Special Notice

*= Required Field Special Notice

SUBJECT* Interoperability and Interface Modernization - RFI

GENERAL INFORMATION

CONTRACTING OFFICE’S ZIP CODE* 22408-2697

SOLICITATION NUMBER* 36C10G26Q0072

RESPONSE DATE/TIME/ZONE 06-22-2026 12:00pm EASTERN TIME, NEW YORK, USA

ARCHIVE 15 DAYS AFTER THE RESPONSE DATE

RECOVERY ACT FUNDS N

PRODUCT SERVICE CODE* R408

NAICS CODE* 541512

CONTRACTING OFFICE ADDRESS U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

OPAL | Strategic Acquisition Center 10300 Spotsylvania Ave | STE 400 Fredericksburg VA 22408-2697

POINT OF CONTACT*

Contracting Officer William Milline William.Milline@va.gov Contract Specialist Cristine Carmody Cristine.Carmody@va.gov

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

AGENCY’S URL

URL DESCRIPTION

AGENCY CONTACT’S EMAIL ADDRESS

EMAIL DESCRIPTION

DESCRIPTION

Request for Information (RFI) Digital Health Office

Interoperability and Interface Modernization

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY (as defined in RFO FAR 15.101(c));

this is a request for information the Government does not currently intend to award a contract, but wants to obtain price, delivery, market, or capabilities information for planning purposes.

Responses to this RFIs are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI or otherwise pay for the information requested; and Responses will be treated as information only and not as a proposals.

A formal solicitation is not available at this time. This notice does not constitute a commitment by the United States Government and does not obligate the Government to award a contract or pay for the information provided in response. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR RESPONDING TO THIS RFI

Response Format/Page Limitations:

The overall total page limit for responses to this RFI has no limit; however, the Government recommends a clear and concise response to reduce the number of pages submitted to ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed. Interested parties should limit marketing material in order to allow sufficient space for adequately, directly, and substantively responding with the information of most interest to the Government.

When responding, please also confirm your company’s Socio-Economic Category and Unique Entity Identifier (UEI).

If responding as a Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business or Veteran Owned Small Business, please submit proof of your certification with your submission. Verification of your certification can be found through https://veterans.certify.sba.gov/.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If your company has an existing contracting vehicle that can fulfill this need i.e. GSA Schedule, Federal Supply Schedule (FSS), NASA SEWP, NIH, Supply Schedule, or any other existing contract or Basic Ordering Agreements (BOA), etc., in your response, please provide enough information for the Government to analyze those resources to include points of contact, contract number/name, etc.

The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this solicitation or to otherwise pay for the information solicited except as an allowable cost under other contracts as provided in subsection 31.205-18, Independent Research and Development and Bid and Proposal costs, of the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

https://veterans.certify.sba.gov/

Although “proposal” and “offeror” are used in this Request for Information, your response will be treated as information only. It shall not be used as a proposal.

This solicitation is issued for the purpose of: seek information from interested and capable firms.

Submission: Responses to this RFI shall be submitted to William Milline and Cristine Carmody via email William.Milline@va.gov and Cristine.Carmody@va.gov no later than June 22, 2026.

mailto:William.Milline@va.gov mailto:Cristine.Carmody@va.gov

Digital Health Office Interoperability and Interface Modernization

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), is issuing this Request for Information (RFI) to obtain industry input, recommendations, and best-practice insights regarding approaches to modernizing interoperability, standardizing enterprise interfaces, and reducing technical complexity across VHA’s ecosystem.

This RFI is for planning purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation. VHA is seeking input at the conceptual and strategic level to inform future acquisition strategy, program design, and technical planning. To support transparency and align with federal best practices, respondents should assume the following operating constraints and planning considerations:

• VHA is seeking conceptual, architectural, and methodological-level recommendations, rather than procurement-ready technical solutions.

