SOURCES SOUGHT
65 -- Monitoring/EKG Electrodes
- Notice Date
- 9/9/2008
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 339113
— Surgical Appliance and Supplies Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, 74th Medical Group-Wright Patterson Medical Center, Bldg 830, 4881 Sugar Maple Dr, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, 45433
- ZIP Code
- 45433
- Solicitation Number
- R5-09-09-08-073-MEE
- Archive Date
- 10/1/2008
- Point of Contact
- Phyllis A Targett,, Phone: 937-257-9075, Keith Tousignant,, Phone: 937-257-6398
- E-Mail Address
-
phyllis.targett@wpafb.af.mil, keith.tousignant@wpafb.af.mil
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- A. General Information The Heartland Region seeks approval to initiate the standardization process for Monitoring/EKG Electrodes for its 7 Army, Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and US Air Force Medical Treatment Facilities (MTF's) in the states of Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Michigan in the Heartland Region including institutional and operational healthcare settings. Standardization action for this product line represents a renewal of a RIA previously initiated and standardized by the Heartland Region in November 2003 (12-Lead) with Kendall and April 2004 (Snap-on) with Kendall, and will expire in November 2008. Vendors MUST provide a complete list of items supplied (catalog, etc.) and product literature in response to this Request for RIA Quotes (RFQ). Vendors are required to supply all items listed in all sizes and styles listed. Vendors who do not have a complete product line, as detailed in 1a of the Technical Criteria below, will be disqualified in Phase I. The primary objective of this program is to standardize the quality of care across this region based on a best value determination that represents the clinically preferred product or source(s) at the best possible price. It is also intended that standardized product be obtained through the DoD Prime Vendor (PV) Program. The seven facilities in the area include Wright Patterson Air Force Base Ohio, Scott Air Force Base Illinois, Naval Health Clinics of Great Lakes Illinois, Blanchfield Army Community Hospital Ft Campbell Kentucky, Ireland Army Community Hospital Ft Knox Kentucky, Naval Hospital Corps School Great Lakes Illinois, and USCG Air Station Traverse City Michigan. This standardization action is part of the Medical/Surgical PV program executed by the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, Directorate of Medical Materiel. To participate, your company must have a Distribution and Pricing Agreement (DAPA) and a separate commercial agreement with the Regions current PV Owens & Minor. This is pursuant to the DAPA clause by which DAPA holders agree to the Standardization process and to allow PV to distribute their products. This RFQ will result in Regional Incentive Agreements (RIAs) that supplement to the PV Program and it is not a contract. For additional information regarding DSCP's PV program please access their web site at https://dmmonline.dscp.dla.mil The resulting Regional Incentive Agreement (RIA) will be for a base period of two (2) years (24 months) from date of selection with three (3) 12-month option periods. Anticipated selection date is January 2009. The evaluation will be based on clinical, technical, and pricing factors. The Technical/Company and Clinical/Performance evaluation factors, when combined, are considered significantly more important than cost or price. As the technical and clinical evaluation results become more equal, price will become more important. The selection will be determined utilizing Best value/ trade-off criteria. The selection of a single vendor is anticipated. However, if no single vendor can meet the total requirement of the Region, the Government reserves the right to make two or more selections for RIAs. In this event, selection would be based on a combination of MTF preference and product availability. Point of Contact Phyllis Targett 937-257-9075 phyllis.targett@wpafb.af.mil B. Products & Performance Required The Heartland Region is seeking product line items in the category of Monitoring/EKG Electrodes, which at a minimum includes the high volume lines below. Within this region, this product line has an estimated annual dollar requirement of $85,412.29. This forecast is based on historical CDMIA sales for a 12-month period. The top-ten high volume usage lines for this project are shown in the Technical/Company Criteria below. At the request of the Heartland Regional MTF's vendors will provide on-site support and in-servicing, educational resources and tools for clinical use of the product, conversion information, PV order numbers, MSDS information, and itemization of the brands, types and packaging information of the products provided by the vendor. C. Instructions to Vendors DAPA holders interested in participating in this standardization initiative should email their (1) Company name and address, (2) POC (Name and Phone Number, Fax Number, and E-mail address) to phyllis.targett@wpafb.af.mil (937) 257-9075. All e-mail communication between vendors and the Region must be digitally signed. All communications of significant acquisition milestones (such as invitations to participate, or notices of disqualification) must be digitally signed as well. Submissions