V--Special Mode Para-transit

This is a SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals or quotes. General Statement of Need The purpose of this Notice is to obtain information regarding: TITLE OF PROJECT: SPECIAL MODE TRANSPORTATION FOR VETERANS AFFAIRS MEDICAL CENTERS 1. PURPOSE. The Department of Veterans Affairs has a requirement to provide transportation services as prescribed by policies and procedures at Government expense to VA beneficiaries receiving care throughout the VA Boston and Bedford Healthcare Systems and to transport within Massachusetts and the surrounding states. Veterans Affairs requires the contractor in collaboration with VA transportation to assist with the administration and coordination of each medical center's transportation operation. The VA requires contractor services to transport VA beneficiaries from the beneficiaries' place of origin to the beneficiaries' place of termination. The mode of travel is based on what is most economical and consistent with the patient's needs. The contractor will provide primarily wheelchair van services or other overland transportation for eligible beneficiaries when VA transportation assets are unavailable. 2. BACKGROUND. ADHERING TO THE VHA DIRECTIVE 2008-020, PATIENT TRANSPORTATION MCM00-0050, MCM 138-008-LM The Department of Veterans Affairs currently requires a contract for vehicle and wheelchair services. The contractors respond to scheduled, non-scheduled, and emergency requests for travel to and from each medical center and their associated outpatient clinics. Ten separate VA Medical Facilities require transportation of VA beneficiaries and all facilities may order transportation 24/7. VA Medical Center 150 South Huntington Avenue Boston, MA 02130 Boston VA Outpatient Clinic 251 Causeway Street Boston, MA 02114 VA Medical Center 940 Belmont Street Brockton, MA 02301 VA Medical Center 1400 VFW Parkway West Roxbury, MA 02132 Lowell Outpatient Clinic 122 Marshall Road Lowell, MA 13201 Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hosp 200 Spring Road Bedford, MA 01730 Department of Veterans Affairs Community Based Outpatient Clinic 225 Boston Street Lynn, MA 01904 Department of Veterans Affair Community Based Outpatient Clinic 895 Blue Hill Avenue Dorchester, MA 02121 Department of Veterans Affairs Community Based Outpatient Clinic Quincy Medical Center 2nd floor 114 Whitwell Street Quincy, MA 02169 Department of Veterans Affairs Community Based outpatient Clinic/Hale Hospital 140 Lincoln Avenue Haverhill, MA 01830 3. OBJECTIVES. I. The VA transportation office will provide Routematch transportation software to assist in the oversight of the transportation program. The windows based software provides data management, scheduling, and routing, dispatching, verification, billing and reporting features. The VA requires the contractor to agree to the use of the software. Installation, data transfer and training for the transportation software will be at contractor's expense. The contractor may install the use of its own transportation software program for use as a primary system or in conjunction with, or backup system to Routematch at contractor's expense. II. Provide transportation service 24 hours a day (including holidays), 7 days a week primarily conducted in the eastern MA area. These transports are throughout New England which will include trips to rural/remote areas of region (ex. Trips to Canadian border and Nantucket). III. Vendor will schedule trips and dispatch all drivers based on geographic regions and clinic hours. Maintain a working log of origination and estimated arrival times of each driver. a. Supply and provide vehicles in emergency or catastrophic events to the medical center. b. Provide additional services for special events coverage. IV. Provide expertise in transportation safety and have an excellent safety record as a company. Provide at least three years of past history with safe driving performance standards. The safety manager should have experience relative to paratransit safety management V. Have an established record of medical paratransit experience within a complex transportation network. The company will be knowledgeable of all State, Federal and VA regulations/laws. VI. Subcontract as necessary for transportation services to meet the transportation requirements of beneficiaries as outlined in the statement of work. VA terms and conditions shall be included in any subcontract with service providers. If subcontracting is used, a detailed subcontracting plan will be provided to the Government. VII. Monitor the use of and regularly inspect vehicles operated by service providers (non-government vehicle). Maintain fleet in accordance to manufacture guidelines. Fleet records and maintenance logs should be on site, kept up-to- date, and available for immediate review by VA staff or designates. a. Monitor performance of service providers and ensure that service providers are performing according to the terms of the contract and all federal, state and local laws (e.g. meeting service standards, ADA requirements, etc.) b. Monitor existing medical paratransit systems and recommend changes