SOURCES SOUGHT
65 -- OFFICE OF CONNECTED CARE (OCC) EQUIPMENT AND SERVICES SUPPORT INDEFINITE-DELIVERY / INDEFINITE-QUANTITY (IDIQ) - RFI
- Notice Date
- 10/6/2021 12:42:47 PM
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 334111
— Electronic Computer Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- STRATEGIC ACQUISITION CENTER FREDERICKSBURG (36C10G) FREDERICKSBURG VA 22408 USA
- ZIP Code
- 22408
- Solicitation Number
- 36C10G22Q0007
- Response Due
- 10/20/2021 9:00:00 AM
- Archive Date
- 12/19/2021
- Point of Contact
- Maurice Christian/Wendy Minch, Contract Specialist, Phone: 202-422-3106
- E-Mail Address
-
maurice.christian@va.gov
(maurice.christian@va.gov)
- Awardee
- null
- Description
- Page 1 of 1 REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) QUESTIONS OFFICE OF CONNECTED CARE (OCC) EQUIPMENT AND SERVICES SUPPORT INDEFINITE-DELIVERY / INDEFINITE-QUANTITY (IDIQ) Request for Information: Federal Contract Opportunity for Request for Information (RFI)- Industry Feedback Requested regarding the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Subject: Request for Information-Industry Feedback requested Regarding VA Office of Connected Care (OCC) Program. The purpose of this Sources Sought/RFI Notice is to search for qualified vendors capable of providing Office of Connected Care (OCC) services for the Telehealth program to the Department of Veterans Affairs nationwide. North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code for this requirement are: 334111 (Electronic Computer Manufacturing); 541519 (Other Computer Related Services); 511210 (SW Publishers & Planning); 541511 (Custom Computer Program Services); and, 423450 (Medical, Dental, and Hospital Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers). Purpose: The Government is requesting written feedback from various sectors with regards to VHA s virtual care program. This RFI is issue solely for information and planning purposes. It does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. The purpose of this RFI is to gain feedback regarding the need for equipment and services support for OCC s virtual care program. VA is in the process of developing an acquisition strategy for VA s robust virtual care contract. The feedback from industry may help shape the future contractual and programmatic activities. Therefore, the Government seeks feedback from industry to help develop and improve its acquisition strategy regarding contract type, performance requirements, performance work statements for VA s virtual care program. VA s award-winning virtual care program relies on tight integration across many functional areas (FAs) to provide consistent and reliable care to Veterans. VHA seeks to determine how to balance the program s mission against VA s commitment to provide competitive opportunities for the vendor community. How can VA structure the planned contract model to increase competition? More specifically, VA is requesting industry input for the most appropriate acquisition strategy for its comprehensive, dynamic virtual care requirement, including, but not limited to: 1) Single award indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ), 2) Multiple award IDIQ (as preferred by FAR 16.504), 3) Several independent, separate contracts for specific functional areas 4) A combination of the above In accordance with FAR 16.504(c), VA is considering a multiple award IDIQ to maximize competition, which the Government is mandated to pursue under the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA, 41 U.S.C. ยง 251 et seq.). VA is concerned a single award IDIQ will potentially stifle innovation; make it more challenging to get Fair and Reasonable pricing; make it difficult to add new products and services to the contract without processing a brand name Justification and Approval (J&A) under FAR 11.105. However, VA is also concerned that program efficiency and effectiveness may suffer as a result of having multiple orders and/or contracts. It is also important VA maximize the use of small businesses, in particular, service disabled, veteran owned small business (SDVOSB). Please address the pros and cons of each contract strategy mentioned above and submit any other ideas you feel would adequately balance efficient and effective program operations with the need for competition. Attached to this RFI is the following draft documents: 1) Attachment 1-Task Order Outline_Program Integration and Help Desk Support 2) Attachment 2-FA 3 Help Desk As-Is Support_OCC Equip and Services 3) Attachment 3-PWS_OCC Equipment and Services 4) Attachment 4-Draft Technical Evaluation Criteria_OCC Equip and Services 5) Attachment 5-VHA OCC Equipment and Services Support MPL 6) Attach A- OCC Equip and Services - VHA Technical Stack 7) Attach B -OCC Equip and Services_ Products Available on Current Contract 8) Attach C -OCC Equip and Services- Software Licenses and Maintenance Agreements Written Responses: The written response shill be provided to Maurice D. Christian, Contracting Specialist (maurice.christian@va.gov), and