NNG15SD22B-157.pdf

Physiological Central Monitoring/ Telemetry Upgrade Control Number: TAC-19-56286

JUSTIFICATIONFOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

Office of Procurement Acquisition and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center

1701 Directors Blvd Austin, TX 78744

2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for a brand name firm-fixed-price delivery order to be issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for Philips brand name hardware and software to upgrade to the Philips Intellivue Information Center iX platform.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: This proposed action supports patient care and treatment at the Atlanta VA Healthcare System (Atlanta VAHCS). The contractor will provide all Philips brand name hardware and software to upgrade existing Philips Intellivue Information Center Classic Central Patient Monitoring Stations to the current Philips Intellivue Information Center iX platform. The Atlanta VAHCS is upgrading to the to the Philips Intellivue Information Center iX platform because the current equipment has reached the end of its expected life cycle. Central Patient Monitoring Stations provide comprehensive real-time patient vital signs data from individual patient bedside monitors in one location within an intensive care or other specialized unit. Central patient monitoring provides easy access to information for critical care and treatment decision making and notification of changes in essential vital patient parameters for immediate response i.e. patient safety. Patient telemetry systems are an integral component to provide remote vital signs monitoring without the need to confine the patient to a bed. The contractor will also provide software updates for the existing patient monitors, as needed, to be compatible with the new Philips Intellivue Information Center iX platform. This upgrade shall also satisfy VA mandates to move medical systems to the most current software operating systems possible, i.e. Windows 7 or Windows 10. The contractor will also provide installation and training services. The period of performance will be 180 days from receipt of order. The total estimated price of the proposed action is .

4. Statutory Authority: Pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 16.505(a)(4), the following brand name requirement is being justified and approved as an exception to fair opportunity under the statutory authority of Section 41 U.S.C.

4106(c)(2) as implemented by FAR Subpart 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B), entitled “Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized”.

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based on market research, as described in paragraph 8 of this justification, it was determined that limited competition is available for this procurement. The current infrastructure is based on existing Philips products and VA requires products and support compatible with the existing infrastructure protocols and functionality for continued operational availability. Atlanta VAHCS currently uses Philips Intellivue Information Center central monitoring equipment to monitor critical patients in five critical areas of the medical center: Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU), Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU), Observation Unit (Obs), Emergency Department (ED), and Telemetry Unit. The central monitoring systems encompass monitoring for 51 bedside patient monitors, 96 telemetry units, 11 variable acuity monitors, and intermittent monitoring of 63 defibrillator monitors on a Philips proprietary wired and wireless infrastructure. In addition, there are many stand-alone and transport monitors that can connect to the wireless infrastructure. The systems in SICU, MICU, and Obs are connected to a Clinicomp clinical information system and a Draeger anesthesia record information system. The Tele-ICU system for Telehealth based in VISN 10 also utilizes the Philips infrastructure to obtain and monitor critical patient data in real time to support the MICU and SICU. Atlanta VAHCS has approximately $5.6M currently invested in Philips patient monitors and their associated network infrastructure that only works with Philips brand name items. The above mentioned items would have to be replaced if a different brand name solution was used due to the properitary coding of the infrastcrutre.

VA requires an upgrade to the existing system because the major components of the central monitoring are rapidly reaching obsolescence in December 2019 and will no longer be supported by Philips. Failure to upgrade would be detrimental to critical patient care and treatment in Atlanta VAHCS. The requirement for upgrade is also supported by VA directives to move medical systems to the most current operating system software.

There are no other products that can communicate and function within the existing Philips patient monitoring architecture without VA conducting a massive redesigning and reengineering effort that would result in extensive delivery delays and duplicated costs that would not be recovered through competition. No other suite of products is compatible or interoperable with the existing Philips products due to proprietary database structures, protocols, and software application programming interfaces. The patient database of the existing system is stored in a format that is unique to Philips, and any other OEM physiological monitoring system would be incompatible with VA’s existing patient database format, which would cause new requirements to re-establish interfaces to our existing Clinicomp and Draeger clinical information systems as well as Tele-ICU systems. If the Philips products were abandoned in favor of a different product, VA would need to purchase new hardware and software, inclusive of Philips proprietary network infrastructure i.e. access pointss, switches, interfaces and hardware for interfaces to exsiting clinical information systems, to create a new infrastructure.

Replacing this infrastructure would result in duplicated costs of over $4.5 million. If VA does not receive Philips products, it would cause a major impact to critical patient monitoring resulting in an inability to care for critical patients, increased morbidity, increased cost of care, and underutilization of existing clinical information systems.

Additionally, only Philips or a reseller can provide the required installation and training support because of the propriety source code. No other source is capable of providing the required support that meets VA's unique functional requirements. Without access to this code and other proprietary information, support services could not be provided and the equipment could not be properly configured. In conclusion, the brand name Philips products are the only products that meet the Government's requirements.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in section 8 of this justification. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government's requirements. However, the undersigned VA technical representative determined that limited competition is available among authorized resellers. In accordance with FAR 16.505(a)(4)(iii)(A)(1), this justification will be provided with the solicitation to all appropriate NASA SEWP V GWAC holders.

Furthermore, in accordance with FAR 5.301, 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), and 16.505(a)(4)(iii), the award notice for this action will be synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities website and this justification will be made publicly available within 14 days of award.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: The Government will continue to conduct market research to ascertain if there are changes in the market place that would enable future actions to be competed.

8. Market Research: VA technical personnel conducted market research from January through March 2019 by researching websites and product descriptions for products comparable to the existing Philips infrastructure. The technical personnel reviewed similar products from GE, Spacelab, and Nihon Kohden. As a result of the market research, the technical experts confirmed that although the other companies' products provide similar capabilities, no other product will support VA's existing infrastructure protocols, interoperability, and compatibility requirements as outlined in Section 5 of this Justification. In addition, it was confirmed that the source code required to provide the installation and support services is proprietary to Philips. Therefore, no other contractor has the capability of providing the services. Based on the above, only Philips or a reseller meets all the Government’s requirements.

9. Other Facts: NA

10. Technical and Requirements Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in this justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

11. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated price to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable because NASA SEWP GWAC prices have previously been determined fair and reasonable.

Additionally, price competition is expected among authorized resellers for this action.

Additional price analysis may be performed in accordance with FAR 15.404-1(b).

12. Procuring Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Approval

In my role as procuring activity Advocate for Competition, based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the acquisition of Philips brand name hardware and software to upgrade to the Philips Intellivue Information Center iX platform, on an other than fair opportunity basis pursuant to the authority cited in Section 4 above, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the property and services herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.