Inactive Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) Set-Aside (FAR 19.14)

SOURCES SOUGHT Disclaimer This Sources Sought is issued solely for the purpose identifying potential sources for a future requirement and does not constitute a solicitation. The Government reserves th... SOURCES SOUGHT Disclaimer This Sources Sought is issued solely for the purpose identifying potential sources for a future requirement and does not constitute a solicitation. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. All information received in response to this notice will be treated as proprietary and will not be shared with other interested parties. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this Sources Sought notice. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. This Sources Sought Notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract. Any organization responding to this Sources Sought 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. The Government may or may not issue a solicitation as a result of this announcement. There is no solicitation available at this time. Synopsis This is not a solicitation announcement. This is a Sources Sought synopsis only with the purpose of gaining knowledge of potential qualified sources and their size classification relative to the appropriate North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 518210, Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services. Responses to this Sources Sought synopsis will be used by the Government to make appropriate acquisition decisions and are not considered adequate responses to a potential future solicitation announcement. After reviewing all responses to this synopsis, a solicitation announcement may be published via the Contracting Opportunities website. Responses to this Sources Sought synopsis are not considered adequate responses to the anticipated solicitation announcement. All interested offerors will have to respond to the actual solicitation announcement, in addition to responding to this Sources Sought announcement. STATEMENT OF WORK West Texas VA Health Care System Big Spring, TX RECORD STORAGE and RETRIEVAL Background The West Texas VA Health Care System (WTVAHCS), 300 Veterans Blvd, Big Spring, TX intends to procure a contract for Medical and Administrative Record Storage and Delivery Services. Housing enclosures shall provide physical support and protection as well as a buffer against adverse or fluctuating environmental conditions; storage areas will be equipped with a water sprinkler system for prevention of spreading fires. The contractor shall provide storage space in a climate-controlled facility, i.e., temperature, humidity, etc. The storage area as of November, 2009 must meet all National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) issued standards in 36 CFR 1234 and 36 CFR 1228 Subpart K NARA Code of Federal Regulations | National Archives concerning facility standard for Federal record storage. Medical and Administrative records must be available, and information retrieved 24 hours a day, 7 days a week including weekends and holidays. Scope This is a non-personal services contract to provide records storage services. The Government shall not exercise any supervision or control over the contract service provider performing the services herein. Such contract service providers shall be accountable solely to the contractor who, in turn is responsible to the Government. The contractor shall provide all personnel, equipment, supplies, facilities, transportation, and supervision required to fulfil the requirement. The contractor shall perform to the standards in this contract. Objectives: Provide transportation and any packaging (if required) to pick up and transport records to the contractor provided storage facility Provide timely pick up of records Provide secure, off-site records storage services Provide timely and accurate carton recall retrieval Provide carton refile Pay monthly for actual number of boxes stored Estimated volume metrics Estimated 735 Cartons 1.20 cubic feet per carton = 882 cubic feet Turnaround requirements Process routine requests for recall shipment - 72 hours Type of Retrievals Carton recall retrievals upon request On-site Visit Contractor will accommodate an onsite visit of the proposed storage facility to include police service, information security, contracting, and health administration personnel and will be part of contractor s evaluation. Safeguarding Shipment Contractor is responsible for preparing, packaging, and safeguarding the records while providing an in-transit contingency plan for emergency requests as required by the facility. Confidentiality: (1) All staff with access to patient information in the performance of their duties is informed of responsibilities in maintaining the confidentiality of patient information. NOTE: Emphasis needs to be placed on the annual VHA Privacy Policy training requirement, as well as other applicable privacy awareness education. (2) Patient records are confidential regardless of medium. The privacy of patient information must be preserved, and the information will not be accessible to, or discussed with, unauthorized persons. (3) Every employee with access to patient records in any medium is responsible for the proper handling of the patient records. Each employee is accountable for safeguarding patient confidentiality and privacy, and failure to do so may result in disciplinary or other adverse action up to, and including, termination. Security Requirements: Privacy Officer: The contractor, their personnel, and their subcontractors shall be subject to the Federal laws, regulations, standards, and VA Directives and Handbooks regarding information and information system security as delineated in this contract. Consistent with the requirements of 38 U.S.C. 5725, a contract may require access to sensitive personal information. If so, the contractor is liable to VA for liquidated damages in the event of a data breach or privacy incident involving any SPI the contractor/subcontractor processes or maintains under this contract. However, it is the policy of VA to forgo collection of liquidated damages in the event the contractor provides payment of actual damages in an amount determined to be adequate by