Town of Berwick Maine Request for Proposal Ambulance Services July 1, 2013 - June 30, 2014 1. General No less than 10 copies of the proposal shall be received by the Town before close of business on March 22, 2013. Strict compliance with the RFP s, terms and instructions are necessary and all pages of the proposed contract shall be submitted. No oral interpretations will be made to any proposer as to the meaning of the specification or terms and conditions of this sealed proposal request. Every request for interpretation or a request for a change in the specifications and/or terms and conditions shall be in writing, addressed and sent to: Town of Berwick ATTN: Fire Chief, Ambulance service RFP interpretations P.O Box 696 11 Sullivan St (Town Hall) Berwick, ME 03901 Any proposal shall be withdrawn upon written request prior to the time that bids are to be opened. Award of contract shall be made in accordance with the procedures outlined in the RFP. In the event of default by the contractor, the Town of Berwick shall reserve the right to procure the products and or services from other sources, and hold the contractor liable for any excess cost occasioned thereby. A contract shall not be assignable by the contractor in whole or in part without the written consent of the Fire Department. The Town of Berwick may terminate the contract for breach by the contractor for any of the provisions of the contract by giving the contractor 10 days notice by registered mail. Any requested payments by the Town of Berwick or the contractor shall be divided into 12 equal monthly payments. The first payment shall be made prior to the start date of the contract and shall be paid monthly on that same date.
2. Services Required The contractor shall provide uninterrupted ambulance service 24 hrs. a day, 365 a year for the term of the contract. The contractor shall provide no less than 1 ambulance (Type I or III) at the ALS level as defined by Maine EMS. If said ambulance is not available due to another call associated within or for the Town of Berwick, the contractor shall be allowed to provide an ambulance (Type I, II or III) at either the BLS, ILS or ALS level as defined by Maine EMS. The contractor shall provide an ambulance (Type I, II or III) at no additional cost, for public standby events and details, at the license level requested with 14 days notice. Less than 14 days notice the contractor and requester shall try to come to a mutual agreement. The contractor shall provide Emergency Medical Services to include transportation, free of any charge or cost, to any Town employee, full-time, parttime, temporary, on call or volunteer while the employee is fulfilling his/her duties. Based upon Fire Department needs, the contractor shall develop, implement and cover the cost of a training program during the said contract period that will result in the certification of fire department personnel as follows: 3 NREMT-Basics 2 NREMT-AEMT The contractor shall provide CEU courses free of charge to EMS personnel employed by the Town of Berwick. The contractor shall allow initial and ongoing ride along, observation or training time of fire department personnel that are EMS certified. The contractor shall participate in the development and implementation of these programs to a level satisfactory to the Fire Department. The contractor shall provide community outreach programs such as CPR and First Aid.
The contractor shall provide initial and replenishment of oxygen cylinders and oxygen The contractor shall develop and present to the Fire Department a system in which all disposable medical equipment and supplies used by the Fire Department will be replaced at no additional cost. Such items may include but are not limited to, ALS supplies, AED pads, bandages, Aspirin, Blood Glucose monitoring, etc. If disposable equipment and or supplies are not replaced by the contractor, they shall be replaced by the Town of Berwick and charged to the contractor for the entire cost. The contractor shall perform monthly patient satisfaction surveys and provide the results to the Fire Department. The contractor at the request of the Fire Department, shall attend fire department trainings and after action reviews. The contractor shall provide its intended staffing plan, training and certifications of all possible responding staff, years of experience at current license level, as well as age and replacement plan of all ambulances with the submission of this proposal. The contractor shall provide back-fill, seamless EMS coverage to the Town of Berwick. A plan for this coverage shall also be provided with submission of this proposal. The contractor agrees to train Firefighters of Berwick and familiarize them with the contractor s equipment and ambulance(s) 3. Compensation The anticipated cost to dispatch EMS services will cost the Town of Berwick $ 12,000 in 2013, The Town will accept reimbursement of this cost, up to but not to exceed this amount. This cost is anticipated to rise in 2014; the contractor shall pay its portion of this cost. The contractor shall negotiate with the Town of Berwick to pay the town for any Intermediate or Advanced life support provided by fire department personnel to any patient in which the contractor was not able to provide such care. Such payment shall not be less than the current Medicare/Medicaid rate for ALS Intercept.
