require Joint Commission accreditation or other regulatory requirements regarding worker competency, the Contractor must perform the required work in accordance with Joint Commission standards. The Contractor is required to maintain records that document competence/performance level of Contractor employees working on this contract in accordance with Joint Commission and other accepted regulatory body requirements. The Contractor is required to develop and maintain the following documents for each Contractor employee working on the contract who provides patient care services: credentials and qualifications for the job; a written job description; a current competence assessment checklist (an assessment of knowledge, skills, abilities and behaviors required to perform a job correctly and skillfully; includes knowledge and skills required to provide care for certain patient populations, as appropriate); a current performance evaluation supporting ability of the Contractor employee to successfully perform the work required in this solicitation; and listing of relevant continuing education for the last two years. The Contractor will provide copies of the above-described records at the time of contract award to the Contracting Officer, or upon request, for each Contractor employee working on the contract.
c) Contractor employees will attend a program specific orientation conference call before the commencement of work. This meeting will be coordinated by the COR and the Contractor's designee. The
1. Veterans Health Information Systems & Technology Architecture (VISTA)
2. Enrollment of patients
3. Billing/Invoices
4. Documentation
5. Confidentiality
d) The VISN 4 COR will monitor the Contractor employees' work to ensure contract compliance on a monthly basis.
e) Notwithstanding other contract requirements, upon request of the Contracting Officer following written notice and a cure period, the Contractor will remove from the VA Program, any Contractor employee who does not comply with orientation requirements or meet competency requirements for the work being performed.
f) When changes in Contractor personnel occur, the Contractor must provide the same documentation as required in paragraph b) above.
g) Where the contract does not require Joint Commission accreditation or other regulatory body requirements, the Contractor must perform the required work in accordance with Joint Commission standards. A copy of these standards may be obtained from the
6.
7. PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION (PHI): Contractor must adhere to the provisions of Public Law 104-191, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) of 1996 and the National Standards to Protect the Privacy and Security of Protected Health Information.
8. COMPUTERIZED PATIENT RECORD SYSTEM:
a) The contractor is responsible for utilizing the Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) in Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VISTA) at the
b) Contractor will provide health care to patients seeking such care from or through
9. CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL SECURITY REQUIREMENTS:
a) All contractor employees who require access to the
1. Position Sensitivity - The position sensitivity has been designated as Low Risk.
2. Background Investigation - The level of background investigation commensurate with the required level of access is National Agency Check with Written Inquiries (NACI). Non-citizen contract personnel appointed to Low Risk or Nonsensitive positions will be subject to a National Agency Check with Law Enforcement and Credit Check (NACLC).
3. Contractor Responsibilities:
I. The contractor shall bear the expense of obtaining background investigations. If the investigation is conducted by the
II. The contractor shall prescreen all personnel requiring access to the computer systems to ensure they are able to read, write, speak, and understand the English language.
III. The contractor employees shall download, complete, and mail the documents required for a Low Risk Position found on the following website within fourteen (14) calendar days of the individual's appointment to the position:
http://www.va.gov/vabackground_investigations
Electronic fingerprinting can be performed at the
IV. The contractor, when notified of an unfavorable determination by the Government, will withdraw the employee from consideration from working under the contract.
V. Failure to comply with the contractor personnel security requirements may result in termination of the contract for default.
4. Government Responsibilities:
I. Upon receipt, the
II. The
III.
IV. The contracting officer will ensure that the contractor provides evidence that investigations have been completed or are in the process of being requested.
VI. Contractor employees are required to complete the online training classes entitled "VA Privacy and Information Security Awareness and Rules of Behavior (
VII. In performing this agreement, the Contractor shall be considered part of the
VIII. The
IX. All Contractor personnel and any subcontracted employees, if applicable, accessing the VISTA system will be required to sign and abide by all
X. The database utilized by the Contractor under this agreement, the adverse drug event reports provided to the Contractor by
XI. The treatment and administrative patient records created by, or provided to, the contractor under this agreement are covered by the
XII. Records created by the contractor in the course of treating
XIII. All portable media (including but not limited to thumb-drives, CD-ROMs, etc) utilized by the contractor under this contract must be encrypted in accordance with the security requirements identified in FIPS 140-2. Only thumb drives and encryption software explicitly approved by the
XIV. No
DISCLAIMER
This
End of Document
Link/URL: https://www.fbo.gov/spg/VA/PiVAMC646/PiVAMC646/VA24416N0503/listing.html
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