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SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE DOCUMENT SCANNING SERVICES ALTOONA VAMC This is a SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE only. Responses to this notice will be used for information and planning purposes. No quotes are being req... SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE DOCUMENT SCANNING SERVICES ALTOONA VAMC This is a SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE only. Responses to this notice will be used for information and planning purposes. No quotes are being requested or accepted at this time with this notice. The intent of this Sources Sought Notice is to identify potential Small Businesses especially any SDVOSB/VOSB any and other business size offerors capable of providing Document Shredding as listed in the Statement of Need (See Below). The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code being considered for this procurement is 518210, Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services, Product Service Code (PSC) is D311, IT And Telecom- Data Conversion services. This is for the VA Healthcare Center in Altoona, PA 16602 Below is a draft copy of the Statement of Work (SOW). Responses to this notice should include the following: 1. Company name 2. Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number 3. Company s address, 4. Point of Contact information (i.e. title, phone number and email address) 5. Company s capability to meet this requirement and any pertinent information which demonstrates the company s ability to meet the above requirements. 6. GSA Federal Supply Schedule contract number, if within scope of this effort (if applicable). Company s type of business (small or large) and socioeconomic status whether Service Disable Veteran Owned, Veteran Owned, Hubzone, 8(a), Women Owned, Small Disadvantaged, etc. If applicable, Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB) and Veteran Owned Small Businesses (VOSB) must be verified in www.VetBiz.gov , and be able to meet the limitation on subcontracting in accordance with 13 CFR 125.6; if applicable. All responses shall be submitted in writing via email no later than 12 pm EST, on Aug 24tth, 2020 to Mr. Jeffrey Pruett at Jeffrey.Pruett@va.gov SUBJECT LINE: Document Scanning Services-Altoona VAMC E-mail: Jeffrey.Pruett@va.gov. Facsimile or telephonic responses will not be accepted. Simply responding as an interested party in www.fbo.gov does not constitute your company as a source. Offeror must provide the above requested information. After review of the responses to the sources sought notice, a solicitation announcement may be published on the FBO website in the near future. Responses to the sources sought announcement are not considered adequate responses to the solicitation announcement. All interested offerors will have to respond to the forthcoming SUPPLIES OR SERVICES AND PRICES/COSTS DESCRIPTION OF SERVICE The James E. VanZandt VA Medical Center, 2907 Pleasant Valley Bld., Altoona PA 16602 has a requirement for Historical Medical Records Scanning and Indexing Services. Services will be conducted on site and anticipate total time for completion to be 6 months. BACKGROUND The Altoona VAMC has a requirement to digitalize all of the Veterans Historical Medical and Historical Medical Administrative records into Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS), so that the hospital may improve both patient outcomes and patient satisfaction. By incorporating these records into CPRS, the hospital will be able to improve patient care through enabling clinicians real time access to a patient s historical records during the patient s visit. In addition, digitalizing medical records will decrease patient wait times and increasing patient satisfaction due to elimination of patient interview forms each time a visit is made. It is the VA s wishes to eliminate the historical medical paper record and reduce related costs through the electronic capture, storage, and viewing of historical patient data into CPRS by paying for a scanning and indexing service. These services include accurately attaching scanned images to the appropriate electronic health record. Accuracy is extremely important to maintain the integrity of the medical record. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE James E. VanZandt VA Medical Center 2907 Pleasant Valley Blvd. Altoona PA 16602 OBSERVED FEDERAL HOLIDAYS New Year s Day Martin Luther King Presidents Day Memorial Day Independence Day Labor Day Columbus Day Veterans Day Thanksgiving Day Christmas Day PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE Performance period is estimated to begin immediately after award as long as the security clearances have been granted and all PIV badges have been obtained. Contract period will run for 6 months only. It will be up to the contractor to determine the number of days, shifts and hours of work needed to complete this scanning task within the 6-month time frame. COVID 19 PROTOCAL Contracted employees will be required to follow all COVID19 procedures and policies so stated by the Altoona VA at the time of work commencing. To include but not limited to: Wearing of face masks at all times when outside of the scanning and indexing area b. Maintaining social distancing when outside of the scanning and indexing area SMOKING POLICY There is no smoking anywhere