Spinal Cord Injury Section Wireless Internet Base plus 4 one-year options
The Department of Veterans Affairs, NCO 9 Network Contracting Office is conducting market research through this Sources Sought notice to seek Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) or Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB) businesses that can provide wireless internet service for the Spinal Cord Injury Section at the Memphis VA Medical Center.
The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code contemplated for this acquisition is 517312, Wireless Telecommunications Carriers (except Satellite). The VA is contemplating making this requirement a base year with four one-year options contract.
STATEMENT OF WORK
Introduction:
The Spinal Cord Injury Service of VA Medical Center at Memphis strives to provide the highest level of patient centered care. Veterans' needs are continually assessed to respond to their ever-changing expectations. To continue to meet patient needs, VA Memphis authorized the use of funds to implement wireless service to support the patient centered model of care for Physical Therapy, Vocational Rehabilitation, Education, and Social Networking, as well as, improved outpatient service to patients. Access to this network will be restricted to patients in Spinal Cord Injury programs.
The Spinal Cord Injury Wireless Network was initially installed and became operable October 2014 to provide access to Spinal Cord Injury patients on the SCI Unit, as well as, Spinal Cord Injury patients in the outpatient clinic areas within Building 7.
This wireless internet service shall operate as a stand-alone system with no cross over to the medical center systems. There is currently an Air-Gapped Network Memorandum of Understanding that is current and updated for existing wireless service.
An interdisciplinary patient center team has identified this need; technical advice has been provided by OI&T. The wireless network equipment installed for the Spinal Cord Injury Wireless Network is the property of VAMC Memphis.
Background:
As part of the rehabilitation and recovery mission of all the VHA Spinal Cord Injury programs, keeping Veterans fully engaged with family, friends and the world at large is part of the treatment. Internet access is considered a normal means of communication and a standard information source today. Veterans working to regain a normal, healthy life while recovering from a spinal cord injury would benefit from ongoing access to a wireless network. As we provide care to a population increasingly consisting of our younger returning Veterans, computer access is considered part of a normal environment. Treatment, education and support systems can be accessed via the internet, and can assist in bridging the Veterans' recovery from a spinal cord injury back to the home community. Patient satisfaction is likely to increase for Veterans receiving care in our Spinal Cord Injury Center as well.
Today's Veterans come to the hospital equipped with laptops, smart phones and e-books. Due to the nature of their illness and or injury, rehabilitation for SCI patients can last 8 weeks or more and most spinal cord patients are completely bedridden. Veterans have an expectation to be able to continue with online courses, vocational needs, and social networking while at the VAMC.
The availability of wireless internet access will allow Veterans to continue their vocational and educational goals and stay connected to family and friends while receiving treatment. Easy internet access will allow Veteran's to utilize the My Healthy Vet (MHV) system. This access enables Veterans to learn about their condition, healthy lifestyle practices and to monitor & track their own health status.
Wireless internet access is consistent with a primary mission of the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide the highest level of customer service and satisfaction.
Scope of Work:
This wireless internet service shall operate as a stand-alone system with no cross over to the medical center systems.
There shall be no opportunity for any breach of confidential information or access to medical records from this wireless network system.
The system shall work much like the access now provided when a guest has access at a hotel. The patient shall be provided with a password for access, Contractor code, and a help line number for technical support.
Chief Facility Information Officer (OI&T) shall have no responsibility for troubleshooting or day to day operation of this wireless network. However, OI&T shall sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Contractor to allow access to areas where wireless equipment is located for technical trouble shooting, replacement, and/or repair of equipment.
The passwords shall be distributed to the users by designated VA Medical Center personnel within the Spinal Cord Injury Service. Passwords or access codes shall be provided by the Contractor to the Contracting
Officer's Representative (COR). The COR shall provide the access codes to approved areas to allow Veterans access to the network.
This contract does not involve the use and disclosure of sensitive personal information (SPI); however, any exposure of SPI during installing or maintaining equipment shall be very limited and may happen as a by-product of their assigned duties. Such a situation is considered incidental disclosure that does not pose SPI disclosure risks and may be tolerated.
Equipment List:
All equipment currently has no warranties.