• Respondents may provide insight on commercial, custom, or hybrid solutions; however, all recommendations should align to standards-based, vendor-neutral interoperability principles.

o Administrative transactions (e.g, X12, NCPCP) o Clinical exchange (e.g., HL7v2, FHIR) o Device data (e.g., IEEE, IHE)

• VHA is identifying assumed operating constraints for industry consideration, including:

o An estimated 6-year modernization timeline that must support dual-EHR operations during transition o A diverse and federated enterprise footprint with substantial local variation o Sustained continuity-of-operations requirements o The need to reduce technical debt and lifecycle sustainment costs

Responses will inform VHA, VA Office of Information and Technology (OIT), Electronic Health Record Modernization-Integration Office (EHRM-IO), and Federal Electronic Health Record Modernization (FEHRM) partners planning, including interface lifecycle management, enterprise architecture alignment, regulatory compliance, and national baseline processes.

The expected results of this project are improved Veteran clinical outcomes and improved quality of life. As well as job satisfaction for providers using VA health information systems to ensure Veteran health and well-being.

Any responding contractor may respond to any number of questions posed in this RFI, and a submission does not mandate a response to each question asked. Any and all socioeconomic categories are encouraged to respond.

Expected time frame to begin work: FY27

Expected Period of Performance: One Year base, plus four optional year periods (dependent on quality of responses and agency need)

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) for this requirement is 541512.

Be advised that set-aside decisions may be made based on the information provided in response to this RFI. Responses should be as complete and informative as possible.

DRAFT - Scope of Work

VHA Interoperability & Interface Modernization

1.0 Background

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is executing one of the largest and most complex health IT modernization efforts in the world. During the transition from legacy systems to the Federal Electronic Health Record (Federal EHR), VHA must maintain continuity of operations, support dual-EHR environments spanning multiple Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISNs), and prepare for the next generation of clinical and administrative workflows.

The starting point for this effort presents one of the most complex technical challenges in the federal government. For more than three decades, the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) system has operated across over one hundred VA medical centers, each evolving the platform independently to meet local needs. While these modifications supported day-to-day operations, they created significant national fragmentation that now directly impedes modernization.

The current VHA interoperability landscape includes thousands of locally developed, point-to-point interfaces; numerous variable technical standards (both as to type and version); mixed integration patterns; and legacy technologies with inconsistent governance. These conditions create:

• Operational variability

• High sustainment costs and technical debt

• Data quality and reliability challenges

• Barriers to innovation, including Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled workflows and real-time analytics

• Reduced enterprise agility and scalability

• Cybersecurity risk exposure

The most critical barrier is the sheer volume of one-off device connections and system interfaces built differently at every facility. VHA estimates tens of thousands of unique legacy interfaces—often 100 to 200 per site—many aging, undocumented, and incompatible with modern health IT standards. This patchwork of local integrations represents a material risk to Veteran care delivery, increases cybersecurity exposure, and drives substantial annual sustainment costs.

A second consideration is the broad range of national standards versions (HL7, X12, National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP), Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR), etc.) currently in use across VHA. Within the VHA version selection is often influenced by operational needs and the technical capabilities of existing VA systems. As a result, different facilities or legacy applications may use different versions based on their specific workflows or system dependencies. For exchanges with external trading partners - including payers, community providers, registries, and federal agencies - VHA generally aligns to versions associated with applicable regulations, incorporating VHA-specific elements where necessary to support Veteran care and administrative processes. Modernization funding cycles, which may not always align with updates to federal interoperability regulations, can affect the timing of enterprise-wide version updates. As VHA continues to modernize, it aims to move toward a more coordinated standards-governance approach that promotes predictable version adoption, greater semantic consistency, and alignment with national standards across the enterprise.

These challenges are not simply a technical inconvenience; they are a foundational obstacle to delivering the unified, modernized digital healthcare system that Veterans, clinicians, and Congress expect. Without a coordinated strategy to standardize, consolidate, and modernize these interfaces, VA cannot fully achieve interoperability, reduce costs, strengthen security, or complete a safe transition to the Federal EHR.

