Inactive

4 This is a Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capab... 4 This is a Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of all qualified sources to perform a potential requirement. Background: The Department of Veterans Affairs, NCO 9 Network Contracting Office, on behalf of the VISN 9 Medical Centers is conducting market research through this sources sought notice to seek sources to identify potential experienced businesses that are capable of meeting the requirements per the Statement of Work (SOW) below Purpose and Objectives: Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method. NAICS code: 561990 and sized standard is $12.0 Million. NOTE: Respondent claiming SDVOSB and VOSB status must be registered and CVE verified in VetBiz Registry www.vetbiz.gov. STATEMENT OF WORK VISN 9 Wall to Wall Pharmacy Inventory Services The contracted inventory service provider is to provide the following: A once per year wall-to-wall inventory of VA Medical Center Pharmacies to be completed at all seven VISN 9 medical centers prior to the last day of January of each contract year. All deliverables must be entirely completed, validated for accuracy, and provided to the Medical Centers prior to the last day of February of each contract year. The included Medical Centers are: VA Medical Center Memphis, 1030 Jefferson Ave., Memphis, TN 38104 VA Medical Center Mountain Home, Veterans Way at Lamont St., Mountain Home, TN 37684 VA Medical Center TVHS Murfreesboro Campus, 3400 Lebanon Pike, Murfreesboro, TN 37129 VA Medical Center TVHS Nashville Campus, 1310 24th Ave., South, Nashville, TN 37212 VA Medical Center, Lexington 1101 Veterans Dr., Lexington, KY 40502 Robley Rex VA Medical Center Louisville, 800 Zorn Ave., Louisville, KY 40206 Selected vendor must have verifiable three or more years of experience conducting this type of inventory with other pharmacies, VA experience preferred. Selected Vendor must have verifiable experience working with another pharmacy (VA preferred) and the Prime Vendor, McKesson. Obtaining the correct costing files from VA Pharmacy staff is considered paramount. Any action by the selected vendor that would indicate that the vendor was trying to correct data files that were provided to a VA pharmacy is unacceptable. The VISN 9 Pharmacy staff cannot accept the need to adjust inventories, or records based on selected vendor s mistakes. The inventory should include all products purchased from the prime vendor as well as any direct purchases with a total dollar value of $100 or more per line item. The inventory is further limited to medications and supplies that are dispensed to patients. Items such as equipment and prescription labels and vials are excluded. The inventory is limited to areas that are under the direct control of the pharmacy. A wall-to-wall inventory, to include items and areas, as follows: (a) Contractor shall have a mechanism to mark/tag each area that is to be inventoried, with markers placed at the beginning and end of each section to be counted. An initial of the person counting the section, should be placed on the marker at the end of the section that has been counted. This prevents duplication of completed sections when more than one person is working within the same section. (b) Items in the Inpatient Pharmacy area shall be counted, including items in unit dose packaging equipment, such as Talyst®,Omnicell®, AutoMed®, including special Nursing Home pharmacies, if any. This includes ATC or OS-PAC unit dose or other such dispensing machines. The Pharmacy department shall provide the contractor with the data from the dispensing machines so the data can be included within the required reports. (c) Items in the Outpatient Pharmacy area shall be counted, including items in automated dispensing machines such as Baker APS machines, ScriptPro, Optifill, etc. The Pharmacy department shall provide the contractor with the data from the dispensing machines so the data can be included within the required reports. (d) Bulk Intravenous solutions SHALL BE counted. The contractor shall be provided the pricing data by the Pharmacy department so the data can be included within the required reports. (e) Opened bottles of medication other than what is used for compounding must be estimated to the nearest tenth (10th) of a bottle. (f) Unit dose repackaged items SHALL BE counted (these are individual doses or small strip-packages of individual doses). (g) Items in the All Hazards Pharmaceutical Cache SHALL NOT BE counted. (h) Non-McKesson Direct Purchases and Prosthetic items in unopened containers with a cost over $100.00 SHALL BE counted and the pricing data shall be provided by the respective facility. Items in question could be located in either the Inpatient or Outpatient Pharmacy locations only. (i) Controlled substances shall be counted by the VISN 9 Pharmacy personnel only. However, the contractor shall be provided the data by the Pharmacy department so the data can be included within the required reports. (j) Contractor shall provide a sufficient number of inventory specialists to begin working at 8:00 a.m. local time of the scheduled day and complete the inventory of all sections within one business day. (k) Contractor shall provide a database