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Questions submitted as Request for Information. Solicitation number: VA244-16-R-0824 - Answer provided in red:If this is a sub-Contracting agreement, and the award vendor has yet to be surveyed for Joint Commission, can the awarded vendor use the accreditation of the sub until prime vendor gets surveyed? Please see Section 2 of the Performance Work Statement on page 5, second sentence. “Contractor must be Joint Commission accredited for Home Care or equivalent accredited standard and must maintain the certification or equivalent accredited standard for the duration of the contract.” The contractor who is awarded the contract must be Joint Commission accredited for Home Care or equivalent accredited standard and must maintain the certification or equivalent accredited standard for the duration of the contract.Task 2.5 ask for monthly visits and to follow plan of care? If a Veteran doesn’t need supplies do we still need to visit them? If so can we charge for this visit?Please see Amendment A00001 to Task 2.5 (b. and c. have been revised); See below:The Contractor shall provide delivery of prescribed equipment and supplies to each beneficiary as needed on a minimum of a monthly basis. The cost of this monthly visit shall be borne by the Contractor. The Contractor shall visit beneficiaries' residences in performance of this contract by appointment only, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday, exceptions will be made in the cases of emergencies.? Monthly visit shall occur within 20 to 31 days from the previous visit.At minimum once every 6 months +/- 7 days from the previous 6 month visit, the Contractor’s Respiratory Therapist will visit the VA beneficiary to reassess equipment compliance, educational needs, etc. The cost of this Respiratory Therapist visit shall be borne by the Contractor.? A written report will be require to include at a minimum the following data: a. Name and social security number (SSN) of beneficiary using the equipment.b. Monitor compliance on prescription ((liters per minute (LPM), hours per day))c. Type, hours on concentrator *Serial Numbers kept on file should be for VA owned equipment only. Serial Numbers for the rented equipment shall be the vendor’s responsibility and kept on file in officed. Inspection results of liter flow rate in monitoring patient compliance (as compared to prescription).e. Inspection compliance of intake filters (exchange or clean by patient); follow-up education and/or reinforcement of compliance documented.f. Revised plan of service as needed.g. Identify any safety concerns and/or non-compliance issues. h. A report shall be developed by contractor, signed and dated by the contract staff and the VA beneficiary/care giver and a copy shall be left with the beneficiary. The reports shall include any issues with action plans for compliance. All reports will be legible and attached to the invoice. All reports shall be submitted to the COTR or designee in alphabetical order, with the monthly bills by the 10th business day of the month following.i.At minimum, once every 6 months +/- 7 days from the previous 6 month inspection, a Preventative Maintenance Inspection (PMI) will occur on all equipment, both contractor owned and VAMC owned.? The contractor’s staff member will conduct a check of the concentrator using a certified oxygen analyzer calibrated according to manufacturer’s standards.? Filters will be replaced as indicated by the manufacturer.? The alarm battery shall be tested at each maintenance check, changed as indicated, but at least annually.? The contractor is responsible for tracking and documenting maintenance of equipment and providing these records upon request.? For WB since they own their own equipment, a charge can be assessed (See CLIN F0001). Task 2.6 it says back up tanks shall be an H tank? Can we use M-60 as a substitute? And if the emergency tank is used can it be billed for?Task 2.6 e. states “The cost of backup systems, backup oxygen, and backup equipment shall be borne by the Contractor. If H tanks are used for backup, the Contractor shall furnish an H tank stand for each H tank at no cost to the government. The key word there is IF….it doesn’t read “shall be…” Please read Task 2.15 (Performance Requirement: Equipment Specifications) for further information. Task 2.10 Reserve supply: Tanks and Liquide oxygen stored at each VA, who will pay for the tanks and Liquide used? Will VA keep track of which patients used what tanks since supplies will be issued to Veterans at the VA? Will there be a log for billing purposes at each VA that can be picked up