THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION. This is a Sources Sought Notice only and is issued to conduct market research and gain knowledge of current market capabilities. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. This notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation or a guarantee to issue a solicitation in the future. This notice does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service. All information submitted in response to this announcement is voluntary; the Government will not pay for information requested nor will it compensate any respondent for any cost incurred in developing information provided to the Government. Not responding to this notice does not preclude participation in any future solicitation, if issued. This announcement is based on the best information available at this time and is subject to future amendment. The Department of Veterans Affairs, Network Contracting Office 4, is conducting a market survey to identify potential sources to perform a firm fixed price contract for procurement of cultural transformation development training services for Wilmington VA Medical Center and associated Community Based Outpatient Clinics as follows: DRAFT DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENT (NOT COMPREHENSIVE) Introduction/ Background The overall objective is to contract with a vendor to prevent healthcare provider burnout at the Department of Veterans Medical Center, Wilmington, Delaware (VAMC460). Burnout is described as Burnout is a long-term stress reaction marked by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a lack of sense of personal accomplishment (https://www.ahrq.gov/prevention/clinician/ahrq-works/burnout/index.html) . Burnout prevents a healthcare facility from achieving both short-term and long-term goals for effective and safe patient care. To successfully eliminate burnout, it is necessary to transform the culture of the facility. Cultural transformation allows a healthcare organization to redefine how healthcare delivery, administrative processes and interpersonal relationships occur. By redefining the culture of the facility as a whole, burnout is no longer an impediment to overall performance and safety. The transformation process occurs in a series of sequential phases. Each phase builds upon the successes of the previous step. These phases matched with Department of Veterans Affairs contracting acquisition steps are: Pre-Award Assessment: This is a comprehensive, non-partial report of the Facility s current state of preparedness for cultural transformation. This done using a variety of information gathering tools, such as in person staff interviews, reviews of current policies and analysis of prior year quality performance metrics. This establishes the baseline for which the success of proposed plan elements may be measured. Plan Development/ Award: Using the principles of Evidence Based Leadership, the proposed Vendor designs an implementation plan based upon the data gathered in Phase 1. Approaches may vary and may involve the use of proprietary tools unique to the vendor selected. The plan must include measurable performance metrics, a defined end point at which point the overall success of the cultural transformation can be assessed, and elements designed to sustain the transformation once complete. Proposed plans are reviewed by a Facility technical panel to provide feedback to the awarding Contracting Officer. Once all Contracting requirements have been satisfied, a Contractor is selected. Implementation: The selected Vendor begins implementation of the approved plan within a contractually specified timeframe. The Vendor indicates when Phase 3 is complete. At that point, the use of identified metrics to measure success begins. Monitoring/ Feedback: The Vendor provides regular feedback to Facility leadership at intervals stated in the awarded contract. The Facility is given direct access to performance metric data detailed collected by the Vendor. Adjustments are made to improve under performing metrics or address areas of concern. This phase is bilateral, with frequent communication between the Vendor and Facility occurring at contractually predefined or ad hoc intervals. Success: The cultural transformation process is complete when: Metrics used to track goals established by the implementation plan meet established compliance rates and the Vendor and Facility bilaterally agree the plan is complete, the cultural transformation can be considered successful. Elements defined by the plan are implemented to ensure the sustainability of the cultural transformation. Sustain: Plan elements identified to sustain the cultural transformation process are implemented. The Vendor will continue support of sustainability elements as defined contractually. The government anticipates award of an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) vehicle. The facility will be billed for contracted and optional contract line items as they are delivered/ completed. This type of contract works optimally with a phased implementation. Requirements-VAMC460 Wilmington Focused Phases Phase 1: Pre-award Assessment Prospective contractors will perform a baseline assessment of the Facility prior to the development of a cultural transformation plan. Assessments may be conducted on site, remotely, or use a blended approach of on site and remote data gathering. The prospective vendor must submit an assessment plan to leadership for approval. The assessment plan must include: Modalities to be used for data gathering. Number of contractor staff required. Specific departmental or service line access requirements. Presentation modality to senior leadership. Timeline. Assessments must incorporate at a minimum, an impact study upon currently utilized Department of Veterans Affairs quality metrics. Specifically, the VA Survey of Healthcare Experiences (SHEP), the VA Strategic Analytics for Improvement