RFP Number 0371-1436 REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS Home Support Services for Community Rapid Response Teams CLOSING DATE: 18 th August OF 2014 CLOSING TIME: 04:00 PM (Newfoundland Time)
1.0 PURPOSE WESTERN HEALTH (WH) is issuing this REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP), on behalf of the Health Authorities of Newfoundland, to invite Home Support Agencies to contract for the provision of home support services for clients referred as part of the Community Rapid Response Team (CRRT) pilot that will be available in each of Eastern, Central and Western Health regions. 2.0 BACKGROUND/RATIONALE CRRT is a sixteen month pilot of a strengthened and structured partnership between home and community services and the emergency departments (ED) at four sites in the province: Health Science Center; St. Clare s Mercy Hospital; Central Newfoundland Regional Health Center; and Western Memorial Hospital. A CCRT will initiate provision of a higher level of care, for a short period, in community settings with enhanced home care services. This intervention should have a positive impact on emergency room and acute care inpatient bed utilization as clients return to the community with the provision of effective and efficient care in their own home. Appropriate members of the CCRT in the EDs will assess clients for eligibility for enhanced service and initiate a plan to have those clients deemed medically stable return home. These clients will be supported with enhanced home care as they transition to a lower level care requirement that is manageable within the routine home care service available in their community. In returning eligible clients to their community home, it may be necessary to access home support workers on short notice and/or outside of regular business hours (ranging from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday). To facilitate this, each RHA will contract with Home Support Agencies for the guaranteed provision of qualified home support worker(s) within 2 hours notification for a maximum of 24 hours a day for the first 7 days of service for each client. Service contracts with the successful proponent(s) will be for sixteen months, coinciding with the pilot duration. The geographic area of coverage for each of the RHAs is identified as: Eastern Health: All communities in and around the area surrounding St. John s, Mount Pearl, Conception Bay South to and including Seal Cove with the exception of Bell Island, and the Southern Shore with the exception of the district of Trepassey. Central Health: The communities of Badger, Grand Falls Windsor, Bishop s Falls, Botwood and Peterview. Western Health: Corner Brook.
3.0 MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS FOR HOME SUPPORT AGENCIES The Home Support Agencies that are deemed to be suitable for this pilot project must be currently licensed and operating within the RHA geographic region for which they are seeking to provide home support services during the pilot. 4.0 POPULATION TO BE SERVICED An individual who is selected by the CRRT team for participation in the CRRT pilot will have a Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) Score of 3, 4 or 5 and one or more of the following attributes: Primarily seventy-five (75) years of age and greater (individuals less than 75 years of age may be considered); Multiple medical problems; Taking multiple medications; Presented to Emergency Department due to a fall; Acute delirium that has been stabilized through intervention; An acute episode of a common diagnosis such as urinary tract infection or congestive heart failure; Presented at the Emergency Department due to caregiver burnout. 5.0 PROJECT GOAL & OBJECTIVE Goal: To improve utilization of emergency room and acute care inpatient beds by providing Community Rapid Response clients with effective and efficient care in their own home. Objective: To provide support for individuals to return home, resulting in improved client outcomes, quality of life and effective health service delivery. 6.0 SCOPE OF WORK The successful proponent(s) will be required to provide home support services; inclusive of personal care, household maintenance and respite; to identified clients of the CRRT pilot. The CRRT team will determine the home support service needs of the client and advise the Agency of same when initiating the discharge of the client from the emergency department to the community. The successful proponent(s) may also be asked by the RHA to provide information regarding the CRRT referral process, the services provided to the client and any other information deemed relevant to the evaluation of this pilot project. In addition, the successful proponent(s) will be required to disclose to the RHA all adverse events and the recommendations and outcomes of all quality reviews conducted.
7.0 PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS Proposals must outline a model of service delivery for CRRT clients requiring home support services in their own home, incorporating the following requirements. Proposal Documentation The submission must: Be clearly written, outlining a model of service delivery for clients referred by the CRRT; and Contain a response to each requirement. Business Plan - Methodology and Approach A detailed business plan is to be submitted that includes: Business Concept: o Description of enhanced care services that will be provided; o Scheduling plan; o Plan to guarantee availability of appropriate home support workers with minimal notice; o Identification of number of staff available with minimal notice; o Description of referral acceptance procedure; o Plan for provision of Agency management support to home support workers who are working outside of regular business hours; o Identification of geographic areas which can be served within the timeframe required; and o Ability to provide trained Home Support Workers Current Business Position: o Include the correct legal business name and contact information; o Identify exact location of business offices; o Include a letter of introduction which is signed by an authorized official(s) of the business; o Include details on current staffing skill mix, qualifications and staffing numbers; and o Detail the history of the business. Other The proponent may also add further relevant information to support their business plan, such as: Owner/operator qualifications and experience as it relates to this service sector; Staff qualifications/past experience; Reporting mechanism for adverse incidents; and In-service/staff training. Financial Requirements to Provide Service The proponent must provide a detailed breakdown of proposed costs of providing the enhanced level of home support services.
