36C24621Q1306.docx

SUBJECT*

Intent to Sole Source: VISN 6 Procurement of Medicom (system for electronic exchange and access to DICOM images)

GENERAL INFORMATION

CONTRACTING OFFICE ADDRESS

Department of Veterans Affairs Network Contracting Office 6 100 Emancipation Drive Hampton VA 23667

POINT OF CONTACT*

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

AGENCY’S URL

URL DESCRIPTION

AGENCY CONTACT’S EMAIL ADDRESS

EMAIL DESCRIPTION

Special Notice Special Notice

DESCRIPTION

Special Notice

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Justification for Single Source Awards IAW FAR 13.106-1 For Over Micro-Purchase Threshold but Not Exceeding the SAT ($250K)

Acquisition Plan Action ID: 36C246-21-AP-4682

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs, VISN 06, inclusive of seven Medical Centers (Durham, Fayetteville, Hampton, Richmond, Salisbury, Asheville and Salem Healthcare Systems) for pursuit of remote access and exchange of DICOM images. The funding document is 483-21-4-6601-0466.

2. Brief Description of Supplies/ Services required and the intended use/Estimated Amount: Medicom is the only fully-federated health information exchange provider that connects disparate silos of health information so that they can be easily and securely searched and shared. The VA intends to purchase the Imagex product from Medicom. The Imagex product facilitates the exchange of radiology information such as reports and images through encrypted conduits between providers on the fully federated health information network.

3. Unique characteristics that limit availability to only one source, with the reason no other supplies or services can be used:

Medicom is the only fully-federated health information exchange provider that connects disparate silos of health information so that they can be easily and securely searched and shared. The unique characteristics of ImageX are elaborated as follows: The image sharing architecture allows the VA to:

· Broadcast queries to the community to locate VA patients’ prior images in the private sector. With other vendors, and without a fully federated approach, the VA would have to continue calling and faxing outside facilities to locate prior images as well as continue to utilize CDs; whereas, Medicom can locate the information with a simple search.

· Medicom’s fully federated model means that data sent from the private sector (Care in the Community Providers) to the VA is sent through a secure conduit by way of a FIPS 140-2 validated connection with the VA TIC. Medicom is the only provider to offer this architecture and is the only vendor to exceed VA requirements for handling sensitive information. Other vendors utilize cloud environments to store and process VA Sensitive Data which are not FEDRAMP ATO. Therefore, other vendors do not meet the security requirements outlined by the VA OI&T.

· The architecture which takes a security-first approach allows VAs to instantly locate and access prior clinical information through search. This functionality is unique to Medicom and leads to significant cost savings for the VA. With other vendors, the VA would still have to carry-out a manual process to locate prior images and reports in the private sector. This architecture is proprietary and protected by US Patents with registration numbers US 10,305,869 and US 10,257,174.

VHAPM

Part

813.106

Simplified

Acquisition

Procedures:

Soliciting from a

Single

Source Attachment

1:

Single

Source Justification for

SAP

under the SAT

VHAPM

Part

813.106 Original

Date:

08/30/17 Revision

Eff

Date:

03/31/2020 Page of

4. Description of market research conducted and results or statement why it was not conducted:

Market research was conducted on existing offerings that would potentially provide the services defined in the solicitation. Research reviewed existing products, commercial practices, product performance and successful practices of other organizations.

In the VIP.VetBiz source, the VOSBs did not offer similar products nor had commercially viable products that addressed the needs of the solicitation. Due to the limiting potential offerings, research scope was expanded to other sources.

The second source, the VA TRM, provided a list of offerings, but only a select few offered some of the functionalities that were needed. Commercially available products were listed such as Life Image Transfer Exchange, InteleGRID, Change Healthcare Study Share and BEAM. Unfortunately, Life Image Transfer Exchange, InteleGRID, and Change Healthcare Study Share do not meet compliance standards according to the TRM and are no longer permitted to be used by the VA or are unapproved.

Furthermore, these technologies, including BEAM, Life Image, InteleGRID, and Change Healthcare do not offer the following required services offered by Medicom:

a. A patient record locator service which locates VA patients’ prior exams.

b. FIPS 140-2 compliant mechanism for communication with systems within the TIC.

c. Automated retrieval of prior clinical information from VA Care in the Community Appointments.

d. Patient matching that neatly adds the patient’s non-VA Medical information to the VA Chart.

e. Electronic method for releasing and requesting records for Radiology.