Sources Sought - National Staffing Services

Active

Contract Opportunity

I. Introductory

This is a Sources Sought. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this Sources Sought is to obtain a knowledge and information on potential vendor interest for project planning purposes

II. Project Description

Background

Federal Occupational Health (FOH) under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) provides integrated Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) services throughout the Federal Government. FOH provides defined health services as well as consultation to Federal customer agencies exclusively through Interagency Agreements (IAAs).

FOH is the largest provider of occupational health services in the Federal Government, serving more than 360 Federal agencies and reaching 1.8 million federal employees. Agreements are negotiated with federal departments and federal agencies’ national headquarters, and/or with their regional/local components for products ranging from a standard package of OHS program components to an array of services, including expert consultation tailored to a particular federal agency’s OHS needs, wellness and health promotion, behavioral health services and organizational development related issues. FOH maintains sole responsibility for consulting with Federal agencies.

FOH comprehensive services include:

• Clinical Health Services (CHS) - Occupational medicine services, medical employability and fitness for duty services that focus on assessment of the ability of the employee to meet immediate job demands, increase employee productivity, and improves employee performance


• Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) - ensures a safe working environment through site assessments, environmental health oversight of all FOH occupied spaces, emergency preparedness and emergency response


• Wellness and Health Promotion Services (WHPS) - services to assist employees in achieving and maintaining good health so that they can sustain peak performance


• Behavioral Health Services (BHS) – Employee Assistance Program, Work/Life and other behavioral health services designed to promote emotional well-being and a healthy life balance through stress management, financial and legal counseling, and professional referral


• Organizational Development and Leadership (ODL) - services that facilitate creating and sustaining a culture of employee and organizational health through organizational development and solid, capable leadership

These services are designed to improve health outcomes and employee productivity, while reducing occupational health risks, absenteeism, and overall employee health care costs. FOH vision is to be the occupational health provider of choice for the Federal Government.

FOH staff plays a critical role in ensuring FOH maintains its status as the premier consultant to the Federal Government for integrated OHS. By offering flexible, cost competitive solutions, FOH sets the standard for a culture of health and safety across the Federal workforce. The quality of services and strength of program effectiveness depends heavily on the expertise and experience of the Personal Service Contractors (PerSCs) who provide direct care, services, and education. PerSCs will be expected to provide quality services both in individualized and group settings, placing client/patient needs at the forefront of service delivery.

IAAs provide basic occupational health services through FOH three hundred plus (300+) Occupational Health Centers (OHC) for Federal employees and expanded programs (including Environmental Health, (EH), Wellness and Health Promotion (WHP), Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Work / Life, and Organizational Development). FOH also offers services through its private provider network with over 3,000 contracted locations. This private provider network, combined with FOH’s OHCs assures access to occupational health services to Federal employees, regardless of location.

Purpose and Objectives

The purpose of this requirement is to acquire professional medical staffing, occupational health professionals and ancillary staff to support Program Support Center (PSC) Federal Occupational Health (FOH) under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Anticipated Period of Performance

The anticipated period of performance is a single Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) five (5) year award consisting of one twelve (12) month Base period plus four 12-month Option periods.

The anticipated award is second (2nd) Quarter of Fiscal Year (FY) 2025.

Project Requirements

The Contractor shall furnish all the necessary personnel, materials, services (except as otherwise specified), and otherwise do all the things necessary for or incidental to the performance of the work.

The primary purpose of this contract is for Personal Service Contractor (PerSC) staffing services outside or other than those providing direct care within Occupational Health Centers (OHCs) which are secondary and are not guaranteed under this contract effort.

In order to meet its mission, the scope of this contract shall cover FOH’s contract service requirements including, but not limited to, business operations, administrative, consultation, and delivery of occupational health support and direct services within the Continental United States (CONUS), Outside the Continental United States (OCONUS) and internationally. If within its Congressional authority, it is imperative that FOH acts quickly and maintains sufficient flexibility to meet the need, wherever the need arises.

PerSCs are responsible for providing quality health care, health education, and for raising the FOH client awareness of health indicators, associated risks to optimal health, and viable solutions for maintaining optimal health. PerSCs participation in professional associations and pursuit of additional certifications and specialized training are strongly encouraged to keep current with identified best practices and medical advancements. Contractor promotion of such participation and pursuits is expected.

In 2015, FOH gained System Accreditation under the Ambulatory Care (AC) Standards through The Joint Commission (TJC). FOH is the first federal agency to achieve accreditation under the new TJC Occupational Health Standards and will have the opportunity to participate in the development of those standards.

