Medical Physics Testing Services

Sources Sought: Medical Physics Testing Services for Radiology Department at the Wagner IHS Healthcare Center Sources Sought Notice Number: IHS-WAG-26-1525908 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). Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. The anticipated applicable NAICS code for this acquisition is 541690, Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services $19.

BACKGROUND This is a non-personal services contract to provide medical physics services for the Wagner IHS Health Center. The Government shall not exercise any supervision or control over the contract service providers performing the services herein. Such contract service providers shall be accountable solely to the Contractor who, in turn is responsible to the Government. 2.0

OBJECTIVE Locate eligible and qualified IEE vendors able to provide Firm Fixed-Price, Non-Personal Healthcare Services, medical physics testing services for the Wagner IHS Healthcare Center in Wagner, SD. Utilize the information received with future acquisition planning efforts and potential Buy Indian set aside. SCOPE The contractor shall conduct the “Optimizing Patient Dose” and “Staff Exposures” activities listed in Table 2, including but not limited to: Review, recommend improvements, provide examples if needed, and evaluate compliance with each radiology program’s policies, procedures, and protocols to ensure the program has policies in place consistent with their

scope of work that are sufficient to protect staff and patients and minimize patient dose and are reviewed annually. Policies on the following minimum topics should be in place and implemented: Imaging referral justification and verification Pre-procedure screening and patient condition assessment Safe use of sedation and anesthesia (if in use) Staff qualifications Continuing education (radiology staff, and medical providers) Equipment maintenance process and documentation Personnel monitoring and means to prevent/reduce exposure Appropriateness and ALARA in imaging; Decision Support Systems (if in use) Patient dose estimation, documentation, and reporting Protection of pregnant patients and workers; fetal protection and dose calculation Equipment Performance Monitoring Protective equipment inspection Quality Assurance/ Performance improvement Patient rights, education, and consent; and medical over-ride Annual imaging program evaluation Management of imaging records Equipment planning Infection control (including housekeeping, standard and Transmission-based precautions) Chemical hygiene and hazardous material/waste handling Radiation Safety Officer appointment and scope of responsibilities Patient incident and over-exposure reporting and analysis. Contactor shall provide consultation to assure an optimized balance between image quality and patient dose by ensuring the optimum technique factors are utilized by the facility Contractor shall evaluate patient dose/Entrance Skin Exposure with comparison to FDA NEXT or equivalent diagnostic reference levels via patient dose estimates using appropriate phantoms. Verify optimization process (whether they have a Clinical Decision Support mechanism/software in place, and if so, how well it was being implemented to limit patient dose) and dose documentation in the medical records while conducting the Appropriateness Criteria Audit (Section A above). Contractor shall conduct “Device Performance” and “Quality Control Measures” activities listed in table 2 and according to AAPM Report 74 (http://www.aapm.org/pubs/reports/rpt_74.PDF) and consistent with the below cited references and will assist in establishing a facility radiology quality assurance program. Table 3 lists the equipment by location. The contractor will provide details to the local site contact on any equipment that is not in proper working condition, or any environmental condition negatively impacting patient safety/privacy or program operations. The local site contact will follow up on necessary service calls or maintenance under a separate purchase order through proper acquisition channels. It is not expected that the contractor bidding will provide any maintenance services, just recommendations for repair or servicing. The contractor will provide acceptance testing for new x-ray devices installed during the contract period when directed by a properly executed supplement agreement/change order. The contractor shall include additional equipment and Radiation Shielding Surveys under this contract when directed by a properly executed supplement agreement/change order. The contractor shall consult with the Lead X-Ray Technologist concerning patient and fetal dose determinations under this contract when needed. This will be charged at the contracted hourly rate. CONTRACT

REQUIREMENTS/ AND PERSONNEL QUALIFICATIONS (IF APPLICABLE) The Contractor shall perform the following tasks: Medical Physicist Certification

Requirements: The Services shall be performed by a certified qualified medical physicist meeting the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) definition. AAPM defines a qualified medical physicist as, “an individual with the following credentials: Has earned a master's or doctoral degree in physics, medical physics, biophysics, radiological physics, medical health physics, or equivalent disciplines from an accredited college or university; and Certification has been granted in the specific subfield(s) of medical physics with its associated medical health physics aspects by an appropriate national certifying body and abides by the certifying body's