JA - Laurel Bridge_DICOM_Redacted.pdf

Control Number VA-24-00036285

JUSTIFICATIONFOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

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 award of a firm-fixed price Delivery Order issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government-wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for renewal of brand-name Laurel Bridge Software, Inc. (Laurel Bridge) annual software license renewals maintenance and professional support services.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: The proposed action provides for renewal of annual maintenance and support for brand-name Laurel Bridge Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) v3.0 protocol software, professional support services, and software maintenance support. Through this renewal, VA will be able to properly maintain the operation of the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) Imaging project. Specifically, this proposed procurement includes renewal of:

(a) Annual Maintenance – six (6) DICOM Connectivity Framework (DCF) Software Developer Toolkits

(b) Three (3) Compass Direct DICOM routers (software maintenance)

(c) 182 Compass Store and Forward DICOM routers (software maintenance)

(d) 13 PowerTools Suite Applications

(e) Five (5) DCF Local Run-Time licenses

The Workflow Application Support Package is comprised of 240 hours professional support and will provide VA with remote application support and assistance for consulting, management, configuration, troubleshooting, and testing.

The period of performance shall consist of a 12-month base period with two 12-month option periods. The total estimated value of the proposed action is

4. Statutory Authority: Pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 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 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 Section 8 of this document, the Government has determined that only renewal of brand-name maintenance and support would meet all the Governments

Brand Name Laurel Bridge Software Maintenance Control Number VA-24-00036285 current technical and functional requirements. Laurel Bridge is the sole manufacturer of this brand-name software, and its authorized resellers are the only sources capable of providing the required license maintenance and services.

VA’s VistA Imaging footprint is partially comprised of brand-name Laurel Bridge software. To properly maintain this footprint, VA must renew the existing licenses and support. No other source, other than Laurel Bridge or its authorized resellers, have access to the proprietary source code, components, nor can provide software updates that can seamlessly interoperate with the existing infrastructure.

Specifically, the renewal of existing brand-name DICOM DCF SDK will provide VA with ongoing support of VistA Imaging, and the software applications created utilizing these kits previously. VA has utilized the brand-name Laurel Bridge DICOM DCF SDK since fiscal year (FY) 2009 to create these applications, which communicate and display the images using proprietary protocols and source code. With the proposed renewal, VA will continue to be able to address reported software issues and defects in deployed code via seamlessly interoperable patches based on the proprietary source code created by Laurel Bridge, as previously noted. Continued use along with maintenance and support access to the proprietary source code is necessary to identify and perform root cause analysis. The existing brand-name Laurel Bridge Power Tools suite is utilized by various VistA Imaging staff in providing Tier I, II, and III VistA Imaging support and troubleshooting. Absent access, any other source would not be able to identify or remedy issues that arise, leaving VA vulnerable.

VA is currently amid a partial migration of the OIT Laurel Bridge Compass routers for DICOM files to a new infrastructure of Veterans Health Administration (VHA) load-balanced, high-availability Laurel Bridge Professional version Compass Routers. During this transition, which VA anticipates taking another 12 to 18 months, the existing DICOM compass router infrastructure must be maintained. For the DICOM image routing infrastructure to be maintained and operate efficiently, the existing OIT Compass Router software maintenance is required to ensure that there is no interruption to service that any replacement components seamlessly integrate and interoperate with the deployed solution. The Laurel Bridge Compass routers are a critical component of diagnostic imaging workflow for multiple clinical specialties at all VHA medical centers. To account for deployed VistA Imaging server client software, VA must also renew the maintenance and support of five DCF-Local Server-Run Time licenses as part of this action. These licenses are utilized in concert with the VistA Imaging servers located at VHA medical centers.

As stated above, no other source has access to the proprietary protocols and source code, nor does the Laurel Bridge DICOM solution and infrastructure interoperate with any other brand-name solution. To introduce a new brand-name, VA would have to replace extensive coded VistA Imaging software and infrastructure. VA estimates that this would incur $9,077,657.79 in duplicative costs, for the significant redesign of VistA imaging, testing, deployment, software refactoring and reconfiguration of thousands of vendors supported medical devices across the VA enterprise. The duplicative costs would not be recouped from any potential cost savings if a new competed action was executed. These estimates are based on refactoring existing government owned software and replacement cost of the existing commercial off the shelf DICOM routing and management software.

Further, as noted in section 3, VA requires professional support services to ensure that the deployed software is properly configured and perform validation testing and troubleshooting as needed. As a responsible source must have access to the proprietary source code to perform any root cause analysis and to deploy any seamlessly interoperable patches/pushes, the only responsible source would be the OEM or its authorized reseller.

Based on VA’s market research, no other brands solution, can meet all the technical and functional requirements necessary for the VA’s VistA Imaging system. As such, failure to procure these services as proposed create a lapse in support of these systems that would affect patient diagnosis, resulting in reduced treatment outcomes for Veterans.

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 for brand-name Laurel Bridge licenses, as well as software maintenance and support. 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 Contract 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 marketplace that would enable future actions to be competed.

8. Market Research: Market Research was conducted in May 2024 for alternative solutions, specifically DICOM Objects SDK from LeadTools and the DICOM Objects SDK from Medical Connection Ltd. It was determined that none of these brand names can meet the requirements noted in Section 5 of this document, such as access patches with seamless interoperability and or access to the proprietary source code.

Additional Market Research was conducted by the VA technical experts, and later confirmed by the Contract Specialist, on the NASA SEWP V GWAC contract during December 2023 and January 2024, utilizing the NASA SEWP Provider Lookup Tool and the NASA SEWP V Market Research Tool. Upon conclusion of those reviews, it was determined there were three authorized resellers of brand-name Laurel Bridge product line items are contract holders, all of which are verified Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs).

Furthermore, a Request for Information (RFI) #296369 was posted to all 129 Contract Holders on NASA SEWP Groups B, C, and D on January 16, 2024, with a closing date of January 23, 2024, to verify the capability of the Laurel Bridge resellers. Upon the closing of the RFI, there were a total of 11 responses; eight responded with a no bid for various reasons and three stated they could provide a quote should a Request for Quote (RFQ) be posted in the future. Of the three interested Vendors, all three are verified SDVOSBs via Veteran Small Business Certification (https://veterans.certify.sba.gov/). Therefore, this action will be set aside to SDVOSB authorized resellers under the NASA SEWP V GWAC.

9. Other Facts: None

10.Technical/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 based on anticipation of competition and discounts among NASA SEWP V GWAC resellers of the required brand-name Laurel Bridge software and maintenance support. Additionally, catalog pricing for NASA SEWP V GWAC holders has already been determined by NASA to be fair and reasonable. Finally, price analysis shall be conducted by comparing the successful quote to the Independent Government Cost Estimate.

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

Advocate for Competition Approval

In my role as procuring activity Advocate for Competition, based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the acquisition of brand-name Laurel Bridge annual software license renewals maintenance and professional support services on another 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.