The Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, Office of Human Resources Management (HRM) has a requirement for pre-employment and post-employment medical services for the National Programs Division’s (NPD) Medical and Fitness Branch (MFB) and CBP Hiring Center (CBP HC).

The United States Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) primary mission is to protect the Nation from acts of terrorism while simultaneously ensuring the efficient flow of lawful traffic and commerce by managing, controlling, and securing the Nations land, air, and sea borders. It is responsible for securing and facilitating trade and travel while enforcing hundreds of U.S. regulations, including immigration and drug laws.

The CBP workforce is comprised of three uniformed law enforcement divisions. The CBP Officers (CBPOs) protect America’s borders at official ports of entry, while the Border Patrol Agents (BPA) prevent illegal entry into the United States of people and contraband between the ports of entry. CBP’s Air and Marine Operations manages the largest law enforcement air force in the world, patrols the nation’s land and sea borders to stop terrorists and drug smugglers before they enter the United States. CBP’s Agriculture Specialists prevent the entry of harmful plant pests and exotic foreign animal diseases and confront emerging threats in agro-and bioterrorism.

As a Federal law enforcement agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is responsible for ensuring that certain personnel are fully qualified to safely and effectively perform the essential job duties without undue risk or hazard to self or public.  This involves, but is not limited to, developing and the implementation of the Office of Personnel Management approved job-related medical standards, facilitating medical examinations and consultations, and managing and implementing the Federal Drug-Free Workplace Program to deter illegal drug use.

This requirement is for medical services to support two program offices within CBP’s Office of Human Resources Management (HRM), namely,

1. National Programs Division’s (NPD) Medical and Fitness Branch (MFB) and
2. CBP Hiring Center (CBP HC).

CBP Hiring Center (CBP HC) is located in Bloomington, MN, and for the purposes of this draft solicitation, is responsible for the coordination of the pre-employment candidate medical examinations and fitness tests for positions with medical standards and physical requirements, and for the scheduling of specimen collection services for the drug testing of candidates selected to occupy safety sensitive positions.

NPD’s Medical and Fitness Branch is responsible for the following medical service programs:  Employee Examinations and Consultations

• Fitness for Duty Evaluations (FFDE)
• Return to Work (Non – Workers’ Compensation Cases)
• Medical Documentation Review
• Medical Consultation for Clinical Opinion
• Medical and Physical Requirements
• Federal Drug-Free Workplace Program

This requirement is a consolidation of the following contracts:

• HSBP1014D00006 – Pre-employment and Employee Medical Services (Opportunity 171905)
• HSBP1014D00026 – Forensic Drug Testing Laboratory Services (Opportunity 115951)
• HSBP1014D00004 – Medical Review Officer (MRO) Drug Testing

To perform medical, fitness, and psychologic evaluations of individuals for pre-employment and post-employment. The vendor shall provide board certified physicians to serve as clinical review officers to review and render determinations on candidate suitability for pre-employment and fitness for duty for post-employment. The vendor shall provide consultation services for the development of medical and physical standards for certain positions in accordance with the Office of Personnel Management regulations. In addition, the vendor shall provide services to support CBP’s Drug-Free Workplace Program to include the following: certified specimen collection staff; specimen collection clinics; supplies (specimen collections kits and shipping supplies); Medical Review Officer; and Forensic laboratory services. For medical services, the requirement entails independent medical examinations (IME) to perform medical examinations, including psychiatric, as well as functional capacity evaluations of employees. The services also include board certified physicians to review and form an opinion of the examination findings of the Independent Medical Evaluation performed by physicians and/or healthcare practitioners.