the agency. National BAA for vendor is required and will be on file. VA Handbook 6500.6, Contract Security APPENDIX C 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. ACCESS TO VA INFORMATION AND VA INFORMATION SYSTEMS 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. SECURITY INCIDENT INVESTIGATION The term security incident means an event that has, or could have, resulted in unauthorized access to, loss or damage to VA assets, or sensitive information, or an action that breaches VA security procedures. The contractor/subcontractor shall immediately notify the COTR and simultaneously, the designated ISO and Privacy Officer for the contract of any known or suspected security/privacy incidents, or any unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information, including that contained in system(s) to which the contractor/subcontractor has access. To the extent known by the contractor/subcontractor, the contractor/subcontractor s notice to VA shall identify the information involved, the circumstances surrounding the incident (including to whom, how, when, and where the VA information or assets were placed at risk or compromised), and any other information that the contractor/subcontractor considers relevant. With respect to unsecured protected health information, the business associate is deemed to have discovered a data breach when the business associate knew or should have known of a breach of such information. Upon discovery, the business associate must notify the covered entity of the breach. Notifications need to be made in accordance with the executed business associate agreement. In instances of theft or break-in or other criminal activity, the contractor/subcontractor must concurrently report the incident to the appropriate law enforcement entity (or entities) of jurisdiction, including the VA OIG and Security and Law Enforcement. The contractor, its employees, and its subcontractors and their employees shall cooperate with VA and any law enforcement authority responsible for the investigation and prosecution of any possible criminal law violation(s) associated with any incident. The contractor/subcontractor shall cooperate with VA in any civil litigation to recover VA information, obtain monetary or other compensation from a third party for damages arising from any incident, or obtain injunctive relief against any third party arising from, or related to, the incident. LIQUIDATED DAMAGES FOR DATA BREACH Consistent with the requirements of 38 U.S.C. §5725, a contract may require access to sensitive personal information. If so, the contractor is liable to VA for liquidated damages in the event of a data breach or privacy incident involving any SPI the contractor/subcontractor processes or maintains under this contract. The contractor/subcontractor shall provide notice to VA of a security incident as set forth in the Security Incident Investigation section above. Upon such notification, VA must secure from a non-Department entity or the VA Office of Inspector General an independent risk analysis of the data breach to determine the level of risk associated with the data breach for the potential misuse of any sensitive personal information involved in the data breach. The term 'data breach' means the loss, theft, or other unauthorized access, or any access other than that incidental to the scope of employment, to data containing sensitive personal information, in electronic or printed form, that results in the potential compromise of the confidentiality or integrity of the data. Contractor shall fully cooperate with the entity performing the risk analysis. Failure to cooperate may be deemed a material breach and grounds for contract termination. Each risk analysis shall address all relevant information concerning the data breach, including the following: Nature of the event (loss, theft, unauthorized access); Description of the event, including: date of occurrence; data elements involved, including any PII, such as full name, social security number, date of birth, home address, account number, disability code; Number of individuals affected or potentially affected; Names of individuals or groups affected or potentially affected; Ease of logical data access to the lost, stolen or improperly accessed data in light of the degree of protection for the data, e.g., unencrypted, plain text; Amount of time the data has been out of VA control; The likelihood that the sensitive personal information will or has been compromised (made accessible to and usable by unauthorized persons); Known misuses of data containing sensitive personal information, if any; Assessment of the potential harm to the affected individuals; Data breach analysis as outlined in 6500.2 Handbook, Management of Security and Privacy Incidents, as appropriate; and Whether credit protection services may assist record subjects in avoiding or mitigating the results of identity theft based on the sensitive personal information that may have been compromised. Based on the determinations of the independent risk analysis, the contractor shall be responsible for paying to the VA liquidated damages in the amount of $37.50 per affected individual to cover the cost of providing credit protection services to affected individuals consisting of the following: Notification; One year of credit monitoring services consisting of automatic daily monitoring of at least 3 relevant credit bureau reports; Data breach analysis; Fraud resolution services, including writing dispute letters, initiating fraud alerts and credit freezes, to assist affected individuals to bring matters to resolution; One year of identity theft insurance with $20,000.00 coverage at $0 deductible; and Necessary legal expenses the subjects may incur to repair falsified or damaged credit records, histories, or financial affairs. TRAINING Per VA Handbook 6500.6, Contract Security Appendix C, All contractor employees and subcontractor employees requiring access to VA information and VA information systems shall complete the following before being granted access to VA information and its systems: Sign and acknowledge (either manually or electronically) understanding of and responsibilities for compliance with the Contractor Rules of Behavior, Appendix E relating to access to VA