on the Altoona VA Medical Center campus to include your own vehicle on government property. There are no designated areas for smoking on the Altoona VA Medical Center Campus this is a completely smoke free campus. SCOPE Contractor shall provide for the James E. VanZandt VA Medical Center, scanning and indexing functions for an estimated 3.5 million images or an estimated 17,000 inches of medical record documents all packed in an estimated 1,980 boxes with dimensions of 10 high, 12.5 wide and 15.5 deep. Each medical record is approximately one (1) to four (4) inches thick with multiple volumes for one patient. Size and condition of the medical record documents varies. Most documents are on 8.5x11 sheets but there could be some larger or smaller paper sizes. Documents within these records may be torn, faded or onion skin quality. Condition of the medical documents date back to the 1960 s and the quality of paper could be onion skin varies from 10% to 70%. There is no real estimation of how many medical records could have these types of documents. Records to be scanned and indexed are stored in an area located on campus at the Altoona VAMC. Work will commence within this area. There currently is approximately 110 square feet of working space available. As the records are scanned, indexed and shredded, the working space will increase. It will be the responsibility of the contractor to determine amount of equipment (scanners, copiers, computers, etc.) supplies and materials needed to complete the scanning and indexing project within the 6-month period. The contractor is also responsible for determining the number of supervisors, employees, days, hours of operation and number of shifts that they will require in order to complete the scanning task within the 6-month time frame. The Altoona VA will only supply the network connections need to complete this scanning and indexing project. No other equipment, materials or supplies will be provided to the contractor from the VA Medical Center. WORK DESCRIPTION Contractor shall prepare the document for scanning and indexing which involves removing documents from the boxes, removal of any binding, removal all staples, sorting, repairing tears, making copies, and separating any double-sided documents as necessary. Any documents that would happen to be very light in print and difficult to see shall be photocopied darker for scanning purposes. No documentation within the chart shall be removed or destroyed. If there are any questions Contractor s supervisor shall verify with Chief HIMS or designee. Contractor shall provide supervision of the work being performed on a daily basis to monitor productivity and perform quality assessments (QA) on scanned documentation for the term of the contract. Contractor shall perform scanning and indexing of all historical medical and historical administrative records into the VA s electronic medical record system, by uploading the documents by utilizing the CPRS Vista Imaging capture. Contractor shall index the documents, (match patient identifiers, name, social security number, date of service, document type, index term) in Vista Imaging Capture. Contractor will be responsible for ensuring that all medical documents within the chart have the correct patient identification on them prior to indexing, by verifying patient s full name and social security number from the medical chart. In the event contracted employee comes across a chart that would happen to have one or multiple pages that do not belong to the chart they are working on, contracted employee shall remove the documents and notify their supervisor immediately who in turn will notify the HIMS Chief or designee. Contractor shall process the images under PDF format so that they are compatible for upload into the Vista Imaging capture. Contractor shall only scan documentation in accordance with the scanning and indexing titles approved by the Altoona VAMC and assigned by the Chief of HIMS or designee. Contractor will need to work with the Chief of HIMS or designated HIMS staff when a historical medical record is needed by the Release of Information Staff. Contracted employees shall be responsible for Quality Control of all images 100% of the time as they are scanning and indexing. Any black and white image that are not viewable should be replaced with a colored image. Chief of HIMS or designee will provide the list of documents that must be scanned in color. The Contractor s supervisor shall report all findings of incorrect scans to the Chief of HIMS or designee immediately upon discovery. The contractor s supervisor shall work with the Chief HIMS or designee for correcting incorrect scans. Contracting Supervisor shall QA weekly, a sample size of no less than 10% of the documents scanned and indexed and shall provide weekly updates to the HIMS Chief or designated staff. It is required that the Contracted employees shall store the medical record documents of the uploaded version back in the box that they came from until all standard and random Quality Assurance checks have been completed by all parties. Anything requiring rescanning because of poor image quality, inaccurate indexing or missing pages shall be corrected promptly upon notification to the Contractor from the HIMS Chief or designee. EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS Contractor will be required to provide all of their own