to improve efficiency. c. Monitor and make recommendations to improve current VA procedures for receiving, scheduling, and dispatching requests for beneficiary travel. d. Monitor and make recommendations to improve current VA procedures for operating "shuttle"services. e. Provide the following reports: i. Monthly Financial Statements including the total charges incurred by the contractor, indicating percentage of costs to carrier and percentage of costs for management. ii. Monthly Operations Report including but not limited; systems and carrier information on completed trips by carrier, completed trips by VA drivers, cancelations, no-shows, missed trips, on-time performance, costs, revenues, average cost per trip. iii. Monthly Progress Report providing a written report of significant activities during the month by the contractor including problems encountered and how they were resolved, findings of quarterly reviews, and recommendations for actions as appropriate. iv. Monthly Complaint Report summarizing the number and type of complaints by service provider. v. Monthly Service Monitoring Report summarizing the activities, findings, and follow-up activities associated with the types of monitoring undertaken in response to poor service performance indicators, veteran complaints, and patient incidents. vi. Monthly Feedback Report indicating to the VA the difficulties, problems, and positive experiences encountered by the contactor due to VA activities made available to the VA upon request. f. Implement all recommended improvements or other changes to the existing medical paratransit system upon approval by the VA. g. Response Times i. The contractor shall respond to VA requests for transport by arriving at the patient's place of origin within thirty (30) minutes from the time the order/call is placed by the VA. The off tour transports (6pm-5am) or weekend response time is sixty (60) minutes. Exceptions will be granted for transports of excessive distance (ex. new Hampshire/Maine), but the contractor must work in good faith to start the pick up within 30 minute time frame. Exceptions to be approved by manager of Transportation department or designee. h. Receive and resolve complaints as follows: i. Provide notice of any patient incident to the VA within 24 hours after the contractor learns of the incident. Implement activities to monitor or circumvent like incidents in the future. ii. Communicate contractor activities and findings back to the complainant and the VA in a timely fashion. Undertake surveys, attend meetings and conferences, and prepare informational reports as requested. iii. Provide quarterly data on performance measures. i. Monitor and ensure that all work performed under this contract complies with, all applicable requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), 42 U.S.C. 12101 et. Seq. j. The contractor is required to ensure all applicable state and federal driver training requirements are current and maintained. If necessary, the contractor may be subject to additional training provided by the VA specific to the needs of the veteran population. Any additional training will be coordinated with the COTR and the contracting supervisor. k. Safety /Quality Assurance i. Provide monthly safety and Quality Management report to include: accidents, complaints, and other issues, investigation of events, outcomes and recommendations. Provide safety reminders to VA and non-VA drivers of seasonal or monthly issues (ex. winter, children returning to school, etc.). 4. SCOPE. The existing government transportation personnel and resources are the primary method to transport patients and must be used to the maximum extent possible. Patient transport will be performed by the contractor when government resources are unavailable and other modes of travel (i.e. public transportation, taxi etc.) are ruled out. The government reserves the right to make changes to listed resources prior to contract award and during contract performance. The contractor is prohibited from using government vehicles to transport beneficiaries and must use privately owned vehicles. Further, the contractor remains an independent contract. Thus, the VA retains full authority and control over the decisions effecting the operations of VA travel affairs and supervisory/management status over VA personnel. The contractor will need to have the capacity to schedule up to 2,200 trips a month and handle significant fluctuations in actual trips (as low as 1,300). The contract company can expect trips to average 1,500 per month. The contractor must be able to handle a similar number of trips per month in fiscal year 2013-2014. The VA experiences seasonal and demand changes that the contract company must respond to and accommodate. The actual trips less cancelations will vary and reduce the projected pickups. The actual trips less cancelations will vary and reduce the projected pickups. The trips include wheelchair, scooter, non-ambulatory and ambulatory patients of the hospital. The transportation service will primarily be conducted in the eastern MA area, 24 hours a day (including holidays), 7 days a week. The transportation