36C25520Q0793.pdf

VHAPM Part 813.106 Page 1 of 8 Original Date: 08/30/17 Revision 02 Eff Date: 03/31/2020

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: 36C255-20-AP-1906

1. Contracting Activity:

Department of Veterans Affairs VISN 15 VA St. Louis Health Care System 2237: 657-20-3-8543-0161

2. Brief Description of Supplies/ Services required and the intended use/Estimated Amount:

The VA St. Louis Health Care System, John Cochran Division, 915 North Grand Blvd., St.

Louis, MO 63106 and Jefferson Barracks Division, 1 Jefferson Barracks Drive., St. Louis, MO 63125 has a requirement for Ceiling Mounted Patient Lifts. The intended use for the Ceiling Mounted Patient Lifts is assist VA healthcare workers in safely transferring and moving Veterans of varying weights.

This is a justification and approval for a brand name only procurement which will be awarded as a new firm-fixed-priced contract for Guldmann Inc. GH3+ Ceiling Mounted Patient Lifts with scale and continuous charge system to include all necessary accessories, hardware and installation in all designated areas.

The estimated amount for this procurement is $157,255.08.

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

(1) The GH3+ is a faster, sturdier and more powerful version of the standard GH3 lifting motor. It is designed for use in almost all professional care settings, and with a lifting capacity in a single motor of up to 400 kg/880 lbs on a single motor/strap or dual motor configuration up to 1,100 lbs which makes either configuration ideal for use in bariatric care.

(2) The GH3+ ceiling lift can be fitted with one or more modules from the Guldmann Care Lift Management (CLM) system, which streamlines everyday use of the ceiling hoist system and helps make it more efficient. These CLM modules can be used for monitoring and improving procedures for safe patient handling, and for optimizing resource planning.

The GH3+ lifting motor is available in models with lifting capacities of 440, 550, 600, 660, 770, 825, 880, and 1,100 lbs (200, 250, 275, 300, 350, 375, 400, 500 kg), respectively.

(3) The GH3+ can feature a built-in motor for horizontal movement along the traverse rail, where the lifting module is operated either through a hand control or an infra-red (IR) remote control unit.

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(4) GH3+ Sealing kit - For environments where a very high hygiene standard is required In environments in which a high hygiene standard is required around the ceiling lift, e.g.

in an operating theatre, a sealing kit is offered for the GH3+, which protects against external dirt and particles. The GH3+ Sealing kit consists of three silicone covers to seal the openings on the top of the ceiling lift where the trolley is attached, as well as two large O-rings for sealing the groove along with the side cover of the GH3+ lift.

(5) GH3+ Combi Locks - The manufacturer must also be able to provide and install ceiling lifts that have the ability to connect two rail systems together when tracks are required to align that allow the same lift system motor to travel from one location to another within a defined area without having to actuate a separate hand/remote control to connect the two systems (often referred to as a gate/switch capacity that links two rail systems in two different spaces together).

(6) GH3+ Therapy Trainer Module - The manufacturer must also be able to provide a dynamic, dual mode (standard ceiling lift operating mode and dynamic active weight loading/unloading mode) and therapy training module system that is able to support up to a maximum 605 lb. lifting capacity. This therapy training module must be able to dynamically unload up to 100kg of patient body weight in an active manner/mode in which the caregiver is able to initiate, monitor, and control the trainer module on the integrated hand control. This module must be able to be turned on and off by the caregiver on the integrated hand control/digital scale displaying total patient weight level relieved and training time duration.

(7) GH3+ Positioning Locks - Two locks per system that are activated/deactivated by separate infrared remote control which have the capacity to lock the ceiling lift motor and traverse rail independently or separately. These locks are optional but highly desirable when added to the Therapy Trainer Module system or in any setting in which the end user desires to lock individual components of the system for clinical use.

Guldmann lifts and slings have been used since 2008 at all VISN 15 facilities. Guldmann ceiling lift systems installed at VISN 15 totals approximately 1068 units and constitutes a vast majority of patient lifting equipment in use throughout the 9 medical facilities in VISN 15. Replacing the obsolete Guldmann GH2 system with Guldmann GH3+ systems in lieu of other ceiling lift systems will build on already established staff training programs and contribute to increased efficiency and continuity of use for equipment already in place which will benefit the patients served. Potential injury to patients, staff and overall staff safety is improved by eliminating the potential of confusion by intermixing more than one type/manufacturer of ceiling lift systems.