The hourly rate for the provision of service will be the provincially set home support rate for agencies. Costs related to the ability to be readily available to provide a prompt response to a RHA request for services should be detailed in the proposal. Notwithstanding the provisions of this Agreement, the RHA may immediately terminate this Agreement if the successful proponent(s) fails to comply with any of its obligations or duties under this Agreement. 8.0 EVALUATION CRITERIA An evaluation committee that will be comprised of representatives from the three RHAs and the Department of Health and Community Services will evaluate all proposals that meet the mandatory requirements and review for validation of the information contained in the proposal. The proposal itself will then be evaluated. The intent is to select the proponents that achieve the highest overall score based on the following criteria. Other relevant information, as noted above, will also be considered in the evaluation process. EVALUATION CRITERIA Scoring Proposal Documentation 5% Business Plan - Methodology & Approach 50% Other 10% Financial Requirements to Provide Service 35% Total 100% The proposal evaluation will form the basis for the recommendation of a proponent. In summary, the selection process will include: 8.1 Screening of proposals on the mandatory requirements for the Home Support Agency; (Section 3.0) 8.2 Evaluation of the proposal submissions based on the proposal requirements; (Section 7.0) Potential bidders can bid to provide service in all RHAs or in a single RHA. Each RHA will be responsible for its own services and individual contracts will be issued by each RHA. Please clearly indicate which areas you are proposing to provide service. 9.0 INQUIRIES ON REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS Inquiries and requests for clarification related to RFP clinical requirements are to be directed via e-mail ONLY to:
Donna Mushrow Phone: 709-729-3120 Email: donnamushrow@gov.nl.ca. Inquiries and requests for clarification related to the bid submittal process are to be directed via e-mail ONLY to: Paul Wight Western Health Email: paulwight@westernhealth.nl.ca Western Health recommends that potential proponents register by e-mail to the above address to receive any updates, inquiry responses and other relevant communication related to the RFP. Responses to inquiries will be supplied via e-mail to all proponents who have registered. Confidentiality of proponents will be maintained. The final date for inquiries will be August 16, 2014. 10.0 SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS Three (3) copies of the proposal must be received at the offices of: Western Regional Health Authority, Materials Management Office, 1 st floor. 1 Brookfield Avenue, Corner Brook, NL A2H 6J7, Attn: Paul Wight No later than 4:00 P.M. NST August 18 th, 2014. All submissions and supporting documents become the property of the WH. Late or faxed submissions will not be accepted under any circumstances. Hand deliveries may be made to the reception desk Western Regional Health Authority, Materials Management Office, 1 st floor. 1 Brookfield Avenue, Corner Brook, NL A2H 6J7, The cost of preparing the proposal is the sole responsibility of the proponent. No one who submits a proposal in response to this RFP shall have any claim for compensation of any kind whatsoever as a result of participating in this RFP. By submitting a proposal each proponent shall agree that it has no claim for damages arising from any aspect of this RFP process.
11.0 AWARDING OF CONTRACT Proposals will be evaluated in accordance with the evaluation criteria identified in this RFP. The selected proponents will be notified by Western Health or the Health Authority responsible for the Area which is to receive the service. Each of the selected proponents will be required to enter into a written contract embodying terms satisfactory to the respective Health Authority. No legal relationship will exist between a selected proponent and a Regional Health Authority (RHA) until the noted written contract has been duly executed by the parties, and then that legal relationship will be subject to the terms of the duly executed written contract. Each RHA reserves the right to award the contract(s) in whole or in part. Before entering into a written contract with Each RHA, the selected Home Support Agency must: Have support from the Regional Health Authority; Accept the agreed upon government subsidized rate for all CRRT pilot project participants; Participate in an on-going, as well as a final CRRT pilot project evaluation process. Notwithstanding the provisions of the signed contract, each RHA may terminate the contract at any time, for any reason, upon providing 60 days notice to the proponent. Similarly, the proponent has the right to terminate a contract upon giving the each RHA, for which they have a contract, sixty (60) days written notice of its intention to terminate. 12.0 RESERVED RIGHTS Western Health reserves to itself the unfettered right to reject any or all responses to this RFP and is not bound to accept the highest ranking, lowest cost or any response. Each proponent in submitting a response to this RFP agrees that the proponent shall not take any legal action of any nature or kind arising from any decision made by Western Health to award or not to award to any proponent. Western Health may elect to cancel this RFP at any time with or without cause and no liability shall accrue as a result of the exercise of its discretion in this regard.
EVALUATION CRITERIA Max. Points Min. Points Proposal Documentation 5% Clearly written proposal outlining a model of service 3% delivery for clients referred by the CRRT 30 20 Responds to each requirement 2% 20 20 Business Plan - Methodology & Approach 50% Business Concept: Description of enhanced care services that can be provided 7% 70 50 Scheduling plan 6% 60 40 Plan to guarantee availability of appropriate home support workers with minimal notice Identifies number of staff who can be available with minimal notice 7% 70 50 7% 70 50 Description of referral acceptance procedure 6% 60 40 Plan for provision of Agency management support to home support workers who are working outside of regular business hours Identification of geographic areas which can be served within the timeframe required Current Business Position: Includes the correct legal business name and contact information 6% 60 40 3% 30 20 1% 10 10 Identifies exact location of business offices 1% 10 10 Includes a letter of introduction which is signed by an authorized official(s) of the business Includes details on current staffing skill mix and staffing numbers 1% 10 10 3% 10 10 Details the history of the business 2% 10 5 Other 10% Additional relevant information to support their business plan 2% 20 n/a Owner/operator qualifications and experience as it relates to this service sector 2% 20 n/a Staff qualifications/past experience 2% 20 n/a Reporting mechanisms for adverse events 2% 20 n/a In-service/staff training 2% 20 n/a Financial Requirements to Provide Service 35% Detailed breakdown of proposed costs to provide the services 35% 350 200