Cover Letter,
Mercy Medical Center has enlisted Howard Electronics as a potential bidder for the supply of one computer server. Howard company was considered for the supply after careful review and analysis of the company’ background information captured in the website and other business reports. To this end, the hospital is seeking information regarding the company’s services and product. The required information is captured in the Request for Proposal document attached to this letter.
The hospital is currently using four servers located in the departments of pharmacy, clinician, laboratory, and admission. These servers host patients’ health records handled by the departments. For instance, clinicians in need of patients’ laboratory record have to retrieve it from the server based in the laboratory. The existing system has hampered coordination and exchange of information between the departments. The hospital intends to solve this problem by procuring a central server that shall host all the patient data. This imitative is inline with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act that requires health care providers to have an integrated patients’ electronic health records system (“HIPPA Statute”).
Mercy Medical Center: Background Information
Mercy Medical Center is 300 bed capacity hospital located along Erie Street, Chicago. The hospital started as a nursing home in 1988. In 2006, it was upgraded to a full fledged hospital after meeting relevant statutory and regulatory requirement. It is managed by the Mercy Organization which is a non profit organization operating in 5 states in United States. The hospital provides wide variety of services that include patients’ care, emergency and surgery. Currently, the hospital has 250 staffs of which 80% are physicians. It has four core departments namely admission, laboratory, pharmacy and clinicians. The hospital has a reputation of providing quality and affordable medical services to patients.
Important dates
June 9, 2014 – July 2, 2014: Supply, installation, migration of data and testing of the server and training of staff
July 3, 2014: Commissioning of the new server
Resources for answering questions
- Server Prototypes
- Server manual
Requirements
Technical requirements
The following table summarizes the technical specifications of four servers that can meet the hospital system requirements in the company’s view.
Marketing collateral
- Sales brochures:
The company should provide the current sale brochures in applicable format that may include printed, audio and video.
- Sales presentation
The company should provide video presentations that have been done on the models captured in the technical requirement section.
Supporting document requirements
- The company certificate of incorporation
- Tax compliance certificate
- Audited copies of three past financial statements
- The company’s client Portfolio
- Document showing that the company is original manufacturer of the server
The selection process requirements
The hospital shall only consider bids from company that have submitted RFP forms within the timeframe provided in the important dates sections
- Bidders conference
The hospital shall invite bidders to attend bidders’ conference. Bidders are expected to conduct demonstrations and presentations during this conference. Consequently, only bidders who attend the conference shall be considered.
- The supporting document
Only bidders who have submitted copies of supporting documents during bidders’ conference shall be considered.
- The Technical Committee on Electronic Health Record Infrastructure Upgrade shall evaluate bidders based on hospital requirements and project objectives. The committee reserves the right of rejecting and accepting bids without providing further information.
Reference
"HIPPA Statute." Statute. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. <http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/administrative/statute/index.html>.