equipment, supplies, and materials for this scanning and indexing project. Contractor will be required to provide the COR with a listing of all their equipment being used for this project prior to commencing work. Contractor s scanning and indexing equipment shall be high quality high volume and include the following specifications: These are the minimum specifications for interfacing a document scanner with VistA Imaging: Minimum resolution is 300 DPI (dots per inch) Minimum performance is 25 pages per minute for black-and-white documents The software interface of the scanner is TWAIN Software drivers are available for the currently approved operating system(s) The device utilizes a USB connection to the workstation No Patient Identifiable Information (PII) is displayed in the naming of files or folders created by a device used to capture and share images with VistA Imaging. VA MEDICAL CENTER TRAINING REQUIREMENTS Training for CPRS and Vista Scanned Imaging will be provided to the contractor s staff on the first day by the Chief HIMS or their designee. This will include but not limited to, Tab by Tab CPRS training, the functions of the historical records, what each side of the medical folder stands for, administrative versus medical or other, what note titles to scan under will be provided at the time of training, how to prepare the documents for scanning i.e. removal of all staples, sorting, what and how to repair any documents, separating any documents as needed, coping any documents, what documents will require being scanned in color and what to do with any miss filed documents. It shall be required that the contractor provide on-site supervision for the duration of the contract and work closely with the Chief HIMS and or designees to determine how the medical records that are needed urgently by the Release of Information staff will be accessed once they are in the process of scanning. Prior to the contractor s start of documentation scanning and indexing the contractor s staff will be provided Citrix Access Gateway (CAG) remote access for the Altoona, Pennsylvania VA Medical Center. Contractor will also be provided important email contacts. Contracting staff assigned to this project, shall be required to obtain a Government PIV badges, undergo a background investigation and complete all Privacy and Security training in accordance with VA Handbook 6500.6 prior to the Contractors employment. Contractor shall bear all expenses of the background investigations. The Contractor shall strictly follow any and all VA national and local policies and Directives. QUALITY ASSURANCE CHECKS The Contractor's assigned supervisor will work with the Chief of HIMS or designee to insure that quality assurance checks are completed weekly by the contractor. Contracting supervisor shall initially perform 100% quality assessment for each of the Contractor's scanning staff or newly assigned scanning staff to assess competencies of staff and to ensure the quality of the scanned documents for the first five (5) days of the staff's employ. Thereafter, the Contractor's assigned supervisor shall perform random sampling of ten percent (10%) of all scanned documents per week and provide a weekly report to the Chief of HIMS showing accuracy and error rates per contracted employee. The Contractor shall report all findings of incorrect scans to Chief of HIMS or designee immediately upon discovery. The Contractor shall work with the Chief of HIMS or designee to determine how incorrect scans shall be corrected. HIMS Chief and or designee will perform every two (2) weeks random quality assessment checks on 10% of the contracted employees previous two (2) weeks of work throughout the duration of the contract. SHREDDING REQUIREMENTS The contractor shall be responsible for procuring a NAID AAA certified shredding company to perform the shredding duties at the Altoona VA Medical Center s campus every two (2) weeks. Shredding shall take place during normal business hours (8:00a-4:00p), so that a member of the Records Manager Staff, HIMS Staff, Privacy Office Staff and/or COR may visualize the actual shredding process. A copy of the destruction certification shall be given to the COR upon completion. Contractor must adhere to all NAID AAA Certification policies and procedures for the destruction of medical records. Such requirements shall consist of but not limited to, materials being pulped, macerated, shredded or otherwise destroyed to a degree that definitively ensures that they are not readable or reconstructable to any degree. All containers moving the records from the scanning area to the shredding vehicle shall be accompanied by a shredding employee at all times. QUALIFICATIONS Offers will be considered only from vendors who are, in the judgment of the Contracting Officer, well-established in the document imaging business, are financially responsible and able to show evidence of resources, experience, qualifications and safety precautions necessary to render services under the contract. Contractor shall provide Past Performance Recommendations from other VAMCs and accuracy reports from companies for whom they performed scanning and indexing services (preferably VA and other medical center records) are required. A list of all scanning and indexing equipment or any other contractor owned media storage equipment used during this project shall be provided to the ISO (Information Security Officer) prior to work commencing. All hard drives, and storage devices used by contractor shall be turned over to the ISO after work is complete for destruction by the James E. VanZandt VA Medical Center. Contractor shall provide a list of staff that will be working on the project for the duration of the contract. The Contractor shall provide qualifications of staff and/or training certificates to the Contracting Officer s Representative (COR) for evaluation prior to commencing work. DELIVERABLES All deliverables within this table are to be adhered to as well as any other requirements listed with in the Performance Work Statement (PWS) but may not be listed in the below table. 