Description
This is not a solicitation announcement. This is a sources sought only. The purpose of this notice is to announce that the Department of Veterans Affairs, Southern Nevada Healthcare System (VASNHS) North Las Vegas, Nevada 89086, has a requirement for inpatient dialysis services for veteran beneficiaries. The resulting contract will be for a base year and four (4) one-year option periods. The contract will be issued as an Indefinite Delivery-Indefinite Quantity contract, with Firm-Fixed-Price line items. Multiple awards are possible. The following brief description of the requirement is provided: The Contractor shall provide Mobile Inpatient Hemodialysis, Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy (CRRT), Continuous Cycling Peritoneal Dialysis, and Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis services for the VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System (VASNHS) Medical Center, located at 600 North Pecos Road, North Las Vegas, Nevada 89086. 1. Contractor's personnel shall be subject to the same quality assurance standards in meeting or exceeding current recognized national standards as established by The Joint Commission. The Contractor shall perform services in accordance with ethical, professional, and technical standards of the healthcare industry and consistent with Veterans Health Administration (VHA) policies, regulations and procedures. Persons provided by the Contractor shall be technically proficient in the skills necessary to fulfill the Government's requirements; to include the ability to speak, understand, read and write English fluently. The Contractor shall not introduce new procedures or services without the prior recommendation to and approval of the VHA or authorized representative and the Contracting Officer's Representative (COR). 2. THE VASNHS SHALL PROVIDE: a. Determination of the necessity and specific type(s) of dialysis treatment service shall be made by Department of Veteran Affairs staff Nephrologists based on the clinical assessment of the patient. b. Clinical Staff Nephrologist shall first discuss the benefits and risks to the patient and family members about the dialysis treatment services before dialysis is started. c. Adequate space, consistent with applicable guidelines and regulations, to store equipment and supplies related to the provision of inpatient dialysis services. d. Adequate and safe space, consistent with applicable guidelines and regulations, to perform dialysis services. e. Adequate water and electricity as needed to perform dialysis services in accordance with facility policy and regulatory requirements. f. Environmental services and waste removal including, without limitation, medical and hazardous waste material removal. g. Blood banking, laboratory and diagnostic imaging services as required for patient care on an emergent and non-emergent basis. All blood products, laboratory testing and diagnostic imaging shall be ordered by VA clinical staff based on a clinical assessment of the patient. h. Once Contractor staff completes all required training and necessary requirements for computer access, and at the discretion of the VASNHS Information Security Officer, the Contractor's staff will be provided with access to the VASNHS electronic medical record for charting as necessary. Charting completed on paper forms will be scanned into the VASNHS electronic medical record. i. A valid, witnessed informed consent for dialysis treatment is not necessary prior to the initiation of treatment unless the patient is deemed incapacitated and there is no identified surrogate decision-maker and the dialysis treatment is determined to be clinically necessary to prevent serious harm or death to the patient. j. Inpatient Pharmacy shall provide all drugs and other pharmaceutical items required for the performance of dialysis services including peripheral intravenous fluids. All drugs and other pharmaceutical items must be ordered by VA clinical staff based on a clinical assessment of the patient. k. Initial Nephrologist Consultation for all new VASNHS inpatient dialysis treatment services to be provided by the Contractor's staff. l. All restraints, when necessary, shall be utilized in accordance with VA policies and regulatory requirements. m. All necessary medical charting forms. n. Access to patient medical records for the continuation of patient care. 3. SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE CONTRACTOR: a. Contractor shall provide the necessary mobile dialysis-specific equipment and supplies needed to perform hemodialysis, continuous cycling peritoneal dialysis, continuous renal replacement therapy, continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis, and sustained low efficiency daily dialysis, CRRT including dialysis machines, water purification devices, dialyzers and bloodlines, and other standard dialysis equipment and supplies as required. Additionally, the contractor must be capable of providing the Redsense Alarm unit and Sensor patch system for monitoring the vein needles during the dialysis is in process. b. All equipment provided by contractor shall be maintained, per the manufacturer's specifications and JACO, by the contractor to meet requirements of applicable codes. Documentation of equipment maintenance and checks will be provided to the COR and biomedical engineering quarterly. c. All dialysis registered nurses (RN's), technical equipment maintenance personnel and onsite administrators necessary to perform the covered services, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. d. The Contractor shall carry out ongoing quality assurance activities as needed to meet State, Federal and Joint Commission guidelines. The Contractor will provide quarterly reports of quality assurance data to the COR, including all monthly water and dialysate reports for each machine, culture reports, problems encountered and corrective action taken. The Contractor shall provide a quality control plan to include documentation for following: nursing, cleaning/disinfecting of equipment. e. The Contractor shall perform additional procedures related to declotting central venous/dialysis catheters. 4. CONTRACTOR REGISTERED NURSES RESPONSIBILITIES: The contract dialysis RN functions within the policies of the VASNHS and has professional and legal responsibility to the patient and contractor. All personnel provided by the contractor will be Registered Nurses (RN). The contracted dialysis RNs will: a. Utilizes the nursing process and an interdisciplinary approach to provide direct and comprehensive emergency care to the dialysis patient, including emergency care in the event of untoward responses to treatment interventions. b. Perform nursing functions related to physician prescribed treatment, using nursing judgment and independent thinking. c. The Contracted Dialysis nurses performing CRRT shall visit the patient a minimum of twice daily while patient is receiving the CRRT. d. The Contracted CRRT nurses shall provide training to the ICU staff to monitor CRRT patients and equipment a minimum of twice every twelve months. e. The dialysis nurses shall provide documentation of each patient treatment in the form of a completed run sheet. f. The Contractor's staff shall comply with VHA policies and procedures regarding the treatment of patients with communicable disease and/or infections in conjunction with the provision of covered services. g. Contractor's staff shall communicate with the attending physician and inpatient RN regarding any acute problems or changes in a patient's condition. h. Contractor's staff shall inform the inpatient RN of his/her presence at the start of each dialysis treatment and will provide a face-to-face hand-off report to the inpatient RN at the end of the dialysis treatment. i. Obtain and document relevant patient history. j. Assess the patient and develop an appropriate dialysis-specific nursing care plan. k. Document the nursing plan of care, actual care provided, and patient's response to care in the patient's medical record. l. Verify physician orders for dialysis treatments and dialysis associated medications. m. Carry out prescribed physician orders and notify the attending or on-call physician, Nephrologist and RN of any untoward reactions. Documents any untoward reactions in the patient's medical record. n. Maintain a safe and therapeutic environment and observe all policies pertaining to universal precautions for infection control. Artificial nails are prohibited. o. Provide dialysis access site care using aseptic technique/standards of care. (see above) p. Recognize emergency situations (Cardiovascular or respiratory compromise, change in neurological status, acute blood loss, etc.) take appropriate action, and report such situations in a timely manner and appropriate fashion to the nephrologist, attending and or inpatient RN. q. Initiate life-saving measures as appropriate and in accordance with Basic Life Support recommendations unless there is specific physician order to limit resuscitation ( Do Not Resuscitate order). r. Apply VA Customer Service standards and ICARE values as exhibited by courteous and respectful conduct at all times. 5. All other requirements shall be detailed in the impending solicitation to be issued on or about August 1, 2015. 6. All Offerors who provide goods or services to the United States Federal Government must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database found at https://www.sam.gov. Registration must include Representations and Certifications. Additionally, all Service Disabled Veteran Owned Businesses or Veteran Owned Businesses who respond to a solicitation on this project must be registered and verified with the Vet-Biz Registry located at http://vip.vetbiz.gov .