GS-02F-0212X-005.pdf

Control Number: TAC-20-55781

LIMITED SOURCES JUSTIFICATION

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

Office of Procurement, Acquisition and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, NJ 07724

2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for the issuance of a sole source firm-fixed-price task order for continue sustainment and enhancement support of VA’s Virtual Medical Center (VA-VMC) legacy web-based tool with Engineering & Computer Simulations, Inc. (ECS) 11825 High Tech Ave, Suite 250 Orlando, FL 32817.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: The Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Employee Education System (EES) eLearning office has a requirement to continue the current sustainment support inclusive of help desk, licensing services, VA-VMC hosting baseline, and VA-VMC enhancements support. Sustainment support includes hosting platform services that meet industry standards using a commercial Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) compliant server available globally via the internet and that includes all applicable licensing required for VA-VMC operation, provide daily backup of the VA-VMC server data, a fully redundant VA-VMC server that conducts two parallel hosting efforts that supports load balancing and outages, provide a Cloud Load Balancing platform that distributes workloads across multiple computing resources that reduces cost associated with document management systems and maximizes availability of resources, provide a Passive (24/7) and Active (daily) monitoring. Monitoring shall include but is not limited to the process of proactively reviewing and evaluating the data and its quality to ensure that it is organized and maintained to meet information life cycle needs, provide management of its server-side system including but not limited to product installation, configuration, upgrades, and security updates, and a dedicated telephone number and an email address for help desk support and the reporting of VA-VMC issues and questions. The optional tasks for enhancements include software code modifications of existing modules and development of new modules. The VA-VMC addresses the gap of providing a scalable, flexible, and adaptable learning environment for electronic consultation between patients and providers. The Contractor shall continue to provide VA-VMC content that is a fully functional, web-based tool accessed by VHA providers, Veterans and their caregivers. The VA-VMC supports achieving healthy behaviors by improving access to support and medical information, providing that support and information in a patient-centered care approach regardless of geographical location or separation and connecting healthcare professionals and patients in a truly collaborative venue to provide an environment for accessing specialized, validated medical information, reference materials and resources. The VA-VMC shall be compatible with current VHA Information Security and Office of Information and Technology protocols and requirements. The period of performance (PoP) shall be 12-months from date of award, with three 12-month option periods, and Optional Tasks for additional enhancement, if exercised.

Veterans Affairs Virtual Medical Center (VA-VMC) Control Number TAC-20-55781

4. Statutory Authority: This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple- Award Schedule Program. The specific authority providing for a limited source award is Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(B), “Only one source is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services are unique or highly specialized.”

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: The proposed source is ECS 11825 High Tech Ave, Suite 250 Orlando, FL 32817. Based on extensive market research, it was determined that ECS is the only source capable of satisfying VA’s requirements discussed above. As the original developer of the training product, ECS owns its proprietary source code and no other vendor has access to ECS’ code;

therefore, ECS is the only responsible source that can meet VA’s requirement to continue to provide sustainment and enhancement support to the VA VMC. Specifically, only ECS can provide sustainment of the existing Virtual Medical. Access to the original source code is necessary to develop and implement the patches, updates and upgrades required to maintain the VA VMC. Due to proprietary components within the VA VMC, it is not feasible for another company to develop content or create enhancements for the VA VMC. In addition, success implementation of the enhancements requires access to existing VA-VMC source code. Only ECS can provide the necessary sustainment and enhancement support to the VA VMC as the solution is owned by ECS and contains proprietary information that no other vendor has access or rights to. Without ECS sustainment and enhancement support to the VA VMC, VA healthcare professionals will not able to access this critical training product in its full capacity to collaborate with and provide critical medical education to VA patients. Use of another vendor without access to the proprietary source code would require a complete redesign of the VA-VMC at a substantial cost, and 36 months, that is not expected to be recovered through competition.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in the market research section of this document. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government’s requirements. There is no competition anticipated for this acquisition. In accordance with FAR 5.301 and 8.405-6(a)(2), the award notice for this action will be synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities Page (FBO) and the justification will be made publicly available within 14 days of award.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: All future requirements will be handled on a case-by-case basis to determine any future acquisition strategy.

8. Market Research: Market research was conducted by VA technical personnel during July 2019. The VA technical expert reviewed the capabilities of the Serious Education Gaming System SEGS Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) prime contract holders, which is comprised of four Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses,

(1) Systems Kinetics Engineering, (2) Creative Veteran Productions, (3) Advanced Computer Learning Company, and (4) Innove. Although all four of the SEGS ID/IQ contract holders are likely capable of providing the required development, only ECS has access to its proprietary source code used to develop the existing VA-VMC legacy training product. The VA technical personnel found that only ECS can meet VA’s needs.

Additional Market Research was conducted on October 30, 2019 by releasing Request for Information (RFI) number 36C10B20Q0034 to vendors on the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website. The FBO RFI closed on November 12, 2019 and no other vendor responded, as only ECS has access to the proprietary source code necessary, and thus only ECS has the capability to meet all of performance work statement requirements.

9. Other Facts: None.

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 proposed contract action will represent the best value to the Government consistent with FAR 8.404(d). General Services Administration has already determined that the prices on the Federal Supply Schedule contract are fair and reasonable. Further price analysis, to include an analysis of proposed level of effort and mix of labor, will be conducted and subsequent negotiations held as necessary. Additionally, price discounts will be sought.

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 to for continue sustainment and enhancement support of VA’s Virtual Medical Center legacy web-based tool, on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the statutory authority cited in section 4 above, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.