1. Duties: Provide qualified employees to Scan, Import and Index Records in accordance with the task details listed within the PWS. Work will not begin until personnel has a favorable back ground investigations 2. Performance of Quality Assurance Checks: Contracted employees provide weekly 100% quality self-checks while performing scanning, importing and indexing services. 3. Performance of Quality Assurance Monitoring: Contractor s Supervisor conducts weekly Quality assurance checks of no less than 10% of each employee to ensure contract staff are meeting quality standards. The quality assurance monitor report shall be provided weekly to Chief of HIMS or designee. 4. Workload Reporting: Contractor shall provide workload reports of contract staff productivity weekly to the Chief HIMS and COR via electronic mail to include number and types of documents/images scanned, imported, and indexed. 5. Contractor Project Management Plan: Due five (5) business days after award of task order and updated as needed by Contractor; submit via electronic encrypted mail to CO, COR and VA technical points of contact 6. Contractor or Subcontracting Staff Roster: Due five (5) business days after award of task order and updated throughout the period of performance. Sent via encrypted electronic mail to VA technical points of contact. 7. Business Associated Agreement: BAA must be signed and returned to the COR prior to work commencing. 8. Record Destruction Company: Provide name of company, address, phone number, point of contact, license and certification to COR prior to commencing work. NON-PERSONAL SERVICES This is a non-personal services requirement. The contractor maintains the right to hire and fire its employees, grant or deny leave requests or reassign its employees. The government reserves the right to request replacement of employees in the event of breach of contract terms of VA polices or rules of behavior. Any substitution of employees will require the prior written approval of the COR. Requests for substitution shall be in writing and shall provide a detailed explanation of the circumstances necessitating the proposed substitutions. Contractor personnel shall identify themselves in all communications including all telephone calls and emails as being a Contractor and not a government employee. Contractor personnel shall also identify themselves as such in all meetings with government personnel. The Contractor is responsible for the management of its staff, and the Contractor is responsible for training its staff on VA policy and procedures, with the assistance of the Health Information Management Department (HIM). SUB-CONTRACTING The Government will only have dealings with the Contractor. All payments for services rendered will come through the contractor. The Government will not render any payments to the subcontractor. Subcontractor is expected to adhere to all aspects of this contract. CONTRACTOR OR SUB-CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL Contractor shall demonstrate the ability to provide qualified and experienced personnel in the completion of this task. Key project staff shall have successfully participated in the completion of similar projects. All contractors and subcontractor personnel working on this task order shall be U.S. Citizens. Contractor shall identify key personnel in the technical proposal regardless of the type of task and provide contact information for each. NOTE Key personnel may not be added nor removed from the task without express approval of the Contracting Officer s Representative (COR). The COR will attach a copy of the request and approval to the CO via electronic encrypted mail. Contractor personnel shall be bonded and bound by a confidentiality agreement and specially trained in document conversion procedures designed to conform to the paper and data requirements of HIPAA regulations. CONTRACT PROJECT MANAGER (CMP) The Contractor shall designate a Project Manager (CMP) who shall provide oversight of all efforts. The CMP must be available during regular business hours and must return all calls and emails within 24 hours. The CPM shall attend the task order conference call to discuss the project approach, schedules milestones, and provide Contractor Points of Contact (POCs). The contractor shall submit weekly status reports. The contractor shall make every effort to ensure that issues raised by VA staff are addressed in a timely manner. Work shall not commence until the technical points of contact approve the Project Management Plan. The Contractor shall provide the VA technical points of contact and CO with Project management Plan via electronic mail that shall include: Schedule Management The development, and control