Logistical systems are already in place to maintain sling inventory, user function, and equipment serviceability. If another system was installed, it would need logistical systems management changes adding increased material costs and additional man hours that could not be overcome by procurement of another system.

Training health care staff on a different lift system would be prohibitive. Working in a COVID- 19 impacted environment, staff have found that additional training opportunities are extremely limited due to unnecessary PPE usage and social distancing limitations within training environments. Additionally, the need to bring in additional manufacturer trainers to certify staff on a different style of equipment will further deplete the facility’s COVID-19 related resources.

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Guldmann Inc. has already provided multiple clinical training support offerings to all VISN 15 facilities with no additional costs incurred. Staff has already been specifically trained on the various types of Guldmann slings and generations of lifts.

VA clinical staff training dollars saved conservatively since 2008, all VISN 15 facilities have avoided sending clinical staff off-site to receive SPHM training related to ceiling lift operations and clinical use. This has resulted in over $104,000 total cost savings across VISN 15 ($50K average salary cost per employee - $26/hr hourly rate of pay, 8 hr training day, total of VISN 15 clinical staff that attend annual SPHM training events (500) =$104,000).

Clinical Training Support - Guldmann has supported multiple clinical training support offerings to all VISN 15 facilities with no additional costs incurred. Typically, Guldmann charges $500/clinical training day plus round trip airfare ($1000/trip estimate). To date, Guldmann has provided over 120 trips since 2008. Total of $180,000 VHA dollars saved (10 trips/yr.

x$1,500/trip x 12 years since 2008 have been funded/supported by Guldmann). In 2017, 2018, and 2019 VISN 15 Guldmann provided an additional 60 days of SPHM education and consulting support at no extra cost for a standardized VISN 15 SPHM traveling training platform for an additional market value of $104,000.00. They also had scheduled and committed to doing the same at no cost in 2020 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On-Site Technical Evaluations - Guldmann has provided consultation for multiple projects per year at no cost to VISN 15; including cooperative analysis of clinical application vs cost, and structural viability in layout options, with a market value of $1,500 per day. In the time period from 2008 through 2020, Guldmann provided an average of 11 trips per year to the VAs in VISN

15. Total of $198,000 VHA dollars saved ($16,500/year x 12 years=$198,000) since have been funded/supported by Guldmann).

Maintenance support - Initial maintenance lift training/certification to all VISN 15 facilities provided free of charge to all of VISN 15 facilities, $30K in cost savings achieved for this one-time training offering offered on three separate occasions. Guldmann has also offered ongoing training support at reasonable pricing as requested to facilitate VISN 15 facilities being able to maintain their own equipment. VISN 15 staff are able to provide recurring and ongoing maintenance needs of Guldmann equipment without having to introduce substantial new product base and not having to spend additional time acquiring training to maintain/repair new ceiling lift equipment. As a result of most facilities within VISN 15 having in-house staff capacity to perform a majority of needed repairs, most service calls are not needed. A service call ranges in average from $825-$1,100 plus parts for a call-varies because the time and travel costs vary. The total collective cost of having in-house staff able to maintain Guldmann lifting equipment is invaluable.

5-year annual/preventative maintenance (PM) VISN 15 Guldmann contract-fixed pricing results in added value and prevents increased associated costs with one more than contract having to be put in place to maintain more than one brand of ceiling lifts. This increases patient safety and also facilitates ongoing compliance with the National Center Patient Safety Patient Alert AL 14-

07. Guldmann has historically provided at no-charge to each facility a loaner motor ensuring no interruption of patient care. A non-functioning motor could be removed by biomed and the

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Revision 02 Eff Date: 03/31/2020 loaner put up while they work on the motor with virtually no-down time for continued patient lifting needs. This potentially pre-empts the need to relocate a patient (new room prep, moving the patient) and reduces potential for injury as a result of continuous ceiling lift operational readiness.

