36C10B26Q0173_1.docx

Engineered Care VISN 6 TAC Number: VA-XX-XXXXXXX

GENERAL INFORMATION

SET-ASIDE

Technology Acquisition Center

23 Christopher Way Eatontown NJ 07724

POINT OF CONTACT*

Contract Specialist Ivan Varela Ivan.Varela@va.gov

(848) 377-5328

PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

ADDRESS

POSTAL CODE

COUNTRY

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

AGENCY’S URL

URL DESCRIPTION

AGENCY CONTACT’S EMAIL ADDRESS

EMAIL DESCRIPTION

DESCRIPTION

Sources Sought Notice Sources Sought Notice Please find all pertinent information pertaining to this Request for Information (RFI) below.

Sources Sought Notice

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

INTRODUCTION: THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION. This RFI is issued for information and planning purposes only, do not submit a proposal. There is no obligation for the Government to acquire any products or services described in this RFI. No funds have been authorized, appropriated, or received for this effort. The information provided may be used by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in developing its acquisition strategy. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary, restricted or competition sensitive information contained in their response. The Government does not intend to pay for the information submitted in response to this RFI.

BACKGROUND

The Medical, Administrative, and Leadership teams at 6 of the Veterans Administration Medical Centers (VAMCs) within the Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network (VISN 6), which is part of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have a requirement for a license to use the Care Transitions Portal software, which will be used to create the After Hospital Care Plan. Please refer to the attached DRAFT Product Description (PD) for more specific information on the requirement.

QUESTIONS AND CRITICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR INTERESTED CONTRACTORS

Responses are solely treated as information for the Government to consider. Direct or indirect costs incurred in response to this RFI are at the expense of the vendor, not the Government. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Any contract that might be awarded based on information received or derived from this RFI will be the outcome of a competitive process.

It is requested that all companies interested in participating in this effort to note their interest and respond to the areas identified in the “Capabilities Statement” section below. Provide a summary of your technical approach to meet each functional requirement Capabilities Statement The page limit for responses to this section is 5 pages.

1. Provide Point of Contact information (name, email address, address, telephone, and fax numbers).

2. Please identify your company’s size status based upon the applicable NAICS code of 513210. If in responding to this RFI, you believe another NAICS code should be applicable, please identify the NAICS code you consider appropriate for this effort along with detailed supporting rationale.

3. Please provide details regarding proposed joint ventures, teaming arrangements, strategic alliances or other business arrangements to satisfy requirements of the “Draft” Product Description (PD). Small businesses are encouraged to identify teams whereby each team member is considered small business based upon the proposed North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code of 513210 (small business size standard of $47.0M average annual receipts) to support set-aside considerations.

4. Provide Care Transitions Portal Software capabilities and deployment experience.

5. Provide a brief summary of your technical approach to meet VA’s requirements in the attached “Draft” PD. Identify any expected modifications that would be required to support the requirements detailed in the PD.

6. Please confirm your proposed solution will be the commercial-off-the-shelf software – Care Transitions Portal Software.

7. Please confirm, does the software solution interface with VA’s existing Health Record – Computerized Patient Record System.

8. Proposed staffing plan to meet PWS requirements.

9. Ability to meet the timelines needed to successfully implement requirements set by the PWS.

10. Provide information if services and products are available under any Federal Contract Vehicle, e.g., GWACs, GSA Federal Supply Schedule, T4NG, etc.

RESPONSE SUBMISSION

Please submit responses via email to Ivan Varela, Contract Specialist at Ivan.Varela@va.gov by 10:00 am Easter Standard Time, February 9th, 2026. VA reserves the right to not reply to any emails, responses, and/or materials submitted.

See attached document: Draft PD – Care Transitions Portal Software.

