PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT Subject: AFTER HOURS TELEPHONE SERVICES 1.0 General Information The Contractor shall ensure all work meets performance standards specified in this Performance Work Statement (PWS) and referenced documents. The Contractor shall commence all operations required by the contract as of the first day of the contract period. The Contractor shall furnish all management, labor, supervision, equipment, and materials to provide after-hours emergency Physician Phone Answering Services Place of Performance: Veterans Affairs Pacific Island Health Care System (VAPIHCS), regional office located at 459 Patterson Road, Honolulu, HI 96819-1522 and surrounding Western Pacific US Territories. 1.2 Disclaimer: Notwithstanding any historic data furnished by or for the medical facilities, it is the Contractor s responsibility to furnish the necessary quantities of manpower, supplies, and equipment to provide satisfactory service at the medical facilities. The estimate provided gives an approximate number of emergency calls received on a monthly basis. This number is identified as an approximate and can fluctuate monthly. Additional emergency calls received should be quotes as additional fees or by means of patch calls. 1.3 Schedule of Services: This contract will be awarded on the terms of one (5) Ordering Periods, not to exceed 5 years, with a 6-month extension option. 2.0 Scope of Work: 2.1 Description: The Contractor shall furnish all management, labor, supervision, equipment, and materials to provide after-hours emergency Physician Phone Answering Services to the Veterans Affairs Pacific Island Health Care System (VAPIHCS), regional office located at 459 Patterson Road, Honolulu, HI 96819-1522 and surrounding Western Pacific US Territories. See Section 2.2, Areas of Coverage, for more details for regional locations to be serviced. Services will be based on an average of 20 emergency calls per month for the entire region. This average has been identified as an approximate number of emergency calls received monthly and can fluctuate periodically. Additional emergency calls received should be quotes as additional fees or by means of patch calls. Mobile devices and/or equipment are not required for this contract. Each physician has been assigned an alpha numeric digital pager or has provided a personal contact number to be reached via texting and/or paging the requested on-call physicians. The VA will provide a monthly updated call roster with a list of physicians on-call, their number to be reached, and the suggested method of communication. The answering services provided will be emergency routed calls only. All incoming calls will be initially screened through the VA s primary phone operators. Once a call has been identified as an emergency call, the VA s phone operators will dispatch the call to the contracted Physician Answering Service. The contractor will then page and/or text the appropriate on-call provider entering the requesting physician s telephone number as a call-back number. The contractor may also be responsible for sending an additional page/text to a secondary requesting physician if no response is received by the first line requesting physician. The contractor will conduct a follow-up call to the requesting physician to ensure the call was successful. Use of this service may vary but is based on emergency services. The emergency after-hour phone services will be provided for the following health departments and clinics: Geriatric Mental Health Laboratory Primary Care Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) 2.2 Areas of Coverage: The services to be accomplished for the Veterans Affairs Pacific Island Health Care System (VAPIHCS), regional location at 459 Patterson Road, Honolulu, HI 96819-1522. The Honolulu Regional Office of VAPIHCS serves the veterans of Hawaii and the Western Pacific US Territories. Its jurisdiction covers many small island populations dispersed throughout an enormous geographic area of approximately 4.6 million square miles of the Pacific Ocean, and includes the State of Hawaii (Hilo, HI, Kahului, HI, Kauai, HI, Kona, HI, Maui, HI, and Lanai, HI) Hagatna, Guam and other US Territories of Guam, American Samoa, as well as the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands (Saipan, Tinian and Rota). The contractor must be able to offer reliable answering communication services for this region. It is imperative that all modes of communications be responsive without disruptions, delays, or lack of service. Please take into consideration, there will be multiple data providers affiliated with the mobile equipment assigned to the on-call providers. The contractor must be able to respond to various mobile communications providers and comply within the various time zones provided in Sections 2.3.1, 2.3.2, and 2.3.3. 2.3 Schedule: The VAPIHCS normal business hours usually operate between 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays. The requested services shall be provided seven (7) days a week, to include weekends and holidays, and are anticipated 365 days out of the calendar year. Services shall be provided from 4:00 PM to 7:30 AM for all Areas of Coverage in Section 2.2 and shall be based on the individual time zones within the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)/World Clock. See below the time zones included for the requested services: 2.3.1 Hawaii Islands: Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time (HAST) - HAST is 10 hours behind of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Note that some places observe daylight saving time/summertime during summer and are therefore using HADT instead in the summer. 