Competitive sling and equipment pricing (discount below previous FSS/GSA pricing despite not being on current FSS/GSA contract). Any new sling or lift innovation that is added to our VISN 15 SPHM portfolio is also in serviced and demonstrated by the vendor at no additional cost prior to purchase and implementation. These costs have never passed onto VISN 15 and can be calculated base upon values above but have not been quantified up until this point.

Requirement for the integrated scale - Obtaining patient weights on mobility impaired veterans are high risk situations for injury to veterans and staff. Using an Integrated scale on ceiling lifts will assist in reducing these injuries and obtaining accurate weights for proper treatment, specifically medication titrations based on weight. Integrated scales must be built into the lift hand control, using the same controller and the same power source as the lift for proper lifting function and accuracy.

The exact specifications and features from other manufactures are not completely known at this time. However, it is known that other manufactures do not have the ability to offer the brand name specific equipment from Guldmann. Due to actual cases of equipment failure and damage to include falling from the ceiling, (SEE ATTACHMENTS),VISN 15 does not intend or desire to consider mixing another manufacture’s motor to the existing manufacturer’s rail. It is the recommendation of the Safe Patient Handling and Mobility Facility Coordinator that vendors who will allow mixing and matching other motors on other Manufacturer’s rails should not be given consideration.

Whenever a non‐Guldmann component is introduced into a Guldmann ceiling lift system, many dynamics come into effect:

Compatibility

The new lift safety may not be compatible with in‐rail AC charging. The new lift may not provide the same features or are able to perform the care tasks for which the system is originally designed to do so.

‐ Charging system failures for continuous‐charge systems, full or partial, resulting in lifts not being available and charged when needed

‐ Fit problems resulting in lifts not moving smoothly or wearing down parts of the rail or wheels which would not ordinarily wear

‐ Incompatibilities in switch track or gate systems connecting one room or track to another.

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‐ Lift controller from new manufacturer unable to control switches, powered traverses, gates, or other features of the original rail system, and old controller not supported or not usable without original lift – potentially resulting in inability to provide equal coverage

Safety

Guldmann systems are tested through a 3rd party using published safety tests and guarantee the Guldmann components will safely function as a whole system. The published tests and resulting safety certification does not cover testing using mixed manufacturer components. Exceptional circumstances and modifications to the standard protocol of both installation and servicing of the Celling Lift System would be required which would be costly to the facility and with no guarantee that the system would pass testing. Due to the fact that there are no published 3rd party accredited safety tests involving the mixing of components between multiple OEMs and situations where this would occur would result in inconsistent safety test results. Therefore it is impossible to identify any and all compatibility issues that would or could emerge.

In addition, when it comes to the –Safe working Load‐ (SWL): Guldmann maintains a standard by which 1.5X the SWL of the Guldmann Lift Motor on Guldmann rails is part of the testing and certification of the installation process. This permits Guldmann Inc. to remain compatible to ISO 10535 specifications. Since Guldmann Inc. cannot confirm that other manufacturers adhere to this policy it would deem impossible to validate and/or certify any 3rd Party involvement.

Service

As a system utilizing mixed components would be deemed compromised, Certified Guldmann Technicians, trained exclusively work on Guldmann OEM parts, would no longer be qualified to provide service or preventative maintenance on these systems.

As a consequence of the examples mentioned above, all warranties would become null and void.

Guldmann Inc., as the OEM, can no longer guarantee the safety and functionality of the system, and liability for what would now be classified as a “compromised system” would be transferred wholly to the VA facility and/or 3rd Party entity.

Liability and Responsibility

Since Guldmann Inc. cannot test how the system would function and measure the safety profile as intended (with the introduction of a non‐OEM part, all warranties on the system would become null and void and liability for the system would be would be transferred from Guldmann to the VA facility and/or 3rd Party Entity.

Exception to Previous Statements and Points of Fact

The one exception with regards to matching competitive technologies is slings: Provided a competitive sling is specified and validated to have a weight capacity equal to or lower than that

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Revision 02 Eff Date: 03/31/2020 of the lift system itself and functions with loops (rather than clips) compatible to the original design of a hanger bar, the use of another manufacturer’s slings would not void the warranty or transfer the liability.

However, Guldmann cannot guarantee the quality or compatibility of the other manufacturer’s sling or attest to whether it will accomplish the tasks that the lift system was intended to perform. Nor will Guldmann assume the warranty or liability for the failure of the 3rd party sling itself.

