Laboratory Information System (LIS) for Selected Public Health Laboratories in Kenya
The purpose of this RFP is to assist the Kenya Ministry of Health (MOH) with procurement and implementation of a laboratory information system (LIS) for the MOH public laboratory network. The LIS must be reliable, able to be maintained for the most part by local service providers and scalable to meet the future as well as the current needs of MOH. In order for MOH to sustain a LIS, the cost must be significantly less than the average cost of LIS used in the private sector. The first phase of implementation was to introduce LIMS into sections of the NPHL laboratory and Phase II into three of the provincial laboratories. This RFP represents Phase III of the project and will enable the implementation into one more provincial Laboratory, four district and one health center laboratories.
APHL seeks an LIS provider who can propose innovative strategies to provide a solution that is low in cost for implementation and maintenance. Examples of possible strategies include creating or identifying local support resources and discounting initial licensing costs and maintenance contract costs. The costs of providing on-site support by a provider that is not located in the country where the LIS is operating are increased significantly by travel and per diem expenses and these costs can represent a large percentage of overall LIS costs. We seek proposals that to a large extent limit these types of costs. In addition, initial licensing fees that are typically proposed by LIS providers are substantial and this drives up the on-going maintenance costs which are typically set as a percentage of initial licensing costs. Current business models of LIS providers do not provide a feasible model for low income countries to buy into, and expecting that LIS projects initiated with grants of donor funding will be sustained is a fallacy. Respondents to this RFP should provide new ideas and lower cost plans for implementing LIS in the six Phase III laboratories.
The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Division of Global HIV/AIDS (DGHA)is supporting the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
This request for proposals (RFP) is one component under the overarching PEPFAR goal to strengthen health system capacity and services for HIV/AIDS. A complete description of PEPFAR can be found at http://www.pepfar.gov/about/.
This RFP solicits offers from qualified information technology software providers to implement a laboratory information management system (LIS) at six Phase III sites in Kenya. The successful proposal will provide a cost-effective LIS that can be maintained reliably in a timely manner and will offer an affordable solution that can be sustained in a resource-poor setting. Proposals should clearly state the plan and means for providing operational support on an on-going basis directly by the provider or through an identified local company with the knowledge and capacity to provide support. Take note that although remote support via Internet may be a component of the support plan, the provider must include a local support component. Providers should be able to offer operational and technical resources available in African region directly or through formal contract with a qualified party. The Phase III project award may be made with an option for the selected provider to continue to rollout the LIS to additional sites potentially including additional hospitals in the Kenya National Public Health Laboratory System (NPHLS) if the proposal describes favorable licensing fees, innovative options for controlling maintenance costs and there are sufficient funds to support the expansion. APHL, working together with the Kenya MOH, CDC/DGHA Atlanta (CDC/Atlanta) and CDC/DGHA/Kenya (CDC-Kenya), assessed six (6) laboratories designated by the Ministry of Health to observe specimen and data flow, automated laboratory instrumentation used, current computer resources and computer skills and to observe current physical infrastructure as it relates to implementation of LIS. APHL expects to award a contract for this project to implement a laboratory information system in these Phase III laboratories before 30 September 2012. The target date for initiation of the implementation of the LIS in the Phase III laboratories is 1 August 2012.
APHL assisted CDC/DGHA/Kenya and the Kenya MOH in the performance of a comprehensive evaluation of the laboratory system needs for a LIS and to develop an implementation plan for the Phase III laboratories. The assessment team activities included the following:
- Assessment of operations at the Phase III laboratories and meetings with stakeholders, in order to describe standard laboratory services and current LIS capacity in the public health sector of Kenya;
- Visits to other governmental laboratories to compare sample flow procedures and understand how samples are processed;
- Discussions on LIS requirements with Kenya government and health officials, as well as CDC-Kenya staff;
- Developed an action plan for the implementation of LIS in Kenya; and
- Compiled the specific information and requirements for the development of an RFP for the purchase of a LIS application.
1.1 Designated Contact for this RFP
NAME: Ava Onalaja
TITLE:Specialist, Global Health Program
Email: ava.onalaja@aphl.org
Note: Any solicitation or contact concerning this RFP must be made to the designated Contact. Communications regarding the content of this RFP are prohibited to any other employee of APHL, the Kenya Ministry of Health or CDC employees involved in the LIS Phase III Project or any staff at the Phase III laboratories except as authorized by the designated Contact, during the period from date of release of the RFP until the notice of intent to contract is released. Unauthorized contact concerning this RFP may disqualify the respondent from participating in the RFP process (may not be considered in the review of respondents).
2 PREPARING AND SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL
2.1 Contractor information required to be included with response.
- Full legal name and if LIS provider has a “doing business name” the d/b/a as well.
- Authorized representative of the Contractor for the proposal.
- Telephone, fax and e-mail address of the single point of contact for communication between APHL and the LIS provider. Contact information for other persons whom the LIS provider may request informational copies sent in addition to the single point of contact.