2.3.2 American Samoa: Samoa Standard Time (SST) - SST is 11 hours behind of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). 2.3.3 Guam Territories & Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands: Chamorro Standard Time (ChST) - ChST is 10 hours (+1 day) ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). 2.3.4 Federal Holidays: National holidays observed by the Federal Government are New Year s Day January 1 Martin Luther King Day Third Monday in January Presidents Day Third Monday in February Memorial Day Last Monday in May Juneteenth June 19 Independence Day July 4 Labor Day First Monday in September Columbus Day Second Monday in October Veterans Day November 11 Thanksgiving Day Fourth Thursday in November Christmas Day December 25 When one of the above designated legal holidays falls on a Sunday, the following Monday will be observed as a legal holiday. When a legal holiday falls on a Saturday, the preceding Friday is observed as a holiday by U.S. Government agencies. 2.4 Changes to Scope of Work: All references to the estimated amount of calls, related duties, regional locations, and any other tasks provided by the Government are for informational purposes only. Such references do not necessarily indicate that the number of calls, related contractor duties, or locations will remain stable. Any changes to the Scope of Work will be affected by the Contracting Officer (CO) per FAR 52.212-4 Terms and Conditions of the Contract Commercial Items. 3.0 Contractor Personnel Security Requirements: Upon contract award, all key personnel shall be subject to the appropriate type of background investigation or screening per VA/VHA directive 0710 and must receive a favorable adjudication from CCA Personnel Security Specialist or VA Security and Investigations Center (SIC) depending on investigation or screening required. This requirement is applicable to all subcontract personnel. If the investigation or screening is not completed prior to the start date of the contract, the Contractor will be responsible for the actions of those individuals they provide to perform work for VA. 4.0 Privacy and Security 4.1 No access to a VA system or network is require for this contract. 4.2 VA sensitive information will be exchanged with vendor in the form of phone calls. a. No Personal Health Information will be exchanged with vendor. b. PDAT determination - Risk designation of the contractors. i. PDAT Degree of Potential Damage to the Public Trust from Misconduct. No risk to National Security. Protection of personal, private, controlled unclassified or proprietary information (including PA and FOIA, etc.), the nature of which does not impact national security. ii. Limited impact - Duties are carried out under such restrictive controls that the risk of violating the public s trust is extremely limited. iii. Controls After hours phone answering service provide contact with VA on-call providers without giving out personal or direct phone access to the public. iv. Position Risk/Sensitivity For all positions required under this contract, the position risk/sensitivity has been designated as: Low Risk. d. Incorporate the security clause (Appendix B) into the contract and the appropriate security/privacy language outlined in Appendix C into the solicitation. e. Privacy Officer has determined that a BAA is required. 5.0 NARA Records Management Language for Contracts (May 2017): https://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/handbook/records-mgmt-language.html RECORDS MANAGEMENT OBLIGATIONS A. Applicability This clause applies to all Contractors whose employees create, work with, or otherwise handle Federal records, as defined in Section B, regardless of the medium in which the record exists. B. Definitions Federal Record as defined in 44 U.S.C. § 3301, includes all recorded information, regardless of form or characteristics, made or received by a Federal agency under Federal law or in connection with the transaction of public business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by that agency or its legitimate successor as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the United States Government or because of the informational value of data in them. The term Federal record: 1. includes [Agency] records. 2. does not include personal materials. 3. applies to records created, received, or maintained by Contractors pursuant to their [Agency] contract. 4. may include deliverables and documentation associated with deliverables. C. Requirements The following standard Items relate to records generated in executing this contract and should be included in a typical contract where records could possibly be created, maintained, or dispositioned: ADD THE FOLLOWING 11 ITEMS TO THE STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW): 1. Contractor shall comply with all applicable records management laws and regulations, as well as National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) records policies, including but not limited to the Federal Records Act (44 U.S.C. chs. 21, 29, 31, 33), NARA regulations at 36 CFR Chapter XII Subchapter B, and those policies associated with the safeguarding of records covered by the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a). These policies include the preservation of all records, regardless of form or characteristics, mode of transmission, or state of completion. 