• EMPLOYEE SERVICES – NPD
  • TASK 1: GENERAL MEDICAL EXAMINATION SCHEDULING
    • NPD/COR will submit the request for an appointment to the Contractor via electronic secured transmission.  The documentation may include, but not limited to the following:
    • The COR will provide to the Contractor, at the time of the request for an appointment, a copy of the following documents that are specific to the employee’s essential job duties. All document transmittal will be conducted by electronic secured transmission.
    • The Contractor shall utilize the documents listed in Section 4.1.1 and 4.1.2 of this SOW solely as Tools for objectively determining fitness for duty opinions.
    • The Contractor shall receive the request, by secured electronic transmission, for FFDE and coordinate an appointment for a medical examination to be performed by a healthcare provider selected by the Contractor based on the specifics of the COR’s request documented in Nurse Consultant Request for Medical Services.
    • The employee’s consent is required prior to forwarding any employee information to a third party (contractor examining physician).  The Contractor shall not forward the FFDE request to the selected Contractor medical examiner until the completed “Authorization for Request of Medical Records” is received from the COR.  The completed FFDE request packet (with consent) shall be sent at least five (5) business days prior to the scheduled examination.  It shall be sent via secured electronic transmission. (See Security Section 12.0 of the SOW or required method of transferring the medical information from the Contractor to the Contractor physician)
    • Appointment Details:  The Contractor shall schedule appointments for medical examination at healthcare facilities that are located within a 60-mile radius of the employee duty station.
    • At the time the appointment is scheduled by the Contractor, the Contractor shall provide to the COR, all information pertinent to the examination including a valid and current address to the facility, and any special instructions that must be communicated to the employee prior to the appointment.  The Contractor shall provide the appointment details via secured electronic transmission.
  • TASK 2: EMPLOYEE MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS PROCESS
    • Employee General Medical Evaluation Documentation and Appointment
    • Employee Medical Examination (Determination) Process
  • TASK 3: OTHER EMPLOYEE MEDICAL SERVICES
    • Employee Specialized Medical Tests
    • Independent Medical Examination (Non-psych)
    • Psychiatric (Mental Health)  Independent Medical Examination
    • Agency requested IME addendum:
    • Lead Reviewing Physician Consultant requested IME addendum:
    • The Contractor’s Mental Health and Vision Reviewing Physicians
  • TASK 4: EMPLOYEE PSYCHIATRIC CONSULTATIONS
    • The Contractor shall provide all available records to the Contractor’s Mental Health Reviewing Consultant for review within seven (7) business days of the receipt of the report from the examining psych IME physician.  The records shall be provided via secured electronic transmission.  The Mental Health Reviewing Consultant shall ensure that the examining psychiatric physician addressed all questions posed in the “Nurse Consultant Medical Services Request “in the report to the Agency. (See Attachment #1.)
  • TASK 5: MEDICAL REVIEW CONSULTATION SERVICES – LEAD REVIEWING PHYSICIAN CONSULTANT
    • At the request of the COR by electronic secure transmission, the Lead Reviewing Physician Consultant shall review medical documentation provided by the employee. The scope of Lead Reviewing Physician Consultant shall include, but not limited to the following medical review services:
    • Employee Medical Hardship Reassignment and Compassionate Transfer
    • Clinical Consultation
  • TASK 6: EMPLOYEE DRUG TESTING
    • The Contractor shall coordinate drug testing services as necessary for the collection, shipping, analysis of urine specimens, and for the medical review of laboratory results in compliance with HHS Guidelines.
    • The Contractor shall provide all staff, supplies, storage, and shipping for the collection of urine specimens from CBP employees.
    • In compliance with HHS for the collection of oral fluids, the Contractor shall provide all staff, supplies, storage, and shipping for the collection of oral fluid from CBP employees.
    • Scheduling Employees for Random Drug Testing Program
    • Site Requirement
    • Collection Supplies
    • Identification
    • Federal Chain of Custody Form
    • Insufficient Specimen (formally Shy Bladder)
    • Direct Observation
    • Refusal to Test
    • Inspection of Specimen Collection Site
    • Retention of Records:
  • TASK 7: LABORATORY
    • Receiving and Inspection
    • Specimen Validity Testing
