Third-Party Payments for Military Working Animals Emergency and Referral Care

The Medical Readiness Health Contracting Office - East (MRCO-E), intends to solicit, negotiate, and award a firm-fixed price contract for Public Health Command - Atlantic (PHC-A). The requirement is for third-party payments for emergency and referral care of military working animals (MWA), to include military working dogs (MWD) and military working equines (MWE). This requirement covers MWAs across the Eastern region of the United States, to include Fort Belvoir, VA, Fort Bragg, NC, Fort Gordon, GA, and Fort Knox, TN. This requirement is set aside 100% for small businesses. This is a non-personal service contract to provide third-party payments on behalf of PHC-A for emergency and referral care of MWAs. The Government shall not exercise any supervision or control over the contract service providers performing the services herein. Such contract service providers shall be accountable solely to the Contractor who, in turn is responsible to the Government in accordance with all terms and conditions in the contract. The third-party payment company (hereinafter referred to as the Contractor) shall provide third-party payments on behalf of the PHC-A to non-Department of Defense (non-DoD) veterinary facilities that provide services for specialty referral or emergency veterinary care for Department of Defense (DoD)-owned animals. The Contractor will work in conjunction with and coordinate between the four Public Health Activities (PHAs) within PHC-A and the non-DoD veterinary clinics to pay for services rendered to DoD-owned animals at non-DoD veterinary facilities within the civilian community. The contract payment company shall provide the payment vehicle for non-DoD veterinary clinics that service DoD-owned animals of the nature and scope described in this Performance Work Statement (PWS) and conforming to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.232-25. The location of services and the quality of care provided by veterinarians employed at the non-DoD veterinary facility shall be the decision of the PHC-A Veterinary Service Personnel. The Contractor shall familiarize themselves with all command policies provided by PHC-A. The Contractor shall provide payments to all non-DoD veterinary facilities for veterinary services rendered to DoD-owned animals. The Contractor is required to have a valid and up-to-date registration in SAM.gov at time of their proposal submission and maintain it throughout the entire duration of the contract. The performance standard will be based on full payment of the invoice by the Contractor if during business hours or with an acceptable range of 24 to 72 hours following receive of invoice from the vet clinic if on a weekend or outside of business hours. Any invoice not paid for within this time period will be documented and may lead to termination of this contract. If there are late fees for invoices not paid timely from the veterinary clinic, the Contractor is responsible for the late fees. All documentation required by the Government for payment to the non-DoD veterinary facility will be obtained by the Contractor. This documentation includes a detailed invoice of services provided, date of service, and proof of payment. An estimate will be collected by PHC-A personnel and submitted to the Contractor. The Contractor will track all funding provided by the four PHAs and which invoices are paid against each PHA's provided funding. The Contractor shall be reachable by phone and email during business hours and with the availability to receive but not respond to emails outside of business hours. The Contractor will provide an email address that is monitored between 0900 and 1700 Eastern US Time daily to receive electronic invoices from non-DoD veterinary facilities, the COR or designated POCs. The Contractor, COR, and designated POCs will be identified with an alternate prior to the start date of the contract. The Contractor will provide an update to the COR upon any change to the primary or secondary point of contact. The Contractor's email, address, phone SHALL be provided at the time of service coordination by the designated government official. The PHC-A Personnel referring the animal will then provide the estimate and date of services to the Contractor so they can anticipate the invoice and get all other documentation as specified. The Contractor will submit monthly reports to the COR and designated POCs as outlined by the Government in writing prior to the start date of the contract. The monthly report will include the invoice amount, the DoD-owned animal species, name of the DoD-owned animal, name of the non-DoD veterinary facility utilized, date of service, and the PHA responsible for veterinary care of the DoD-owned animal for each invoice paid that month. Historical service information: Any service provided for the MHAs that is $2,500.00 or lower will be paid using the Government Credit Card. The Contractor would be expected to provide payment for any service above $2,500. For all PHC-A activities, the lowest monthly cost for services was $0. The lowest monthly cost for service provided for a single MWD was $3,100.00. The highest invoice for a single service for a single MWD was $6,200.00. For MWEs, the typical estimate for services for one MWE was $16,000.00, however, there is the potential for more costly services. The Contractor will be expected to pay for all services rendered for potentially multiple MWDs and MWEs at the same time while awaiting repayment from the Defense Finance Accounting Service (DFAS). The Contractor must have enough capital (cash or credit) to cover the cost of services rendered for all MWAs at the time the services were provided. The Contractor will then submit invoices monthly for payment and potentially wait up to 60 days for repayment from the DFAS. Contract Set-Up: there will be three contract line items (CLINs) per Army installation covered by this contract. The first CLIN will be a cost CLIN that will match the invoiced amount. The second CLIN will be a fee will be paid for each invoice submitted. This fee shall be a flat fee and the same for all four installations covered. The vendor can group multiple fees into one invoice, but the vendor's master invoice must list each invoice number and invoice amount paid to the veterinary clinics on behalf of each Army installation. A fee can only be paid one time per animal per date of service. The third CLIN will be utilized if there are no services provided on an installation; the contractor can invoice for overhead for the month. This will be a flat fee and will be the same for all four installations covered. The Solicitation number is W91YTZ23R0007. The expected Period of Performance is: Base Period: 1 March 2023 through 30 September 2023 Option Year 1: 1 October 2023 through 30 September 2024 Option Year 2: 1 October 2024 through 30 September 2025 Option Year 3: 1 October 2025 through 30 September 2026 Option Year 4: 1 October 2026 through 30 September 2027 The requirement will be using NAICS Code 541219 - Other Accounting Services. All offerors are cautioned that if selected for award, they must be registered with the System for Award Management (SAM). SAM can be accessed via the internet at www.sam.gov. Confirmation of SAM registration will be validated prior to awarding a contract. All offerors will submit the following: Technical Proposal Past Performance Proposal Financial Capability Documentation Price Schedule- (Base and option years). Round figures to the penny in the pricing schedule (unit and extended prices). Completed and signed Combined Synopsis/Solicitation Signed amendments (if any). The Point of Contact for this is Ingrid Harris (ingrid.harris4.civ@health.mil) and the Contracting Officer is Denise Maloney (denise.b.maloney.civ@health.mil).