SOLICITATION NOTICE
65 -- Audiology Telemedicine Equipment Carts
- Notice Date
- 9/27/2010
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- NAICS
- 334310
— Audio and Video Equipment Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of Veterans Affairs;VA Denver Acquisition & Logistics Center;(001AL-A2-4D);155 Van Gordon St;Lakewood CO 80228
- ZIP Code
- 80228
- Solicitation Number
- VA79110RP0027
- Response Due
- 10/29/2010
- Archive Date
- 11/13/2010
- Point of Contact
- Steve Wilson
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- BACKGROUND Audiology services appointments are an important part of the provision of VA care for both occupational and service-related hearing loss in the Veteran Population. Given VA's mission to provide convenient and accessible services to Veteran patients, the need to travel to the VA Medical Centers (VAMCs) that provide audiology services is a considerable burden on some Veteran patients. For a number of years VA has been tracking the state-of-the art with respect to teleaudiology, which enables audiology examinations to be conducted at a distance. Following detailed review of such a system by a panel of VA clinical and technical experts in July 2009, systems are available that will meet the needs of providing audiology services remotely to Veteran patients. The VA is embarking on a teleaudiology pilot program to assess the feasibility of providing audiology services, including the programming of hearing aids, over the VA intranet. In the base year of this contract, it is anticipated that an estimated 10 small community based outpatient clinics (COBC) will be equipped with mobile carts of video teleconferencing equipment, computer equipment, computer-based diagnostic equipment, and related software. In addition, an estimated 5 VA Medical Centers will be equipped with corresponding video teleconferencing equipment to allow two-way interaction with the CBOC. Although communications and remote connectivity infrastructure are not included in the pilot program, the carts will allow for interactive audio/video communications with an audiologist at a host VA Medical Center while the Audiologist remotely controls the computer and software on the cart. The contractor will also provide the desktop video teleconferencing workstation needed by the audiologist. The audiologist will control the equipment on the cart to conduct the patient examination provide consultation and, where necessary, reprogram/refit the patient's hearing aids. There will be some variations of the specific equipment suite between carts based on compatibility with the individual Veterans Integrated Support Network's (VISN) existing teleconferencing equipment. In the option years, if exercised, additional CBOCs and VA Medical Centers will be equipped to provide similar teleaudiology capabilities. GENERAL INFORMATION During the base year of the contract, the required equipment and services will establish teleaudiology capabilities at an estimated 10 CBOC sites and an estimated 5 VA Medical Centers for the VA National Teleaudiology Pilot. Also during the base year, Phase I of this multi-phase pilot will focus on establishing the feasibility of remote programming of hearing aids with Phase II targeting remote audiometry. Subsequently, standardization of equipment, training, reporting mechanisms/outcomes, and procedures will be done to ensure the overall success of this pilot. Using a Teleaudiology infrastructure, control of the CBOC site computer is given to the audiologist located at the distant site medical center. In Phase I, this will allow the audiologist to open the hearing aid software and proceed with fitting or adjustment per current practice guidelines. Remote verification will be completed with a PC-based probe tube system ensuring prescriptive audibility needs are met. Verification equipment will also be controlled under the current Teleaudiology infrastructure. An integrated telemedicine cart containing various peripheral equipment will be needed to cover a wide range of applications including the remote sharing of patient education materials (i.e. video-clips, high-resolution photographs), visualization of external auditory canal and tympanic membrane, as well as displaying a macro-view of items such as an inserted earmold/hearing aid(s) and orientation of probe tube reference microphone. Close-up views of various hearing aid landmarks will also be critical for troubleshooting hearing aid problems and reading identifying items such as a serial number. Phase II will utilize the same Teleaudiology infrastructure thus allowing control of a PC-based audiometer and immittance unit. The audiologist will again be located at the distant site medical center. Comprehensive audiological testing consisting of air conduction, bone conduction, speech, tympanometry, and acoustic reflexes will be demonstrated through a teleconnections medium. Each telemedicine cart will provide the videoconferencing capabilities as well as use of standard peripheral equipment such as a video-otoscope. Flexibility will be critically important for network buy-in, requiring adaptation to each VISN's current videoconferencing scheme. The contractor will be responsible for providing a fully integrated solution including, but not limited to, the cart, all equipment and software, delivery and installation, integration services, on-site training, maintenance, and warranty service for the community based outpatient clinics and for the equipment and software at the VA Medical Center.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/VA/VADDC791/VADDC791/VA79110RP0027/listing.html)
- Record
- SN02297707-W 20100929/100927234408-34d189b8a0c0a9cbbceea401a708dace (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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