65-- Custom fabrication of components of the Angel Hands prototype

This is a Sources Sought Announcement. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), James A. Haley A. Haley Veterans Hospital, located in Tampa, FL, is conducting a market survey to determine the availability of businesses capable and interested in providing the service in accordance with the attached Statement of Work, for the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, Tampa, FL. This is a request for information only, the announcement number is VA248-16-N-0079. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS, QUOTATIONS, OR BIDS. THE VA RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SOLICIT THIS SERVICE AS APPROPRIATE. Contractor shall provide services in accordance with the Statement of Work (SOW) below: Custom fabrication of the components of the Angel hands prototype James A. Haley VA Hospital/Research Service Background This proposal is for the development and evaluation of a sling-less alternative to current patient lift devices, called 'Angel Hands', by inventor, Gary Kluckhuhn. Angel Hands is a prototype medical device, designed to lift and transfer a person with a disability or injury from one surface to another--such as from bed to wheelchair and back-more quickly, easily and with much less caregiver exertion, minor patient discomfort, and minimal risk of injury to both than is possible with current systems. It is designed to accomplish patient lifting, repositioning, and transfer with one caregiver (and potentially autonomously by the patient alone), without requiring the caregiver to engage in any strenuous activity whatsoever. Angel Hands does not require the use of a fabric body sling, into which patients must be manually manipulated (i.e., their torso or other parts of their body lifted and/or their entire body rolled to properly position the sling) by as many as three or four caregivers (depending on patient size). Rather, patient lifting and transferring is accomplished by means of a pair of micro-processor controlled, mechanically driven opposing arms, in a clamshell configuration, which gently close beneath the patient to lift, and open to transfer-and feature powered belts on the contact surfaces to minimize friction. Angel Hands is designed to operate seamlessly with overhead lift systems in VA Medical Centers, nursing homes, other healthcare facilities and private patient homes (though still far less prevalent than floor lifts and other transfer devices). Instead of a sling, Angel Hands uses curved, opposing mechanical arms, which gently close together beneath the patient. Powered belts that wrap around the top and bottom surfaces of each arm allow the "hands" to slip gently between the users' body and the surface upon which they are resting. A current Angel Hands prototype has shown considerable promise in its capacity to lift and transfer a person more quickly, simply, and with much less caregiver exertion than sling-based systems. This development will be completed and perform computer-based finite element analysis of the Angel Hands system, assembly the prototype and conduct extensive laboratory testing. Then, by means of focus groups and clinical trials, we will evaluate the technology in institutional settings, where its performance will be compared to conventional sling-based lift devices. We anticipate that the next generation of Angel Hands will perform very favorably in this comparison in terms of injury risk, usability and efficiency, and that this will lead to definitive full scale clinical trials and subsequent commercialization. The adoption of Angel Hands in VA hospitals and nursing homes could revolutionize dependent patient care, by substantially reducing caregiver injuries as well as time devoted to patient handling tasks, and thus present substantial savings in healthcare costs to VHA. Other compelling potential benefits include enhanced independence for persons with disabilities who may be able to operate the device without assistance. Statement of Work The responsibilities of the contractor, or his/her qualified designee includes, but are not limited to the following: 1. Custom fabrication of components of the Angel Hands prototype using carbon fiber materials. The VA will supply the drawings and specifications. 2. Assembly of the Angel Hands prototype. 3. The contractor will not have access to VA patient sensitive records. C&A requirements do not apply. A Security Accreditation Package is not required. Qualifications Qualifications: The qualifications of the contractor shall require expertise uniquely suited to the following: " Contractor must possess technical competency, tooling, materials, employees and expertise for custom fabrication of components of the Angel Hands prototype using carbon fiber materials in accordance with the drawings the VA will supply. " Contractor must be local to the Tampa area so that researchers and the contractor can meet face-to-face on a regular basis " Contractor must be able to complete the required services within 60-90 days of contract award. Hours of Service: The contractor's qualified personnel will devote appropriate number of hours per week to the project at the discretion of the contractor. The contractor is responsible for their employees leave and work schedule accordingly. Responsibilities of the contractor: It is the contractor's responsibility to provide space where services will be performed. Copyright/Patents/Technical Data: Any information, invention or discovery, innovation, suggestion, idea, communication and report (whether patentable or not) (collectively, "Invention") conceived, reduced to practice, made or developed using resources provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs or by the Principal Investigator as a result of conducting the Study, are controlled by Federal law (35 USC sections 102 & 200-212, 37 CFR Part 501 and 38 CFR sections 1.650-1.663). Publication: Any publication by the contractor must be submitted to the Principal Investigator at least 60 days before publication and contractor agrees to delete any information identified by Principal Investigator as confidential prior to submitting such manuscript and/or abstract for publication. Contractor agrees to credit the Department of Veterans Affairs in any published work and limit such publications to scientific/engineering and/or other professional journals. Confidentiality: Contractor agrees to abide by all applicable federal laws and regulations pertaining to the privacy of patients and or VA employees, including all Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996/Information Security regulations as they are implemented within the VA, during the period of this contract. The contractor also agrees to abide by the confidentiality requirements of the protocols. NOTE: The total duration of this contract, including the exercise of any options, shall not exceed 2 Years and 6 months. Special Qualifications 1. All work shall be performed by fully qualified contractor personnel. The VA reserves the right to reject any of the contractor's personnel and refuse them permission to work on VA property for good cause. Contractor's employees must be aware that work is in a hospital environment and courtesy must be extended to patients and visitors. Work shall be coordinated to minimize impact to hospital operations. Insurance Requirements: 1. The contractor agrees to procure and maintain, while the contract is in effect Worker's Compensation, Employer's Liability and General Liability Insurance in accordance with the laws of the State of Florida. The policy shall provide coverage for Public Liability limits of not less than the statutory limitation for any one accident, and at least meeting the statutory limitations if more than one person is involved. Interested Vendors The applicable NAICS for this service is 334510. To be considered for this requirement, vendors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM - https://www.sam.gov) and be identified as having the correct NAICS code. Any vendor interested in this requirement should include the following information: 1. Company Information (business name, DUNS number, business size/category, GSA schedule number) 2. Capability Statement in accordance with the SOW requirements (brief background of capabilities, resources, experience, etc) 3. Contact information (POC name, email, and phone) All responses to this sources sought notice shall be submitted to the following email address: contact@example.gov. The closing time/date for responses is 1100 AM (EST), November 13, 2015. This sources sought notice is for market research purposes only. THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION AND DOES NOT REQUIRE THE GOVERNMENT TO ISSUE A SOLICITATION. The Government will not pay for any information submitted under this notice.