Care Transitions Portal Software

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION (PD) TEMPLATE

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Office of Information and Technology Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network (VISN 6)

Engineered Care VISN 6

Date: 1/21/2026

VA-XX-XXXXX

PD Version Number: V1

PRODUCT REQUIREMENTS

The Medical, Administrative, and Leadership teams at 6 of the Veterans Administration Medical Centers (VAMCs) within the Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network (VISN 6), which is part of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have a requirement for a license to use the the Care Transitions Portal software, which will be used to create the After Hospital Care Plan. The After Hospital Care Plan is a booklet containing all of the relevant information and instructions for patients discharged from an inpatient hospital setting. The information is presented in an easy to read, patient friendly format, written at a literacy level appropriate for the Veteran population. Information contained includes the current medication regimen, diagnoses, provider/team contact information, and follow up appointment information. This tool will make a meaningful impact on the patient’s understanding of his/her diagnoses and next steps in care, resulting in increased patient satisfaciton. In addition, this booklet allows a more streamlined discharge process since it pulls information from multiple components of the VA’s Electronic Health Record, “Computerized Patient Record System,” (CPRS), reducing the number of people who must manually extract this information, thus also reducing the chance for human error. Finally, helping patients remain healthy post-discharge will reduce unplanned readmissions.

The Contractor shall provide license for users at 6 of the VAMCs in VISN 6 to use the Care Transition Portal, including a VistA-Integrated Care Transitions Portal user interface to create and print an After Hospital Care Plan for every veteran discharge and other associated documents from 6 of the sites in VISN 6. This shall include installation, integration, customization of the After Hospital Care Plan software configuration, testing, and deployment, as well as other professional services (as necessary), and training of VISN 6 users. The software shall be housed on a VA server. The period of performance shall be a 12-month base period with two (2) 12-month Option Periods for use of the licenses.

Base Period

Durham VAMC, Durham, NC Fayetteville VAMC, Fayetteville, NC Hampton VAMC, Hampton, VA Richmond VAMC, Richmond, VA Salem VAMC, Salem, VA Salisbury VAMC, Salisbury, NC

Option Period 1

Durham VAMC, Durham, NC Fayetteville VAMC, Fayetteville, NC Hampton VAMC, Hampton, VA Richmond VAMC, Richmond, VA Salem VAMC, Salem, VA

Option Period 2

Durham VAMC, Durham, NC Fayetteville VAMC, Fayetteville, NC Hampton VAMC, Hampton, VA Richmond VAMC, Richmond, VA Salem VAMC, Salem, VA

The following shall be part of the implementation solutions:

· Creation of After Hospital Care Plan with health literacy appropriate patient discharge instructions for patients;

· Report functionality to enable continual quality improvement and performance tracking;

· Administrative interface to perform user management, application configuration and auditing;

· Integrate the AHCP software with the hospital based VISTA software used for evidence-based, VISTA-Integrated Discharge Instructions. Replaces a site`s existing CPRS discharge note with a patient-friendly discharge instruction booklet that:

a. Has been shown to reduce unnecessary readmissions,

b. Is customized for the VA environment to help educate veterans about their care and additional VA programs,

c. Improves the discharge process at a VA site while providing leadership opportunities for clinical staff. A new software that will interface with Computerized Patients Record System (CPRS) to improve the discharge process. It allows the care givers to have one source to print Care Plans, the patients schedule appointments, etc. End-users will access via CPRS Tools. Grants a license for Customer and its Users to use the Product, during the Term.

· Allows care givers to have one source to print Care Plans, the patients schedule appointment, ECT, through access via CPRS Tools.

· Clear discharge instructions compiled in a booklet to keep instructions in one place and be easier for veteran patients to review and understand and follow their Care Plans, in one easy booklet.

· Technology that is stable integrated application intended to improve the patient discharge process by providing education regarding patient diagnosis, documentation follow-up appointment and discharge services, confirms the medication plan, reviews steps on what to do if a problem arises, assesses the patient’s understanding of the plan, gives the patient a written discharge plan to take home review and follow.

508 Fulton St. Durham, NC 27705

2300 Ramsey St, Fayetteville, NC 28301

100 Emancipation Dr, Hampton, VA 23667

1201 Broad Rock Blvd, Richmond, VA 23249

1970 Roanoke Blvd, Salem, VA 24153

1601 Brenner Ave, Salisbury, NC 28144

Table 1 - VISN 06 Facilities/Locations for the Care Transitions Software Portal and Maintenance Support

1.1 SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT (SLA) REQUIREMENTS

The following table contains the SLA requirements for this effort.

