The Contractor shall provide VA Milwaukee Medical Center located at 5000 W. National Ave., Milwaukee, WI, with Catholic Priest Services. The result of this market research will contribute to determining the method of procurement. The applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code assigned to this procurement is 813110 Religious. THERE IS NO SOLICITATION AT THIS TIME. This request for capability information does not constitute a request for proposals; submission of any information in response to this market survey is purely voluntary; the government assumes no financial responsibility for any costs incurred. DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/WORK STATEMENT SCOPE: The Contractor will provide Catholic religious and spiritual care in accordance with Veterans Healthcare Administration (VHA) Handbook 1111 (2), Spiritual and Pastoral Care Procedures, VHA Publications (va.gov). The contractor's representative(s) (Catholic Priest) will be guided by the practices of the Veterans Affairs (VA) Chaplain Service and will have recourse to the interpretation of VA Central Office Chaplain Service when such practice requires clarification. Contractor shall provide the following services: Mass, Communion, and Holy Days of Obligation in the chapel as needed or requested when the current Staff Catholic Chaplain is not present or on vacation. Specific dates of need will be provided by the Chief Chaplain to the contractor. Provide Unit Visits: patients desiring Communion, or Holy Days of Obligation to include Rite/Sacrament at bedside. On-call may be required if the full time Catholic Priest is unavailable, and a Catholic patient or resident is placed on seriously ill status or has died and requires the presence of a Catholic Priest. Provide emergency call back which occurs outside of normal duty hours on an as needed basis to include Rite/Sacrament at bedside. Hours of Operations: The contractor shall provide Sacraments during normal working hours (approximately between 8:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.), Monday and Tuesday. Emergency call back occurs outside of normal working hours when a patient or resident is placed on seriously ill status or has died and requires the presence of a Catholic Priest. Work Hours Catholic Mass, Sunday: 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. When needed or requested. Federal Holidays: The eleven (11) holidays observed by the Federal Government are as follows: New Year s Day Martin Luther King s Birthday Washington s Birthday Memorial Day June 19th (Juneteenth) Independence Day Labor Day Columbus Day Veterans Day Thanksgiving Christmas Any other day specifically declared by the President of the United States to be a national holiday. CONTRACT AWARD MEETING The contractor shall not commence performance on the tasks in this SOW until the CO has conducted a kickoff meeting or has advised the contractor that a kickoff meeting is waived. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS Provides Roman Catholic religious ministry to Catholic Veteran patients. Provide general pastoral care for Catholic patients by performing Mass services (when requested) and Emergency call back for Sacrament of Anointing the Sick (Last Rites). General visitation of Catholic patients desiring visits from the Catholic Priest for religious sacraments as guided by Infectious Disease protocols and hospital policies. The Priest will be made available when the full time Catholic priest is not available. Provide Sacrament of Anointing the sick (Last Rites) for seriously and terminally ill Catholic patients outside of normal hours when staff use Emergency callback procedures. This occurs when a Catholic patient or resident is placed on seriously Ill status or has died and requires the presence of a Catholic Priest. Provide pastoral care for Catholic patients and family as needed. Rites/Sacraments will be made available to patients requesting Catholic Rites and/or Sacraments when full time Catholic Priest is not available. Conduct Catholic Mass. The contractor will provide Mass or Service of the Word when the full time Catholic priest is not available. Ensure that all patients have opportunities for free exercise of religion and are protected from proselytizing. Maintain a collaborative and collegial relationship with institution staff. CONTRACTOR REQUIREMENTS Contractor shall have the following qualifications: Hand-off procedure when communicating by phone or in person any pastoral care concerns to appropriate Chaplain Service staff. Email will not be used to communicate pastoral care concerns or include patient identifiable information (PII) in any manner. Identify Patient (State your name and unit). Situation (state the issue at hand). Background (state the relevant clinical history). Assessment (provide the relevant current clinical information). Recommendations (what is the appropriate action to meet the care needs). Possession of a US Citizenship. A Letter of Permission to work in the VA and good standing from the home diocese. Personnel assigned by the contractor to perform the services covered by this contract shall be proficient in written and spoken English (38 USC 7402). Experience of 2 years as a Priest. Provide a list of that experience. A Master of Divinity degree or equivalent, such as those issued from a foreign university, in which the equivalent degree must be evaluated by the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services and that evaluation provided with their paperwork (https://naces.org/members). A DUNS & SAM # for the individual Priest or from the religious organization or diocese or parish in which he works. Contractor shall conduct Eucharistic Celebrations to include weekly Mass if required, Communion, bedside when scheduled to be on station, complete Eucharistic Celebration report, Holy Day of Obligation Masses, Ash Wednesday Service and Good Friday Service. These days will be scheduled and coordinated in advance with the Chief Chaplain. Contractor shall respond to patient and staff requests for assistance promptly, in a friendly and cooperative manner. Contractor shall listen to feedback from patients/staff, positive and negative, and report feedback to Chief Chaplain and COR in a timely manner. Contractor shall consistently have open dialogue with other chaplains as it relates to Chaplain Service. Contractor shall cooperate with other Chaplains/Deacons to ensure that Veterans/patients receive proper care from the Chaplain Service Volunteers. Contractor shall arrange for the atmosphere and symbolism of worship and provide religious instruction in the services they provide as described in this statement of work. The services specified herein may be changed by written modification to this contract. The VA Contracting Officer will prepare the bilateral modification. If your organization has the potential capacity to perform these contract services, please provide the following information: 1) Organization name, address, email address, Web site address if applicable, telephone number, and size and type of ownership for the organization; and 2) Tailored capability statements addressing the particulars of this effort and documentation supporting claims of organizational and staff capability. If significant subcontracting or teaming is anticipated in order to deliver technical capability, organizations should address the administrative and management structure of such arrangements. The government will evaluate market information to ascertain potential market capacity to provide services consistent in scope and scale with those described in this notice and otherwise anticipated. BASED ON THE RESPONSES TO THIS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE/MARKET RESEARCH, THIS REQUIREMENT MAY BE SET-ASIDE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES, SOLE SOURCED OR PROCURED THROUGH FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted or acknowledged, and no feedback or evaluations will be provided to companies regarding their submissions. Submission Instructions: Interested parties who consider themselves qualified to perform the above-listed services are invited to submit a response to this Sources Sought Notice by 4:00 PM Central on Friday, October 6, 2023. All responses under this Sources Sought Notice must be emailed to joseph.kennedy3@va.gov
