Inactive Buy Indian Set-Aside (specific to Department of Health and Human Services, Indian Health Services)

Sources Sought: Physicist Services to be provided at the Woodrow Wilson Keeble Memorial Health Care Center (WWKMHCC), Sisseton, SD. Sources Sought Notice Number: IHS-SS-25-1502775 This Sources Sought ... Sources Sought: Physicist Services to be provided at the Woodrow Wilson Keeble Memorial Health Care Center (WWKMHCC), Sisseton, SD. Sources Sought Notice Number: IHS-SS-25-1502775 This Sources Sought Notice is for informational and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation, an obligation or commitment by the Indian Health Service. This notice is intended strictly for market research to determine the availability of Indian Small Businesses Economic Enterprise (ISBEE), Indian Economic Enterprises (IEE), or Other Small Businesses. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. The anticipated applicable NAICS code for this acquisition is 621111 – Office of Physicians. 1.0 BACKGROUND The IHS is an agency within the Department of Health & Human Services and is responsible for providing federal health services to American Indians and Alaska Natives. The Indian Health Service provides a comprehensive health service delivery system for approximately 1.9 million American Indians and Alaska Natives who belong to 567 federally recognized tribes, in 35 states. The Indian Health Service Headquarters is located in Rockville, MD and then divided into twelve (12) physical areas: Alaska, Albuquerque, Bemidji, Billings, California, Great Plains, Nashville, Navajo, Oklahoma, Phoenix, Portland, and Tucson. The Great Plains Area Office (GPAO) works in conjunction with 19 Indian Health Service Units and Tribal Managed Service Units to provide health care to approximately 130,000 Native American located in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa. WWKMHCC falls under the GPAO and provides medical care to approximately 7,000 tribal members living on the Lake Traverse Reservation. Serving a rural area, many of our patients travel 100 miles round trip to receive care. The Service Unit was built in 2007 to provide an expanded level of outpatient health care services specifically designed to meet the needs of our population. Services include: Behavioral Health, Community Health, Dental, Laboratory, Nutrition Services, Optometry, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy, Public Health Nursing, Purchased & Referred Care Services, and Radiology. 2.0 OBJECTIVE The primary objective of this project to provide medical physicist surveys to address radiation safety in the radiology and dental departments at WWKMHCC. The Contract Medical Physicist shall perform medical physicist surveys compatible with the IHS medical facility’s operating capacity and equipment, on the Lake Traverse Reservation 3.0 SCOPE DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES Services will be provided as detailed in the attached Statement of Work. The contract resulting from this solicitation shall: Be a non-personal health care services contract under which the Contractor is an independent contractor. Allow the Government to evaluate the quality of professional and administrative services provided, but retains no control over the medical, professional aspects of the services rendered (e.g., professional judgments, diagnosis for specific medical treatment). Require the Contractor to indemnify the Government for any liability producing act or omission by the Contractor, its employees and agents occurring during contract performance. Require the Contractor to maintain medical liability insurance, in the coverage amount acceptable to the Contracting Officer, which is not less than the amount normally prevailing within the local community for the medical specialty concerned. Require the Contractor to assume sole and exclusive responsibility for employee federal taxes, social security, unemployment insurance, and workman’s compensation. Require the Contractor to provide daily compensation and travel reimbursements to each Contract Optometrist as appropriate. CONFLICT OF INTEREST. The Contractor shall not employ any person who is an employee of the United States Government if the employment of that person would create a conflict of interest. The Contractor shall not employ any person who is an employee of Health and Human Services (HHS) unless such a person seeks and receives approval in accordance with the Department of HHS. 4.0 CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS/ AND PERSONNEL QUALIFICATIONS TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS The Contractor shall possess the following: Services shall be performed by a certified qualified medical physicist meeting the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) definition. AAPM defines a qualified medical physicist as, “an individual with the following credentials”: Has earned a Master’s or Doctoral degree in physics, medical physics, biophysics, radiological physics, medical health physics, or equivalent disciplines from an accredited college or