Table 2: Service Level Agreement (SLA) Requirements

Severity Level 1 - Critical Impact notification received from VA by phone or email Severity Level 2 - Major Impact notification received from VA by phone or email Severity Level 3 - Minor Impact notification varies - either by phone, e-mail or ticket submission Severity Level 4 – Proposed engancements or usage questions. Notification varies - either by phone, e-mail or Support Response Times:

Severity Level 1 - Critical Impact: within 4-6 hours Severity Level 2 - Major Impact: within 4-6 hours Severity Level 3 - Minor Impact: within 24 hours Severity Level 4 – Enhancement or usage questions: within 48 hours

Deliverables:

A. Root Cause Analysis Report B. Incident Response Test Report

1.2 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

1.2.1 CONTRACTOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN

The Contractor shall deliver a Contractor Project Management Plan (CPMP) that lays out the Contractor’s approach, timeline and tools to be used in execution of this TO effort. The CPMP should take the form of both a narrative and graphic format that displays the schedule, milestones, risks and resource support. The CPMP shall also include how the Contractor shall coordinate and execute planned, routine, and ad hoc data collection reporting requests as identified within the Product Description document. The Contractor shall update and maintain the VA Program Manager (PgM) approved CPMP throughout the PoP.

Deliverable:

A. Contractor Project Management Plan

1.3 Kick-Off Meeting

A technical kickoff meeting shall be held within 10 calendar days after contract award. The Contractor shall coordinate the date, time, and location (can be virtual) with the Contracting Officer (CO), as the Post-Award Conference Chairperson, the VISN 6 PM, as well as the Co-Chairperson, the Contract Specialist (CS), and the COR. The Contractor shall provide a draft agenda to the CO and VA PM at least five (5) calendar days prior to the meeting. Upon Government approval of a final agenda, the Contractor shall distribute to all meeting attendees. During the kickoff-meeting, the Contractor shall present, for review and approval by the Government, the details of the proposed approach, work plan, and project schedule for the effort via a Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentation. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Contractor shall update the presentation with a final slide entitled “Summary Report” which shall include notes on any major issues, agreements, or disagreements discussed during the kickoff meeting and the following statement “As the Post-Award Conference Chairperson, I have reviewed the entirety of this presentation and assert that it is an accurate representation and summary of the discussions held during the Technical Kickoff Meeting for the Care Transitions Software and Maintenance Support application meeting. The Contractor shall submit the final updated presentation to the CO for review and signature within three calendar days after the meeting. The Contractor shall also work with the CS, the Government’s designated note taker, to prepare and distribute the meeting minutes of the kickoff meeting to the CO, COR and all attendees within three calendar days after the meeting. The Contractor shall obtain concurrence from the CS on the content of the meeting minutes prior to distribution of the document.

Deliverable:

A. Kickoff meeting agenda B. Kickoff meeting minutes

1.4 HOSTED ENVIRONMENT HELP DESK SUPPORT

The Contractor shall provide Tier 3 Help Desk support meeting the requirements listed below for all the Care Transition application. Tier 3 support is defined as expert level troubleshooting and analysis methods. The Tier 3 Help Desk shall include:

a. Providing technical assistance to authorized users.

b. Authenticating a User through questions/challenges in the user profile before giving access; providing information; or making changes to the system.

c. Maintaining a ticket tracking system.

d. Managing and tracking all environment outages.

e. Managing Help Desk request fulfillment, access management, and planned and preventive maintenance.

f. Providing input and technical support to VA help/service desks on all layers until resolution.

g. Providing problem management tracking for three severity (SEV) levels of problem requests and timely resolutions for infrastructure problems in accordance with the SLA:

A. A SEV 1 Incident shall be defined as an error that renders inoperative any part or the entirety of the Software, or that causes the software to fail catastrophically.

B. A SEV 2 Incident shall be defined as an error that significantly degrades performance of the Software or restricts the use of the software.

C. A SEV 3 Incident shall be defined as having only minor impact on the usage of the software.

D. A SEV 4 Incident shall be defined as a proposed engancement or usage question.

h. Notifying the VA Project Manager (PM) of scheduled maintenance windows per the SLA.

i. Coordinating with VA for network outage, reconfiguration, and network troubleshooting issues.

j. The Contractor shall provide a detailed helpdesk support plan that includes metrics of tracking issues for severity levels 1-3, and standard operating procedures for the support provided in 1.6 (a-g)

Deliverables:

A. Help Desk Support Plan

1.5 TECHNICAL SUPPORT

The Contractor shall provide technical support for the Care Transition software related to operation and configuration. The Contractor shall provide 24x7x365 technical support through a toll-free contact number or email for Severity Level 1 Errors. Technical support for Severity Level 2 Errors will be provided in 4-6 hours, for Level 3 Errors within 24 hors, and for Severity Level 4 hours within 48 hours.