information and information systems; Successfully complete the VA Cyber Security Awareness and Rules of Behavior training and annually complete required security training; Successfully complete the appropriate VA privacy training and annually complete required privacy training; and Successfully complete any additional cyber security or privacy training, as required for VA personnel with equivalent information system access [to be defined by the VA program official and provided to the contracting officer for inclusion in the solicitation document e.g., any role-based information security training required in accordance with NIST Special Publication 800-16, Information Technology Security Training Requirements.] The contractor shall provide to the contracting officer and/or the COTR a copy of the training certificates and certification of signing the Contractor Rules of Behavior for each applicable employee within 1 week of the initiation of the contract and annually thereafter, as required. Failure to complete the mandatory annual training and sign the Rules of Behavior annually, within the timeframe required, is grounds for suspension or termination of all physical or electronic access privileges and removal from work on the contract until such time as the training and documents are complete. Business Associate Agreement (BAA) Compliance: Contractor shall enter into a business associate agreement (BAA) with the VA as outlined in VHA Handbook 1600.1. Business Associate: A business associate is an entity, including an individual, company, or organization that, on behalf of the VHA facility, performs or assists in the performance of functions or activities involving the use or disclosure of PHI, or that provides certain services involving the disclosure of PHI by VHA. Disclosure: Disclosure is the release of, transfer of, provision of access to, or divulgence in any manner of, information outside VHA. NOTE: The only exception to this definition is when the term is used in the phrase accounting of disclosures. Protected Health Information (PHI): PHI is individually identifiable health Information transmitted or maintained in any form or medium. NOTE: PHI excludes Employment records held by a covered entity in its role as an employer. Disaster Recovery Plan: An adequate disaster recovery plan for health records must be established at each facility. Staff must be knowledgeable of the overall plan, as well as their particular responsibility, in the event of natural or man-made disaster impacting normal operations. Focus of the plan needs to include preparation, response, and recovery with issues for consideration including, but not limited to: Identification of possible disasters causing interruption of services, such as loss of electricity, flood, fire, or earthquake; Identification of key services (work processes) required to support patient care until normal operations can be resumed, and the development of contingency plans to provide these services; Contingency methods to provide access to records, as in back up of MPI, in electronically stored or paper form; Identification of required immediate HIM staff action, according to the disaster, such as: moving records, turning off electricity to areas, closing doors, etc. Coordination with ancillary departments, such as admitting, Emergency Room (ER), risk management, and nursing; Identification of contract vendors offering disaster recovery services; and Identification of equipment on hand, or in need of purchase, such as: back-up generators for lighting, waterproof cartons, carts for transporting records to alternate location, etc. Area disaster recovery services must be contacted, and the scope of their offerings must be documented; advance arrangements must be made, where possible, for the facility to receive priority service. (a) The disaster recovery plan needs to be reviewed at least annually. Paper medical documents will be maintained in an area that is unlikely to flood or be subjected to damage from water. All efforts within human possibility will be made to move the paper medical documents to an area that is unlikely to be subjected to water damage. Personnel will not be subjected to conditions that would expose them to danger to their life or health. Paper medical documents will be maintained in file shelving units. Paper medical documents will not be stored on top of cabinets or on the floor. In the event of water leaks or malfunctioning fire sprinklers: Shelving units in danger will be covered with plastic. Computer equipment will be shut off and covered with plastic to minimize damage after the threat to the paper documents has been minimized. Records Manager: Citations to pertinent laws, codes and regulations such as 44 U.S.C chapters 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 sufficient 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. VA INFORMATION CUSTODIAL LANGUAGE 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). 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 onsite 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Worker Requirements and Access: Contractor employees will need to get access badges from the VA Police Service located on the ground floor, main facility prior to conducting business, installation, or training functions. Contractors are required to abide by all facility requirements in regard to screening and masking requirements. Responses The government intends to award a single contract for the services listed above. Responses to this notice shall be e-mailed to dayna.cantu@va.gov. Subject line shall reflect the synopsis number and description: 36C25723Q0132, Record Storage and Retrieval Service. Responses must be received no later than November 18, 2022, 3:00 P.M. CST. Responses must be received via e-mail only. Telephone, fax, or mail responses will not be accepted. This purpose of this notice is to assist the VA in determining sources only. A solicitation is not currently available. If a solicitation is issued it will be announced at a later date and all interested parties must respond to that solicitation announcement separately from the responses to this announcement. Responses are not a request to be added to a prospective offerors list or to receive a copy of the solicitation. End of Document