Recognizing the challenges ahead, VHA leadership has directed a shift to a “Many-to-One” model consistent with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), and FEHRM modernization priorities. This approach seeks to consolidate fragmented integrations into enterprise-managed, standards-based, reusable interfaces, and reduced architectural complexity.

2.0 Scope

The 'Many-to-One' model represents a strategic architectural shift that consolidates VHA’s highly fragmented, locally developed, and independently maintained interfaces into a categories/types of enterprise-managed, standards-based, reusable integration pathways The current approach involved “many”, point-to-point integrations across VistA, Federal EHR components to integrate medical devices, community care systems, external partners, administrative systems, and registries on an ad-hoc basis. The future approach refers to a unified (“one”) enterprise interoperability framework that includes:

• A centralized enterprise interface platform to operationalize, monitor, and support standards-based interoperability solutions

• Consolidated governance and lifecycle management

• Reusable API and messaging architectures and

• A unified operational and security framework

• Centralized health IT reference model (i.e., VA Technical Reference Model) and planning guidance that reuses the ONC Standards Version Advancement Process (SVAP) to align the VA with National standards and interoperability drivers.

Name Vendor

Public Health Information Network (PHIN) Messaging Guide for Syndromic Surveillance

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

FDA Unique Device Identification System (UDI) FDA

Clinical Quality Language (CQL) HL7

Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources Specification

(FHIR) HL7

Health Level Seven (HL7) Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) Release Two (R2) Implementation Guide:

Healthcare Associated Infection (HAI) Reports

HL7

Health Level Seven (HL7) Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) Release Two (R2) Implementation Guide: National Health Care Surveys (NHCS)

HL7

Health Level Seven (HL7) Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) Release Two (R2): Reporting to Public Health Cancer Registries from Ambulatory Healthcare Providers

HL7

Health Level Seven (HL7) Identification and Cross- Reference Service (IXS) HL7

Health Level Seven (HL7) Version Three (V3) Product Suite HL7

Health Level Seven (HL7) Version Two (V2) Product Suite HL7

Health Level Seven (HL7)/American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Implementation Guide for CDA Release Two (R2) - Continuity of Care Document (CCD)

HL7

HL7 CDA Consolidated CDA Templates for Clinical Notes

(C-CDA) HL7

HL7 CDA Privacy Consent Directives HL7

HL7 CDA Public Health Case Report - the Electronic Initial Case Report (eICR) HL7

HL7 CDA Quality Reporting Document Architecture

(QRDA) HL7

https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/SearchPage.aspx?searchTerm=hl7&orderby=Name&orderDirection=Asc https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/SearchPage.aspx?searchTerm=hl7&orderby=Vendor&orderDirection=Desc https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=16379 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=16787 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=8233 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=8233 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=16453 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=16453 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=16453 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=16455 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=16455 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=16455 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=16452 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=16452 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=16452 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=6836 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=6836 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=8329 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=8329 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=8328 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=8293 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=8293 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=8293 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=8289 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=8289 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=14134 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=17068 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=17068 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=16381 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=16381

Name Vendor

HL7 CDA R2 Implementation Guide: Patient Friendly Language for Consumer User Interfaces HL7

HL7 Clinical Decision Support (CDS) Hooks HL7

HL7 Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) HL7

HL7 Clinical Genomics; Pedigree Model HL7

HL7 Electronic Health Record-System Functional Model

(EHR-S FM) HL7

HL7 FHIR Bulk Data Access HL7

HL7 FHIR Clinical Data Exchange (CDex) HL7

HL7 FHIR Coverage Requirements Discovery (CRD) HL7

HL7 FHIR Data Segmentation for Privacy (DS4P) HL7

HL7 FHIR Documentation Templates and Rules (DTR) HL7

Figure 1: The VA Technical Reference Model specifies the ONC SVAP and CMS required and recommended standards

This model applies across all interface categories—including VistA, Federal EHR, shared services, medical devices, and external integrations—to reduce technical debt, strengthen security, improve data quality, and support emerging needs such as AI, analytics, and real-time workflows.