university and; Has been granted certification in the specific subfield(s) of medical physics with its associated medical health physics aspects by an appropriate national certifying body and abides by the certifying body’s requirements for continuing education. Meet all MQSA Required Qualifications for Mammography Equipment Evaluations and Quality Control Tests 2. These certification requirements are consistent with the national practice guidelines referenced in Table 2. Medical Physicist performance monitoring reports shall include verification of professional certification. For the subfield of Diagnostic Medical Physics, AAPM recommends certification by the American Board of Radiology; or the American Board of Medical Physics; or the Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine. (AAPM, 2012.) RADIATION SAFETY SURVEYS AND PERFORMANCE MONITORING AND TESTING OF MEDICAL AND DENTAL IMAGING EQUIPMENT Services to meet the most recent nationally-recognized standards of practice regarding x-ray equipment performance monitoring and testing according to the American College of Radiology (ACR) and the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurement (NCRP) Technical Standards. Contractor shall provide all supplies, kits, test equipment, tools, and parts required to perform monitoring and testing services. All required services as noted below will be conducted. Radiation Surveys will be conducted according to ACR and NCRP standards and equipment manufacturer’s recommendations. Performance Monitoring Tests and Services will be conducted according to the schedule noted in the table below, verify that new equipment meets manufacturer specifications and regulatory requirements, as well as identify any corrective maintenance or modifications to process or procedures that need to be addressed. Contractor shall schedule visits with each site’s Radiology Supervisor for medical x-rays and mammogram; and Dental Chief for dental x-ray tubes at least two weeks in advance of the proposed site visit. With thorough testing and measurements, the Contractor shall verify that any new radiology equipment meets manufacturer specifications and regulatory requirements, as well as identify any problem areas that need to be addressed. COMPLETION OF SERVICE AND DOCUMENTATION: On completion of all performance monitoring and testing services, the contractor’s representative shall brief the locations Radiology Supervisor for medical x-rays and mammogram and the Dental Chief for dental x-ray tubes and provide documentation of all services that were performed; in addition, a copy of the report is to be provided to the WWKMHCC Clinical Director. The documentation shall be a prepared form that provides at a minimum the following information: a. Documents the services performed for each item or system. b. Results on Appropriateness Use Criteria Audit: i. Facility risk profile/stratification ii. Decision support system name/process type if available, iii. Exam Prioritization selection, iv. Data sources available and reviewed, v. Number of exams/data evaluated, vi. Number of exams lacking data needed for review, vii. Number of exams consistent, inconsistent, and undefined with appropriateness criteria, viii. Notable findings or facility comments, ix. Potential trends or areas for further facility QAPI/Medical Committee Review, x. Exams for which dose is/not reported, comparison of reported doses to diagnostic reference levels c. Shall be in an easily readable format. d. Shall be of ink or print type that can be photocopied on a standard copy machine. e. Documentation shall include: i. Facility Location ii. Names of Key Staff contacted, interviewed, and/or briefed while on site iii. Equipment Model Number iv. Equipment Manufacturer’s Serial Number v. Location of Equipment vi. Date of Service vii. Type of service performed viii. Identification of methods and instrumentation and supplies used ix. Results of any tests or inspections performed. (Automatic Exposure Level Standards based on latest Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors) x. Provide for a check off or sign off to indicate “unit fully operational as specified by original manufacturer.” xi. If deficiencies in equipment or operation are found, corrective action plan is provided to Radiation Safety Officer at each Service Unit. xii. Method of identifying Contractor’s service personnel xiii. Block for local IHS Personnel to sign and date when service is complete. 7. Manner and Time of Conducting Work a. Contractor shall schedule visits with the site’s Radiology Supervisor for medical x-rays and mammogram, and Dental Chief for dental x-rays at least two weeks in advance of the proposed site visit. b. Upon arrival at and before departing from the facility, the Contractor’s Representative shall physically check-in with the locations Radiology Supervisor for medical x-rays and mammogram and the Dental Chief for dental x-ray tubes. c. All work shall be performed during normal work hours of Monday through Friday, 8:00am to 8:00pm, with the exception of Federal Holidays. Hours can differ if the facility has mutually agreed between the facility and contractor representative for the benefit of the surveyor. 