and Learning (SAIL), and the All Employee Engagement Survey (AES). New or emerging Department of Veterans Affairs performance metrics will be identified and included as a requirement prior to assessments beginning. Assessments are conducted at no charge to the VAMC460 Wilmington. Phase 2: Pre-award Plan Presentation The prospective Vendor will present a completed plan to senior leadership for review and approval. The presentation modality, date and length of time will be mutually agreed upon by the presenting Vendor and the VAMC460 Wilmington Senior Leadership. The plan must include the ability to meet and address the following elements and considerations: Training will occur at the main facility, located at 1601 Kirkwood Highway, Wilmington, DE 19805 and at affiliated community based outpatient clinics (CBOCs) in Delaware and Southern New Jersey. Training modalities may include a blend of on-site and virtual experiences. Leadership training for up to 600 leaders at VAMC460. The ability to train in a large forum setting up to 100 leaders simultaneously. Actual number of participants to be mutually agreed upon by VAMC460 and the contractor after the initial assessment. Training is performed using Coaching and/or mentoring approach whenever possible. The specific facility staff trained in this modality include: Training/Coaching/Mentoring-Facility Leaders: One on one, small group and/or forum-based leadership development. Sessions must provide real time or near real time feedback to improve effectiveness. In addition to the main facility, the contractor must provide additional resources to address the needs of the: Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) Focus: These remote outpatient clinics operate semi-autonomously from the main Facility and face unique challenges. Emergency Room Focus: Staff within the Emergency Room work in a frequently stressful and chaotic environment not encountered in other departments. Training/Coaching/Mentoring- Physician/ Provider: One on one, small group and/or forum-based development. Sessions must provide real time or near real time feedback to improve effectiveness. Training/Coaching/Mentoring- Physician/ Provider Leader: One on one, small group and/or forum-based development. Sessions must provide real time or near real time feedback to improve effectiveness. Training/Coaching/Mentoring-Nursing: The contractor shall provide training via on-site education sessions for nurses. The contractor must consult with VAMC460 Wilmington Nursing Leadership to ensure the curriculum for these forums includes process improvement and development of consistency and standardization across staff. Training topics must align with the goal of Evidenced Based Cultural Transformation. At a minimum, training must address: Creating Goals and plans to achieve them. Physician/ Provider rounding. Peer interviewing. Optimizing rewards and recognition. Team building. Emotional intelligence. Effective personal communication skills. Emotional intelligence. Management of change. Change management. Dyad leadership. Personal and Institutional approaches to eliminate Burnout. Developing an effective Shared Governance model. Self-motivational techniques. Perpetuating a culture of zero-harm. The Vendor must provide all training materials, either digitally or in print form. Content must be accessible to all Facility staff 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If materials include access to web-based libraries or other electronic based media, the awarded Vendor must have the ability to provide direct technical assistance, at a minimum, from 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday. Assistance may be telephonic, or web based. The Vendor must use technology where possible improve the end user learning experience and enhance data collection and interpretation. Technology may be implemented within various phases of the project to improve success and as an adjunct to primary elements of the implementation plan. Any technology used must be compliant with the Federal Government and the Department of Veterans Affairs information technology guidelines. Trademarked products must be approved for use through the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRamp) and Department of Veterans Affairs Software as a Service (SaaS) portals. Vendor trainers must meet the following criteria: The vendor training staff must include healthcare professionals. This must include, but not be limited to Physicians, Nursing Executives, and Clinical Nurses. Vendor trainers must have coaching and/or mentoring experience in their areas of expertise as evidenced by educational degrees or certifications. The awarded Vendor must utilize metrics based upon statistical principles to measure success. Targeted goals for each measure must be clearly articulated and based upon industry standards. At a minimum, the following indicators must be incorporated, tracked, and reported: Identified Facility Leadership engagement with the cultural transformation plan. Physician Leader engagement with the cultural transformation plan. Physician/ Provider engagement with the cultural transformation plan. Nursing Leadership engagement with the cultural transformation plan. Nursing engagement with the cultural transformation plan. Employee retention. Veteran Experience (through SHEP). Facility Quality measures (Through SAIL or other specified Department of Veterans Affairs quality metric). Emergency Department Throughput/ Flow. Rounding efficiency. The awarded Vendor must provide access to and interpretation of facility performance data. Data must: Be accessible to all identified leadership stakeholders at the Facility. Be easily interpreted for positive or negative trends. Provide insight on the factors impacting successes and failures. Be made available at least every 30 days. Timeline: The requested timeline from implementation to determination of success is no longer than 1 year from the