VHA seeks industry input on the optimal approach to:

• Cataloging and assessing all enterprise interfaces and data exchanges

• Reducing redundant or outdated integrations

• Standardizing interface design across VISNs

• Supporting real-time data needs for AI and analytics based on interoperable information

(i.e., standard-encoded, health IT conformant, with full provenance),

• Assessing cybersecurity risks in dual-EHR environments

• Comparative lifecycle costs and total costs of ownership of point-to-point solutions using outdated or proprietary standards versus standard-based solutions using Nationally recommended or mandated terminology and interoperability standards (specified by ONC SVAP and VA TRM)

• Supporting Federal EHR planning and alignment

• Reducing technical debt and achieving enterprise scalability

• Perform in-flight message conformance and validation to include syntax, semantics and terminology https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/SearchPage.aspx?searchTerm=hl7&orderby=Name&orderDirection=Asc https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/SearchPage.aspx?searchTerm=hl7&orderby=Vendor&orderDirection=Desc https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=9455 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=9455 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=16978 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=6352 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=9528 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=8290 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=8290 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=16310 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=16994 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=16993 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=17067 https://www.oit.va.gov/Services/TRM/StandardPage.aspx?tid=16992

Across:

• Legacy VistA/Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) interfaces

• Federal EHR interfaces and FEHRM-supported services

• Medical device connectivity

• Community care data exchange

• External partner integrations (Department of War , payers, registries, other federal partners)

• Administrative, revenue cycle, and Veteran benefits-related systems

This RFI is intended to support VHA policy development, acquisition planning, national baseline processes, and future FEHRM platform design.

3.0 Objectives

The VA will replace its fragmented, outdated, and locally customized interfaces with a streamlined set of contemporary, standards-based, vendor-neutral technologies that significantly reduce national cost, operational risk, and technical complexity. This modernized digital foundation will enable seamless integration of devices, data, services, clinical decision support, and AI across the entire enterprise—ensuring that every VA facility, program office, and partner has access to reliable, real-time information.

This unified environment will power the full spectrum of VA’s mission: high-quality healthcare delivery, coordinated community care, benefits and disability compensation, research, and public health. By simplifying and standardizing the Health Information Technology (HIT) landscape, VA will strengthen cybersecurity, accelerate modernization, and ensure that Veterans receive consistent, continuous care and timely benefits at every point of service—regardless of where they live or how they access VA.

To this end, VHA is requesting industry input on optimal approaches, methodologies, and technical frameworks to:

1. Develop an enterprise-wide catalog of all interfaces (clinical and administrative), data exchanges, device connections, and workflow dependencies across both legacy and Federal EHR environments.

2. Standardize solution architecture, reducing variation and duplication, and enabling reusable integration patterns based on valid interoperability standards.

3. Ensure continuous quality across live data flows by monitoring the conformance and validation to include syntax and semantics.

4. Support real-time data availability required for AI-enabled workflows, advanced analytics, decision support, and operational insight.

5. Assess cybersecurity risks inherent to decentralized, dual-EHR architectures and identify strategies to reduce the attack surface.

6. Implement methodologies for assessing lifecycle cost, technical debt, and sustainment to support informed decision making

7. Support Federal EHR platform planning with recommendations that simplify and standardize national data exchange models.

8. Identify opportunities to reduce total cost of ownership (TCO), strengthen reliability, and align with Federal and industry best practice interoperability standards.