Netgear FS728TP (SW.SCI.1)
Netgear FS728TP (SW.SCI.2)
Netgear FS728TP (SW.SCI.3)
Netgear FS728TP (SW.SCI.4)
Netgear FS728TP (SW.SCI.5)
Location:
Spinal Cord Injury Building #7 (data closets 7-1-2, 7-1-3, 7-2-1, 7-2-2, 7-2-3 on the 1st and second floors)
Requirements:
The system should meet the minimum specifications:
1. The Contractor will provide internet bandwidth to be delivered by a local service provider to Spinal Cord Injury Building #7. The Contractor shall maintain and troubleshoot to all extended network locations bandwidth from Data Closet #7-1-1 to (5) secondary Data Closets 7-1-2, 7-1- 3, 7-2-1, 7-2-2, 7-2-3 on the 1st and second floors. The Contractor will maintain equipment and materials of installed bandwidth from Data closets on first and second floors to Wireless Access points installed inside Drop ceiling areas of the 1st and second floors to provide Wireless signal coverage to areas requiring service.
2. The network must be capable to provide 20Mbyte burstable up to 50MByte of bandwidth to customers at any given hour. The internet connectivity shall have a minimum 50 megabytes download by 10 megabytes upload. The number of users varies day to day based on # of customers using the wireless network. Estimate that up to 100 concurrently connected users can use the network at any given time.
3. The Contractor shall support call low and high volume calls. The low volume calls average 15 to 20 minutes and occasionally may exceed 1 hour. High volume calls are normally related to the ISP connection or equipment failure.
4. The Contractor shall repair equipment as needed to ensure the wireless network is operable 24/7. Current equipment cannot be removed unless it is replaced with new equipment that has same or greater performance qualities for wireless network coverage to customers. Approval must be obtained for any repair/replacement by the Contracting Officer and COR. Any additional work that is not addressed in this SOW shall require a new purchase order.
5. The Contractor will maintain wireless signal coverage ensuring adequate coverage to all areas requiring service. The square footage for the 1st floor is 85,074 and the 2nd floor is 46,754.
6. Hardware including the router and access points are already housed in various locations throughout the Spinal Cord Injury Building #7 ceilings and data closets.
7. The hardware shall not be connected to the VA Network or other Secure Networks.
8. Wireless equipment is currently installed in controlled areas and is not in direct patient care areas. The equipment shall not be moved to direct patient individual care areas.
9. There shall be no privacy or personal identifiable information shared.
10. 24/7 technical support by Contractor to the user is required. A phone number must be provided to customers/users. VAMC Memphis Ol&T shall not provide technical support to customers/users of this wireless network. All technical support must be provided by the Contractor.
11. Contractor shall provide installation of all hardware and cabling and install additional equipment, if replacement is needed, to provide current level of wireless network bandwidth to customers of 20 megabytes burstable to 50 megabytes. Approval must be obtained for any repair/replacement by the Contracting Officer and COR. Any additional work that is not addressed in this SOW shall require a new purchase order.
12. If replacement is needed, the hardware (including router, access points, wiring, and other equipment/items) shall be the property of VA Memphis and shall remain onsite at the end of the contract.
13. System for password protection of wireless network shall be provided by the Contractor. The system is equipped for real time monitoring systems (SNMP).
14. Wireless network shall be separate from the hospital network to alleviate any security issues.
15. Hardware shall be maintained by the Contractor as part of the 24/7 technical support. The Contractor shall provide Tier 1 customer support and remote 1st level support.
16. If outages occur the Contractor shall inform COR of action plan to fix/repair network within 24 hours if wireless network is not made operable within 4 hours of incident (during normal working hours) or 12 hours of incident (during non-working hours). Normal working hours are Monday - Friday, 8am to 4:30pm CST. The repair of the network must be completed within 3 days after the action plan is submitted. Any day after 3 days must be an agreement between the COR and the Contractor. The Contractor shall credit the government/agency credit for each day the network is down after 3 days. The Contractor shall provide a toll-free line that shall be available for customers to use to report technical issues.
17. Contractor shall provide training on use of system to COR. No training shall be provided to patients or visitors.
18. Contractor shall provide contact information to user for technical support (e.g. business card; posters in patient rooms).
19. Contractor shall be required to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between VAMC Memphis OI&T Officer in regards to this Air-Gapped Wireless Network.
20. Contractor employees may need to access to data closets for repair/maintenance of hardware. Contractor is required to contact OI&T through the COR prior to their arrival to the VA Medical Center. Contractor may be required escort by OI&T personnel while on VA premises.
21. The Contractor shall provide a point of contact for VA Memphis designated personnel.
22. The Contractor shall only provide bandwidth services and technical support. The Contractor shall be responsible for engaging the ISP to determine outage or problem with the ISP's network.
23. The Contractor shall provide full support to the user, assist the user to troubleshoot the equipment, remotely login into their system and change the configuration of their devices or walk them through identifying issues. The Contractor shall not engage in any activity that could void the warranty of the device or physically damage the device.