with the correct NDC drug and McKesson item number format which matches the prime vendor s (McKesson) drug database, which in turn links pharmacy drug inventory to the correct VA contract pricing. It is expected that prices in this database shall be current and accurate. (l) Contractor provides a mechanism for whole quantity counts per unit, instead of the tenths required by the VA handbook, on partial bottle for higher costing drugs (e.g, chemotherapy, AIDS drugs), over $5.00 per unit, thus providing a more accurate inventory total. (m) Contractor shall provide a detailed inventory by section (e.g., outpatient, inpatient, etc.), once the section has been completed. A minimum of one detailed printout shall be reviewed by the contractor and a pharmacy staff person for each counter, to insure accuracy of inventory. Any recounts or extra printouts can be requested for review by VA personnel. (n) Close-out, balancing, wrap-up: shall verify that all recounts have been done and all adjustments have been completed. Shall check all inventory locations and verify visually that every area has been counted and inventory tags/markers have been removed. Shall follow up with pharmacy staff prior to departure. (o) The Contractor and the Contractor s personnel shall adhere to all VA Security, Privacy and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements. No later than five (5) work days prior to beginning performance the Contractor shall submit the list of the names of all employees who will perform the inventory at all locations to the Contracting Officer. (p) The Contractor shall be bonded and insured. (q) The contractor SHALL complete the inventory in one day at each medical center unless otherwise coordinated with the VA Medical Center Pharmacy Staff. B) A report for each pharmacy inventoried (total #_) within seven (7) days of the physical inventory. Each report shall contain all items inventoried with the following data: i.e., Item name (name & strength, i.e., Ativan 1mg/1ml), package description (ml, bottle, tab), NDC or UPC/UPN, total quantity, current package price, and total replacement cost per item, and total replacement cost of all items. The report must be provided in a format that is compatible with or easily transferable to Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Office 2003, 2007, or 2010 version). The reports shall be provided on CD and sent as an e-mail attachment to the Chief of Pharmacy Services at each of the VISN 9 Medical Centers. C) Business Associates Agreement (BAA) In accordance with the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), this contract will require a Business Associate Agreement. The contractor will enter into a Business Associates Agreement (BAA) with the Department of Veterans Affairs, unless a previously executed BAA is on file. The BAA is an instrument that will hold the contractor liable for any release of confidential medical information by any of its employees. A copy of a BAA is provided in the Contract Documents, Exhibits, Or Attachments section. D) The VA facility will be responsible for: Having knowledgeable person(s) available during the inventory to answer questions, assist with data that may be necessary to complete the inventory of non-prime vendor items, to assist with printing the final inventory report on site, and for a general review of the final report. Having current shelf labels current for items ordered from the prime vendor. Providing prime vendor McKesson Mobile Manager© units that have current pricing information for prime-vendor supplied items E) The contracting officer is the only person authorized to approve changes or modify any of the requirements under this contract. The Contractor shall communicate with the Contracting Officer on all matters pertaining to contract administration. Only the Contracting Officer is authorized to make commitments or issue changes, which will affect price, quantity, or quality of performance of this contract. In the event the contractor effects any such change at the direction of any person other than the contracting officer, the change shall be considered to have been made without authority and no adjustment will be made in the contract price to cover any increase in costs incurred as a result thereof. SPECIAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS The contractor must be able to determine actual VA replacement cost of the product. Some contractors utilize the McKesson Mobile Manager© to gather this information, others require a list of products costs with NDC's. If the contractor needs cost information the VA facility will supply it in an Excel format. The contractor must use this to determine the replacement cost of the inventory. If the product was purchased direct, the facility will have to supply the most recent cost. The contractor must be capable of providing an Excel spreadsheet with at least these data elements. Item name (Name and strength, i.e., Ativan lmg/lml), package description (ml, bottle, tab), NDC or UPC/UPN, total quantity, current package price and total replacement cost per item and total replacement cost of all items. The medication contained in pharmacy dispensing and unit dose packaging equipment within the pharmacy in both inpatient and outpatient