TJC is an independent, not-for-profit organization which accredits and certifies more than 20,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. TJC-AC accreditation and certification is recognized nationwide as a symbol of quality that reflects an organization’s commitment to meeting specified performance standards. FOH’s TJC-AC accreditation achievement and maintenance further aligns FOH with industry-leading standards and positions FOH for continued growth in an increasingly competitive market.

The Contractor and any subcontractor performing 20% or more workshare shall be TJC-Health Care Staffing Services (HCSS) certified and/or be TJC-AC accredited for the life of this contract. Failure to maintain certification shall be considered breach of contract and grounds for termination. Note: The 20% workshare is calculated as one-fifth of each contract ordering period’s total labor dollars proposed.

FOH has invested significant time, energy, and resources into transforming its policies, procedures and business operations to stay aligned with TJC standards. It is imperative that the Contractor working with FOH is TJC certified in order to assist FOH in maintaining TJC standards and accreditation. This certification is considered a material requirement of this contract and is reasonably necessary for FOH to meet its mission needs. TJC-HCSS standards align with FOH’s business-operation and efficiency goals and will ensure the Contractor conforms to FOH’s efforts to maintain TJC-AC accreditation and deliver high-quality services consistently. On an ongoing basis, the Contractor will continue to mirror FOH’s pursuit of any other service delivery accreditation enhancement.

The quality of services provided by the Contractor and its PerSCs shall be guided by national standards. These standards include, but are not limited to: TJC standards http://jointcommission.org; the American Medical Association (AMA) standards http://www.ama-assn.org; the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses (AAOHN) standards http://www.aaohn.org; the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) standards http://www.acoem.org/, other standards recognized by relevant national medical specialty boards, established principles and ethics of related professions; and the standards of care in the state or locality where the services are provided. FOH maintains a robust Quality, Safety, and Risk Management (QSRM) program. In order to provide and maintain a safe, functional, supportive, and effective environment for clients and staff in the healthcare and health and wellness setting, FOH requires all PerSCs to adhere to the components outlined in the FOH Safety Plan, FOH Performance Improvement Plan, and associated policy and procedures. This includes PerSCs proactively supporting a culture of safety, participation in safety event reporting, data collection and performance improvement activities, staff surveys, and improving client and staff safety through communication and engagement with FOH committees and interdisciplinary teams.

The Contractor shall provide all services in accordance with FOH Policies, Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), Local Operating Procedures (LOP), Agency Specific Procedure (ASP), special directives and “ALERTS” as specified in FOH Policies with guidelines provided by the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR). The COR will inform the Contractor in writing when any updates are made to FOH policies, SOPs, LOPs, ASPs, special directives and “ALERTS” that will, or may, impact/modify the performance of operations and clinical activities. The Contractor shall implement all new changes upon notification. Critical clinical alerts and associated service delivery and management responses will be communicated directly to PerSCs via government email accounts and will be available on the FOH intranet (FOH Staff Portal) for twenty-four (24) hour online access when they are issued.

Instructions

Questions regarding the contents of this Sources Sought shall be submitted via email to: nickita.germany@psc.hhs.gov no later than 9:00am EST on April 8, 2024. Phone calls will not be accepted. The Government reserves the right to respond to some, all, or none of the questions that will be submitted.

Interested companies should review the attached and then submit a response that provides feedback, if any, on the attached and that addresses all of the information listed under “Capability Statement/Information Sought”. Capability statements and responses shall be submitted via email to nickita.germany@psc.hhs.gov no later than 9:00am EST on April 30, 2024. The subject line for the email heading shall be “Sources Sought National Staffing Services– PSCFOH-NSC-PSC323464". Please provide succinct detail and depth to enable Government review and assessment. Please limit responses to ten (10) pages (8 ½ x 11, single-spaced, Times New Roman, 12-point font, ¾ inch margins).

Please add a cover letter to your response with the following information:

1. Company Name

2. Company Unique Entity ID number

3. Company point of contact, mailing address, telephone and website address

4. Any Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC), General Services Administration (GSA) Schedule vehicle, or other available procurement vehicles your company maintains that could meet this requirement

5. Business Size relative to NAICS codes: 621999 - All Other Miscellaneous Ambulatory Health Care Services, 621498 - All Other Outpatient Care Centers, and 541990 - All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services.

6. Type of Company (e.g., large business, small business, 8(a), woman owned, veteran owned, etc.) as registered in the System for Award Management (SAM)

7. Identify any/all teaming arrangements

III. Disclaimer and Important Notes

This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by the respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed. Information provided will be used to assess tradeoffs and alternatives available for the potential requirement and may lead to the development of a solicitation. Respondent 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.

Any solicitation resulting from the analysis of information obtained will be announced to the public in SAM in accordance with FAR Part 5. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate to responses to a solicitation.

Confidentiality

No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).

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