9. Engage technical stakeholders to ensure enterprise alignment and governance.

10. Deploy Tools, platforms, and technologies that support interface modernization.

4.0 Key RFI Focus Areas

Respondents’ submissions to this RFI shall include specific, actionable input on the following topics:

4.1 Enterprise Interface & Interoperability Cataloging and Assessment

• Methodologies for developing a comprehensive inventory of all clinical, administrative, and device interfaces

• Tools, automation methods, and data collection strategies for creating a “single source of truth” for interoperability assets

• Techniques for measuring complexity

• Approaches to identifying and assessing redundancy, risk, technical debt, and criticality

4.2 Architecture Modernization Strategies

• Recommended transition paths from point-to-point integrations to enterprise-scale interoperability platforms using health IT standards in alignment with National guidance (e.g., ONC, CMS, Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

• Use of reusable services and shared platforms

• Reference architectures (e.g., API-first, FHIR-based, event-driven patterns, integration platforms)

• Considerations for dual-EHR operations during transition

4.3 Standards and Data Exchange Models

• Best practices for harmonizing data exchange standards across a national health system

• Adoption of and conformance of national standards-based interoperability

• Approaches to achieving consistency across VISNs with minimal local variation

• Recommendations for Federal EHR-aligned standards adoption

4.4 Continuous Conformance and Validation Within Live Data flows

• Best practices for separating conformance and validation

• Creation and adoption of methods to ensure semantically appropriate administrative and clinical terminologies

• Approaches to detecting and alerting on conformance, validation and semantic errors

4.5 Cybersecurity Considerations

• Security-by-design approaches

• Threat reduction strategies across decentralized environments

• Zero Trust-aligned interface modernization practices

4.6 Cost Modeling and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

Standards-based integrations rely on nationally harmonized standards such as HL7 FHIR, USCDI, X12, and NCPDP, combined with terminology standards like SNOMED CT, LOINC, ICD-10-CM, RxNorm, and NDC. Respondents are invited to provide practice-based examples of cost modeling and TCO of standards based solutions vs. custom and proprietary solutions.

• Frameworks for evaluating lifecycle interface costs o Initial development costs o Maintenance and sustainment costs o Upgrade and Modernization Costs o Long-Term TCO o Lifecycle and replacement cost

• Methods to quantify value gained through consolidation and modernization

• Recommendations for reducing long-term sustainment costs

4.7 Governance and Organizational Alignment

VA is currently undergoing organizational restructuring, and aspects of future governance roles and responsibilities are still evolving. Today, governance across VistA and related interface architectures varies significantly by facility and VISN, with inconsistent levels of national oversight and locally driven decision-making that reflect decades of decentralized system evolution. As VA moves toward a more standardized, enterprise-aligned interoperability environment—consistent with the Many-to-One approach described earlier— it is seeking input on governance models that balance strong national direction with meaningful input from local sites and program offices. Respondents should provide recommendations for a federated governance structure that enables national standardization, consistent interface lifecycle management, and coordinated decision-making, while ensuring local users have a defined role in prioritization, feedback, and operational alignment.

• Lessons learned from other major enterprise transformations of comparable size and scope of the VA

• Lessons learned from the Department of War (DoW) implementation and joint efforts between VA and DoW such as the Global Interface Initiative (GI2) project

• Approaches for defining governance roles across national authorities and local implementers to support a Many-to-One interoperability model

• Methods for incorporating local site input into interface prioritization and operational decision-making while maintaining enterprise-wide consistency

• Best practices for governing modernization activities during a multi-year coexistence period between VistA and the Federal EHR

• Approaches for maintaining standards alignment, version control, and interface lifecycle management across a large, federated health system

• Approaches for engagement with standards related and standards development organizations to improve the quality and applicability of ONC and CMS specified standards

• Strategies for evolving governance structures from transition-focused oversight to steady-state operational governance and continuous improvement

4.8 How the Healthcare Industry is Addressing Similar Challenges

Provide insights into how leading health systems, payer organizations, integrated delivery networks, medical device manufacturers, and other large-scale digital enterprises are addressing interface consolidation, interoperability modernization, standards adoption, and transitions away from fragmented legacy systems. VHA is particularly interested in proven strategies, organizational models, architectural patterns, and lessons learned from industry efforts to reduce interface complexity, improve data quality, strengthen cybersecurity, and adopt scalable enterprise interoperability frameworks.

