Request for Information Veterans Health Administration Radiation Oncology Quality Surveillance (ROQS) Program
Subject: Veterans Health Administration Radiation Oncology Quality Surveillance (ROQS) Program
DISCLAIMER: This Sources Sought is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation. Neither unsolicited proposals nor any other kind of offers will be considered in response to this Sources Sought. Responses to this notice are not offers and will not be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this Sources Sought. All information received in response to this RFI that is marked Proprietary will be handled accordingly. Responses to the Sources Sought will not be returned. At this time, questions concerning the composition and requirements for a future Request for Quote will not be entertained.
SUBJECT: The Department of Veterans Affairs is conducting market research in order to provide a
Veterans Health Administration Radiation Oncology Quality Surveillance (ROQS) Program
The NAICS code utilized for this is expected to be 541690- Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services
The Government anticipates awarding a Firm Fixed Price contract that will provide the Surveillance Program services listed within the below attachment 1.
OBJECTIVE: See attachment 1
RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS:
Name, Address, and DUNS of Company,
Any small business designation as certified by the Small Business Administration
A thorough description of experience in managing support requirements of this nature.
A ball park range of estimate cost for services.
CONTACT INFORMATION: Any questions related to this Sources Sought shall be directed to Ryan Mullins @ Ryan.Mullins2@va.gov
All information regarding Capabilities Statements or any other proprietary information relative to this Sources Sought shall be submitted via email to Ryan Mullins @ Ryan.Mullins2@va.gov no later than 2:00 pm EST on 08/28/2019.
Attachment 1
PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT
Veterans Health Administration Radiation Oncology Quality Surveillance (ROQS) Program
Scope: The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) National Radiation Oncology Program (NROP) is looking to establish a nationwide Contract with a Contractor to develop Clinical Performance Measures (CPM) for the surveillance of quality radiation oncology. The development of CPMs shall be based on clinical evidence and/or consensus opinions of the Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). The SME-defined CPMs must be able to evaluate the quality and technical delivery of Radiotherapy by VHA Radiation Oncology Practices. The CPMs should be robust enough to determine care gaps and establish pathways for continuous quality improvement of radiotherapy planning and delivery. The Contractor shall work with the Program Office (PO) and Contracting Officer Representative (COR) to develop CPMs for radiation oncology quality surveillance in VHA and at no time shall the Contractor direct, change, or engage in the formulation of VHA policy. The VHA is solely responsible to review the Contractor s recommendations and to make decisions concerning the formulation of policy.
2. Background: For several decades, American College of Radiology (ACR) has performed quality assessments for Radiation Oncology, aimed at identifying and reducing variability in Radiation Oncology practices. ACR conducted detailed quality assessments of many Radiation Oncology practices spanning a broad scope of practice settings. The ACR has previously examined the technical delivery and outcomes for six (6) cancer sites of which Radiation Therapy played a nationwide role surveying small and large academic and community practices.
More recently the NROP office of VHA carried forward the ACR Quality Research in Radiation Oncology (QRRO) project methodology of assessing the wide variation of practice pattern and quality of care in radiotherapy by developing quality measures (QM) that were used as quality indices. These QMs provided feedback to physicians by identifying areas for improvement in the process of care and in the adoption of evidence-based recommendations for radiotherapy use. The disease-site expert panels organized by the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) defined measures and established scoring criteria for prostate cancer (intermediate and high risk) and non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC, IIIA/B stage) and small cell lung cancers (SCLC, limited stage) case presentations. The NROP office is now planning to expand the radiation oncology surveillance program to other disease sites that include Breast, Head and Neck, and Central Nervous System.
3. Period of Performance (POP): The POP shall be from September 30, 2019 through September 29, 2020 with (1) 12-month Option Period.
4. Tasks and Associated Deliverables: The Contractor shall:
4.1 Convene Subject Matter Expert (SME) panels organized by ASTRO in Breast, Head and Neck, and Central Nervous System disease sites.
4.2 Define disease site-specific evidence-based Clinical Performance Measures for each disease sites; Breast, Head and Neck, and Central Nervous System.
4.2.1. CPMs that are supported by current literature and have been associated with improved outcomes.
4.2.2. Surveillance measures identify treatment processes, patient or tumor characteristics which the PO should track.
4.2.3. Aspirational CPMs: those supported by current literature, which is so recent that current practices are unlikely to have adopted the CPM. Aspirational CPMs are not currently the standard of care but it is the consensus of the panelists that the CPM will likely be the standard of care in the near future.
4.3 Define evidence-/consensus-based expected performance rate for each CPM described in B' 4.2.
4.4 Define clinical and dosimetry data elements required to score each CPM
4.4.1 Develop a decision tree for the determination of Pass/Fail/Exclusion score for each CPM
4.4.2 Validate the logic of decision trees for each CPM and ensure that it is applicable to data abstraction at all 40 radiation oncology services in the VHA. The contractor must communicate exceptions, if any, to the NROP office in writing.
4.5 Ensure that during the development of CPMs, Contractor and VHA Radiation Oncology Program Office will review and approve the data elements used to determine the value of each performance measure.
4.6 Provide a detailed timeline for the project, which shows the Contractor's plan for completing the task order.
4.7 Provide a mechanism to ensure timely and meaningful communications with the COR at the frequency illustrated in the Contract. All scheduled contacts between the Contractor and VHA staff shall occur during regular VHA hours of operation.