24. The contractor will report for duty at location: Building 7, 1st Floor, Room Number 1A117.
25. Contractor will be escorted by VA employee in all areas where sensitive information is maintained.
26. The badge must be worn facing forward and above the waistline. The contractors staff are required to wear the VA issued badge at all times while on VA premises.
27. Taking of photographs/videos/audio recording of any kind is PROHIBITED on VA premises unless pertaining to work assignment, instructed or authorized by the Contracting Officer s Representative (COR).
28. TRAINING: The contractors staff (those who will be on VA property working) will be required to complete the TMS (10176) training prior to the work beginning. The contractor will either personally bring the training certificates or E-mail the certificates to the COR so they can be kept on file for one year.
a) You must ensure each contract employee self-enrolls for a profile on the VA TMS by visiting https://www.tms.va.gov/plateau/user/login.jsp. Once there, employees should follow the steps below to create a profile, launch the mandatory training, and complete the content prior to their next day at VA.
b) Upon completion by all employees, the contractor shall provide their Contracting Officer Representative with each employee s printed certificate of completion from the TMS. This certificate displays the employee s TMS User ID.
c) The TMS training is only good for one year and the contractor is responsible to ensure their staff or persons who will be working on VA property are current.
Hours of Operation:
Hours of operation shall be Monday thru Sunday, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day; including holidays. The following is a list of U.S. Government holidays. If the holiday
falls on a Saturday, the proceeding Friday is observed as the holiday; if the holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday is observed as the holiday.
HOLIDAY
New Year's Day
Martin Luther King's Birthday President's Day
Memorial Day
Independence Day
Labor Day
Columbus Day
Veterans Day
Thanksgiving Day
Christmas Day
Place of Performance:
Memphis VAMC, Spinal Cord Injury Service, Building 7, Room 1A117, 1030 Jefferson Avenue, Memphis, TN 38104.
Period of Performance:
This shall be awarded as a Firm-Fixed Price, base + (4) one-year options to renew.
DISCLAIMER AND IMPORTANT NOTES: This Sources Sought Notice is for market research purposes only and does not constitute a Request for Proposal/Quotation; and, it is not considered to be a commitment by the Government to award a contract nor will the Government pay for any information provided; no basis for claim against the Government shall arise as a result from a response to this Sources Sought Notice or Government use of any information provided. Failure to submit information in sufficient detail may result in considering a company as not a viable source and may influence competition and set-aside decisions. Regardless of the information obtained from this Sources Sought Notice, the Government reserves the right to consider any arrangement as deemed appropriated for this requirement. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response to this Sources Sought Notice. The Government reserves the right to use any information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate, including using technical information provided by respondents in any resultant solicitation. At this time no solicitation exists; therefore, Do Not Request a Copy of the Solicitation. After a review of the responses received, a pre- solicitation notice and solicitation may be published on Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website. It is the potential offeror's responsibility to monitor FedBizOpps for release of any future solicitation that may result from this Sources Sought Notice. However, responses to this Sources Sought Notice will not be considered adequate responses to any resultant solicitation.
Pursuant to FAR Part 10 (Market Research), the purpose of this notice is to: (1) determine if sources capable of satisfying the agency's requirements exists, (2) determine if commercial items suitable to meet the agency's needs are available or could be modified to meet the agency's requirements, and (3) determine the commercial practices of company's engaged in providing the needed service or supply.
Pursuant to FAR Part 6 and FAR Part 19, competition and set-aside decisions may be based on the results of this market research. This notice in no way obligates the Government to any further action.
SAM: Interested parties should register in the System for Award Management (SAM) as prescribed in FAR Clause 52.232-33. The SAM can be obtained by accessing the internet at www.sam.gov or by calling 1-866-606-8220.
VA VENDOR INFORMATION PAGE (VETBIZ): Interested SDVOSB and VOSB parties should be registered in the VA Vendor Information Page (VetBiz) https://www.vip.vetbiz.gov/.
SUBMISSION OF INFORMATION: Companies having capabilities necessary to meet or exceed the stated requirements are invited to provide information to contribute to this market survey/sources sought notice including commercial market information and company information. Companies may respond to this Sources Sought Notice via e-mail to karen.williams13@va.gov. The subject line must read: 9273 Wireless Internet Service. Responses must be submitted no later than January 19 at 10:00am, CT with the following information/documentation:
Company Name and DUNS Number
Point of Contact and Phone number
Business Size applicable to the NAICS Code 517312: a. Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB); b. Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB). The status will be verified through VA Vendor Information Page.
If you believe another NAICS code is more suitable for the wireless internet requirement, please include this code.
Karen.Williams13@va.gov
karen.williams13@va.gov