4.9 How the Healthcare Industry is Addressing Data Quality

VHA requests industry input on approaches to continuously ensure the accuracy, currency, and semantic validity of terminology encoding within live data exchanges Respondents should describe costs, benefits, methods and tooling for monitoring the use interoperable data that uses ONC mandated or recommended terminology and interoperability standards like those identified in the VA TRM.

4.10 AI and Real-Time Data Enablement

To ensure safe, reliable, and effective AI capabilities, respondents should describe how interoperability, data quality, and interface modernization directly enable AI readiness. AI workflows depend on clearly defined latency thresholds, semantic accuracy, and time-synchronized, standards-based data. Industry input should address how interface modernization will support structured and unstructured data normalization, consistent terminology, and governance models that meet expectations outlined in HHS Responsible AI RFIs and DoD data architecture guidance. Respondents are encouraged to provide examples of AI solutions that have been proven effective in enabling clinical decision support, interoperability and analysis based on interoperable information. Additionally, they are encouraged to elaborate specifically on:

• Data infrastructure needed to support safe, reliable AI and automation

• Enabling real-time data access for clinical decision support and analytics

• Approaches that balance performance, scalability, and security

4.11 Operational Considerations

VHA seeks guidance on operational practices that will support and sustain enterprise-wide interface modernization. Responses should address, at a minimum, the following considerations:

• Reducing technical, administrative, and organizational obstacles or other friction points, including but not limited to requests for new interfaces, modifications, fixes, API access, and authorization.

• Defining metrics, tooling, and governance to monitor interface performance, compliance, and consolidation opportunities.

4.12 Transition from Dual-EHR to Steady-State Operations

Once the initial period of dual-EHR support is completed, VA anticipates an operational reset in which activities transition from intensive transition support to steady-state maintenance, sustainment, and continuous improvement of the modernized interoperability environment.

• Define post-transition service-level expectations

• Reassess staffing models and skill sets required for success

• Establish a governance and regulatory compliance rhythm

Purpose of the RFI:

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) seeks industry input to inform future planning, acquisition strategy, and technical design for the modernization of enterprise interoperability and interface architecture across the VA health IT ecosystem. The scope of this effort is to gather conceptual, architectural, methodological, and standards-based recommendations—not procurement-ready technical solutions.

Industry responses will support VHA, VA OIT, EHRM-IO, and FEHRM efforts to transition from fragmented, facility-specific interfaces to an enterprise-managed, standards-based interoperability framework that reduces technical debt, improves data quality, strengthens cybersecurity, and enables AI-ready, real-time data exchange.

Contractors shall provide information, recommendations, and best practices related to:

1. Enterprise Interface Cataloging and Assessment Approaches, methodologies, tools, and automation techniques to inventory, classify, and assess tens of thousands of existing interfaces, device connections, and data exchanges across legacy VistA, CPRS, Federal EHR, shared services, and external partners.

2. Interoperability & Architecture Modernization Strategies for transitioning VHA to reusable, standards-based integration models (e.g., FHIR, HL7, X12, NCPDP), shared platforms, and enterprise services, while sustaining dual-EHR operations over a multi-year modernization timeline.

3. Standards Alignment and Data Exchange Models Recommendations for harmonizing national interoperability standards across VISNs, enabling consistent implementation, and aligning with ONC SVAP, CMS, FDA, and VA TRM guidance.

4. Conformance, Validation, and Data Quality Methods and technologies for continuous monitoring of syntax, semantic, and terminology conformance; real-time validation of clinical, administrative, and device-generated data; and ongoing quality assurance.

5. Cybersecurity in a Dual-EHR Environment Security-by-design approaches, threat mitigation strategies, and Zero Trust-aligned practices to reduce risk across legacy interfaces and modern interoperability frameworks.