areas must be counted as part of the inventory. The contractor must complete the inventory in one business day and must be completed on a Saturday and/or Sunday so that it does not impact patient care. The contractor is to provide a quote to include an all-inclusive hourly rate as well as the number of days after the government accepts your offer, onsite services can begin. All inclusive price per facility is required; Implementation Plan to include timelines addressing contract start and completion dates by facility listed above to conform with the requirement to complete all inventories and provide reports by January 28 of each contract year; Selected vendor personnel will be required to be fingerprinted 45 days prior to anticipated start of the actual conduct of the requirement. Successful offeror(s) must be able to provide staffing on site within seven days after the government accepts the offer as well as sign a Business Associate Agreement (HIPPA) failure to do so may result in contract termination and the government reserves the right to make award to next acceptable offeror. The contractor will have to adhere to all VA security and privacy requirements. The Service Contract Act is applicable to this requirement and the Wage Determinations links will be provided. Vendors are expected to download (see attached links below) and apply the current labor rates. Department of Labor Wage Determinations Tennessee Wage Determination 2015-4674 Memphis Wage Determination 2015-4673 Tennessee Wage Determination 2015-4647 Nashville/Murfreesboro Wage Determination 2015-4648 Tennessee Wage Determination 2015-4642 Mountain Home Wage Determination 2015-4641 Kentucky Wage Determination 2015-4684 Lexington Wage Determination 2015-4683 Kentucky Wage Determination 2015-4718 Louisville Wage Determination 2015-4717 Note: All vendors are required to be in conformance with regards to payment of employee s with and have the latest copy of the latest Department of Labor Wage Determination Rates. You can download from the links above. If you have trouble downloading contact the Contract Specialist for assistance. EVALUATION CRITERIA The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be the lowest price technically acceptable to the Government. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers this will be a Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) Evaluation based on the following two factors and are stated as follows: Past Performance Price (BASE and OPTION(s)) (Aggregate) Past experience. Evaluation Criteria: (1) PAST EXPERIENCE (1 copy of documentation required) (a) Past Performance: The offeror must provide no more and no less than the last three references for this type of service and for the comparable quantities listed under this solicitation. The government will consider the offeror s record for on time delivery, technical quality, and cost control. The government will conduct a performance risk assessment based upon the past performance of the offerors and their proposed major subcontractors as it relates to the probability of successfully performing the solicitation requirements. Past performance evaluations will be conducted using information obtained from Contractor Performance System (CPS) or Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS) and any other sources deemed appropriate. (While the government may elect to consider data obtained from other sources, the burden of providing current and complete past performance information rests with the offeror. The past performance Information obtained will be used for both the responsibility determination and this evaluation factor. Identify Federal, State, and local Government and private contracts that are similar in scope and size. The references must contain the following using the attached form: (i) Contractor s name (ii) Facility s address and telephone number (iii) Contract number, value, award date and completion date (iv) Description of the requirement (v) Any subcontractors must be listed. Specify if no subcontractors will be used. (vi) Contact Person, and Phone number of the past performance reference. (vii) Fax number and e-mail address of past performance reference if applicable. If an offeror or the proposed employees for the offer do not have a past performance history relating to this proposal, the offeror will not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on this factor. (2) PRICE: Offeror shall provide pricing as requested in the Schedule of Supplies/Services for Base and Option. Pricing should be submitted separately from the above proposal, but at the same time. Lowest price will be the determining factor if all are considered technically qualified. The Government intends to evaluate offers and award a contract WITHOUT DISCUSSIONS with offerors. Therefore, the offeror s initial offer should contain the offeror s best terms from a price and technical standpoint. However, the Government reserves the right to conduct discussions if later determined by the Contract Specialist to be necessary. The Government may reject any or all offers if such action is in the public interest; accept other than the lowest offer; and waive informalities and minor irregularities in offer In addition to providing the