4.8 Ensure all VA Office of Information and Technology s (OI&T) policies and procedures are adhered to and all policies and procedures will be identified in PWS.
4.9 Interaction with the NROP office staff at the Contractor s expense per Contract.
4.10 Observe all sensitive data laws from Federal regulations and VA policies and procedures.
4.11 Issue confidential/proprietary information be authorized to recipients designated by VA.
4.12 Adhere to the no employer-employee relationship between the Veteran Health Administration (VA) and Contractor employees.
5. Section- 508 Compliance: In December 2000, the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board), pursuant to Section 508(2) (A) of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998, established Information Technology accessibility standards for the Federal Government.
5.1 Section 508(a)(1) requires that when Federal departments or agencies develop, procure, maintain, or use Electronic and Information Technology (EIT), they shall ensure that the EIT allows individuals with disabilities who are Federal employees to have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access to and use of the information and data by Federal employees who are not individuals with disabilities; and individuals with disabilities who are members of the public seeking information or services from a Federal department or agency to have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access to and use of the information and data by such members of the public who are not individuals with disabilities.
5.2 The Contractor shall comply with the following technical standards:
1. 1194.21 - Software Applications and Operating Systems
2. 1194.22 - Web Based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications
3. 1194.23 - Telecommunication Products
4. 1194.24 - Video and Multimedia Products
5. 1194.25 - Self Contained Closed products
6. 1194.26 - Desktop and Portable Computers
7. 1194.31 - Functional Performance Criteria
8. 1194.41 - Information, Documentation and Support
5.3. In order to validate conformance to the above standards the COR shall complete the VA s Section 508 Determination and Findings Document.
5.3.1. The VA s Section 508 PO has developed a Conformance Validation Statement (CVS).
5.3.2. The CVS shall be completed by the responsible requiring/procurement official as part of their market research to validate the conformance of the E&IT project ((See Section ten (10) in the Section 508 Determination and Findings Document)).
5.4. If at any time the responsible requiring/procurement official finds that an exception shall apply, the Contractor shall complete and have the Section 508 EIT Exceptions Certification Document signed by the VA Section 508 Coordinator. Once the E&IT is determined to meet all applicable Section 508 standards, the E&IT is validated by the VA s Section 508 PO in the Department s Section 508 Testing and Training Center using the information provided by the CVS.
5.5. In the case the VA decides to purchase an application, product or service that cannot be validated for Section 508 prior to purchase, the Contractor agrees to accept all costs for ensuring conformance working with the A Section 508 PO. For future releases or upgrades all steps using the CVS are required and upon validation a signed approval shall be given to the VA POC from the VA Section 508 Coordinator.
5.6. Section 508 information is available at http://www.section508.gov/.
5.7. The VA Directive and Handbook 6221, Accessible Electronic and Information Technology are posted at: http://www.va.gov/oit/ea/section508/policy.asp.
6. Deliverables Specific to this Requirement:
Deliverable
Quantity
Medium/Format
Delivery Date
Disease Site Committee Operations
1 Job
Contractor shall provide monthly updates to COR
Within 6 months of award date
7. Security Requirements: The Contractor agrees that:
7.1. The preliminary and final deliverables and all associated working papers, application source code, and other material deemed relevant by VA which has been generated by the contractor in the performance of this task order are the exclusive property of the U.S. Government and shall be submitted to the Contracting Officer at the conclusion of the task order.
7.2. The Contracting Officer will be the sole authorized official to release verbally or in writing, any data, the draft deliverables, the final deliverables, or any other written or printed materials pertaining to this task order. No information shall be released by the Contractor. Any request for information relating to this task order presented to the Contractor shall be submitted to the Contracting Officer for response.
7.3. Press releases, marketing material or any other printed or electronic documentation related to this project, shall not be publicized without the written approval of the Contracting Officer.
7.4 The Contractor shall ensure the confidentiality of all patient and employee information and shall be liable in the event of breach of confidentiality. Any person who discloses confidential information from the VA may be criminally liable for violations under these regulations. All materials are confidential and are protected under the Privacy Act of 1974. Title 38 U.S.C., Section 5701 and 7332. The Contractor shall provide VHA with the full assurance that security measures have been implemented. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) requirements will be exercised in their business dealing with Protected Health Information (PHI). A business associate agreement will ensure that the accrediting team and body will appropriately safeguard the PHI received from the applicant for accreditation.
8. Contract Award Meeting: The Contractor shall not commence performance on the tasks described in the PWS until the CO has conducted a kick off meeting or has advised the Contractor that a kick off meeting has been waived.
9. Changes to the PWS: Any changes to this PWS shall be authorized and approved only through written correspondence from the CO. A copy of each change shall be kept in a project folder along with any other products of the project. Costs incurred by the Contractor, through the actions of parties other than the CO, shall be borne by the Contractor alone.
10. VA Information and Information System Security/Privacy Language for Inclusion into Contracts, as Appropriate
10.1. General: Contractors, contractor personnel, subcontractors, and subcontractor personnel shall be subject to the same Federal laws, regulations, standards, and VA Directives and Handbooks as VA and VA personnel regarding information and information system security.
Ryan Mullins
ryan.mullins@va.gov