company will need to provide transports throughout New England, which will include trips to rural/remote areas of region (ex. Trips to Canadian border, Nantucket, etc), short mileage trips in central/western MA. The transportation cost is from point of pick up to drop off location. The transport company must be able to transport all veterans regardless of size or weight. As mobility devices continue to be upgraded and improved (to accommodate increased weight and size), the contract company will need to remain abreast of these changes and upgrades and have vehicles and staff to meet the transportation needs of the Veteran population. The department runs shuttle service between its main facilities and Community Based Outpatient Clinics Monday through Friday. The service requires drivers to have a CDL with passenger endorsements. The service should include wheelchair accessible services as requested. As the Veteran population changes the shuttle needs will change and the company accommodate the population. To the maximum extent possible, the contractor shall utilize all VA personnel that the VA makes available to the contractor to perform the contract. The contractor shall not maintain any control or make any changes to VA personnel policies and matters. The contractor shall provide, at its own expense, all other personnel requirements to perform the contract. Such employees shall not be employees of the VA. The contractor and subcontractors under the supervision of the contractor shall perform the entire contract services required hereunder. All personnel engaged in the performance of this contract shall be fully qualified to perform such contract services. The contractor shall assign a project manager and key personnel to the contact. If the contractor terminates their employment or if the VA requests their removal, the contractor shall reassign personnel to the position within seven days of such action. The VA shall have the right to approve new key personnel to the contractor, which shall not be unreasonably withheld. All contracted employees are subject to appropriate background investigations and Federal HIPPA and VA information security regulations. 5. Period of Performance. The ANTICIPATED period of performance shall be from the date of award for a base period of one year, with four (one year) option periods. 6. Place of Performance. The offeror's dispatch work will be performed at the VAMC Jamaica Plain in conjunction with the VA transportation employees. 7. Key Personnel. We are looking for experts in the Para Transportation field. " All drivers must have proof of current medical cards. " Contractors must have proof of insurance coverage at a minimum of 1.5 million. " Contractors must have DOT cards for all proposed personnel; vehicles must also have appropriate DOT certification. " Contractors must have documented experience of greater than 95% on time performance. " Contractors must have a record of paratransit patient/customer satisfaction as surveyed. " Contractors must have a quality assurance plan for paratransit operations. " Drivers should hold a valid TSA badge and all necessary permits for Massport property access. " The contractor must confirm appointments 24 hours in advance with the client. If a driver responds to a call that has been cancelled by the client and it is discovered that the confirmation call was not made in advance no invoice will be accepted for payment. " Expected Personnel: Operations Supervisor, Dispatcher, Safety and Account manager (on site at facility). All personnel must be included in the offeror's proposal to ensure full coverage. 8. Type of Contract. A Firm- Fixed Unit Price Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Contract will be issued for this effort. THIS IS STRICTLY MARKET RESEARCH THAT WILL ASSIST THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, VISN 1 PLAN THEIR ACQUISITION STRATEGY. This is NOT a Request for Proposals (proposals will not be accepted at this time) and does NOT constitute any commitment by the Government. Responses to this Sources Sought Notice will be used by the Government to make appropriate acquisition decisions. The information based on responses to this notice solely within the discretion of the VA. All interested sources must respond to future solicitation announcements separately from responses to this market research/Sources Sought Notice. Responding small businesses should have an active CCR registration, DUNS number and up to date ORCA registrations. SDVOSBs and VOSBs MUST be registered in VetBiz.gov and provide a current certified letter from Washington, D.C. The NAICS code for this service is 485991 (for para-transit) size standard is $7.0 million. Service disabled veteran owned business and small businesses that feel that they may be capable of providing these services should submit all applicable information, including company name and point of contact, business size, by 3PM EST on April 4, 2013. Interested offerors may submit this information via email to [email protected]. The information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining how to conduct the procurement process.