36C26319A0030-001.pdf

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LIMITED SOURCES JUSTIFICATION

ORDER >SAT

FAR PART 8.405 6

Acquisition Plan Action ID:_36C263 18 AP 3162_& 36C263 19 AP 1611_

1. Contracting Activity: Contracting Activity Department of Veterans Affairs Network Contracting Office 23 (NCO 23) 2501 W 22nd St, Sioux Falls, SD 57105

Requesting Activity:

Department of Veterans Affairs Iowa City VA Health Care System 601 Highway 6 W, Iowa City, IA 52246 2237 Funding Document: 636 19 1 8075 0001

Requesting Activity:

Department of Veterans Affairs Nebraska Western Iowa Health Care System (NWIHCS) 4101 Woolworth Avenue, Omaha, NE 68105 2237 Funding Document: 636 19 3 5066 0010

2. Description of Action: This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple Award Schedule Program (41 U.S.C. 251 and 40 U.S.C. 501). New task order

Order against: FSS Contract Number: _GS 03F 049GA______

Name of Proposed Contractor: Iron Mountain Information Management, LLC

Street Address: One Federal St.

City, State, Zip: Boston, MA 02110

Phone: 703 889 6136

3. Description of Supplies or Services:

The estimated value of the proposed action is $ 516,253.94

The intent of the contract is to procure Medical and Administrative Record storage and delivery services for the Iowa City VA Health Care System, Hwy 6 west, Iowa city, IA 52246 and VA

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Nebraska Western Iowa Health Care System 4101 Woolworth Ave, Omaha, NE 68105. Period Of Performance 3/1/2019 – 2/29/2020 +4 Option Years

(4) IDENTIFY THE AUTHORITY AND SUPPORTING RATIONALE (see 8.405 6(a)(1)(i)(A), (B), and

(C) or 8.405 6(b)), AND IF APPLICABLE, A DEMONSTRATION OF THE PROPOSED

CONTRACTOR’S UNIQUE QUALIFICATIONS TO PROVIDE THE REQUIRED SUPPLY OR SERVICE.

Only one source is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services are unique or highly specialized.

(5) DESCRIBE WHY YOU BELIEVE THE ORDER REPRESENTS THE BEST VALUE CONSISTENT WITH

FAR 8.404(d) TO AID THE CONTRACTING OFFICER IN MAKING THIS BEST VALUE

DETERMINATION:

There are roughly 20,000 cubic feet of boxes of records being stored at the Iron Mountain facility in Kansas City City contain an estimated 250,000 patient records. This includes the boxes of records multiple departments. The cost of permanent removal of cartons from the facility which includes retrieval, permanent withdraw and s ipping fees is $27.83 per carton. It would cost an estimated $600,000.00

All patient records would need to be manually checked into Veterans Health Information Systems & Technology Architecture (VistA) which would take hundreds of employee OT hours. The other department records would also need to be checked in.

Once a new location for storage was set up the employees would need to check out all the records again in VistA and create new documentation to ship the records. This would be creating hundreds of OT hours as the physical location of all patient records needs to be currently maintained in VistA.

Iowa City and NWI would need to go through all the records ourselves before sending to another facility to ensure 100% accountability. This would take over 20,000 cubic feet of space to store these records in Omaha and Iowa City, while validating everything was received. The storage space would need to be NARA approved and currently Iowa City and NWI does not have a space that is NARA approved.

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Currently we are only storing records at Iron Mountain, due the Department of Veterans Affairs Records Center and Vault is full to capacity. We frequently receive requests for information that is currently being stored at the Iron Mountain facility. Should we use more than one storage facility it would create confusion and twice as much work to locate the record for retrieval.

On a yearly basis the Privacy Officer and Records Manager conduct a site visit to monitor the records stored at the commercial storage space, to ensure compliance with Federal records requirements. Iron Mountain is the closest drive; if we used more than one storage space the Officers would need to make multiple inspections and travel distances greater than Kansas City as there are no other storage facilities within driving distance. This would cost the VA additional money to pay for travel and time lost traveling for the employees.

There would be two or more contracts to maintain and renew. NWI and Iowa City are currently reducing the amount of paper records we store, there are not many records we send to storage yearly any longer, this would create unnecessary work for a few hundred additional boxes of records. Iron Mountain is well trained in identifying which records we request and delivering them within 24 hours.

DESCRIBE THE MARKET RESEARCH CONDUCTED AMONG SCHEDULE HOLDERS AND THE

RESULTS OR A STATEMENT OF THE REASON MARKET RESEARCH WAS NOT CONDUCTED:

Market research was conducted, and while there may be other NARA approved storage facilities for VA’s records, the cost to move the files from one facility to another would be approximately $600,000.00 which does not include any labor costs the department may incur due to the removal. If VA were to compete the storage facility services, it would not anticipate recouping the costs to move the files.

ANY OTHER FACTS SUPPORTING THE JUSTIFICATION:

None

A STATEMENT OF THE ACTIONS, IF ANY, THE AGENCY MAY TAKE TO REMOVE OR

OVERCOME ANY BARRIERS THAT LED TO THE RESTRICTED CONSIDERATION BEFORE ANY

SUBSEQUENT ACQUISITION FOR THE SUPPLIES OR SERVICES IS MADE:

At this time, the barriers to competition cannot be overcome due to the high costs of moving th e records from one facility to another. As more of VA’s records become digitized, the barriers to competition may be overcome in the future as the cubic feet of storage space needed may be reduced making it more feasible to move the records from one NARA approved facility to another.

REQUIREMENTS CERTIFICATION: I certify that the requirement outlined in this justification is a Bona Fide Need of the Department of Veterans Affairs and that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in the justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge. I understand that processing of this limited rces justification restricts consideration of Federal Supply Schedule contractors to fewer than the number required by