Wendy Minch, Contract Officer (wendy.minch@va.gov) by October 20, 2021 at 12:00pm, Eastern, ATTN: OCC Equipment and Services RFI Response . Failure to include subject line could be missed as a response to this Sources Sought. If you desire to participate in this market research effort, you should respond via email . Responses submitted should be limited to 30 pages, excluding title page and table of contents. Whenever possible we ask respondents to provide a reference (basis of support) with their responses; this will allow the Government to understand the basis of data provided. Please ensure proprietary data is marked accordingly Responders are advised the United States Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party s expense. Submittals will not be returned to the responder. It is the responsibility of the potential offerors to monitor these sites for additional information pertaining to this requirement. Where appropriate, please address questions from the perspective of maximizing competition. Please speak to the pros and cons of a multiple or single award IDIQ and to multiple (separate) contracts. Have you worked on OCC s requirement before as a sub or a prime? Is your company supporting on the current requirement? If so, what does your company support and what percentage of effort? Is your company a small business (please specify)? If VA pursued a multiple-award contract vehicle for equipment and a single-award IDIQ contract vehicle for services, with mandatory inclusion of small businesses, what would be the pros and cons? How or how does this not promote competition? Several vendors responses to the July RFI included recommendations that VA establish an intake process, sandbox, or another mechanism to evaluate promising new technologies. However, VA already has an Innovation Ecosystem program (VHA Innovation Ecosystem VHA Innovation Ecosystem Team) and OCC partners with them to investigate new technologies. Does industry believe that OCC s partnership with the Innovation Ecosystem is sufficient to ensure the continued infusion of new technologies and vendors into virtual care? If this OCC / VHA Innovation Ecosystem partnership is sufficient, how could new technologies be incorporated into this contract? If the partnership is not sufficient, how can VA structure this contract to encourage continued innovation? Will competition foster greater innovation under a multiple award? 4. If VA determines that a multiple-award contract vehicle is in the best interest of the Government, OCC has identified a need for particularly close integration across all FAs. This raises several questions: How can VA structure the contract to ensure that all vendors coordinate and collaborate with each other as well as with the Integrator, while ensuring optimization of program efficiency and effectiveness? If VA awards a multiple-award IDIQ, and your company is one of the selected vendors, what steps would your company take to ensure you are working collaboratively with the other vendors who were also selected? The Government may release an Integration, Help Desk, and Program and Project Management Support Task Order (TO) as a sample task order with the solicitation of this effort. Attachment 1-Task Order Outline_Program Integration and Help Desk Support to this RFI includes a draft, high-level outline of the services that would be required under the PWS for this sample TO. If VA pursues a multiple-award contract, do you believe that the services addressed in this outline encompass the breadth of the requirements for integration support? If not, please provide specific examples of the additional support that you believe will be required to successfully meet the intended outcome of this effort. Due to the strategic assistance requirements and likely access to proprietary information from other vendors necessary under this TO, the Government anticipates that the contractor performing work under the Integration, Help Desk, and Program and Project Management Support TO would have an organizational conflict of interest (OCI) that may prevent them from competing on other TOs released under the OCC Equipment and Services Support IDIQ. Based on the information in the PWS and Sample TO, can you propose OCI mitigation strategies that could resolve or manage this issue? Should this be its own contract? If this is a separate contract, how can the Government ensure vendor cooperation and collaboration across all contracts supporting the connected care program? If the OCI issue cannot be mitigated, resulting in barring the Integration, Help Desk, and Program and Project Management Support TO holder from competition for other work under this contract, would your company bid on this TO? Based on feedback received in the latest RFI, the Government intends to release an attachment for each FA that provides high-level detail about the as-is state of the support currently provided for that FA. As an example, a draft of the Help Desk Support FA attachment has been released with this RFI as Attachment 2 FA 3 Help Desk