2. In accordance with 36 CFR 1222.32, all data created for Government use and delivered to, or falling under the legal control of, the Government are Federal records subject to the provisions of 44 U.S.C. chapters 21, 29, 31, and 33, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552), as amended, and the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended and must be managed and scheduled for disposition only as permitted by statute or regulation. 3. In accordance with 36 CFR 1222.32, Contractor shall maintain all records created for Government use or created in the course of performing the contract and/or delivered to, or under the legal control of the Government and must be managed in accordance with Federal law. Electronic records and associated metadata must be accompanied by sufficient technical documentation to permit understanding and use of the records and data. 4. [FACILITY] and its contractors are responsible for preventing the alienation or unauthorized destruction of records, including all forms of mutilation. Records may not be removed from the legal custody of [FACILITY] or destroyed except for in accordance with the provisions of the agency records schedules and with the written concurrence of the Head of the Contracting Activity. Willful and unlawful destruction, damage or alienation of Federal records is subject to the fines and penalties imposed by 18 U.S.C. 2701. In the event of any unlawful or accidental removal, defacing, alteration, or destruction of records, Contractor must report to [FACILITY]. The agency must report promptly to NARA in accordance with 36 CFR 1230. 5. The Contractor shall immediately notify the appropriate Contracting Officer upon discovery of any inadvertent or unauthorized disclosures of information, data, documentary materials, records or equipment. Disclosure of non-public information is limited to authorized personnel with a need-to-know as described in the [contract vehicle]. The Contractor shall ensure that the appropriate personnel, administrative, technical, and physical safeguards are established to ensure the security and confidentiality of this information, data, documentary material, records and/or equipment is properly protected. The Contractor shall not remove material from Government facilities or systems, or facilities or systems operated or maintained on the Government s behalf, without the express written permission of the Head of the Contracting Activity. When information, data, documentary material, records and/or equipment is no longer required, it shall be returned to [FACILITY] control or the Contractor must hold it until otherwise directed. Items returned to the Government shall be hand carried, mailed, emailed, or securely electronically transmitted to the Contracting Officer or address prescribed in the [contract vehicle]. Destruction of records is EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED unless in accordance with Paragraph (4). 6. The Contractor is required to obtain the Contracting Officer's approval prior to engaging in any contractual relationship (sub-contractor) in support of this contract requiring the disclosure of information, documentary material and/or records generated under, or relating to, contracts. The Contractor (and any sub-contractor) is required to abide by Government and [FACILITY] guidance for protecting sensitive, proprietary information, classified, and controlled unclassified information. 7. The Contractor shall only use Government IT equipment for purposes specifically tied to or authorized by the contract and in accordance with [FACILITY] policy. 8. The Contractor shall not create or maintain any records containing any non-public [FACILITY] information that are not specifically tied to or authorized by the contract. 9. The Contractor shall not retain, use, sell, or disseminate copies of any deliverable that contains information covered by the Privacy Act of 1974 or that which is generally protected from public disclosure by an exemption to the Freedom of Information Act. 10. The [FACILITY] owns the rights to all data and records produced as part of this contract. All deliverables under the contract are the property of the U.S. Government for which [FACILITY] shall have unlimited rights to use, dispose of, or disclose such data contained therein as it determines to be in the public interest. Any Contractor rights in the data or deliverables must be identified as required by FAR 52.227-11 through FAR 52.227-20. 11. Training. All Contractor employees assigned to this contract who create, work with, or otherwise handle records are required to take VHA-provided records management training. The Contractor is responsible for confirming training has been completed according to agency policies, including initial training and any annual or refresher training. [Note: To the extent an agency requires contractors to complete records management training, the agency must provide the training to the contractor.] D. Flowdown of requirements to Subcontractors 1. The Contractor shall incorporate the substance of this clause, its terms and requirements including this paragraph, in all subcontracts under this [contract vehicle], and require written subcontractor acknowledgment of same. 2. Violation by a subcontractor of any provision set forth in this clause will be attributed to the Contractor.