pricing, technical capability and past experience information requested above your quote should include the following: Signed 1449, the signed BAA (Attachment B) or a statement that you have an existing national BAA, proof of liability insurance, Offeror Representations And Certifications (below) and sign and return any amendments to the RFP that may be issued. (b) Options. The Government will evaluate offers for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement. The Government may determine that an offer is unacceptable if the option prices are significantly unbalanced. Evaluation of options shall not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s). (c) A written notice of award or acceptance of an offer, mailed, e-mailed or otherwise furnished to the successful offeror within the time for acceptance specified in the offer, shall result in a binding contract without further action by either party. Before the offer's specified expiration time, the Government may accept an offer (or part of an offer), whether or not there are negotiations after its receipt, unless a written notice of withdrawal is received before award. Instructions to Offerors for Submission of Proposal Proposals SHALL be submitted in two separate parts as follows: Part 1: Technical answering of requirements contained in the solicitation that will include the required past performance form as requested in the solicitation. Part 2: Pricing (with aggregate for all option years) as requested in the solicitation. OFFEROR PAST PERFORMANCE VERFICATION FORM: Offeror(s) are required to submit sufficient evidence three (3) previous Pharmacies (VA Pharmacies preferred) that has used the inventory service requested in this solicitation to meet the requirements contained in the statement of work. To assist in this determination, contractors are required to furnish the following information: Number of years experience in providing Wall to Wall Pharmacy Inventory services( VA Pharmacies preferred) (McKesson as Prime Vendor): Contractors are required to furnish for evaluation purposes name, address, and telephone number of three (3) Pharmacies VA Pharmacies preferred) for whom services similar in nature to the requirements noted herein have been furnished. Failure to furnish this information may result in your firm determined to be nonresponsive to the requirements of this solicitation as well as reference given and unable to be verified by the VA. Contractors Name: Pharmacy Name: Address: Point of Contact: Telephone/FAX No: (T) (F) (With Area Code) Email Address: Contract Number and Value: Subcontractor used (List by name with contact information; if none state none.): Contractors Name: Pharmacy Name: Address: Point of Contact: Telephone/FAX No: (T) (F) (With Area Code) Email Address: Contract Number and Value: Subcontractor used (List by name with contact information; if none state none.): Contractors Name: Pharmacy Name: Address: Point of Contact: Telephone/FAX No: (T) (F) (With Area Code) Email Address: Contract Number and Value: Subcontractor used (List by name with contact information; if none state none.): VA Contract Security Requirements Reference VA Contract Security Handbook 6500.6 dated March 12, 2010 INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SECURITY 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. 2. ACCESS TO VA INFORMATION AND VA INFORMATION SYSTEMS a. A contractor/subcontractor shall request logical (technical) or physical access to VA information and VA information systems for their employees, subcontractors, and affiliates only to the extent necessary to perform the services specified in the contract, agreement, or task order. b. All contractors, subcontractors, and third-party servicers and associates working with VA information are subject to the same investigative requirements as those of VA appointees or employees who have access to the same types of information. The level and process of background security investigations for contractors must be in accordance with VA Directive and Handbook 0710, Personnel Suitability and Security Program. The Office for Operations, Security, and Preparedness is responsible for these policies and procedures. c. Contract personnel who require access to national security programs must have a valid security clearance. National Industrial Security Program (NISP) was established by Executive Order 12829 to ensure that cleared U.S. defense industry contract personnel safeguard the classified information in their possession while performing work on contracts, programs, bids, or research and development efforts. The Department of Veterans Affairs does not have a Memorandum of Agreement with Defense Security Service (DSS). Verification of a Security Clearance must be processed through the Special Security Officer located in the Planning and National Security Service within the Office of Operations, Security, and Preparedness. d. Custom software development and outsourced operations must be located in the U.S. to the maximum extent practical. If such services are proposed to be performed abroad and are not disallowed by other VA policy or mandates, the contractor/subcontractor must state where all non-U.S. services are provided and detail a security plan, deemed to be acceptable by VA, specifically to address mitigation of the resulting problems of communication, control, data protection, and so forth. Location within the U.S. may be an evaluation factor. e. The contractor or subcontractor must notify the Contracting Officer immediately when an employee working on a VA system or with access to VA information is reassigned or leaves the contractor or subcontractor s employ. The Contracting Officer must also be notified immediately by the contractor or subcontractor prior to an unfriendly termination. 