must be received by 4:00 PM EST on the specified closing date of this RFQ. Vendors that fail to meet this submittal deadline will be disqualified from participating. This process will include vendor requirements for providing electronic responses to technical criteria, no charge literature for clinical evaluation, and submission of electronic best price quotes. Due to the potential for e-mail to be lost in transmission from network security, etc., vendors are strongly encouraged to confirm with the Regional POC stated above their initial submission, best price submissions, and literature or other requested information have actually arrived at the Heartland Region Tri-Service Business Office (TRBO) via e-mail. Each submitting vendor is advised to confirm receipt, allowing adequate time for resubmission before the due date/time, should a problem occur with the first submission. D. Evaluation Criteria The Tri-Service Product Review Board (TPRB) is the governing body of the standardization process. This board includes clinicians and logisticians from all of the MTF's within the Heartland Region. They are the deciding officials for this initiative. The Heartland Region intends to evaluate price quotes and select a vendor or vendors without discussions. Vendor quotes should contain the vendor's best product matches for the products or product lines requested in this announcement. Vendor quotes should contain the vendor's best responses to all technical and/or company questions listed in this announcement. Vendor quotes should contain the vendor's best tiered-pricing discounts off of the vendor's DAPA pricing (based on committed volume of 80% of the total requirements of the MTFs in the Region). Additionally, the Heartland Region reserves the right to conduct discussions and request revised quotes, if it is determined to be necessary. If a down selection is made during the evaluation process, the Region may limit the number of quotes to the greatest number that will permit an efficient competition among vendors. Phase I-Technical/Company Evaluation Process Interested vendors are to respond to this FBO announcement by emailing their "intent to participate" to the above POC by the required response date. Based on vendor responses, the TRBO POC will request detailed responses to the technical/company criteria from each vendor. Vendors are required to meet/provide responses to the technical/company criteria stated below. All technical/company criteria are weighted equally. The responses will be reviewed under the purview of the TPRB by the Clinical Product Team (CPT), to determine the acceptability of each vendor. After the review of the technical/company criteria, those vendors who meet these criteria will qualify and be invited to participate in the clinical/performance evaluation. In general, "acceptability" for purposes of evaluation of technical/company criteria is defined as follows: (1) based on the vendor's responses, the evaluators have reasonable confidence that the line of products and/or services submitted meet the medical standards of care of the community, applicable to such products or services; (2) the vendor's information provided is factually correct. Any misrepresentation of information will disqualify the vendor from further consideration. NOTE: Specific technical/company criteria will require an additional, more-specific definition of "technical acceptability." The specific standard for technical acceptability will be set forth with the individual statement of each criterion, as required. All communications of significant milestones, such as invitations to participate, notices of disqualification, etc. must be digitally signed. Technical/Company Criteria: During the pre-source selection procedures, the CPT validated/approved the equally weighted company/technical criteria outlined below: 1. Vendor must provide a complete line of Monitoring/EKG Electrodes. A complete line of product is defined as the Military Treatment Facilities' (MTFs) requirements for usage items in the product line. Usage items are defined in the Medical/Surgical Prime Vendor contract statement of work, as DAPA items ordered at least once per month, and at least one unit per order. a. At a minimum, a complete product line includes disposable electrodes for diagnostic EKG and all EKG monitoring applications to include repositionable-type and radiolucent-type electrodes, with a variety of adhesive backings (foam, soft cloth, tape), snap, tab, and pre-wired chest/limb styles, with a variety of pre-gelled designs (wet-gel, solid gel, and sticky-gel), and available in a variety of diameters/sizes (including for adult, pediatric, infant, and neonatal applications). b. Vendors must provide a complete list of items supplied (catalog, etc.) and product literature in response to this RFQ. Vendors are required to supply all items listed above. Vendors who do not have a complete product line as listed above will be disqualified in Phase I. c. Products' packaging must be clearly labeled as to contents and must include manufacturing lot number and must include expiration date as appropriate. 2. Vendors must have a DAPA or be in the process of applying for a DAPA number for the Monitoring/EKG Electrodes product line. Provide the DAPA number or proof of the application process with the initial submittal. Vendors that fail to have a DAPA or show a lack of progress in obtaining a DAPA will be disqualified. 