- Business mailing address.
Responses must be sent to APHL by e-mail attachment in MSWord or PDF format (electronic signatures accepted) to LISProposal@aphl.org; OR by fax to 240-485-2712 attention of Lucy Maryogo-Robinson, Director, Global Health Program, APHL; OR by courier/delivery service that has a tracking system OR by U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Priority or Express Mail to Lucy Maryogo-Robinson, APHL, 8515 Georgia Avenue, Suite 700, Silver Spring, MD, USA 20910. E-mail attachment is the preferred means of receipt. E-mail and fax responses must be received at the APHL office by 5:00 PM EDT on 30 June 2012. Courier and USPS responses must be postmarked or entered into a tracking system by 5:00 PM EDT on 30 June, 2012. Submitters will receive a confirmation of receipt of their proposal by APHL. APHL may terminate or modify the RFP process at any time during the response period.
Naming convention: All response documents must be named as follows:
Bidder name_Kenya LIS RFP 2012
Responses that are not received by the stated deadline shall be determined to be non-responsive and at APHL’s discretion may not be considered in the review of respondents. There are three parts of the review for the award of this contract by APHL.
Part One:
· APHL reviews all responses received by the response deadline, assesses the responses with Kenya MOH & CDC-Kenya and compares them to the requirements stated in the RFP. Responses are assessed on these criteria:
o LIS Phase III Project requirements
o Strength of the provider’s project plan to successfully implement a LIS at the Phase III laboratories
o Strength of the providers project plan to sustain operation of LIS at the Phase III laboratories
o Value of the offer relative to cost, performance and maintenance
· One or more providers are selected to be included in Part Two of the RFP review process. Applications that meet the minimum technical requirements of the RFP may not be included for consideration in Part Two due to weaknesses in the noted criteria compared to other applications. Respondents to the RFP should address all noted criteria.
Part Two:
· APHL may require respondents selected for Part Two of the review process to travel to Nairobi, Kenya, to present a demonstration of their proposed application to APHL, CDC-Kenya and the Kenya LIS Technical Working Group (Kenya TWG) made up of representatives of Kenya MOH and the Phase III laboratory managers (or their representatives) and answer questions related to their software, project plan and costs.
· If a respondent is required to travel to Kenya, APHL will provide a stipend, the amount determined by APHL, to partially offset the cost of travel to Kenya for up to 2 representatives of a selected respondent.
Part Three:
· After consideration of the information provided in the RFP response and a demonstration of the application, Kenya TWG shall select the preferred respondent in consultation with APHL and CDC-Kenya. APHL will request a final offer from the preferred respondent prior to awarding a contract.
o The final offer will permit inclusion of changes that may arise in deliverables or conditions of the implementation during the negotiation of a contract.
o The purchasing contract negotiated between APHL and the selected respondent will identify costs and payments to be associated with:
§ initial system licenses
§ purchase price
§ implementation costs
§ training costs
§ maintenance and update costs
§ other associated costs and services
Detailed contract and terms will be finalized as part of contract negotiations. The contract starting and ending effective dates shall be indicated on the purchase order or contract and by mutual agreement of both parties; the ending date may be extended for maintenance, support and additional work subject to the contract rules of CDC/Atlanta.
Ralph Timperi
Senior Director
Laboratory Practice & Management
Association of Public Health Laboratories
04 June 2012
3 GENERAL Information, Assumptions, REQUIREMENTS and Preferences
The notes here on general issues, assumptions and preferences, while not requirements, provide an overview of the non-functional requirements and preferences that are important issues for consideration by respondents since they describe key aspects of the LIS that would be most appropriate.
1. This LIS application should be considered a laboratory-oriented, sample-centric application as opposed to a patient-centric, patient management application. While there are many patient-centric applications that have laboratory components, the primary purpose of this application is to collect and manage laboratory test data, quality control data, inventory control data, standard operating procedures and training information within the laboratory. Sample-centric laboratory systems that link individual patient data through some universal identifier for epidemiological purposes are preferred.
2. Software proposed by any vendor for this RFP must be physically available, working and installed in at least one laboratory and the vendor must make contacts for an installed installation available as a part of this RFP.
3. For the purpose of this RFP, installations in laboratories should be considered as separate, individual installations. Applications that have the flexibility to move toward central data management in the future are preferred. However, APHL expects providers to consider a single group licensing fee for the Phase III project. In general, single site licensing fees are too burdensome for government agencies in developing countries. APHL encourages providers to offer innovative proposals for licensing fees that will enable wider implementation of LIS and sustainability in developing countries.
4. Respondents should keep in mind that this RFP is designed for the purchase and installation of application software in the noted Kenya Phase III laboratories only. However, if the installations at the Phase III sites are successful, there is a possibility of following these installations with implementations by the same provider in additional regional and district laboratories in Kenya under subsequent contract(s). Issuance of any additional contract(s) is dependent on the availability of funds to support such a contract and a review of the Phase III project by the TWG, MOH, CDC-Kenya and APHL. Respondents may supply cost estimates for these additional sites, beyond the Phase III sites, in the cost break-down sheet in Section 8. This is optional and not required.
