Sources Sought: Radiology Interpretation Services to be provided at the Lower Brule Healthcare Center, Lower Brule, SD.
Sources Sought Notice Number: IHS-SS-26-1518822
This Sources Sought Notice is for informational and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation, an obligation or commitment by the Indian Health Service.
This notice is intended strictly for market research to determine the availability of Indian Economic Enterprises (IEE) or Indian Small Business Economic Enterprises (ISBEE).
Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a Buy Indian set-aside is possible. The anticipated applicable NAICS code for this acquisition is 621111 – Office of Physicians.
1.0 BACKGROUND
The IHS is an agency within the Department of Health & Human Services and is responsible for providing federal health services to American Indians and Alaska Natives. The Indian Health Service provides a comprehensive health service delivery system for approximately 1.9 million American Indians and Alaska Natives who belong to 567 federally recognized tribes, in 35 states. The Indian Health Service Headquarters is located in Rockville, MD and then divided into twelve (12) physical areas: Alaska, Albuquerque, Bemidji, Billings, California, Great Plains, Nashville, Navajo, Oklahoma, Phoenix, Portland, and Tucson.
The Great Plains Area Office (GPAO) works in conjunction with 19 Indian Health Service Units and Tribal Managed Service Units to provide health care to approximately 130,000 Native American located in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa.
The Lower Brule Healthcare Center (LBHC) falls under the GPAO. LBHC provides medical care for the Lower Brule Reservation. The reservation is located on the west side of the Missouri River, 60 miles southeast of the state capital of Pierre, SD. LBHC is accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Care, Inc. (AAAHC). Services provided at the LBHC consist of Behavioral Health, Laboratory, Nursing, Medical Imaging, Pharmacy, Primary Care, and Public Health Nursing.
2.0 OBJECTIVE
To provide diagnostic radiology interpretation services for standard x-ray and ultrasound imaging. The number of imaging studies varies but average 800 x-rays and 150 ultrasounds per year.
3.0 SCOPE
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
Services will be provided as detailed in the attached Statement of Work.
The contractor shall:
- Adhere to the accepted standards, ethics, policies, and procedures adopted by the profession and the organization and regulated by law.
- Provide interpretation and final reports for all medical imaging studies sent to the Contractor.
- Have all equipment and/or systems necessary to perform the requirements of the contract.
- Provide a copy of the most recent health physicist’s survey report on any diagnostic reading workstations.
- By certified by the American College of Radiology (ARC). The interpreting physicians must have documentation showing that they meet minimum ARC and FDA qualifications. This would include initial, continuing experience, and continuing education. In addition to these requirements, the radiologist shall have clinical supervision over the LBHC Radiology Department and are expected to perform as Lead Interpreting Physician (LIP).
- Provide telephone consultation to the LBHC providers on image interpretations which have unusual findings that may cause immediate health problems for the patient.
- Participate, when requested, in LBHC Quality Assurance and Peer Review activities.
- Be able to transcribe final reports and issue signed reports to the LBHC Radiology Department by electronic means.
- Be able to electronically transfer signed reports into the LBHC Electronic Health Records
- Provide copies of Peer Review, Medical Licensure, and approved privileges for all radiologists providing services under this contract.
4.0 CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS/ AND PERSONNEL QUALIFICATIONS
CONTRACTOR QUALIFICATIONS
- Contractor must be located within the United States.
- Board certification from the American Board of Radiology has comparable qualifications, ACR and FDA.
- Meet the criteria for medical staff membership including:
- Current and unrestricted medical license from a stated, the District of Puerto Rico, or a temporary of the United States.
- Diploma indication completion of an approved medical school program.
- Completion of a medical residency-training program in Radiology.
- If applicable, a copy of the Education Commission of Foreign Medical Graduate certificate (ECFMG).