contract award date. Vendors are responsible for identifying potential issues which may extend the established success date. These must be communicated with the VAMC460 Wilmington s senior leadership. Sustainability Plan The Vendor will provide tools and/or continued training to ensure the success of the project. The sustainability plan will be implemented immediately after the determination of success date. Sustainability is based upon a one-year model and must include at least quarterly assessments of continued success utilizing the indicators identified in section 2, part c of this document. Utilizing the indicators, the Vendor must identify at which point more comprehensive retraining is required. This plan must be articulated and approved by the Senior Leadership of the VAMC460 Wilmington. Phase 3: VAMC460 Wilmington Technical Review The VAMC460 Wilmington will assemble a technical review panel to assess each prospective Vendor s ability to meet the elements described in Phase 2: Pre-award Plan Presentation. The importance of the following elements will be considered: 1st: Ability to successfully meet and deliver all elements in Phase 2: Pre-award Plan Presentation. This includes a review of proposed metrics as measures of success. 2nd: Use of technology to improve and facility learning, simplify data acquisition, and improve metrics interpretation. 3rd: Proposed timeline from implementation to determination of success. 4th: Price The technical review panel will incorporate feedback from Facility leadership to rank prospective Vendors. Once completed, the panel will report their findings to Senior Leadership and NCO4 Contracting Phase 4: Plan implementation After award, the Vendor must work with identified Points of Contact at the VAMC460 Wilmington to prepare staff for the program. This includes, but is not limited to email notifications, meetings, presentations, and distribution of printed materials. Implementation must occur within 30 days of the awarded contract period of performance start date. Phase 4: Determination of Success The implementation plan will be determined a success when all required performance measures stated in Section 2, part c. of this document have met their indicated goals for at least 2 consecutive months or The awarded Vendor and Facility Leadership mutually agree the performance measures have shown adequate improvement to be considered nominally successful and able to be sustained. Phase 5: Sustainability Sustainably begins immediately after the confirmation of success and follows the guidelines indicated in Section 2, part e. of this document. It is expected the Facility will require at least 2 consecutive years of sustainability training. The awarded contract will account for up to 4 years. If sustainability has been achieved as demonstrated by continued even or improved trending of success measures, the Vendor and Senior Leadership of the VAMC460 Wilmington may bilaterally terminate the contract prior to the incorporated 4th year of sustainability training. Capabilities Statement and Documentation: Companies are invited to provide their capabilities, experience and knowledge in the provision of cultural transformation development training services. Sources are asked to provide information to demonstrate their answers to the following items of information: 1. General information about your company to include: Company Name: Company Address: Socioeconomic Status: GSA Contract Number covering these services and Expiration Date (if applicable): Company DUNS: Company NAICS Code(s): Point of Contact Name: Point of Contact Phone Number: Point of Contact Email Address: Company Website (if available): 2. The North American Industry Classification System Code (NAICS) is 611430, Professional and Management Development Training, and the Small Business Size Standard is $12 million. 3. Based on market response, the following clauses may be included in a resulting solicitation, should one be issued: VAAR 852.219-10, VA Notice of Total Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Set-Aside VAAR 852.219-11, VA Notice of Total Veteran-Owned Small Business Set-Aside FAR 52.219-6, Notice of Total Small Business Set-Aside Accordingly, prospective contractors will be required at time of solicitation response to certify to the applicable limitation on subcontracting requirements in 13 CFR 125.6, with reference to the appropriate set-aside. Please include in the response to this sources sought notice your ability or inability to certify to the clause applicable to your organization. 4. Provide a summary of your firm s ability to provide the services described in this announcement. In addition to a Capability Statement, submissions can include specifications, brochures, and manuals as attachments. Submit responses via email to Contract Specialist Thomas Cossentino at thomas.cossentino@va.gov no later than 2:00 PM EDT, 08/31/2021, with Sources Sought number 36C24421Q1163 in the subject line. Telephone responses shall not be accepted. The government will not provide feedback in response to vendor questions about the requirement at this time. If you identify ambiguities or have concerns about anything in the description of the requirement, however, please include them with your response. Confirming receipt of the response is the responsibility of the contractor. Contact the contract specialist if the government does not confirm receipt of the sources sought response within 2 business days. Prospective Contractors are reminded that in accordance with FAR 4.11 they shall be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database and shall complete electronic annual representations and certifications in SAM prior to award of a contract. SAM is located at https://sam.gov/SAM/ and consolidated the capabilities of CCR/FedReg, ORCA, and EPLS. There is NO cost to use SAM. No solicitation document is available at this time; this notice is to acquire information only.
