36C77619Q0160-001.docx

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* = Required Field FedBizOpps Presolicitation Notice Rev. March 2010 U Maintenance of Competency Support Service 63129 36C77619Q0160 09-11-2019 N 611699 Department of Veteran Affairs

PCAC-ST. LOUIS

4401-D Meramec Bottom Rd Saint Louis MO 63129

MARK FERGUSON

, CONTRACT SPECIALIST

MARK.FERGUSON@VA.GOV

CONSTANCE WILLIAMS, CONTRACTING OFFICER

CONSTANCE.WILLIAMS@VA.GOV

CONTRACTOR'S LOCATION.

USA

https://www.va.gov https://www.va.gov

MARK.FERGUSON@VA.GOV

MARK.FERGUSON@VA.GOV

Synopsis:

This notice is a Notice of Intent (NOI). This notice is published in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 5.101(a)(1) requiring dissemination of information regarding proposed contract actions. This is a Notice of Intent to award a Sole Source Firm-Fixed Price Contract under the authority of 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1), as implemented by FAR 13.106-1(b) - Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements. and is not a request for competitive quotes. The Department of Veterans Affairs, Employee Education Services intends to award a firm-fixed price sole source contract to the contractor American Heart Association (AHA).

1. Title of Project: Maintenance of Competency (MOC) Support Service

2. Background: The Employee Education System (EES) has a Resuscitation Education Initiative (REdI) program within the VHA SimLEARN National Center located in Orlando, FL. The REdI program is responsible for providing resuscitation training across the entire construct of the VHA.

Part of the training provision that the REdI program provides is an ongoing Maintenance of Competency (MOC) curriculum that allows clinicians and practitioners to maintain resuscitation credentialing. The credentials that shall be maintained are both Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) and Basic Life Support (BLS).

Through previous acquisitions, the REdI program has secured a surplus of ACLS and BLS student fees. However, MOC support is needed, to allow the REdI program to deploy the surplus student fees to the VHA populous for recertification of current credentials.

3. Objective: To secure temporary MOC support services, until the current on-hand surplus of ACLS and BLS student fees are consumed. The analysis of the consumption rate for the surplus ACLS and BLS student fees revealed that the ACLS and BLS will be completely consumed in approximately (105) days after contract award for these support services.

The result of this temporary purchase will allow the REdI program to prevent the degradation of lifesaving training programs, sustain current cardiovascular high-quality CPR training program, by supporting student accounts, training content, all designated compliance measures and the training equipment.

4. Scope of Work: The contractor shall provide Day-to-Day Progress of MOC Training Program Support, Education and Online Training Support, and Program Coordination Support required to perform email support, customer service calls, technical solutions support, reporting, and course amalgamation between the VHA learning management system and the course content. Services include, but are not limited to, managing the trouble shooting for incoming phone and email request(s), communicating directly, both telephone and email, with medical facilities regarding reported issues, initial QCPR® manikin(s) troubleshooting, and referring personnel to utilize internal VHA Standardized Equipment Exchange Program when necessary.

5. Current Environment: As a result of previous VHA/REdI program acquisitions, the government has a current environment that includes both ACLS and BLS student fees, along with the necessary equipment and peripheral devices that allows the government to successfully deploy the mandated training curriculum.

While the government continues to evaluate other alternatives for resuscitation training provision, it is critically important to provide sufficient maintenance of what has already been procured to this point, so that the community of clinicians and practitioners can maintain resuscitation credentials.

The current environment consists of courses and equipment that shall be supported. The items in the current environment is as follows:

(1). HeartCode® (2). Resuscitation Quality Improvement (RQI)®, RQI 2020® (3). Skill Reporter SimPad (4). Laerdal CPR Mobile Skills Stations (5). Quality CPR (QCPR)® manikins (6). AHA resuscitation course content and skill testing in Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and Basic Life Support (BLS) AHA courses.

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Justification and Approval (J&A) For Other Than Full and Open Competition (>SAT)

Acquisition Plan Action ID: 36C776-19-AP-2923

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Service Area Central, Procurement Contracting Activity in St. Louis Contracting Constance Williams, Contracting Officer Mark Ferguson, Contract Specialist 4400 Meramec Bottom Rd.

St. Louis, MO 63129.

2. Description of Supplies/Services Required to Meet the Agency’s Needs: The Employee Education System (EES) has a Resuscitation Education Initiative (REdI) program within the VHA SimLEARN National Center located in Orlando, FL. The REdI program is responsible for providing resuscitation training across the entire construct of the VHA.