The Contractor shall provide technical support for all Care Transition software including any manufacturer-sponsored modification or revisions. The support provided shall consist of correction of errors, provision of manufacturer-sponsored modifications, improvements, and revisions. The Contractor shall furnish Full Documentation for All Manufacture-Sponsored Software Changes/Modifications. The Contractor shall furnish the most current electronic version of Manufacturer-Supplied User Manuals, when available. All efforts performed on this subtask including trouble tickets shall be reported in the Monthly Progress Report.

Deliverables:

A. Full Documentation for All Manufacturer—Sponsored Software Changes/Modifications – due within seven days after completion or modification changes B. Manufacturer-Supplied User Manuals – due 30 days after task order award and due seven days following any updates

1.6 MAINTENANCE

The Contractor shall maintain the Care Transition and updates criteria.

The Contractor shall identify issues, troubleshoot anomalies, and provide maintenance for the content distribution and digital signage. The Contractor shall provide a 24x7x365 toll-free contact number for maintenance. The Contractor shall provide 24x7x365 technical support through a toll-free contact number or email for Severity Level 1 Errors. Technical support for Severity Level 2 Errors will be provided in 4-6 hours, for Level 3 Errors within 24 hors, and for Severity Level 4 hours within 48 hours. When required, the Contractor shall initiate on-site corrective action within 24 hours. Once repairs are initiated, the Contractor shall continue until the work is completed. The Contractor shall troubleshoot the content distribution and digital signage hardware and software to determine the best method of repair. The Contractor shall notify the COR of identified defect/failure and continue corrective measures until the problem is resolved. The Contractor shall provide functionally comparable equipment when failed hardware needs to be replaced.

Routine scheduled maintenance shall be scheduled during off peak hours after 9:00pm EST in patient care areas unless otherwise approved by the COR. Maintenance can be schedule anytime in non-patient areas. Holidays and weekends work must be scheduled with COR. The Contractor shall notify VA of routine maintenance seven (7) days prior to the event and shall indicate whether a scheduled event poses a risk of the service to be offline or which may degrade system performance. The Contractor shall provide and install manufacturer software/firmware upgrades within 60 days of manufacturer release. The Contractor shall notify the COR of all upgrades and receive approval prior to installation.

Any actions performed on this subtask shall be reported in the Monthly Progress Report, including any identified security issues, the number of service calls and the resolution of the calls, the amount of time taken to resolve the calls, user complaints and the Contractor action taken on those user complaints.

Deliverables:

A. Monthly Progress Report

1.7 Performance Monitoring

The successful vendor will provide periodic performance reporting during the course of AHCP software installation and deployment IAW SLA criteria. DURHAM HCS, FAYETTEVILLE HCS, HAMPTON HCS, RICHMOND HCS, SALEM HCS, SALISBURY HCS will have real-time access to the AHCP software during this time and may conduct periodic product sampling to verify compliance with requirements.

1.8 Security Requirement

The Contractor shall provide continuous monitoring of all critical hosting resources including the computing environments. The Contractor shall monitor all such resources through automated tools to ensure availability and to guarantee that all systems are operating within the expected parameters as defined by the SLA (detailed in Section 1.2).

In the event of a service disruption, the Contractor shall notify the COR within fifteen (15) minutes of detecting the event. Tools employed in the monitoring of resources should have no less than five (5) minute resolution to ensure there is minimal time between event occurrence and detection. Such notifications shall be disseminated according to the severity and impact according to the Event Escalation Plan.

If an event (System Outage) occurs that impacts the availability of the environment, the Contractor shall provide an Event Update Report every hour until the issue is resolved. After the event, the Contractor shall provide an After-Action Report (AAR) with a detailed summary of the identified problem, chronology of events, impact analysis, remediation actions, total elapsed time, and lessons learned within three (3) business days after the conclusion of the event. The downtime and the impact to the SLA shall be included in the report. Within three (3) business days of resolution, the Contractor shall provide an initial Root Cause Analysis (RCA) outage report IAW Section 1.2. A final version shall be supplied within (5) business days of receiving Government’s feedback.