- Relevant experience and training in Radiology as evidenced by three (3) letters of reference from individuals who can attest to the radiologist’s judgement, competence, and character. One (1) letter must be from the Chief of Staff or Department Chairperson from a hospital where the applicant has provided radiology services.
- Provide information on previously successful or currently pending challenges of licensures or registrations State, Districts, DEA, or the voluntary or involuntary termination of medical staff membership or voluntary or involuntary limitation reduction, or loss of clinical privileges at another hospital and current involvement with professional liability actions.
- Evidence of medical liability/malpractice coverage.
All required certifications/licensures in this resultant contract must remain current during the life of the contract.
5.0 TYPE OF ORDER
The award for this service will be a firm fixed price non-personal service purchase order.
6.0 ANTICIPATED PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE
Period of Performance: One (1) year, plus four (4) optional years.
7.0 PLACE OF PERFORMANCE
Lower Brule Healthcare Center, 601 Gall Street, Lower Brule, SD, 57548.
8.0 REPORT(S)/DELIVERABLES AND DELIVERY SCHEDULE
IMAGE STUDY DELIVERY
The studies will be electronically transmitted from the LBHC Smaart PACS via DICOM using an encrypted, secure method via a persistent LAN to LAN VPN connection.
Contractor will need to describe the security/encryption protocols used for retrieving transcribed reports.
To this end, the Contractor must sign a Data Exchange Agreement, or other Interconnection Security Agreement that the Indian Health Service provides to the Contractor in order to establish the VPN connection(s).
9.0 PAYMENT
The contractor shall submit bi-weekly invoices for services that is mutually agreed upon by the contractor and the COR through the Invoice Processing Platform (IPP.gov).
10.0 Capability Statement/Information:
Interested parties are expected to review this notice and attached statement of work to familiarize itself with the requirements of this project. Failure to do so will be at your firm’s own risk. The following information shall be included in the capability statement:
1. A general overview of the respondent’s opinions about the difficulty and/or feasibility of the potential requirement, and any information regarding innovative ideas or concepts.
2. Information in sufficient detail of the respondent’s (a) current capability and capacity to perform the work; (b) prior completed events of similar nature/size; (c) organizational experience and management capability; and (d) examples of prior completed Government contracts and other related information.
3. The respondents’ UEI number, organization name, address, point of contact, and size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HUBZone, etc.) Pursuant to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code: 621111 – Office of Physicians.
4. Any other information that may be helpful in developing or finalizing the requirements of the potential acquisition.
5. The capability statement shall not exceed 10 single-sided pages (including all attachments, resumes, etc.) presented in single-space and using a 12-point font size minimum, in either Microsoft Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), with 8-1/2 by 11 inch paper size, and 1 inch top, bottom, left and right margins.
6. All proprietary information should be marked as such. Statements should also include an indication of current certified small business status; this indication should be clearly marked on the first page of your capability statement (preferably placed under the eligible small business concern’s name and address). Responses will be reviewed only by IHS personnel and will be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.
11.0 Closing Statement
Point of Contact: Andrea Whipple, Purchasing Agent, at Andrea.Whipple@ihs.gov
Submission Instructions:
Interested parties shall submit capability via email to Andrea Whipple, Purchasing Agent, at Andrea.Whipple@ihs.gov. Must include Sources Sought Number IH-SS-26-1518822 in the Subject line. The due date for receipt of statements is January 27, 2026, 1:00 p.m. Central Time.
All responses must be received by the specified due date and time in order to be considered.
This notice is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of IHS.
IHS does not intend to award a contract on the basis of responses nor otherwise pay for the preparation of any information submitted. As a result of this notice, IHS may issue a Request for Quote (RFQ).
THERE IS NO SOLICITATION AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME. However, should such a requirement materialize, no basis for claims against IHS shall arise as a result of a response to this notice or IHS’s use of such information as either part of our evaluation process or in developing specifications for any subsequent requirement.
Disclaimer and Important Notes. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization’s qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in SAM.gov. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.
Confidentiality. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response.