As-Is Support OCC Equip and Services Does this document provide you with enough detail on the as-is state of this FA, such that you could prepare a comprehensive proposal response for this effort? If not, please specifically articulate what additional detail would be helpful in preparing your response. Based on the Government s strategic priorities and feedback received in the latest RFI, the Government has restructured the PWS) Attachment 3 - Draft Performance Work Statement (PWS) OCC Equipment and Services to ensure the scope of OCC Equipment and Services support is appropriate for the life of the contract. Considering the detail provided in the draft PWS, the Help Desk FA As-Is State overview, and the additional FA As-Is State documents that the Government plans to release with the solicitation, is enough detail provided to enable you to develop a robust, competitive proposal response for this effort? If not, please provide specific examples of the additional information that you believe is necessary to properly prepare a response to a solicitation for this work. Based on the information provided in the PWS, can your company partially or fully meet the requirements? In Attachment 4-Draft Technical Evaluation Criteria OCC Equip and Services to this RFI, the Government has included draft outlines of the criteria proposed to evaluate proposals submitted for the OCC Equipment and Services IDIQ for either a single- or multiple-award contract. In both cases, do you feel that the evaluation structure and the associated criteria would enable you to effectively showcase your ability to successfully perform work under this effort? If not, please suggest how the evaluation structure and criteria might be adjusted to support an efficient, streamlined evaluation that results in the best possible outcome for both the Government and Industry. VA has identified the following functional areas: System Integration (services; not defined as a separate functional area on current contract) Equipment and Software Provisioning, Deployment, and Maintenance including the Master Price/Equipment list (hardware, software, and services) Help Desk Support and Provisioning (services) Connected Care Technology Software and Mobile Medical Application Design, Development, Enhancement, and Remediation (services) Infrastructure and Architecture Support (services and SW licenses) Program, Project, and Release Management and Deployment Support (services) Communications Support (services) Training Development, Delivery, and Implementation (services) Currently, these services are provided by a single vendor. What are your recommendations for how we could divide TOs across FAs without disrupting program operations? Which tasks could you see being done together and which could you see separated? Please provide your reasoning for each. What are your recommendations for the most effective and efficient ways to accomplish a post-award transition? What do you think are realistic timeframes for completing the transition for each FA? , SPECIAL NOTES: The Government reserves the right to: 1. Use any and all ideas submitted in respond to this RFI. 2. Adopt all or any part of the vendors response in selecting the optimum configuration to be used with the request for proposal. 3. Request RFI respondents to present supplemental information clarifying their responses either in writing, informal presentation, or product demonstration. 4. Accept or reject any or all information received or to modify or cancel this RFI in part or in its entirety at any time. 5. All information in this RFI is nonbinding 6. The RFI is being used for data gathering purposes only. This RFI is not a contract offer and does not commit the Government to award a contract, pay any cost incurred by respondents preparing a response or to procure a contract for services or supplies. No contract can or will be awarded based on submissions. In the event that a respondent does not respond to this RFI, this will not impact a respondent s ability to respond to any future competitive solicitation. There are no representations or warranties regarding accuracy or completeness of information contained in the RFI. Respondents are responsible for making their own evaluation of information and data provided. INDUSTRY DAY: The written responses received under this RFI will help develop an industry day. The intent of this industry day is to hold a platform to gain feedback from industry on how to structure this contract. The objective of such communication is to ensure transparency of this effort and ensure the acquisition strategy is the best approach. Responders to this RFI will receive an invite for an industry day. Following, the event will be recorded and posted on beta.SAM.gov.
- Web Link
-
SAM.gov Permalink
(https://beta.sam.gov/opp/fefd404c10154c22b9140a0c478c69f0/view)
- Place of Performance
- Address: TBD
- Record
- SN06152911-F 20211008/211006230123 (samdaily.us)
- Source
-
SAM.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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