· Software shall operate within the VA internal/intranet side of the web system (VAWW). VA sensitive information will reside within the vendor database.

· C&A requirements do not apply, and a Security Accreditation Package is not required.

· Uses an MDWS interface to VISTA and uses Remote Procedure Calls already defined in VISTA (RPC Broker calls).

· Software shall integrate with the CPRS Chart.

· Use of this technology must comply with ESCCB requirements which include: Signed Interconnection Agreements/Memorandum of Understanding agreements (MOU/ISA) with each external business partner. Compliance with VA Handbook 6500, and must implement appropriate National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Federal Information Processing Standards CFIP SL requirements for all devices interacting with this technology.

· All instances of deployment using this technology will be reviewed by VA employee, the local ISO (Information Security Officer), to ensure compliance with VA Handbook 6500 and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards and an ISO Risk Based Decision (RBD) must be approved by the local ISO/CIO before it can be used in the VA Production Environment. In cases where the technology is used for external connections, a full Enterprise Security Change Control Board (ESCCB) review is required in accordance VA Directive 6004, VA Directive 65 17 and VA Directive 6513. The local ISO will advise on the ESCCB review process and ensure privacy of information compliance protections are in place.

Deliverables:

A. Root cause Analysis B. After Action Report C. Security Logs (encrypted) D. Incident Report

1.9 Training

The Contractor shall provide comprehensive training on the use of the AHCP software being purchased for all staff members that are to use this software. At a minimum, training shall include, but not be limited to technical and operational training. Instruction/user guides shall be provided for both training and technical and operational usage.

The training shall occur at the DURHAM HCS, FAYETTEVILLE HCS, HAMPTON HCS, RICHMOND HCS, SALEM HCS, SALISBURY HCS, via on-line, instructor driven classes during normal business hours, 8:00am-4:30pm, Monday through Friday, excluding all Federal Holidays. Training date and time shall be prescheduled and preapproved by the contracting officer’s representative prior to initiation.

1.9.1 TRAINING AND TRAINING DOCUMENTS/MATERIALS

The Contractor shall provide two virtual, Instructor led training sessions (on TEAMs, Skype, or Webex) users at 6 of the VAMCs in VISN 6 to use the Care Transition Portal,on the operations and functionality of the software, including a troubleshooting section. The training shall also include procedures to submit Engineering transition and support plans to the VA. The Contractor shall deliver the PowerPoint training slide deck. The Contractor shall record the training session and provide a copy of the recorded training session playable on MS Windows10 environment or equivalent. The Contractor shall coordinate with the COR to schedule the training sessions to be completed prior to software going operational.

The Contractor shall conduct quarterly virtual software update webinar sessions (via Skype or Webex). The Contractor shall deliver the Quarterly webinar PowerPoint training slide deck. The Contractor shall record the Quarterly webinar training session and provide a copy of the recorded training session playable on MS Windows10 environment or equivalent. The Contractor shall coordinate with the COR to schedule the Quarterly webinar training sessions with the COR.

Deliverables:

1. PowerPoint Training Slide Deck and Video or materials.

1. Quarterly Webinar PowerPoint Training Slide Deck and Video.

1.10 SOFTWARE AND LICENSING REQUIREMENTS

The Contractor shall be responsible for the provision of all software licenses and any associated licensing maintenance required for any development, delivery, integration, operation, and/or maintenance associated with its proposed application(s), software products, software solution, and/or system including, but not limited to, any and all application(s), software and/or software products that comprise, are a part of, or integrate with the Contractor’s proposed application(s), software products, software solution, and/or system for the life of any resulting contract.

NOTICE OF THE FEDERAL ACCESSIBILITY LAW AFFECTING ALL INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) PROCUREMENTS (SECTION 508)

On January 18, 2017, the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) revised and updated, in a single rulemaking, standards for electronic and information technology developed, procured, maintained, or used by Federal agencies covered by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as well as our guidelines for telecommunications equipment and customer premises equipment covered by Section 255 of the Communications Act of 1934. The revisions and updates to the Section 508-based standards and Section 255-based guidelines are intended to ensure that information and communication technology (ICT) covered by the respective statutes is accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities.