3. VA INFORMATION CUSTODIAL LANGUAGE a. Information made available to the contractor or subcontractor by VA for the performance or administration of this contract or information developed by the contractor/subcontractor in performance or administration of the contract shall be used only for those purposes and shall not be used in any other way without the prior written agreement of the VA. This clause expressly limits the contractor/subcontractor's rights to use data as described in Rights in Data - General, FAR 52.227-14(d) (1). b. VA information should not be co-mingled, if possible, with any other data on the contractors/subcontractor s information systems or media storage systems in order to ensure VA requirements related to data protection and media sanitization can be met. If co-mingling must be allowed to meet the requirements of the business need, the contractor must ensure that VA s information is returned to the VA or destroyed in accordance with VA s sanitization requirements. VA reserves the right to conduct on site inspections of contractor and subcontractor IT resources to ensure data security controls, separation of data and job duties, and destruction/media sanitization procedures are in compliance with VA directive requirements. c. Prior to termination or completion of this contract, contractor/subcontractor must not destroy information received from VA, or gathered/created by the contractor in the course of performing this contract without prior written approval by the VA. Any data destruction done on behalf of VA by a contractor/subcontractor must be done in accordance with National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) requirements as outlined in VA Directive 6300, Records and Information Management and its Handbook 6300.1 Records Management Procedures, applicable VA Records Control Schedules, and VA Handbook 6500.1, Electronic Media Sanitization. Self-certification by the contractor that the data destruction requirements above have been met must be sent to the VA Contracting Officer within 30 days of termination of the contract. d. The contractor/subcontractor must receive, gather, store, back up, maintain, use, disclose and dispose of VA information only in compliance with the terms of the contract and applicable Federal and VA information confidentiality and security laws, regulations and policies. If Federal or VA information confidentiality and security laws, regulations and policies become applicable to the VA information or information systems after execution of the contract, or if NIST issues or updates applicable FIPS or Special Publications (SP) after execution of this contract, the parties agree to negotiate in good faith to implement the information confidentiality and security laws, regulations and policies in this contract. e. The contractor/subcontractor shall not make copies of VA information except as authorized and necessary to perform the terms of the agreement or to preserve electronic information stored on contractor/subcontractor electronic storage media for restoration in case any electronic equipment or data used by the contractor/subcontractor needs to be restored to an operating state. If copies are made for restoration purposes, after the restoration is complete, the copies must be appropriately destroyed. f. If VA determines that the contractor has violated any of the information confidentiality, privacy, and security provisions of the contract, it shall be sufficient grounds for VA to withhold payment to the contractor or third party or terminate the contract for default or terminate for cause under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) part 12. g. If a VHA contract is terminated for cause, the associated BAA must also be terminated and appropriate actions taken in accordance with VHA Handbook 1600.01, Business Associate Agreements. Absent an agreement to use or disclose protected health information, there is no business associate relationship. h. The contractor/subcontractor must store, transport, or transmit VA sensitive information in an encrypted form, using VA-approved encryption tools that are, at a minimum, FIPS 140-2 validated. i. The contractor/subcontractor s firewall and Web services security controls, if applicable, shall meet or exceed VA s minimum requirements. VA Configuration Guidelines are available upon request. j. Except for uses and disclosures of VA information authorized by this contract for performance of the contract, the contractor/subcontractor may use and disclose VA information only in two other situations: (i) in response to a qualifying order of a court of competent jurisdiction, or (ii) with VA s prior written approval. The contractor/subcontractor