3. Vendors must have a separate agreement with the prime vendor (PV) (currently the Prime Vendor for the Northeast Region is Owens-Minor) for distribution within the Northeast Region. Vendors whose products are not available through the current regional PV will be disqualified. Provide documentation of agreement with PV in response to this RFQ. 4. Vendors must submit discounts off DAPA for all products included in this standardization initiative. Vendors that fail to submit a discount from DAPA will be disqualified. Where lower uncommitted FSS prices are available, DAPA holders are required by previous agreement to provide the uncommitted FSS price as the DAPA price. Vendors shall not quote uncommitted FSS prices as the discounted price for purposes of this standardization initiative. Vendors are to provide quote on discounts, in response to this RFQ. Vendors who do not provide discounts off DAPA for all products in this product line will be disqualified. 5. Vendors must provide a local vendor representative for the Northeast Region. Provide contact information, i.e. name, address, phone number, and email address in response to this RFQ. 6. Vendors must provide in-service/implementation and ongoing support as needed by Regional MTFs. Vendors must identify company resources for such requirements in response to this RFQ. Provide electronic literature, if available, describing this support. 7. Vendors must provide products that are latex-free. Vendors must provide a complete list of latex-free products supplied (catalog, etc.) in response to this RFQ. Phase II-Clinical/Performance Evaluation and Price Analysis Process: Upon completion of the Phase I - Technical/Company Criteria Evaluation, vendors who are selected to progress to clinical/performance evaluations will be requested to provide product samples concurrent with their best product and price discount quotes being requested. Clinical Evaluation Process: For those companies that meet the requirements above, the Clinical Product Team (CPT) will request samples from the product group to be clinically evaluated at select Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs). Vendors are required to ship samples direct to the MTFs. Vendor samples must be received no later than 4:00 P.M. (EST), fourteen (14) calendar days after the request for samples is issued to the vendors. Vendors failing to comply by the deadline will be disqualified from further consideration in the standardization process. All vendors must send the TRBO verification regarding the quantity, products, description of items, and date of shipment from the vendor, anticipated delivery date and individual who signed for literature and product sample sets. Specific MTFs will evaluate the vendor's product sample sets against the clinical/performance criteria in a clinical/patient-care setting using a Likert-like scale, with a one to five rating. The scale descriptors are: 1 = strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree and 5 = strongly agree. All clinical/performance criteria are weighted equally. The clinical/performance evaluation period will last for 21 calendar days. The CPT has established a target threshold of 3.75 for the Clinical Acceptability of products for standardization. The CPT will determine the actual Acceptability threshold for this standardization initiative -- at or near 3.75 -- depending on the location of any "break" in vendors' average scores (i.e., a gap between vendors' average scores). In addition, the CPT may consider how closely scores are clustered near the Acceptability target threshold of 3.75, in determining the actual Acceptability threshold. Vendors scoring below the actual Acceptability threshold will be determined to be clinically Unacceptable, and be disqualified from further consideration for this standardization initiative. During the pre-source selection procedures, the CPT validated/approved the equally weighted clinical/performance criteria outlined below. Clinical/Performance Criteria: 1. (Efficiency of Care/Patient Comfort) Electrode packaging allows for simple and quick electrode application. a. Clinicians require packaging that allows for easy opening and handling of electrodes for quick application and lead attachment leading to timely assessment of patient status. b. This criterion will be evaluated in the clinical/patient-care setting by use of electrodes on at least (3) patients c. Evaluator will open/remove electrode from packaging, apply to patient skin and attach wire leads (unless pre-wired), and will observe for ease of application process. 2. (Accuracy of Electronic Signal) Electrode adhesive-backing (or attachment strap for limb lead electrodes) assures full skin contact through use. a. Clinicians require that the electrodes remain in full contact with skin to assure a constant and accurate electronic signal to monitor/record patient status. b. This criterion will be evaluated in the clinical/patient-care setting by use of electrodes on at least (3) patients. c. After applying the electrode to patients' skin, the evaluator will gently pull/tug on connecting lead wire and will observe for quality of electrode adhesive contact (or limb lead attachment strap) with skin. 3. (Accuracy of Electronic Signal) Electrode-lead wire connection remains intact through use. a. Clinicians require that the electrode-lead wire remain in constant connection to assure a constant and accurate electronic signal to monitor/record patient status. b. This criterion will be evaluated in the clinical/patient-care setting by use of electrodes on at least (3) patients. c. After applying the electrode to patients' skin and attaching lead wires (unless pre-wired), the evaluator will gently pull/tug on connecting lead wire (including pre-wired electrodes) and will observe for the quality of the electrode-lead wire connection. 