at the end of each month and billed to those veterans? The tanks are supplied to the facility at no charge. Patients who are discharged from the medical center on Home Oxygen will be given the portable unit to go home and are billed upon issuance to patient as part of the patient’s monthly bill. The Home Oxygen coordinator at the VA facilities will keep track of tanks issued to patients.In Wilkes Barre, the tanks in respiratory are part of the monthly charge Wilkes Barre is already paying every patient on home oxygen. Will there be a log….? Patients issued tanks will be coordinated through the VA Home Oxygen Coordinator to vendor either by the new patient’s home set up or notation to the contractor for replacement tanks for existing patients. Task 2.12 plan of cares: will plan of cares be done on each 6 month visit by an RT? Or just once a year?Every 6 months a visit is mandatory by a Respiratory Therapist (see 2.5 c) at which time a written report is required to include the following data:Reference 2.5 c. (f.) which states “Revised plan of service as needed.”Task 2.15 item D: is the water for humidification supplied by veteran? The VA does not provide the water for humidification. Reference 2.5 a. which states:“As part of the equipment monitoring visit, the contractor shall ensure the patient has adequate supplies (mask supplies, colored tubing, filters, water for humidification) to last between visits.” Task 2.15 item H: Lebanon: it states monthly rental fee, a “system: of portable oxygen cylinders OR Portable concentrators, this would be huge up charge to the VA to include a portable concentrator in this price unless each veteran is getting a portable concentrator? This is only for patient ambulatory use outside the home. Refer to CLIN B0001.Task 2.17 Equipment inventory VA owned: item C if the VA owned equipment needs sent back to manufactory for repair under warranty, will VA pay contractor for any shipping charges incurred? Or will the VA be shipping these items back themselves?If there are warranties the VAMC will ship it back themselves. On the estimated quantities for all locations, is this for the total of five years? Per station? The estimated quantities include all locations for the total of five years. There is an attachment entitled, “Estimated Quantities Per Station” which shows a break out of the description of supplies/services for each facility and the quantity needed.Also I see that all of the concentrators are for five liter machines only, are there any 10 liter machines in any of the locations? If so will this be an added line item for pricing?It is broken out on the “estimated Quantities Per Station” document. Please review the list of needs by each facility (see Coatesville and Philadelphia). These are noted on the Price/Cost Schedule in B3 starting on page 24.Page 63 still has all offers coming to Ryan Mullins at the Clarksburg Va?Amendment A00001 will correct this information.Is it possible to get a monthly break out of each VA usage for the following equipment:A) Five liter concentratorsB) 10 liter concentratorsC) Liquid base unitsD) Helios portablesE) Standard lq portablesF) E regulatorsG) Conserving devicesH) Total pounds of liquid oxygen used at each VA.I) Portable concentratorsJ) E tanksK) B tanksL) D tanksM) C tanksN) How many new cpap and bipap set ups are there each month?**** This information will help us determine amount of staff needed, and pricing for each line item, the totals you show now are a bit confusing on what we would need to get started, and this also allows us to get better pricing from vendors in order to put in a competitive bid.The estimated quantities are included in the attachment entitled, “Estimated Quantities Per Station” which shows a break out of the description of supplies/services for each facility and the quantity needed. This is currently the record of need for each facility.How close must each office be to the respective VA, and how much storage space is needed in each location?The contractor must make that decision based on the specific timeframes noted in each Task. The timeframe for the initial set-ups as well as the Emergency Protocol must be adhered to. Please review the SOW in its entirety. I see no line item for an RT visit charge for the six month checks?Please see Amendment A00001 to Task 2.5 (b.) which should answer your questions (see below). b.At minimum once every 6 months +/- 7 days from the previous 6 month visit, the Contractor’s Respiratory Therapist will visit the VA beneficiary to reassess equipment compliance, educational needs, etc. The cost of this Respiratory Therapist visit shall be borne by the