4. Administration of agreement The contractor acknowledges that the Fire Department shall oversee contractor s performance of its obligations hereunder and that the Fire Department shall be the liaison between the contractor and the Town of Berwick. 5. Service Specification a. Ambulance(s) The contractor shall provide no less than 1 ambulance (Type I or III) for the purpose of 9-1-1 calls in the Town of Berwick or upon request via Berwick Fire Department dispatch from a mutual aid community. The said ambulance shall meet or exceed current Federal and State of Maine requirements. The said ambulance shall only be used for emergency calls in the Town of Berwick or mutual aid communities upon request through the Berwick Fire Department dispatch. The said ambulance shall not be used for transfers, emergent or non-emergent without proper 9-1-1 backfill that will be able to meet the time response requirement of section 5b of this contract. The said ambulance shall have displayed on both sides of the ambulance, the following: - Dial 9-1-1 for emergencies - The units identification number - The name of the ambulance service. The said ambulance shall be registered in the State of Maine, licensed and inspected by Maine EMS, and shall meet the State of Maine s motor vehicle inspection requirements.
b. Ambulance deployment/housing The contractor shall provide complete housing facilities of the ambulance. Ambulance housing shall not be greater than 15 minutes from the geographic center of town. The contractor shall be able to provide a response time to all CHARLIE, DELTA and ECHO level calls within 7 minutes. All ALPHA, BRAVO and OMEGA calls within 12 minutes. The contractor shall provide a written explanation each time these times are not met and submit a plan of correction that describes the contractor s efforts to eliminate the issue(s). Response times shall be calculated from the time Berwick s communication center transmits a call via Berwick Fire radio frequency until the time the ambulance arrives on scene and notifies the dispatcher. The Town of Berwick recognizes there may be exemptions beyond the contractor s control such as severe weather, high call volume etc. These unusual circumstances shall be reviewed by the Fire Department. The contractor agrees to provide a dedicated truck at the ALS level during times of severe weather and natural disasters at the request of the Fire Department. SEE MAP ATTATCHED DOCUMENTATION SHALL BE PROVIDED FOR THE ABOVE SECTION 6. Communications The Town of Berwick shall provide emergency medical dispatch services to the contractor via already established frequencies. (Berwick Fire) The dispatch center shall coordinate any and all request for EMS resources within Berwick. The contractor shall provide cellular telephone communications for all ambulances.
7. Fire Department Support and responsibilities The Berwick Fire Department shall respond to all medical calls, when available or requested by the contractor and will act as a First Responder provider at the license level in which they hold. The Fire Department s function shall be to: A. Implement the incident command system and assume command, as needed. B. Initiate patient assessment, treatment and stabilization. C. Manage all scenes in which patients are injured or ill. Upon contractor ambulance arrival, he / she will assume primary medical responsibility for the patient(s) as long as they are the highest licensed EMS provider and the incident commander deems the scene to be safe. 8. Personnel The contractor shall provide at a minimum 1 Paramedic and 1 driver per Maine EMS rules and regulations. The contractor will ensure that at least 1 ALS provider assigned to the primary ambulance will have at least 1 year minimum experience at the ALS level. The contractor shall ensure and provide documentation that all providers, regularly scheduled for said ambulance and all management that respond to Berwick have the following qualifications in order to participate in EMS activities, emergent or non-emergent. These requirements shall have a grace period of six months. - NIMS 100,200,700,800 non-supervisory staff - NIMS 300, 400 for all supervisory staff - Be familiar with all major access points and roads so as to maintain the maximum 7 minute response time. The contractor shall be able to utilize Fire Department personnel to both drive any ambulance and to act as additional EMS personnel up to the license level of that provider.
9. Inspections The Fire Department reserves the right to inspect at any time any and all ambulances used for EMS in the Town of Berwick. Ambulance exteriors shall be washed on a regular basis, and be free of rust, dents, missing wheel covers or other broken parts. Ambulance interiors and equipment shall be kept clean free of dirt, dust, grease and bodily fluids. 10. Performance evaluations The Fire Department shall monitor the activity of EMS in the Town of Berwick and shall meet with a delegated employee on a regular basis. The contractor shall delegate a representative to attend any meeting for critiques and any meetings at the request of the Fire Department. The contractor shall provide on a monthly basis, by the 15 th of each month, the following: - Number of EMS responses made - Number of patients transported - Number of patients that required ALS care - Nature of patients problem ( of those transported ) - Number of patient refusals, sign offs, and false alarms - Average response, on scene, transport times. - Number of responses that exceeded the 7 minute requirement - Number and type of standbys - Number of times mutual aid ambulance is needed to be called and why - Number of times the contractor provided more than the 1 contractual ambulance. - Number of times the contractor couldn t provide the 1 ALS truck and why. - Any complaints, concerns or other relevant issues
11. Additional Terms The contractor shall assist the Berwick Fire Department in the process of obtaining a NON-TRANSPORT license from Maine EMS. The contractor shall cover any and all Fire Department personnel s EMS license unconditionally to that license level until such time the Fire Department is licensed as a NON-TRANSPORT service. The contractor shall assist in the development and implementation of an active and progressive emergency scene rehab program. - The contractor shall have the capabilities of on scene monitoring of Carbon Monoxide levels of potential patients and emergency personnel. The contractor shall provide a member of each license level to participate in a QA/QI review committee. Sealed bids shall be addressed to: Town of Berwick ATTN: Town Manager, Sealed Ambulance service RFP P.O Box 696 11 Sullivan St (Town Hall) Berwick, ME 03901