R408-- Climate/AHEC Program Management In Accordance with the Statement of Work *Total Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business Set-Aside
Performance Work Statement Public Health National Program Office Patient Care Services Department of Veterans Affairs Climate/AHEC Program Management 640-23-3-638-0248 Section 1: General Information 1... Performance Work Statement Public Health National Program Office Patient Care Services Department of Veterans Affairs Climate/AHEC Program Management 640-23-3-638-0248 Section 1: General Information 1.1 General: This is a non-personal services contract to provide the Public Health National Program Office (PHNPO) Climate/AHEC Program Management for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). The Government shall not exercise any supervision or control over the contract service providers performing the services herein. Such contract service providers shall be accountable solely to the Contractor who, in turn is responsible to the Government. 1.2 Background: A) The United States (U.S.) Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Climate Action Plan (CAP) outlines VA s response to the projected impacts of climate change to the department with the goal of ensuring sustained operations to support the uninterrupted delivery of benefits and services and VA s Fourth Mission. VA is generating this plan in response to the requirements in section 211 of Executive Order (EO) 14008, signed January 27, 2021, which places greater emphasis on taking a government wide approach to the climate crisis. VA will continue its effort to identify mission critical functions at risk from the impacts of a changing climate. As impacts are further identified by the best available science, VA will incorporate climate change adaptation and resilience across agency programs and the management of federal procurement, real property, public lands and waters and financial programs. Mitigation of known risks are incorporated into the agency s normal business operations to the extent practicable. This plan draws on VA s ongoing efforts and establishes a pathway for expanding climate adaptation and resilience opportunities across all agency missions and roles. Efforts described in this plan will also be incorporated into the VA governance process. The plan identifies five vulnerabilities tied to management function and decision points, five priority adaptation actions, efforts to enhance climate literacy and actions to enhance climate resilience of facilities, supplies and services. It focuses on VA s physical infrastructure, resources, supply chain and the effects of climate change on the health of VA employees and the Veterans its serves. Among the five vulnerabilities detailed in the VA Climate action plan are two areas of specific interest to the Public Health National Program Office (PHNPO): Negative Public Health Impact: Increased demand for emergency care and supplies during dangerous natural disasters. Adverse Medical Impact to Veterans and Employees: Human health impacts by altering exposures to heat waves, floods, droughts and other extreme events like food-, water- and vector-borne diseases, changes in the quality and safety of air, food, water and stresses to mental health. B) To address both vulnerabilities above, the Secretary has authorized PHNPO (Exec. Order No. 13653) to support the impact of climate change on public health invest in a biosurveillance system to assist with early identification of symptoms and/or disease. VA s biosurveillance system will update the existing data exchange with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to include new data elements such as health care information generated by VHA and social determinants of health from VHA and VBA. VA will also incorporate external data on air quality, temperature, heat index and weather into its biosurveillance system. PHNPO currently operates a national public health surveillance tool called Praedico, to which we are adding significant climate and social determinant data. PHNPO has administrative oversight of the VA AHEC program. This Veterans Health Administration program establishes policy for national and local emergency pharmacy caches comprised of life-saving pharmaceuticals and medical supplies for use in response to catastrophic public health emergencies. The Secretary has authorized PHNPO (VHA Directive 1047) to increase their investment in this program as part of the medical countermeasure and the climate change action plan. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Patient Care Services, Public Health National Program Office (PHNPO) has a requirement for program and project management support services from a seasoned team of program management and transformation professionals to manage Public Health National Program Office s new Climate/AHEC program. Currently, PHNPO performs investigative work required by VHA Handbook 1004-08 Disclosure of Adverse Events to Patients, and by Congressional mandate, which has improved Veteran outcomes by providing VA clinicians with access to PHNPO provided reports and interventions related to the following: COVID-19 trends; Monkeypox outbreaks, seasonal influenza trends; important emerging infectious disease occurrences, such as Zika virus, which greatly affected Veteran travelers and pregnant women; and contaminated devices involved in over 38,000 surgeries performed on veterans. In 2021, two new national projects were added to PHNPO s portfolio: Public Health Pandemic Preparedness and Public Health AHEC/Climate. These new divisions require that we substantially increase our data domains, ability to support and accommodate multiple data sources and increase AI/ML function to design more robust predictive models to provide increased awareness across the enterprise for emerging outbreaks, clusters, and climate change related illness and better predict medical countermeasure strategies for both. C) PHNPO currently operates under the following authorities: Pub. L.100-007. Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relieve and Emergency Assistance Act of 1988 Pub. L.107-287. The Department of Veterans Affairs Emergency Preparedness Act of 2002 Pub. L.109-417. Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act. Pub. L.113-5. Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act of 2013. Pub. L.116-22. Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act of 2019. Exec. Order No. 13653. Preparing the United States for the Impacts of Climate Change. Exec. Order No. 13996. Establishing the COVID-19 Pandemic Testing Board and Ensuring a Sustainable Public Health Workforce for COVID-19 and Other Biological Threats. VHA Directive 1047. All-Hazards Emergency Cache Program. D) To effectively manage these new programs, PHNPO requires expertise in the impact of Climate Change on Healthcare, experience in managing and implementing programs that promote industry best practices in innovation, the ability to leverage strong intra-agency relationships and promote innovative healthcare ideas that address priority Veteran requirements, and superior strategic communications that engage and excite healthcare innovation audiences both internal and external to VA. In summation, the Contractor shall provide the following support: Climate/AHEC project management, development of strategies to best digest climate change data, engagement in support of public health authorities and objectives, health technology scouting, business case development, and strategic communications. The estimated value for this acquisition is $500,000.00 and the period of Performance is a 12-month period. 1.4 Place of Performance: The primary location will be the Palo Alto Medical Center, but remote work by vendor is encouraged. 1.5 Hours of Operation: Work will be performed during regular administrative working hours from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 pm, Monday through Friday, excluding federal holidays. 1.6 Type of Contract: The government will award a Firm Fixed Price contract. 1.7 Invoicing: All invoices from the contractor shall be submitted electronically in accordance with VAAR Clause 852.232-72 Electronic Submission of Payment Requests. VA s Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment System The FSC uses a third-party contractor, Tungsten, to transition vendors from paper to electronic invoice submission. Please go to this website: http://www.tungsten-network.com/US/en/veterans-affairs/ to begin submitting electronic invoices, free of charge. More information on the VA Financial Services Center is available at http://www.fsc.va.gov/einvoice.asp. Vendor e-Invoice Set-Up Information: Please contact Tungsten at the phone number or email address listed below to begin submitting your electronic invoices to the VA Financial Services Center for payment processing, free of charge. If you have question about the e-invoicing program or Tungsten, please contact the FSC at the phone number or email address listed below: Tungsten e-Invoice Setup Information: 1-877-489-6135 Tungsten e-Invoice email: VA.Registration@Tungsten-Network.com FSC e-Invoice Contact Information: 1-877-353-9791 FSC e-invoice email: vafsccshd@va.gov Section 2: Definitions & Acronyms 2.1 Definitions: Contractor. A supplier or vendor awarded a contract to provide specific supplies or service to the government. The term used in this contract refers to the prime. Subcontractor. One that enters into a contract with a prime contractor. The Government does not have privity of contract with the subcontractor. Work Day. The number of hours per day the Contractor provides services in accordance with the contract. Work Week. Monday through Friday, unless specified otherwise. 2.2 Acronyms: PHNPO Public Health National Program Office PCS Patient Care Services CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention EO Executive Order DHS Department of Homeland Security HIPAA Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act FDA Food and Drug Administration FISMA Federal Information Security Management Act NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology OMB Office of Management and Budget VA Veterans Affairs VAAR Veterans Affairs Acquisition Regulations AHEC All Hazards Emergency Cache Section 3: Government Furnished Property, Equipment, and Services 3.1 The contractor will be working with VA staff in the performance of the Climate related Public Health activities. The VA staff working on this project includes: A) Three Physicians B) Three Epidemiologists C) Eight Laboratory Personnel D) Four Program Support Specialists 3.2 GFE Contract Staff Computers VA will provide GFE laptops for each contract staff member participating in this project. Section 4: Contractor Furnished Items and Services 4.1 PHNPO conducts disease surveillance and public health response activities within VHA focusing on public health. Public health surveillance includes activities such as detection and tracking progression of disease outbreaks, monitoring disease trends across VA and early warning of bioterrorist, climate-related, and other health-related events, and specialized laboratory testing. Composition of vendor team: Must be sufficiently representative of parties involved to ensure expert advice is available or able to be sought and efficient communication is achieved. Should be of a size that facilitates effective and appropriate action. Section 5: Tasks to be Performed The Climate/AHEC Program Management Team shall provide support for PHNPO Climate/AHEC Program Management by performing the following tasks: 5.1 Task 1 5.1.1 Establish a 10-12 member external advisory committee comprised of experts in the fields of climate, healthcare and data science to advise on the development of strategy and implementation. 5.1.2 Develop and maintains strategy to analyze complex and highly visible actions such as climate and public health legislation, executive directives, departmental policy issuances, as well as other influential statements of policy with the potential to impact the activities of the division, center, and/or coordinating center. 