Technical Assistance for HRSA's Bureau of Clinician Recruitment and Serices (BCRS)

Recovery - Bureau of Clinician Recruitment and Service Technical Assistance Management Support HRSA RFP Number: HRS8285 The Health Resources and Services (HRSA) is seeking proposals from organization recognized as 8(a) contractors by the Small Business Administration to obtain technical assistance (TA) to the Bureau of Clinician Recruitment and Service (BCS) sites, BCRS staff and BCRS partners/stakeholders both on-site and off-site. The NAICS Code is 541611 Size Standard of $6.0 million. The TA is designed to assist potential and approved BCRS sites in many facets of their development, operations, and in the retention of BCRS clinicians to ultimately improve delivery of health care services to the underserved. BCRS is responsible for administering the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Loan Repayment Program, NHSC Scholarship Program, NHSC Ready Responder Program, Nursing Scholarship Program, Nursing Loan Repayment Program, the Faculty Loan Repayment Program, and the Native Hawaiian Health Scholarship Program. BCRS provides assistance to current sites participating in these programs, as well as potential sites and communities. It is expected that there will be approximately 5,000 additional BCRS sites as a result of the ARRA. These efforts support the successful completion of the service obligation of clinicians in their assigned communities. To accomplish this increase in workload, BCRS requires the use of expert consultants with various professional and educational backgrounds to augment the BCRS staff expertise available. To successfully accomplish the BCRS' functions and ensure that specialized skills and expanded program knowledge and expertise are available, BCRS requires assistance to develop and manage a roster of consultants to work with sites, communities, and staff. BCRS will need assistance with the logistics and support necessary for the consultants' travel and reimbursement of expenses and fees. BCRS will require expert TA in a variety of areas to efficiently and effectively execute BCRS' mission. The Contractor shall provide expert assistance to BCRS sites, clinicians, staff and partners/stakeholders across the United States and U.S. Territories (Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Marshall Islands, and Palau). This assistance will include on-site and off-site (e.g., site visits, conference calls, BCRS conferences), pre-application TA, routine TA, and targeted (problem focused) TA, as described below. The TA is designed to assist potential and current BCRS sites in many facets of their development, operations, and in the retention of BCRS clinicians to ultimately improve delivery of health care services to underserved communities and provide assistance to BCRS supported health care providers in their efforts to successfully complete their service commitments. This assistance is intended to improve the overall health of the Nation's underserved populations by increasing the number, eligibility, and compliance of sites, clinicians and communities supporting the BCRS mission. The Government is seeking access to expert consultants who are qualified and experienced in a range of specialty areas. In particular, the contractor shall arrange consultant assistance for different areas of TA. The Contractor shall submit recommended consultants for each TA task to the Project Officer (PO). Typically, the TA team will be comprised of one to two (1-2) consultants, one to two (1-3) federal staff, and appropriate local or state representatives who will jointly provide TA. The Contractor shall assemble and have available a roster of consultants that are diverse and representative of the range of specialty area. The Contractor shall arrange expert assistance as described below for three different types of TA. Initially, this TA will be accomplished using standard protocols previously developed by BCRS. Protocols will be provided to the Contractor by the COTR. The first type of TA is pre-application TA to support potential BCRS communities and sites. The second type of TA, Routine TA, is to support currently approved BCRS service sites and involves comprehensive reviews to ensure compliance with program requirements.3) The third type of TA, Targeted TA, also supports currently approved BCRS service sites and is provided in response to concerns communicated to the BCRS (e.g., unresolved conflict between clinicians and site administration or other clinical staff; work schedule discrepancies; site Bankruptcies/financial difficulties; termination of BCRS clinicians, etc.) It is anticipated that a cost plus fixed fee type award with a period of performance is for one year with four one year options. This is a pre-solicitation notice and not a request for proposals. The solicitation document (RFP) will be posted at this site www.fedbizopps.gov approximately fifteen (15) days from the date of this notice. It can be downloaded by looking under the main menu for HHS/Office-Health Resources and Services Administration/locations-Division of Procurement Management. The closing date for receipt of proposals will be approximately thirty (30) days after issuance/posting of the RFP. It shall be the offeror's responsibility to monitor this website for the RFP and any amendments to the RFP. The agency will consider proposals from all responsible sources. The contact person for this acquisition is: Debora A. Pitts, Contracts Operations Branch, DPM/HRSA, Parklawn Building, 5600 Fishers Lane, Room 13A-19, Rockville, MD 20857-5600; phone number +1 (555) 000-0000 or 443-2750; FAX +1 (555) 000-0000. This pre-solicitation notice fulfill the disclosure requirement under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.