JA_Rx Ready Final flattened_Redacted.pdf

Control Number VA-21-00009383

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

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

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

2. Description of Action: The proposed sole source action is for a firm fixed price (FFP) Contract for the Mumps AudioFAX, Inc.’s (MUMPS) AudioCARE Systems Software, software maintenance, helpdesk support, software module support, and training with MUMPS, 744 West Lancaster Avenue, suite 250, Wayne, PA 19087.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) VISN-4 Procurement Hub requires the MUMPS’ AudioCARE Systems which has been in place at VA for several decades. The AudioCARE system performs the following functionalities: prescription inquiry and refill order processing; prescription specific medication information for patients; prescription renewal requests and pick-up reminders; appointment scheduling and reminders; preventive health messages;

customized patient surveys; secure physician/patient communications such as for lab results, pre-examination questionnaires, immunization, and screening reminders; staff emergency notifications, and; patient-initiated balance inquiries. These functionalities provide a secure, end user interface for Veteran patients and staff.

RxREADY is the latest addition to the AudioCARE Pharmacy Suite products. This module notifies patients via text messaging when one or multiple prescriptions are ready for pick up at the pharmacy. The system constantly checks VistA for prescriptions being released and sends text messages to the patients based on their cell phone number on record in VistA. RxREADY would provide Veteran patients with services and functionalities that are on par with what private sector pharmacies offer their customers.

The system integrates with the Host system (VistA) Pharmacy package to obtain the necessary data about the Prescriptions (Rxs) that need to be to be filled or renewed and the associated patients to be contacted with the Rx reminders. RxREADY then issues text and phone reminders to Veterans to notify them when prescriptions or refills and renewals are due. Site parameters are customizable to limit notifications for only refills, only renewals or for both, as well as the number of days of medication remaining for the trigger of the reminders. In addition, pharmacies can select the drugs to be included based on their classification in order to enable the feature for only veterans on maintenance medication. This effort will provide software as well as services for software maintenance, helpdesk support, software module support, and training. The period of performance shall be 12 months from the date of award, with two 12-month option periods. The total estimated price of the proposed action is (inclusive of options).

AudioCARE Systems Control Number VA-21-00009383

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) 6.302-1 entitled, “Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.”

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based on Market research as described in Section 8 of this justification, MUMPS’ AudioCARE System is the only solution that can fulfill the Government’s requirements. Specifically, the MUMPS’ AudioCARE System is the only system that is compatible with VA’s existing infrastructure. Only the MUMPS AudioCARE software is able to interface with VA’s VistA system, the database which holds VA patient information in multiple applications.

VistA is coded in MUMPS language, and MUMPS AudioCare developed a single interface connection to VistA that can pull information for all the different AudioCare modules. Using proprietary database communication protocols, AudioCARE reads and manipulates data points within VistA that were structured specifically for the AudioCARE product.

Specifically, AudioCARE uses a proprietary database protocol called Enterprise Cache Protocol that directly accesses VistA data, whereas other VistA connected products use Health Level 7 messaging. MUMPS and Enterprise Cache Protocol is uniquely inherent to the AudioCARE System. The benefit of a direct MUMPS connection between the two systems is to allow a more robust integration with higher performance and reliability of transaction processing all within the MUMPS code language. This type of direct access to VistA, which is a VA functional requirement, requires a very tight integration of the codebase between AudioCARE and VistA. Without this integration to VistA, the AudioCare system would not be able to access patient and prescription data.

Specifically, the data in VistA applications that interface with the AudioCare systems are Pharmacy, Scheduling, and Clinical Patient Record System (CPRS) which populates the data utilized for Rx reminders. If any other brand name software was utilized in the infrastructure, the codebase would require a complete rewrite to function with any other brands to achieve this level of tight integration. A rewrite of the codebase is an extremely extensive effort and Government estimates for another vendor to come in and perform it would take approximately 18 months or at least $750,000 based off previous less complicated VistA code writing efforts. This tight integration between VistA and AudioCARE provides an end-to-end solution for automating communications with Veterans regarding appointment scheduling and prescription refills. In addition, only MUMPS AudioCare can provide the software maintenance, help desk support, and software module support because access to the MUMPS AudioCare proprietary code is required to ensure all the services provided are properly configured. No other vendor would have access to the MUMPS proprietary code and therefore could not provide and maintenance or bug fixes that are latent in the AudioCare code. Training and support can only be provided by MUMPS since the materials used are proprietary and are not provided by any other sources. Only MUMPS has the access required to support the AudioCARE systems. MUMPS’ AudioCARE system is the only solution that is compatible with the existing VA Infrastructure. An inability to procure the required MUMPS’ AudioCARE system would directly and adversely impact Veteran care as no other messaging system has access to the actual Veteran prescription data, and therefore there would be no effective messaging application to inform Veterans of their Rx status.

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 5.203(b) this justification will be publicized along with a synopsis of the solicitation.

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: A Request for Information (RFI) (36C10B21Q0030) was issued on October 26, 2020 on the Federal Business Opportunities website and on October 27, 2020 to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) to ascertain if there were any other sources that could meet the Government’s requirements. In the RFI, the Government requested vendors to identify alternative commercially available solutions, the estimated cost of the alternative solutions, and if there are authorized resellers of the AudioCARE product

The RFI closed on October 29, 2020. No responses were received. However, for the reasons cited in paragraph 5 above, it is not feasible for any company other than Mumps AudioFAX, Inc. to provide the required supplies and services. Any additional responses received will be evaluated by the Contracting Officer prior to award.

VA technical experts conducted market research to confirm that no other messaging system is integrated with VistA. Research indicated that no other messaging system for prescriptions is integrated with VistA in a manner that MUMPS AudioCare is integrated.

Furthermore, MUMPS confirmed that all of AudioCARE’s Systems and applications are proprietary and several have been issued patents and therefore no other company can provide these products or support for these products. Additionally, since MUMPS retains ownership of each system and software license, MUMPS is responsible for licensing and supporting this equipment. No other party can provide license renewal or maintenance services on any of the AudioCARE equipment, due to the proprietary nature of these products. As a result of the all of the market research results, MUMPS was determined to be the only authorized source that can provide the VA requirements.

A detailed market research report is in the contract file.

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: 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. Finally, the quotation will be compared to the Independent Government Cost Estimate.

12. Procuring Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. As this contract action does not exceed $750,000, the certification below required by FAR 6.304(a)(1) serves as