Part of the training provision that the REdI program provides is an ongoing Maintenance of Competency (MOC) curriculum that allows clinicians and practitioners to maintain resuscitation credentialing. The credentials that shall be maintained are both Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) and Basic Life Support (BLS). The VHA, EES, REdI program currently has approximately, 1100 existing Mobile CPR stations, 2800 existing QCPR manikins and 71,000 existing AHA ALS/BLS student fees/licenses/courseware.

The existing VHA, EES environment consists of the following courseware/licenses and equipment that require support. The items/equipment in the current VHA environment are as follows:

4. Laerdal CPR Mobile Skills Stations

5. Quality CPR (QCPR)® manikins

6. AHA resuscitation course content and skill testing in Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and Basic Life Support (BLS) AHA courses.

The result of this purchase will allow the REdI program to prevent the degradation of lifesaving training programs, sustain current cardiovascular high-quality CPR training program, by supporting student accounts, training content, all designated compliance measures and the training equipment.

3. Demonstration that the Contractor’s Unique Qualifications or Nature of the Acquisition Requires the Use of the Authority Cited Above (applicability of authority): Based on the Market Research conducted, the MOC Support Service requirement has been determined to be commercial. The MOC support services will provide support and analytical reporting for the existing approximately, 1100 Mobile CPR stations, 2800 QCR manikins, and 71,000 American Heart Association (AHA) ALS/BLS student fees/licenses/courseware.

The existing VHA, EES environment consists of the following courseware/licenses and equipment that shall be supported. The items/equipment in the current VHA environment are as follows:

(1). HeartCode® (2). Resuscitation Quality Improvement (RQI)®, RQI 2020® (3). Skill Reporter SimPad (4). Laerdal CPR Mobile Skills Stations (5). Quality CPR (QCPR)® manikins (6). AHA resuscitation course content and skill testing in Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and Basic Life Support (BLS) AHA courses.

Market research indicates that only one source is capable of providing the support and highly specialized analytical capabilities for the existing proprietary equipment and courseware/licenses/student fees (all previously acquired) as listed above and outlined in the PWS. This highly specialized support service for VHA, EES’s existing equipment and courseware/licensing/student fees, is proprietary to the American Heart Association (AHA).

In order to continue to receive consistent, cohesive and accurate analytical data, the services required to support the existing specialized equipment and courseware must be able to integrate with each other. Taking into account the enormous amount of specialized equipment owed by the VHA, EES, Redi program throughout the entire construct of the VHA, substantial duplication cost to the government is not expected to be recovered through competition. The unique and highly specialized analytical capabilities used to support the existing equipment and courseware are essential to the governments requirement, thereby precluding consideration of support services being provided by another company.

4. Description of the Market Research Conducted and the Results, or a Statement of the Reasons Market Research Was Not Conducted: A search on Vendor Information Page (VIP) was conducted on June 27, 2019 under NAICS code 611699 revealing 469 VOSBs. On June 27, 2019, a notification was emailed to 469 VOSBs under NAICS 611699, notifying them that Sources Sought Notice #36C77619Q0160 was posted on FBO with a due date of July 2, 2019.

The Government received a total of seven (7) responses to the Sources Sought Notice: Six SDVOSB’s and one (1) Large Business responded providing their capability statements in response to the sources sought notice.

All capability statements were screened by the program office’s subject matter experts and four additional follow-up technical questions were sent to the SVOSB respondents to further ascertain their capability of providing the specific support services as outlined in the Sources Sought Notice and the Performance Work Statement (PWS). Five (5) SDVOSB’s did not respond to the request for additional information by providing answers to the additional follow-up technical questions as requested.

One SDVOSB responded providing answers to the questions and providing additional information. The answers provided by the one SDVOSB were reviewed by the program SME and the determination was made that responses to the questions lacked any feedback that directly tied to current or past experiences related to an enterprise wide resuscitative education initiative. It appears that within each response, the vendor described a desired state and or definition of “RQI” that often referred back to the onsite designee and or the American Heart Association (AHA).

The technical questions were also sent to two other SDVOSB’s identified in additional market research. The additional SDVOSB vendors indicated that although they could provide the equipment outlined in the PWS, they were not authorized by AHA to provide the proprietary support for those products or equipment.

In summary, the SME’s at the program office identified the one large business (AHA) as being able to perform all the requirements as outlined in the PWS. Also, AHA responded that they are the sole provider for all the training and support services for HeartCode®, Resuscitation Quality Improvement (RQI)®, RQI 2020®, Reporter SimPad, Laerdal CPR Mobile Skills Stations, Quality CPR (QCPR)® manikins and, AHA resuscitation course content and skill testing in Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and Basic Life Support (BLS) AHA courses.

Taking into consideration the market research findings, the Contracting Officer determined that only one vendor, American Heart Association was capable of providing the proprietary support services to the VA.