5.0 TYPE OF ORDER The award for this service will be a firm fixed price non-personal service purchase order. 6.0 ANTICIPATED PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE Period of Performance: August 1, 2025 – July 31, 2026, plus 4 optional years. 7.0 PLACE OF PERFORMANCE Woodrow Wilson Keeble Memorial Health Care Center, Indian Health Service, 100 Lake Traverse Drive, Sisseton, SD. 8.0 REPORT(S)/DELIVERABLES AND DELIVERY SCHEDULE The Contractor shall schedule visits with the site’s Radiology Supervisor for medical x-rays and mammogram, and Dental Chief for dental x-rays at least two weeks in advance of the proposed site visit. Upon arrival at and before departing from the facility, the Contractor’s Representative shall physically check-in with the locations Radiology Supervisor for medical x-rays and mammogram and the Dental Chief for dental x-ray tubes. All work shall be performed during normal work hours of Monday through Friday, 8:00am to 8:00pm, with the exception of Federal Holidays. Hours can differ if the facility has mutually agreed between the facility and contractor representative for the benefit of the surveyor. 9.0 PAYMENT The contractor shall submit invoices for services that is mutually agreed upon by the contractor and the COR through the Invoice Processing Platform (IPP.gov). Additional Information: The contractor shall be paid only for actual time services are performed under the terms of the contract at the hourly fixed flat rate. There is no differential pay for government holidays, nights, weekends, compensation time, or overtime will be approved. 10.0 Capability Statement/Information: Interested parties are expected to review this notice and attached statement of work to familiarize itself with the requirements of this project. Failure to do so will be at your firm’s own risk. The following information shall be included in the capability statement: 1. A general overview of the respondent’s opinions about the difficulty and/or feasibility of the potential requirement, and any information regarding innovative ideas or concepts. 2. Information in sufficient detail of the respondent’s (a) current capability and capacity to perform the work; (b) prior completed events of similar nature/size; (c) organizational experience and management capability; and (d) examples of prior completed Government contracts and other related information. 3. The respondents’ UEI number, organization name, address, point of contact, and size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HUBZone, etc.) Pursuant to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code: 621111 – Office of Physicians. 4. Any other information that may be helpful in developing or finalizing the requirements of the potential acquisition. 5. The capability statement shall not exceed 10 single-sided pages (including all attachments, resumes, etc.) presented in single-space and using a 12-point font size minimum, in either Microsoft Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), with 8-1/2 by 11 inch paper size, and 1 inch top, bottom, left and right margins. 6. All proprietary information should be marked as such. Statements should also include an indication of current certified small business status; this indication should be clearly marked on the first page of your capability statement (preferably placed under the eligible small business concern’s name and address). Responses will be reviewed only by IHS personnel and will be held in a confidential manner. 10.0 Closing Statement Point of Contact: Andrea Whipple, Purchasing Agent, at Andrea.Whipple@ihs.gov Submission Instructions: Interested parties shall submit capability via email to Andrea Whipple, Purchasing Agent, at Andrea.Whipple@ihs.gov. Must include Sources Sought Number IHS1502775 in the Subject line. The due date for receipt of statements is February 14, 2025, 1:00 p.m. Central Time. All responses must be received by the specified due date and time in order to be considered. This notice is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of IHS. IHS does not intend to award a contract on the basis of responses nor otherwise pay for the preparation of any information submitted. As a result of this notice, IHS may issue a Request for Quote (RFQ). THERE IS NO SOLICITATION AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME. However, should such a requirement materialize, no basis for claims against IHS shall arise as a result of a response to this notice or IHS’s use of such information as either part of our evaluation process or in developing specifications for any subsequent requirement. Disclaimer and Important Notes. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization’s qualifications to perform the work. 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. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in SAM.gov. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. Confidentiality. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response.