5.1.3 Develop reports that reflect in-depth analysis and interpretation of policy matters involving relevant climate public health issues. Presents expert analysis on such factors as well as advice to senior leadership on the impact of these highly visible policy actions. 5.1.4 Write new internal and external policies or recommendations based on changes in policy, executive directives, departmental issuances, or other key changes in voluntary practices. 5.1.5 Deliverables: 5.1.4.1 Monthly Progress Report 5.1.4.2 Annual Policy and Guidance Reports 5.2 Task 2 5.2.1 Provide and implement complex management strategy for multi-disciplinary teams, including the customer, and a subcontractor if used, in the development of goals, objectives, policies, and procedures for PHNPO Climate/AHEC team. 5.2.2 Review project proposals and plans to determine time requirements and allotment of available resources to various phases of the project. 5.2.3. Establish work plan and staffing for each phase of the project, confer with customer and project staff to outline work plan and to assign duties, responsibilities, and scope of authority. 5.2.4. Deliverables: 5.2.4.1 Monthly Progress Reports 5.2.4.2 Management and Staffing Plan 5.2.4.3 Project Plan 5.3 Task 3 5.3.1 Develop Communication Plan, including writing and editing planning documents, correspondence, briefing materials, speeches, talking points, introductory remarks, and other communications on behalf of PHNPO. 5.3.2 Drafts, as requested, messages from the PHNPO to members of the community, Congress and VHA leadership. Coordinate with central office communication directorate staff to ensure wide-spread recognition of important events. Generate press releases. 5.3.3. Prepare, compile, and design comprehensive reports and presentations to professionally communicate outcomes and recommendations resulting from analytical studies, impact analysis. 5.3.4. Deliverables 5.3.4.1 Weekly status reports on assigned communications. 5.3.4.2 Drafts of required communications materials. 5.3.4.3 Comprehensive outcome reports and presentations. 5.4 Task 4 5.4.1 Develop and implement comprehensive data analysis strategy. 5.4.2 Develop strategies for automated data processing systems. 5.4.3 Develop specifications for database, communication systems, security and data storage. 5.4.4 Serve as data analysis liaison with users concerning requests, usage, standards, security, and other developmental and production matters. 5.4.5 Develops guidelines and upgrade techniques of new operational procedures for the support of databases. 5.4.6 Evaluates, implement, and provides data analysis customer support for PHNPO personnel. 5.4.7 Deliverables 5.4.7.1 Annual report detailing the maintenance of records. 5.4.7.2 Prepare reports and correspondence related to the project data analysis. 5.4.7.3 Develop, compile, maintain documents for databases, statistical packages and communication systems. Section 6: Security Requirements 6.1 The Contractor and their personnel shall be subject to the same Federal laws, regulations, standards and VA policies as VA personnel, regarding information and information system security. These include, but are not limited to Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), Appendix III of OMB Circular A-130 and guidance and standards, available from the Department of Commerce s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). This also includes the use of common security configurations available from NIST s Web site at: http://checklists.nist.gov. 6.2 The Contractor shall comply with all applicable requirements as outlined in VA Handbook 6500.6 Contract Security. The Contractor and their personnel 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. 6.3 The Contractor is required to complete and submit the Contractor Security Control Assessment (CSCA), version 1.2, dated 05/15/2009, or the latest version available. 6.4 Privacy Act: The Contractor shall be responsible for safeguarding all confidential information. The Contractor shall keep all information confidential pursuant to, and comply with all provisions of, the Privacy Act of 1974, HIPAA, the Freedom of Information Act, M-1, Part 1, Chapter 9 and other VA regulations. 6.5 Violation of the Privacy Act of 1974 may involve the imposition of criminal penalties. The Contractor shall protect against loss or misuse of all dictated and transcribed documents. The documents described in this solicitation are irreplaceable medication information. The Contractor shall insure the confidentiality of all patient information, and shall be held liable in the event of breach of confidentiality. 6.6 The Contractor shall ensure the confidentiality of all patient and provider information. The Contractor shall not retain information longer than herein required for sensitive or patient identifying data and shall comply with all directives and regulations pertaining to the Privacy Act of 1974, Freedom of Information Act, and VHA Lookback Manual Program Operations Manual. Contractor and all contract employees shall be required to sign confidentiality statements. 6.7 The Contractor shall adhere to the following policies and laws applicable to all services to be provided under this contract. These policies and laws are retrievable via the worldwide web. Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA) Fraud and Related Activity in Connection with Access Devices and Computers, 18 U.S.C. 1029-1030 Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, PL 99-508 Title 38, U.S.C. 5701, VA Claims Confidentiality Statute Title 38, U.S.C. 5705, Confidentiality of Healthcare Quality Assurance Records Title 38, U.S.C. 7332, Confidentiality of Certain Medical Records 6.8 VHA Business Associate Agreement (BAA): The Contractor shall execute a BAA upon award of the contract. 6.9 The Contractor shall have and maintain a VA-approved site-to-site virtual private network (VPN) connection for remote service.
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