36C10B25R0006 AITC PACS_JA_FINAL_Redacted.pdf

CONTROL NUMBER VA-25-00008651

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, NJ 07724

2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for a firm-fixed price (FFP) contract for 24/7 maintenance and support of the current Physical Access Control System (PACS) and Closed-Circuit Television Video (CCTV) systems installed at the Austin Information Technology Center (AITC). A portion of this action includes a requirement for brand name Software House C-Cure 9000 and EverRun software license support.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Office of Information & Technology (OI&T), AITC requires 24/7 on-site support maintenance and repairs of its existing PACS and CCTV security devices at AITC. The Contractor shall provide 24/7 on-site support and maintenance to the existing PACS and CCTV systems installed at the AITC, which includes brand name C-Cure 9000 and EverRun software support licenses. These software licenses are provided through Software House who is the only provider that can provide seamless on-site software maintenance and support of the two software licenses. Specifically, AITC’s current PACS system utilizes Software House C-Cure 9000 and EverRun software to control and manage the system as well as to provide troubleshooting, programming, and diagnostics. The Software House C-Cure 9000 license is the application environment for which the PACS and CCTV system is controlled and the EverRun license is the platform for which the PACS and CCTV servers use within the C-Cure 9000 environment. Only a certified Software House technician has access to the proprietary code required to provide the necessary software maintenance and support. The maintenance and support includes software updates, patches, fixes, systems checks, and migration of servers and network switches. AITC is considered a Level 4 facility which does not allow for remote access to the security systems and thus no vendor can remotely access the PACS system. The required programming, maintenance, and troubleshooting of the PACS cannot be done remotely and requires a Software House certified technician to be onsite in order to access the AITC PACS system. Additionally, the certified technician must be able to meet a 4-hour response time for critical troubleshooting and repairs which is required for Level 4 federal facilities. The Contractor shall manage a service request response system for PACS and CCTV maintenance requests and provide all resources necessary to maintain and repair the existing PACS and CCTV systems, furnish all labor, supervision, equipment, tools, materials, supplies, travel and transportation necessary to provide PACS and CCTV systems maintenance and repairs. The CCTV is part of the PACS system and as a result, the system will require the Software House and EverRun software support licenses to log-in and provide troubleshooting, programming, and diagnostics as well as to provide software updates to the PACS system. The licenses will allow the technician

AITC PACS Maintenance Contract CONTROL NUMBER: VA-25-00008651 to access both the PACS software located at the server and the PACS workstation to complete programming. The period of performance shall include a base period of 12 months with four, 12-month option periods, if exercised. The total estimated price of the proposed action is (inclusive of options); specifically, the estimated price for the brand name portion of the effort is

4. 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 upon market research, as described in section 8 of this justification, it was determined that limited competition is available among resellers of Software House C-Cure 9000 and EverRun software license support. Support for both licenses are provided by Software House certified technicians in order to allow for seamless maintenance and support as the EverRun software is a component within the C-Cure 9000 application for the overall PACS and CCTV system. Support for both software licenses cannot be separated out as it would be detrimental to the PACS system requiring additional personnel to coordinate updates, troubleshooting, and general maintenance of the system. Only brand name Software House software license support meets the Government’s requirement.

Presently, the AITC does not have a requirement to replace the current PACS and CCTV system and only requires brand name maintenance and support of the current Software House C-Cure 9000 software licenses. If a vendor is unable to provide the required brand name Software House license support, AITC would not be able to support the existing system and instead, would need to replace it in its entirety. It is estimated that it would cost AITC approximately $1.6 million to replace the current system and reinstall a new system that utilizes a different suite of security software.

These duplicative costs for installation, testing, training and changes to the physical security posture of AITC would not be recouped through competition. If brand name Software House license support is not procured, AITC would be at a considerable risk of unauthorized personnel accessing the facility as well as lose the ability to secure critical controlled access rooms such as Intermediate Distribution Frame closets, mechanical rooms, and the data center, which stores Veterans protected health information (PHI), personal identifiable information (PII), and federal tax information. Additionally, AITC would not be in compliance with the Federal Security Assessment for a level 4 facility.

Additionally, if the vendor is not certified with the required certifications to work on the PACS for AITC, AITC would have to hire technicians to support AITC 24/7 on a job-by-job basis which would be costly to AITC.

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 license support. In accordance with FAR 6.302-1(c)(1)(ii)(c) and 5.102(a)(6) this justification shall be posted with the solicitation. Furthermore, the proposed action will be synopsized on the Contracting 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 market place that would enable future actions to be competed. Specifically, the Government will continue to monitor the marketplace to determine whether other brand software could integrate into VA's existing system.

8. Market Research: The Government technical experts conducted an internet search to determine if there was other software available that could meet the Government’s requirements for software licenses to address C-CURE 9000 issues and provide future updates. Although there are other PACS applications such as Lenel and Honeywell that offer software licenses, those licenses are not compatible with our current PACS application at AITC. Only Software House or authorized resellers are capable of providing the required maintenance software license for the existing system. No other firm has the capability to issue a software license for C-CURE 9000 that is necessary to update, troubleshoot and support the existing PACS requirements. Market research efforts were conducted via vendor websites to determine if competition was viable for this action.

In October 2024, the Contracting Officer reached out to Software House via email to request a list of authorized resellers of the Software House C-Cure 9000 software license support as well as information on the vendor’s socioeconomic status if known. A representative from Software House provided a list of three vendors who are authorized resellers of the software maintenance support licenses located near Austin, Texas. The vendors are Entech Sales and Service, LLC (Entech), Firetrol Protection Systems, Inc (Firetrol) and Siemens Government Technologies, Inc (Siemans). Both Firetrol and Siemens have current contracts under the General Services Administration (GSA) Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) as large businesses.

In October 2024, the Contract Specialist released a Request for Information (RFI) on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise- Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) to all vendors under Groups B, C and D and also released a RFI on the GSA eBuy! Portal under MAS SIN 334290PACS. Both RFIs closed with multiple no-bid intentions notices and zero responses to the RFI.

Based on the results of the review set forth above, there is no reasonable expectation that two or more SDVOSBs, VOSBs, or small businesses will be able to provide the required support. Therefore, it has been determined by the Contracting Officer that the subject Request for Proposal, in order to maximize competition, will be released as open-market, unrestricted on Contract Opportunities, SAM.gov portal under NAICS code 561621.

9. Other Facts: None

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.

Fair and Reasonable Price Determination

I hereby determine that the anticipated price to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable based on price analysis.

Contracting Officer Certification/Approval

I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.