of project schedules Risk Management The planning, identification, analysis, monitoring, and control of and responses to program risk. Communication Management The timely and appropriate generation, collection, distribution, storage, retrieval, and disposition of program information. Staffing Plan Details on staffing levels, resources, etc., for both Contractor and Subcontractor personnel (if applicable). Quality Assurance Plan Detailed quality control and oversight plan for all work performed. This plan shall, at a minimum, address how the Contractor shall do the following: Ensure VA information (paper and electronic) is not compromised; Account for all records/information from the point of receipt through return; whether onsite or off-site; and Ensure proper indexing of records. ACCOUNT ACCESS Contractor and subcontracted personnel will receive the following access from VA staff to properly execute their duties: Activated directory network accounts PIV cards Citrix Access Gateway (CAG) remote access for facility Local VistA accounts with VistA Imaging Capture access Access to these accounts will be coordinated through the primary and secondary technical points of contact for the VA Health Care System: (Primary) POC Information: Catherine Harrity, Chief HIMS, Catherine.Harrity@va.gov (Secondary) POC Information: Erica Stitt, Program Specialist, COR, Erica.Stitt@va.gov As part of this access, contractor personnel are required to complete the following courses through the VA Training Management System (TMS) and provide copies of course completion certificates to the COR prior to work commencing: TMS 10176 (VA Privacy and Information Security Awareness and Rules of Behavior) TMS 10203 (Privacy and HIPAA Training) EES-025 (Vista Imaging Capture Training) CPRS Tab by Tab (CPRS on site at Altoona VA Medical Center) Contractor personnel can register for account and access to training at https://ssologon.iam.va.gov/CentralLogin/Default.aspx (using your PIV card) BACKGROUND AND SPECIAL AGREEMENT CHECKS All Contractor personnel on this task order are subject to the same level of investigation as VA employees who have access to VA Sensitive Information. The level of background commensurate with the level of access needed to perform the Performance Work Statement is Tier 1 (National Agency Check with Written Inquires [NACI]). This requirement is applicable to all subcontractor personnel requiring the same access. All Contractor personnel shall be fingerprinted. This will be coordinated by the VA points of contact with support of the Contracting Officer (CO). GOVERNMENT SECURITY CHECKS Contractor will ensure that all project staff will be subjected to a background security check per the VA security regulations prior to starting work on the project. Contractor will ensure that all individually identifiable health records shall be treated with the strictest confidentiality. Access to records shall be limited to essential personnel only. Records shall be secured when not in use. At the end of the contract, all copies of individually identifiable health records shall be destroyed. The Contractor shall comply with the Privacy Act, 38 USC 5701, and 38 USC 7332 and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements. Contractor must certify that all employees working on the contract received VA Privacy training, Information Security training, and have signed the Rules of Behavior Document necessary to obtain access to VA electronic files. Contractor will be responsible for ensuring the confidentiality of all patient information and shall be held liable in the event of any breach of confidentiality. Contractor shall be Security and HIPAA compliant. Records shall be kept in a cool dry storage area under security alarm system. All reasonable methods should be taken to safeguard the medical records. All employees entering the area where the records are stored, shall only be able to by some sort of security measure, such as tracked key card for entry. Contractor shall comply with GSA administrative, physical and technical security controls to ensure all government security requirements are met. At a minimum, this contract requires the individuals to undergo a National Agency Check & Inquires (NACI) and/or Minimum Background Investigation (MBI) or Limited Background Investigation (LBI), or National Security Background Investigation. COMPLIANCE WITH SECURITY CHECKS The Contractor shall comply with all GSA and Tenant agency security requirements in the building(s) where work is being performed. When a controlled personnel identification access system is used by tenant agency at a site where work is performed, the tenant agency will be responsible for providing any required access credentials. Credential shall always be displayed or as otherwise required by tenant agency. The contractor shall be responsible for ensuring that all identification credentials are returned to the Government when a Contractor or Subcontractor employee will no longer be providing service under the Contract. The Contractor will notify the Government when credentials are lost. In that event, the Contractor will be responsible for reimbursing the Government for its cost in issuing a replacement credential. BUSINESS ASSOCIATES AGREEMENT The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) requires the patient lists, names of patient, and any information concerning patients, are