Notice of Intent to Sole Source - Investigations of Health IT-related Deaths, Serious Injuries, or Unsafe Conditions

Notice of Intent to Sole Source Investigations of Health IT-related Deaths, Serious Injuries, or Unsafe Conditions Pursuant to the authority of FAR 6.302-1, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Program Support Center, Strategic Acquisition Service, Division of Acquisition Management, intends to negotiate a sole source, firm fixed-price contract with The Joint Commission (TJC), located at One Renaissance Blvd., Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181, on behalf of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC). The period of performance for the award will be for a 12 month base period, plus one 12 month option period, beginning from the effective date of the contract. As part of its efforts to improve patient safety related to health IT, ONC sponsored the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in making recommendations on health IT safety, which were published in November 2011 in Health IT and Patient Safety: Building Safer Systems for Better Care. Among other recommendations, the IOM identified the need for an independent Federal entity to investigate patient safety deaths, serious injuries, or potentially unsafe conditions associated with health IT. This acquisition shall address the IOM recommendation. It solicits a proposal from an existing private sector organization that has substantial experience in oversight of patient safety, with a large database of reported serious adverse events, and with the capacity to investigate such events (while protecting patient privacy and legal privileges), in order to ensure that health IT-related events are investigated and to gather information that will enable ONC to evaluate the best way to more fully address the IOM recommendation. The acquisition requires research on a database of sentinel events in healthcare involving at least 2,500 events over the past 3 years. Smaller numbers of such events would not allow identification of enough health IT-related sentinel events (which will likely be less than 1% of all sentinel events) to be able to classify and describe health IT-related events. The acquisition further requires investigations of at least 10 health IT-related sentinel events in the base period, which must be completed during the first 11 months of this contract. An additional 10 investigations must be completed in the option period. To identify 10 health IT-related reports in 11 months will require over 1200 reports annually, assuming (based on best evidence available) that less than 1 percent will be related to health IT. Only one award will be made. A firm fixed-price contract will be awarded. The period of performance shall be for twelve (12) months from date of award, with one 12-month option period. The purposes for this acquisition are (1) to promote and ensure effective investigations of health IT-related deaths, serious injuries, and potentially unsafe conditions in the private sector; (2) to provide public safety information based on such investigations; (3) to improve ONC'S understanding of investigations by better understanding health IT-related deaths, serious injuries, and potentially unsafe conditions through research on a database that includes such events, including on the types, frequency, and severity of health IT-related events; and (4) to receive a final report summarizing what has been learned and make recommendations on how to ensure effective investigations of health IT-related events to promote patient safety. The objectives for this acquisition are to (1) identify a private sector healthcare safety organization to conduct at least 10 health IT-related sentinel event investigations as part of an effective program for identifying and responding to sentinel events; (2) strengthen the ability of healthcare providers to identify when a sentinel event is health IT-related and to conduct investigations of health IT-related sentinel event; (3) based on investigations and other evidence, make information publicly available on identifying and avoiding health IT-related sentinel events and promoting health IT patient safety; (4) better understand and classify health IT-related sentinel events in the context of all causes of sentinel events, support research on a sentinel events database that includes at least 2500 sentinel events over the past three years; and (5) evaluate and describe effective investigations of health IT-related sentinel events, ways to address or prevent health IT-related sentinel events, and the role of external organizations in investigations of health IT-related sentinel events. This is not a solicitation for competitive proposals. However, parties interested in responding to this notice shall submit technical data, including cost, sufficient to determine capability in providing the same services. All capability statements received by closing of this notification will be considered by the Government. Each response should include the following business information: a. DUNS. b. Company Name. c. Company Address. d. Current GSA Schedules (if appropriate). e. Type of Company (i.e., small business, 8(a), woman owned, veteran owned, etc.) as validated via the Central Contractor Registration (CCR). f. Company Point of Contact, Phone and Email address All responses are due to the Contract Specialist by 3:00 p.m., EST, March 15, 2013. Email statements are preferred. A determination by the Government not to compete this requirement based upon responses to this Notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive requirement. Contracting Office Address: 12501 Ardennes Avenue Suite 400 Rockville, Maryland 20857 United States Primary Point of Contact.: Nathaniel Mizzell Contract Specialist Email: Nathaniel.Mizzell@psc.hhs.gov Phone: 301.443.4379 Fax: 301.443.8488