4. (Accuracy of Electronic Signal) Electrodes remain in full contact with dry as well as moist skin. a. Clinicians require that electrodes remain in full contact with skin under all circumstances including when patient is diaphoretic (sweating) due to changes in physical status b. This criterion will be evaluated in the clinical/patient-care setting by use of electrodes on at least (3) patients. c. After applying electrode to patients' skin, evaluator will observe the quality of electrode-skin contact when skin moisture is present (if patient's skin is dry, moisture is added by water spray mist or moistened towel applied to the patient' skin around area of electrode). 5. (Patient Comfort/Infection Control) Electrode adhesive surface is non-irritating/damaging to the skin during use or during removal. a. Clinicians require that the electrode does not cause skin breakdown during use or skin breakdown upon electrode removal from skin. b. This criterion will be evaluated in the clinical/patient-care setting by use of electrodes on at least (3) patients. c. Evaluator will observe the condition of the patient skin during electrode removal and after electrode removal for compromise too skin integrity. Price Analysis Process: 1. Vendors will be given 14 calendar days from the date of pricing requests, to submit RIA pricing quotes, in a prescribed electronic spreadsheet format, based upon the requirements of the Heartland Region. Pricing must be received at the TRBO by 4:00 PM (EST), fourteen (14) calendar days after the issue date of the vendor notice to submit best product and price quotes. Failure to respond within this timeframe will result in your company being excluded from further participation/consideration The Region intends to evaluate quotes and select a vendor on initial submissions/quotes. Vendor quotes should contain the vendor's best product matches for the products or product lines requested in this announcement. Vendor quotes should also contain the vendor's best responses to any other technical and/or company questions listed in this request. Vendor quotes should contain the vendor's best tiered-pricing discounts off of the vendor's DAPA pricing (based on committed volume of 80% of the total requirements of the MTFs in the Region). 2. Vendors will forward pricing to the TRBO, and the TRBO will prepare a pricing analysis to be reviewed by the TPRB. Pricing will be based on a committed volume for a two-year period with possible one-year option periods (not to exceed 5 years). 3. The Technical/Company and Clinical/Performance evaluation factors, when combined, are considered significantly more important than cost or price. As the evaluation results become more technically and clinically equal, price will become more important. 4. The following elements may be considered in the pricing analysis: a. Impact of RIA prices on the Region (Post-Standardization Costs); b. Potential Cost Avoidance, (representing the discount offered by the company from their DAPA and FSS pricing with cost avoidance being the difference between DAPA pricing and RIA pricing multiplied by the number of items purchased over time). c. Impact of Unmatched Lines [i.e., do the unmatched lines make it difficult to compare the prices of the various vendors, because the evaluator cannot compare similar product lines for each vendor?]; and d. Consideration of Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) by each vendor ["The Region intends to reduce the number of SKUs that must be handled per period. Vendors that can supply the complete range of clinically-required product, without unnecessary numbers of SKUs for minimally-differentiated products, will be more likely to provide the best-value solution for the Government in this standardization initiative. The Region reserves the right to limit the number of quotes to the greatest number that will permit an efficient competition among vendors. The Region reserves the right to make a down-selection during the evaluation process based on considerations of efficient competition. Non-Selected Vendors will be notified in writing regarding selection/non-selection at the conclusion of the completed product evaluation process.
- Web Link
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FedBizOpps Complete View
(https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=4ea97516fa28fe262548162685cfeae1&tab=core&_cview=1)
- Place of Performance
- Address: 88th Medical Group/ MDSS/ SGSL/ TRBO, 4881 Sugar Maple Dr., Bldg 830, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, 45433, United States
- Zip Code: 45433
- Zip Code: 45433
- Record
- SN01665035-W 20080911/080909223241-4ea97516fa28fe262548162685cfeae1 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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