must refer all requests for, demands for production of, or inquiries about, VA information and information systems to the VA contracting officer for response. k. Notwithstanding the provision above, the contractor/subcontractor shall not release VA records protected by Title 38 U.S.C. 5705, confidentiality of medical quality assurance records and/or Title 38 U.S.C. 7332, confidentiality of certain health records pertaining to drug addiction, sickle cell anemia, alcoholism or alcohol abuse, or infection with human immunodeficiency virus. If the contractor/subcontractor is in receipt of a court order or other requests for the above mentioned information, that contractor/subcontractor shall immediately refer such court orders or other requests to the VA contracting officer for response. l. For service that involves the storage, generating, transmitting, or exchanging of VA sensitive information but does not require C&A or an MOU-ISA for system interconnection, the contractor/subcontractor must complete a Contractor Security Control Assessment (CSCA) on a yearly basis and provide it to the COTR. 4. INFORMATION SYSTEM DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT a. Information systems that are designed or developed for or on behalf of VA at non-VA facilities shall comply with all VA directives developed in accordance with FISMA, HIPAA, NIST, and related VA security and privacy control requirements for Federal information systems. This includes standards for the protection of electronic PHI, outlined in 45 C.F.R. Part 164, Subpart C, information and system security categorization level designations in accordance with FIPS 199 and FIPS 200 with implementation of all baseline security controls commensurate with the FIPS 199 system security categorization (reference Appendix D of VA Handbook 6500, VA Information Security Program). During the development cycle a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) must be completed, provided to the COTR, and approved by the VA Privacy Service in accordance with Directive 6507, VA Privacy Impact Assessment. b. The contractor/subcontractor shall certify to the COTR that applications are fully functional and operate correctly as intended on systems using the VA Federal Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC), and the common security configuration guidelines provided by NIST or the VA. This includes Internet Explorer 7 configured to operate on Windows XP and Vista (in Protected Mode on Vista) and future versions, as required. c. The standard installation, operation, maintenance, updating, and patching of software shall not alter the configuration settings from the VA approved and FDCC configuration. Information technology staff must also use the Windows Installer Service for installation to the default program files directory and silently install and uninstall. d. Applications designed for normal end users shall run in the standard user context without elevated system administration privileges. e. The security controls must be designed, developed, approved by VA, and implemented in accordance with the provisions of VA security system development life cycle as outlined in NIST Special Publication 800-37, Guide for Applying the Risk Management Framework to Federal Information Systems, VA Handbook 6500, Information Security Program and VA Handbook 6500.5, Incorporating Security and Privacy in System Development Lifecycle. f. The contractor/subcontractor is required to design, develop, or operate a System of Records Notice (SOR) on individuals to accomplish an agency function subject to the Privacy Act of 1974, (as amended), Public Law 93-579, December 31, 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a) and applicable agency regulations. Violation of the Privacy Act may involve the imposition of criminal and civil penalties. g. The contractor/subcontractor agrees to: (1) Comply with the Privacy Act of 1974 (the Act) and the agency rules and regulations issued under the Act in the design, development, or operation of any system of records on individuals to accomplish an agency function when the contract specifically identifies: (a) The Systems of Records (SOR); and (b) The design, development, or operation work that the contractor/subcontractor is to perform; (2) Include the Privacy Act notification contained in this contract in every solicitation and resulting subcontract and in every subcontract awarded without a solicitation, when the work statement in the proposed subcontract requires the redesign, development, or operation of a SOR on individuals that is subject to the Privacy Act; and (3) Include this Privacy Act clause, including this subparagraph (3), in all subcontracts awarded under this contract which requires the design, development, or operation of such a SOR. h. In the event of violations of the Act, a civil action may be brought against the agency involved when the violation concerns the design, development, or operation of a SOR on individuals to accomplish an agency function, and criminal penalties may be imposed upon the officers or employees of the agency when the violation concerns the operation of a SOR on individuals to accomplish an agency function. For purposes of the Act, when the contract i...