Contractor. A written report will be required to include at a minimum the following data….:Will all five locations be transition at the same time?Yes, that is the desire.Will all five locations be awarded to one vendor?See pg. 1 of SF1449 – “VA reserves the right to make single or multiple award(s). Vendors shall, at a minimum, provide proposal for one facility. Vendors may provide proposals for up to all facilities.”Will the last maintenance visit for all VA owned equipment be supplied to awarded vendor, as well as the records for VA owned equipment, or will we start a new schedule maintenance up upon award?Task 2.9 (a. & b.): Equipment Maintenance/Repair is the responsibility of the contractor to have current and accurate records for all equipment including VA owned. a.Contractor shall have written equipment preventive maintenance policies and procedures and shall maintain a system for tracking all equipment preventative maintenance by model and serial number. The safety and working condition of the equipment shall be monitored on an ongoing basis, including maintaining preventative maintenance logs, calibration logs, recalls, logs of oxygen cylinder lot, batch numbers, and the results documented by serial number. This documentation shall be maintained for the term of the contract. b.All current documentation shall be forwarded to the appropriate COR or ACOR on a monthly basis. Only qualified technicians with documented training will provide maintenance/repair to this equipment. The contractor shall perform a formal preventive maintenance inspection (PMI) immediately before stored equipment is issued.Additional request for information submitted - Solicitation number: VA244-16-R-0824WilmingtonDoes the Wilmington VA own any Vents? noPortable concentrators will all patients be getting one? noNebulizers are these VA issued? And we just instruct and set up? CLIN will be removed via Amendment A00001. VA will issue and contractor will instruct and set up.4. Oxysafe devices, won’t ever patient get two of these on the exchange of equipment? See Task 2.15 Performance Requirement: Equipment Specifications. Every piece of equip per 2.15 needs to include fire safe cannula valves as required in the Statement of Work (SOW).5. What supplies does the VA supplies on CPAP BIpap set ups, mask ?Yes, Wilmington provides all CPAP, Bi-PAP and masks and supplies. LebanonDoes all patients get a liquid stationary tank? No, there are some patients who use concentrators and some who require liquid; it depends on the prescription. Does the Lebanon VA own any vents? No, not for outpatientsNebulizers are these VA issued? And we just instruct and set up? CLIN will be removed via Amendment A00001. VA will issue and contractor will instruct and set up.What supplies does the VA supply on Cpap and Bipap set ups, mask? Patients will receive all of their CPAP & BIPAP and supplies at the VA. Suction machines are they supply by VA - yesWhat is the difference between item 1004 and 1009? The attachment entitled “Estimated Quantities Per Station” will be updated and these lines will be deleted (see new document in Amendment A00001). Wilkes-BarreItem 2002 will ever patient need seen each month for this check? This is a monthly charge for using the contractor’s oxygen. See Task 2.5 letter j. What supplies are provided by the VA for cpap bipap set ups? Mask? Wilkes Barre will supply the machines and masks Since this VA owns there concentrators and they have been in use for several years, are any of these units still under warranty? Will they be buying new units for this contract? Wilkes Barre will transfer existing stock to the awarded provider.? Concentrators are replaced at VA expense as needed.? Our concentrator rep will pick up any that need to be serviced from the home oxygen vendor provided they are within the 40 mile radius of the station; otherwise VA will pay shipping. CoatesvilleWhat is an MMS tank? –It is an oxygen cylinder size between a M6 & H cylinders. The specs are:Diameter 8”Height 36”Empty weight 39.5 lbsCapacity (L) @ 2,200PSI -3,455 liters PhiladelphiaDoes the Philadelphia VA own any vents? Only Trilogy vents All suction units are VA owned? What supplies if they are supplied by VA NO, not vA owned. We purchase under the contract for the patient. Supplies are supplied by the pharmacy at VA.Item 4015 you want a purchase price for Cough assist? Wouldn’t these be bought of a GSA? We have historically rented them; we would rather buy them.Item 4016 does the Philadelphia VA own any 02 concentrators. We do own portable battery concentrator systems. ................
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