It is not recommended, but not prohibited to mix and match manufacturer slings provide they are of the same type and design (i.e.-loop style sling on a loop style lift-all Guldmann lifts meet this criteria). Several manufacturers have issued letters on this (including Guldmann) and are available from each manufacturer upon request. This is an individual facility decision that must be approached carefully and should include a multi-disciplinary risk assessment for best value, and improved potential for outcomes and safety. This decision should also involve the SPHM facility coordinator, front line, patient safety, risk and quality management stake holders.

This is an individual facility decision that must be approached carefully and should include a multi-disciplinary risk assessment for best value, and improved potential for outcomes and safety. This decision should also involve the SPHM facility coordinator, front line, patient safety, risk and quality management stake holders.

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

The station recommended small business concern Guldmann, Inc. as a possible source for procuring the ceiling mounted patient lifts requested for this requirement.

Guldmann provided an OEM letter stating that Guldmann is the only OEM and direct vendor of GH3+ patient lift systems and Guldmann branded safe patient handling solutions including design certified installation and project management, training and education, as well as inspection and service to acute care facilities in the USA.

Guldmann stated that their systems and services may be obtained directly from Guldmann Inc., or indirectly through an approved partner SDVOSB reseller (where there is a set aside requirement), without affecting liability or product warranty.

Through conversations with Guldmann it was later learned that their statement was misleading because it was revealed that there is only one (1) SDVOSB that is authorized to resell or service Guldmann equipment. Due to there only being one (1) authorized re-seller, there is not a possibility to have a 100% SDVOSB set aside as this would violate the rule of two.

IAW Veterans First Program, 38 U.S.C 8127, Rule of Two, market research was conducted using VIP, FPDS, GSA Advantage, and SBA.

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A search of Vendor Information Pages using NAICS code 339113 and keywords “Ceiling Mounted Patient Lifts” resulted in 52 vendors matching the search criteria. A search of VIP using keyword “Interior Fusion” resulted in one (1) SDVOSB matching the search criteria.

A search of FPDS using keyword “Guldmann”, contracting office ID 36C255 and filtered for Department of Veterans Affairs resulted in 124 contract actions matching the search criteria.

A search of GSA Advantage using keyword “Guldmann GH3” resulted in 0 matches matching the search criteria.

A search of SBA using keywords “Guldmann GH3” resulted in 0 searches matching the search criteria.

Sources Sought Notice 36C25520Q0602 was posted to beta.sam.gov on July 17, 2020 – July 24, 2020. This resulted in responses from 3 SDVOSBs (RampcoUSA, Inc., Trillamed, LLC, Alliant Healthcare) and 1 Large Business (Arjo Inc.) stating they could provide patient lifts other than Guldmann. VetsAccess, LLC (SDVOSB) stated although they have been a certified installer of Guldmann lifts throughout the country in the past, Guldmann will not provide a quote to them for materials only which would allow them to provide the labor themselves thus ensuring they controlled at least 50% of the project. Interior Fusion, LLC (SDVOSB) submitted an authorization letter from Guldmann stating that Guldmann systems and services may be obtained directly from Guldmann Inc., or indirectly through an approved partner SDVOSB reseller where there is a set aside requirement, without affecting liability or product warranty.

Email correspondence from Guldmann, Inc. revealed two authorized distributors/installers:

Interior Fusion (SDVOSB) and CR Lewis Mobility (SB).

Per VAAR 852.819-7005 (a), the contracting officer shall consider SDVOSB set-asides before considering VOSB set-asides…upon a reasonable expectation that, “(1) Offers will be received from two or more eligible SDVOSB concerns; and (2) Award will be made at a fair and reasonable price.”

Based upon the market research conducted pursuant to FAR 19.502.2 and facts stated above, there is not a reasonable expectation that at least two or more responsible SDVOSBs can provide the requested ceiling mounted patient lifts. The Contracting Officer has a reasonable expectation of receiving offers from at least one (1) SDVOSB and two (2) small business concern. This brand name specific procurement can be successfully fulfilled as a small business set-aside.

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5. Contracting Officer's Certification: Purchase is approved in accordance with FAR13.106- 1(b). I certify that the foregoing justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Michael Murphy Contracting Officer