5. While it is the intent to install the proposed LIS in all six of the selected laboratories, the availability of funds, scheduling and contractual considerations may affect the number of installations and the scheduling of implementations in those installations. Six laboratories should be considered the maximum number that will be installed under this RFP, however, the TWG, MOH, CDC-Kenya and APHL will review the bid responses and will negotiate the actual number of laboratory installations and the installation schedule with the successful vendor.
6. The laboratory requirements found in section 6 are meant to be a guide for respondents in responding to this RFP and to ensure that respondents understand the type of data that needs to be collected and communicated within the Kenya laboratories. Consequently, they are general in nature and represent the minimum of data points to be collected.
7. The ability for the LIS to remotely order tests and report results is preferable and although not a requirement for Phase One of this project, the system should either have or be extensible enough to accommodate this feature.
8. Applications that have the ability to create and transmit data files in internationally recognized standards such as HL7 and utilize standard vocabulary code sets such as LOINC and SNOMED are required.
9. Respondents can assume that:
a. A local LAN will be in place and functional at the Kenya Phase III laboratories prior to installation of the application. Respondents can assume that required networking, switches, hubs, firewalls, virus software, etc., will be provided.
b. The laboratory will have access to the Internet either through broadband or dial-up connection and that the access will be available through the local LAN installed in the laboratory.
c. Sufficient PC’s will be available to run the application software at the Kenya Phase III laboratories prior to the installation of the application software.
d. Bar code printers and scanners (if necessary) along with a sufficient number of networked system printers required by the selected application will be available prior to the installation of application software.
10. The hardware (PC’s, database software, servers, switches, racks, printers, scanners, standard serial or crossover cables, USB to serial converters, etc.) and system software (PC operating system software, server operating system software database software, virus software, etc.) along with sufficient consumables (approximately 6 months) required for a successful implementation will be supplied according to the results and recommendations of the GAP analysis.
11. Please note that some laboratories currently have some PC’s and networking installed. Some laboratories are running several versions of Windows and others have no PC’s or infrastructure. Vendors should ensure that they address any issues they may have or make optional recommendations as a part of the bid response as it is a very important consideration.
12. For the purposes of this RFP, Super Users are defined as individuals designated by MOH to have administrative access to a single LIS installation (or multiple installations if necessary) for the purpose of administering local systems installations (managing local user rights, setting up or modifying tests, solving minor software issues, managing local dictionaries, providing end user training, etc.). LIS Administrators are defined as Super Users designated by MOH who have administrative access to the global LIS installation for the purpose of administering the group of all LIS sites (specifically managing global dictionaries).
13. Respondents should bid a LIS application package that includes the following for the Kenya Phase III installations:
a. All software required to make the LIS viable at each Phase III site. Bids which require implementations which utilize a central server maintained at an off-site location to operate the system are not acceptable.
b. Hardware not already available in the laboratory, including any required or specialized cabling for instrument interfaces.
c. Super user and network administrator training (initial minimum one week end user training at the laboratory facility on the software as provided, two weeks post-live supportive supervision).
d. Installation and initial customization of the software for use at each of the Kenya Phase III laboratories and future Regional and District sites.
e. One (1) year minimum of software maintenance (updates, patches, etc.).
f. One (1) year minimum of software support (for user questions, help desk, etc.).
g. Plans and prices for the continuation of software maintenance and support beyond year one.
h. Costs associated with additional instrument interfaces beyond those included in this RFP.
i. Costs associated with technical support (not included with software maintenance and support).
j. Costs associated with training and software customization following initial installation.
14. Because most public health laboratories are currently working toward some internationally recognized accreditation of laboratory practices and procedures, the selected LIS software should be capable of collecting, storing and collating data required for laboratory accreditation purposes. The Kenya laboratories are currently seeking accreditation under ISO 15189, so data required for certification under ISO 15189, specifically data related to testing (both manual and automated), instrumentation, quality control/assurance, personnel, preventative maintenance and performance reviews, should be readily available from the selected LIS software.
Questions regarding technical and business (laboratory) requirements described in this RFP must be directed in writing, via email to ava.onalaja@aphl.org with a copy to Linda Cohen, linda.cohen@aphl.org
Due to the text limitation of this board, if you are interested in responding to this RFP, you must email Ava Onalaja at APHL LISProposal@aphl.org to obtain the official RFP response documentation. This documentation will contain all necessary information and tools to enable you to respond accordingly.
E-mail and fax responses must be received at the APHL office by 5:00 PM EDT on 30 June, 2012. Courier and USPS responses must be postmarked or entered into a tracking system by 5:00 PM EDT on 30 June, 2012.
