36C10B20Q0194-005.pdf

Control Number VA-20-00029438

SOLE SOURCE 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 a firm fixed price, sole source contract with DHS Associates, Inc., doing business as DHS Worldwide (DHS), to renew annual software support for Total Recall Records Management Software.

3. Description of Supplies or Services: VA, Records Center and Vault (RCV) in Neosho, Missouri has a requirement for the renewal of brand name DHS Total Recall Records Management (TRRM) annual software support for the TRRM software solution currently in VA’s production environment. TRRM is a commercial off-the-shelf records management software solution utilized by the VA RCV to generate billing data and records holding management reports, to create labels for warehouse shelves, boxes and files, etc., and to electronically track and locate 2 million cubic feet of records stored in the center’s 402,000 square foot warehouse.

Software support includes access to all patches, bug fixes, updates and enhancements released during the performance period, and unlimited telephone technical support. The vendor will assist with installing any upgrades and/or documentation updates as released. The period of performance is 12 months from April 1, 2020 through March 31, 2021 and includes four 12-month option periods for continued TRRM software support.

4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.106(b)(1): For purchases not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold, contracting officers may solicit from one source if the contracting officer determines that the circumstances of the contract action deem only one source reasonably available.

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: The proposed source for this action is DHS, 563 Blanding Boulevard, Orange Park, Florida 32073. As the creator and owner of all TRRM software products and annual software support services, DHS is the only source capable of providing the required software support services due to the proprietary nature of the TRRM software. No other source has access to DHS’ proprietary source code which is required to provide the required patches, bug fixes, updates and enhancements for the TRRM software. Further, DHS is the sole provider of its software products and associated support services and therefore, no resellers exist. Without this support RCV would not have access to patches, bug fixes, updates and enhancements or technical support for the TRRM solution which would result in the inability for RCV to track the warehouse location of approximately 2 million boxes of records that are directly related to Veteran Patient care.

Total Recall Software Maintenance Renewal Control Number VA-20-00029438

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. Additionally, the proposed action will be synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities Page in accordance with FAR

5.201. Any proposals that are received shall be evaluated.

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

8. Market Research: Market research was conducted by VA technical experts in January 2020 by reviewing software maintenance support available from manufacturers of similar software such as Infolinx Systems Solutions, Inc. As a result of the market research the technical experts confirmed that as the source code required to issue the patches, bug fixes, updates and enhancements is proprietary, DHS is the only source capable of providing the required TRRM annual software support. No other firm has the capability of developing and issuing software updates and fixes for VA’s existing TRRM software solution currently in production. Additionally, in a signed letter dated January 13, 2020, DHS confirmed that it is the creator, owner and sole provider of all TRRM products and is the sole provider of software support, program improvements and enhancements as they are developed and released, and that these services are not available from any other source. Therefore, the results of this market research indicated that the required TRRM software maintenance services are only available from the original software manufacturer with no resellers.

9. Other Facts: None