1.11 SECTION 508 – INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) STANDARDS

The Section 508 standards established by the Access Board are incorporated into, and made part of all VA orders, solicitations and purchase orders developed to procure ICT. These standards are found in their entirety at: https://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-ict-refresh/final-rule/text-of-the-standards-and-guidelines. A printed copy of the standards will be supplied upon request.

Federal agencies must comply with the updated Section 508 Standards beginning on January 18, 2018. The Final Rule as published in the Federal Register is available from the Access Board: https://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-ict-refresh/final-rule.

The Contractor shall comply with “508 Chapter 2: Scoping Requirements” for all electronic ICT and content delivered under this contract. Specifically, as appropriate for the technology and its functionality, the Contractor shall comply with the technical standards marked here:

1.12 COMPATABILITY WITH ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY

The standards do not require installation of specific accessibility-related software or attachment of an assistive technology device. Section 508 requires that ICT be compatible with such software and devices so that ICT can be accessible to and usable by individuals using assistive technology, including but not limited to screen readers, screen magnifiers, and speech recognition software.

1.13 ACCEPTANCE AND ACCEPTANCE TESTING

Deliverables resulting from this solicitation will be accepted based in part on satisfaction of the Section 508 Chapter 2: Scoping Requirements standards identified above.

The Government reserves the right to test for Section 508 Compliance before delivery. The Contractor shall be able to demonstrate Section 508 Compliance upon delivery.

SHIPMENT OF HARDWARE OR EQUIPMENT

Inspection: Destination Acceptance: Destination Free on Board (FOB): Destination

Ship To and Mark For:

Primary

Alternate

Suite 200 Durham, NC 27701 Address:

1.14 VA TECHNICAL REFERENCE MODEL

The Contractor shall support the VA enterprise management framework. In association with the framework, the Contractor shall comply with OIT Technical Reference Model (VA TRM). The VA TRM is one component within the overall Enterprise Architecture (EA) that establishes a common vocabulary and structure for describing the information technology used to develop, operate, and maintain enterprise applications. Moreover, the VA TRM, which includes the Standards Profile and Product List, serves as a technology roadmap and tool for supporting OIT. Architecture & Engineering Services (AES) has overall responsibility for the VA TRM.

1.15 SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER (SSN) REDUCTION

The Contractor solution shall support the Social Security Number (SSN) Fraud Prevention Act (FPA) of 2017 which prohibits the inclusion of SSNs on any document sent by mail. The Contractor support shall also be performed in accordance with Section 240 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) 2018, enacted March 23, 2018, which mandates VA to discontinue using SSNs to identify individuals in all VA information systems as the Primary Identifier. The Contractor shall ensure that any new IT solution discontinues the use of SSN as the Primary Identifier to replace the SSN with the Integrated Control Number (ICN) in all VA information systems for all individuals. The Contractor shall ensure that all Contractor delivered applications and systems integrate with the VA Master Person Index (MPI) for identity traits to include the use of the ICN as the Primary Identifier. The Contractor solution may only use a Social Security Number to identify an individual in an information system if and only if the use of such number is required to obtain information VA requires from an information system that is not under the jurisdiction of VA.

1.16 INTERNET PROTOCOL VERSION 6 (IPV6)

The Contractor solution shall support Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) based upon the memo issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on November 19, 2020 (https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/M-21-07.pdf). IPv6 technology, in accordance with the USGv6 Program (https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/usgv6-program/usgv6-revision-1), NIST Special Publication (SP) 500-267B Revision 1 “USGv6 Profile” (https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.500-267Br1), and NIST SP 800-119 “Guidelines for the Secure Deployment of IPv6” (https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.800-119), compliance shall be included in all IT infrastructures, application designs, application development, operational systems and sub-systems, and their integration. In addition to the above requirements, all devices shall support native IPv6 and dual stack (IPv6 / IPv4) connectivity without additional memory or other resources being provided by the Government, so that they can function in a mixed environment. All public/external facing servers and services (e.g. web, email, DNS, ISP services, etc.) shall support native IPv6 and dual stack (IPv6 / IPv4) users and all internal infrastructure and applications shall communicate using native IPv6 and dual stack (IPv6 / IPv4) operations.

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