    • Initial Testing/Screening and Confirmatory Drug Testing
    • Reporting of Test Results
    • Blind Sample Program
    • Split Specimens
    • Retention of Specimens
    • Retention of Records
    • Litigation Package/Documentation for Positive Results
    • Reporting:  Semiannual and Annual Statistical Summaries
    • Contractor’s Data and Reporting Requirements
    • Data, Reports, and Notifications
  • TASK 8: MEDICAL REVIEW OFFICER
    • Administrative Review of Documents
    • The Donor Interview Process for Positive, Adulterated, or Invalid Test Result
    • Non-Contact Determination
    • Refusal to Test
    • Handling Split Specimen
    • Result Interpretation and Verification of Test Results
    • The Contractor MRO shall personally review five percent of the negative results reported by the Contractor’s MRO staff during the base year and each optional year, consistent with HHS Guidelines.  In addition to the requirements set forth in HHS Guideline, the Contractor MRO shall provide the following services within the time period stated below:
    • Insufficient Specimen (Shy Bladder) Consultation.
    • Within two hours of receipt of the notification of an insufficient specimen situation from the Specimen Collector, the Contractor MRO shall contact the donor via telephone who is unable to provide a sufficient amount of urine within the allotted three (3) hour time period to determine a medical cause for the insufficient specimen.  Within seventy-two (72) hours of the receipt of a donor’s supporting documentation, the Contractor MRO shall provide a written report to the COR via e-mail or secured electronic transmission.
    • Federal Agency Blind Samples
    • The Contractor MRO shall participate in the Federal Agency Blind Sample Program.  The Contractor MRO shall inform the COR and the testing laboratory, within one (1) business day of receipt and verification of the result,  when a laboratory result is different from the result expected based on information provided by the supplier of the blind sample.  Blind sample results verified by the MRO shall be posted on the Contractor’s secured database within twenty-four (24) hours of receipt of the laboratory test report and the CCF from the blind sample supplier.
    • Reporting the Drug Test Results to CBP
    • The Contractor MRO shall review and verify all negative, positive, adulterated, substituted, rejected for testing, and invalid test results received from the   designated testing laboratory before the results are reported to CBP.
    • Contractor’s Data and Reporting Requirements
    • Retention of Records
    • Testing for Additional Drugs Request
• PRE-EMPLOYMENT SERVICES – CBP HIRING CENTER
  • GENERAL CANDIDATE REQUIREMENTS
    • Miscellaneous
    • This section applies to all candidate services unless otherwise noted.
    • If there is a discrepancy in the medical examination, fitness test, or drug test paperwork (e.g. name spelling, position, identification numbers, etc.), the Contractor shall contact the COR for clarification before submitting the final written report.
    • General Examination And Testing Services – Hiring Center Only
  • TASK 1:  PRE-EMPLOYMENT MEDICAL SERVICES
    • Request For Services
    • Scheduling
    • Administering The Medical Examination
    • Processing And Submitting Results
    • TASK 2:  CONSULTATION SERVICES AND SPECIAL TESTING
    • General Medical Consultations
    • Psychiatric Consultations
    • Vision Consultations
    • Independent Medical Examination (IME)
    • Retention of Records
  • TASK 3:  PRE-EMPLOYMENT FITNESS TEST – PFT-1
    • Request For Services
    • Scheduling
    • Administering the Fitness Test
    • Processing and Submitting Results
    • Handling Candidate Incidents and Complaints
    • Retention of Records
  • TASK 4:  PRE-EMPLOYMENT DRUG TEST COLLECTION
    • Request For Services
    • Scheduling
    • Collection Site
    • Administering the Drug Test
  • TASK 5:  LABORATORY
    • Shipment of Specimen to Laboratory
    • Receiving and Inspection
    • Specimen Validity Testing
    • Initial Testing and Confirmatory Drug Testing
    • Reporting Of Results
    • Blind Sample Program
    • Split Specimens
    • Retention Of Specimens
    • Retention Of Records
    • Reporting: Semiannual And Annual Statistical Summaries
    • Contractor’s Data and Reporting Requirements (Laboratory)
    • Data, Reports, and Notifications
  • TASK 6:  MEDICAL REVIEW OFFICER
    • Administrative Review Of Documents
    • The Donor Interview Process For Positive, Adulterated, or Invalid Test Result
    • Result Interpretation and Verification of Test Results
    • Insufficient Specimen (Shy Bladder) Consultation
    • Federal Agency Blind Samples
    • Reporting Drug Test Results To CBP
    • Contractor’s Data And Reporting Requirements (MRO)
    • Retention Of Records