considered privileged information and shall not be disclosed or revealed in any way of use outside the VA. The Contractor is subject to the same penalties and liabilities for unauthorized disclosures of such information as the VA. Patient confidentiality will be adhered to always. As Contractor personnel will potentially have access to any patient information related to their performance of duties under this task order, contracting shall make its personnel aware that any such information that they might become aware of during their performance is considered privileged information and shall not be disclosed or revealed in any way outside communications with CO, COR, and VA HIMS personnel. QASP Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan Task Indicator Acceptable Quality Level (AQL) Method of Surveillance Incentive Data Capture Records will be entered accurately and completely. 100% percent of records entered will be accurate and complete with no more than four (4) indexing errors in a final QA month. Contractor shall perform internal reviews on a minimum of 10% of records processed each week. Positive or Negative Feedback Scanning Records are scanned to the correct patient account 98% accuracy rate Weekly submission reports from Contracted Program Manager Positive or Negative Feedback Indexing Records are indexed to the correct note title and correct patient chart 98% accuracy rate Weekly submission report from Contracted Program Manager Positive or Negative Feedback QA checks Contracted employee performs 100% QA checks on each record scanned and indexed 100% accuracy rate Weekly submission report from Contracted Program Manager Positive or Negative Feedback Privacy and Confidentiality Completion of Background checks and all privacy training 100% accuracy rate Contractor will provide training certificates to COR for all employees Positive or Negative Feedback Information Security Standards Compliance with information security standards 100% accuracy rate Contractor will provide training certificates to COR for all employees Positive or Negative Feedback RETENTION All information stored on the contractor s system at the time of contract completion must be degaussed from the system and certification supplied to the Government within 30 days of contract completion. RULES FOR GENERATED RECORDS BY CONTRACTOR Citations to pertinent laws, codes and regulations such as 44 U.S.C Chapter 21, 29, 31 and 33; Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552); Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a); 36 CFR Part 1222 and Part 1228. Contractor shall treat all deliverables under the contract as the property of the U.S. Government for which the Government Agency shall have unlimited rights to use, dispose of, or disclose such data contained therein as it determines to be in the public interest. Contractor shall not create or maintain any records that are not specifically tied to or authorized by the contract using Government IT equipment and/or Government records. Contractor shall not retain, use, sell, or disseminate copies of any deliverable that contains information covered by the Privacy Act of 1974 or that which is generally protected by the Freedom of Information Act. Contractor shall not create or maintain any records containing any Government Agency records that are not specifically tied to or authorized by the contract. The Government Agency owns the rights to all data/records produced as part of this contract. The Government Agency owns the rights to all electronic information (electronic data, electronic information systems, electronic databases, etc.) and all supporting documentation created as part of this contract. Contractor must deliver enough technical documentation with all data deliverables to permit the agency to use the data. Contractor agrees to comply with Federal and Agency records management policies, including those policies associated with the safeguarding of records covered by the Privacy Act of 1974. These policies include the preservation of all records created or received regardless of format [paper, electronic, etc.] or mode of transmission [e-mail, fax, etc.] or state of completion [draft, final, etc.]. No disposition of documents will be allowed without the prior written consent of the Contracting Officer. The Agency and its contractors are responsible for preventing the alienation or unauthorized destruction of records, including all forms of mutilation. Willful and unlawful destruction, damage or alienation of Federal records is subject to the fines and penalties imposed by 18 U.S.C. 2701. Records may not be removed from the legal custody of the Agency or destroyed without regard to the provisions of the agency records schedules. Contractor is required to obtain the Contracting Officer's approval prior to engaging in any contractual relationship (sub-contractor) in support of this contract requiring the disclosure of information, documentary material and/or records generated under or relating to this contract. The Contractor (and any sub-contractor) is required to abide by Government and Agency guidance for protecting sensitive and proprietary information. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS It is to be understood that all fire and safety precautions are to be followed while on the VA campus. Contractor will be responsible for any damage or equipment loss during th...