P03 Brand Name Justification FAR 13.5 Over SAT Redacted.pdf

VHAPG Part 813.5 Simplified Acquisition Procedures for Certain Commercial Items Attachment 1: Request for Sole Source Justification Template >SAT-$7.5M under FAR13.5

Effective Date: 02/01/2022 Page 1 of 4

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION UNDER SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURES FOR CERTAIN COMMERCIAL

ITEMS IN ACCORDANCE WITH FAR 13.5

Acquisition Plan Action ID: 36C244-22-AP-4599

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs, Network Contracting Office 4, Commodities 1, 1601 Kirkwood Hwy, Wilmington, DE 19805. Purchase Request # 562-23-1-5705-0001.

2. Nature and/or Description of the Action Being Processed: This justification and approval for a Brand Name Only requirement for the acquisition of the Hill-Rom Voalte Nurse Call System for installation and use in the Erie VA Medical Center (VAMC) in accordance with FAR 13.5 Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items and specifically FAR 13.501 Special Documentation Requirements, where acquisitions conducted under Simplified Acquisition Procedures are exempt from the requirements of FAR Part 6, but still require a justification using the format of FAR 6.303-2.

This action will result in a new Firm-Fixed Price contract.

3. Description of Supplies/Services Required to Meet the Agency’s Needs: The Erie VAMC seeks the procurement and installation of the Hill-Rom Voalte Nurse Call System in the Erie VAMC to replace the existing legacy nurse call system that is at the end of its useful life and is a collection of various systems with different manufacturers, some of which no longer exist. The system is no longer supported and spare parts are no longer manufactured. This new nurse call system must seamlessly communicate with the existing Hill-Rom nurse call system in the newly constructed Community Living Center (CLC), Building 18. The new system will be installed in the main building, Buildings 1, as well as the Behavioral Health Building, Building 8, and must seamlessly integrate with the existing system in Building 18, Community Living Center, so as to provide constant and continuous patient care to the patients on campus. The period of performance is 1 year from the date of contract award. The estimated price of the system is approximately .

4. Statutory Authority Permitting Restricted Competition:

FAR 13.5 Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items. The statutory authority for applying the Simplified Procedures for Commercial Items of FAR 13.5 is 41 U.S.C. § 1901 and is implemented by FAR 13.106-1(b)(2) for restricting competition on this procurement. Competition is restricted on this procurement for the reason below:

(X) Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements

( ) Unusual and Compelling Urgency ( ) Industrial Mobilization, Engineering, Developmental or Research Capability or Expert

Services ( ) International Agreement ( ) Authorized or Required by Statute ( ) National Security ( ) Public Interest

5. Demonstration that the Contractor’s Unique Qualifications or Nature of the Acquisition Requires the Use of the Authority Cited Above (applicability of authority): The Hill-Rom NaviCare Nurse Call System that was installed in the CLC has already gone through the VA Technical Reference Model

VHAPG Part 813.5 Simplified Acquisition Procedures for Certain Commercial Items Attachment 1: Request for Sole Source Justification Template >SAT-$7.5M under FAR13.5

Effective Date: 02/01/2022 Page 2 of 4

(TRM) VA IT Process Request (VIPR) approval process. The Hill-Rom Voalte Nurse Call System is an updating and rebranding of the Hill-Rom NaviCare Nurse Call System and has also received TRM VIPR approval from the TRM Mgmt Group on 9/16/2022. Any other nurse call system will need to go through an extensive initial TRM VIPR in order to be cleared for installation on the VA network.

Additionally, the prospective Hill-Rom Voalte Nurse Call System needs to have 100% integration with the Hill-Rom NaviCare Nurse Call System installed in the CLC or else it would lead to delays in patient care as personnel would need to manually or telephonically retrieve patient information or telephonically inform when emergency personnel are needed. The Hill-Rom Voalte System would also allow for integration with the currently used Sizewise Evolution beds. Lastly, if a non-Hill-Rom system is installed, there would be a need for a translator between the systems, which would bring additional cost for acquisition, increase maintenance as there are different components from different systems to maintain and there would potentially be delays in patient care due to translators not being 100% accurate, leading to mistranslation of information or data, a loss in information or data or corruption of the information or data. VAMC has been trying to standardize and homogenize the various systems operating and monitoring on campus to minimize operational and maintenance cost as well as minimizing the need for translators between equipment. The elimination of translators between equipment will allow for seamless patient care without any loss of communication or data. It would not be cost effective for the nurse call system in the CLC to be replaced as it is a new system that was installed when the CLC was built and has the features that the Erie VAMC wants to have in the rest of the campus. For all these reasons, the Hill-Rom Voalte Nurse Call System will be the most cost effective solution with the highest reliability and compatibility with the existing systems on the Erie VAMC campus. This procurement is being solicited as a Brand Name Only Requirement to ensure seamless integration with the existing nurse call system while promoting competition between sources able to provide the brand name equipment. The use of such descriptions in the acquisition is essential to the Government’s requirements, thereby precluding consideration of a product manufactured by another company.

6. Description of Efforts Made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as deemed practicable: While this is a Brand Name Only requirement, market research revealed that there are likely multiple sources for this nurse call system and the solicitation for this requirement will be posted on FedBizOpps to ensure the maximum competition practicable.

7. Determination by the CO that the Anticipated Cost to the Government will be Fair and Reasonable: It is anticipated the cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable based on competition.

8. Description of the Market Research Conducted and the Results, or a Statement of the Reasons Market Research Was Not Conducted: The Government’s technical experts conducted market research by contacting other VA facilities to learn about their nurse call system. Additionally, Government technical experts contacted several manufacturers to learn what systems were available. It was determined that while some systems are able to pass limited standard information like a nurse call button or alarm, more in depth and detailed patient information such as health records, charting information, vital signs, etc. are unable to be communicated between products of different manufacturers. Based on these discussions, it was recommended to not have a system of multiple manufacturers as it would increase the cost of maintenance as well as the aforementioned compatibility issues. It was recommended to focus on a single manufacturer for the nurse call system and since Hill-Rom was already installed in the CLC and had existing permissions from Office of Information and Technology (OIT), it would be best to focus on Hill-Rom for the nurse call acquisition.