6. Cost Modeling and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Frameworks to compare cost, technical debt, lifecycle sustainment, and long-term TCO of proprietary point-to-point interfaces versus standards-based enterprise interoperability solutions.

7. Governance and Organizational Alignment Recommendations for governance models that balance national standardization with local operational needs, support multi-year coexistence between systems, and sustain long-term oversight and version control.

8. Real-Time Data & AI Readiness Approaches to ensuring latency, accuracy, and semantic consistency required for real-time analytics, AI-enabled workflows, decision support, and automation.

9. Industry Lessons Learned & Operational Considerations Examples and best practices from large health systems, payers, and device manufacturers related to interface consolidation, standards adoption, modernization, and operational sustainment at scale.

The Government will use the information obtained through this RFI to inform acquisition planning, policy development, enterprise architecture alignment, and future modernization activities.

Questions to be answered in response to this RFI:

All responsible sources may submit a response in accordance with the information.

Your response must address, in detail, how you can provide the government with the capabilities specific to the services required in the attached PWS. Respondents are not required to answer every question, but by answering as many questions as practicable, you are assisting the Government with ensuring we are capturing all information correctly to produce a well-developed requirement.

The responses should include, but are not limited to, the following:

a. Company Information:

i. Name of Company

ii. Address

iii. Point of Contact

iv. Phone Number

v. Email address

vi. Company Business Size and Status

1. For VOSB and SDVOSBs, proof of verification in VetCert.

vii. NAICS code(s)

viii. Socioeconomic data

ix. SAM UEI Number

x. Existing Contractual Vehicles (GWAC, FSS, or MAC)

b. Provide a detailed summary of your capability to meet all the requirements contained within the draft PWS, and for the following areas:

1. What methodologies and tools do you recommend for discovering, cataloging, and assessing all interfaces and data exchanges—including undocumented legacy integrations—across a large, federated health system?

2. What transition strategy do you recommend for moving from fragmented point-to-point integrations to a standardized, enterprise-scale interoperability platform (FHIR-based, API-first, event-driven, etc.)?

3. What are best practices for harmonizing and governing interoperability standards (HL7, FHIR, X12, NCPDP, terminology standards) across a nationally distributed health system with significant local variation?

4. What architecture patterns (e.g., FHIR-native, shared APIs, integration platforms, reusable services) have proven most effective in modernizing legacy healthcare environments?

5. What methods and tools do you recommend for ensuring continuous conformance, validation, and terminology accuracy within live clinical, administrative, and device data flows?

6. What cybersecurity strategies—including Zero Trust—best address risks created by decentralized legacy systems and dual-EHR operations?

7. What cost-modeling frameworks can VHA use to compare lifecycle costs and technical debt of legacy interfaces vs. standards-based enterprise interoperability solutions?

8. What governance model best balances enterprise standardization with local operational needs during multi-year modernization and coexistence of legacy and Federal EHR systems?

9. What proven strategies from other large health systems or federal agencies (e.g., DoD, FEHRM) should VHA adopt to simplify interface landscapes, improve data quality, and reduce cybersecurity exposure?

10. What approaches enable low-latency, real-time, standards-based data necessary to support AI-enabled workflows, decision support, and analytics at enterprise scale?

11. From an acquisition perspective, what contract type (e.g., Firm‑Fixed Price, Labor‑Hour, Time & Materials, or Hybrid) would best support this interoperability modernization effort?

12. If you were to recommend CLINs for major deliverables, what CLIN structure would you propose (e.g., architecture assessments, interface catalog, standards governance model, cybersecurity assessment, cost model, transition roadmap, etc.)?

Responses are due no later than 12:00pm June 22, 2026 via email to William.Milline@va.gov and Cristine.Carmody@va.gov, Please note “Request for Information- VHA Interoperability and Interface Modernization” in the subject line of your response. Mark your response as “Proprietary Information” if the information is considered business sensitive. The email file size shall not exceed 5 MB.

mailto:William.Milline@va.gov mailto:Cristine.Carmody@va.gov