JA18-0115_Mirth_redacted.pdf

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY - Source Selection Information – See FAR 2.101 and 3.104

DHA PGI 206.3, Attachment 1 (06-21-2018)

Justification and Approval for Other than Full and Open Competition

J&A Tracking No. JA18-0115

1. Identification of the agency and contracting activity: The Defense Health Agency (DHA), Contract Operations – Health Information Technologies (CO-HIT), 4130 Stanley Road, Suite 208, Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA), Fort Sam Houston, Texas 78234.

2. Nature and/or Description of Action being approved: The Government intends to award a new, firm-fixed price contract on a sole source basis to World Wide Technology Inc. (WWT), 60 Weldon Pkwy, Maryland Heights, MO 63043, for Enterprise Maintenance and Support services for Mirth Connect (also known as NextGen Connect) licenses. The planned contract is a continuation of the same support services currently being provided under contract #HT0015-16- F-0158 with WWT that expires September 30, 2018.

3. Description of Supplies/Services: The Office of Assistant Secretary of Defense Health Affairs (OASD HA) / Defense Health Agency (DHA), via the Solutions Delivery Division (SDD) Program Office, requires software upgrades and technical assistance for the renewal of Mirth maintenance in support of various DHA IT Systems, including the Health Artifact and Image Management Solution (HAIMS), Defense and Veterans Eye Injury and Vision Registry (DVEIVR) and Joint Operational Medicine Information System (JOMIS). Mirth Connect (also known as NextGen Connect) is a Commercial Open Source toolset software which formats, routes, manipulates, and processes electronic medical information messages, known as Health Level Seven (HL7) messages. While Mirth Connect is free, support for the product is not.

Commercial support for this software is required for deployment into a Department of Defense (DoD) environment.

The expected period of performance will consist of a base year with four additional (12 month) option year period; however, new market research will be conducted before exercise of any option to examine whether circumstances have changed and whether this requirement is still under a sole source environment, and that the exercise of the option is the most advantageous method of meeting this requirement.

The total estimated value of this effort is $3,060,014.64. FY19 Operations and Maintenance (O&M) funds will be used for this procurement.

4. Statutory and Regulatory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition (see FAR 6.302): 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1) 6.302-1 -- Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements

5. Rationale Justifying Use of the Statutory Authority Cited: Mirth software is an open source license with the option to purchase maintenance and support. Mirth Connect is used as a channel-based architecture to connect HIT systems and allow messages to be filtered, https://www.bing.com/local?lid=YN464x185662833&id=YN464x185662833&q=World+Wide+Technology+Inc&name=World+Wide+Technology+Inc&cp=38.7078666687012%7e-90.4401321411133&ppois=38.7078666687012_-90.4401321411133_World+Wide+Technology+Inc&FORM=SNAPST https://www.bing.com/local?lid=YN464x185662833&id=YN464x185662833&q=World+Wide+Technology+Inc&name=World+Wide+Technology+Inc&cp=38.7078666687012%7e-90.4401321411133&ppois=38.7078666687012_-90.4401321411133_World+Wide+Technology+Inc&FORM=SNAPST transformed, and routed based on user-defined rules. Channels consist of connectors (both inbound and outbound), filters, and transformers.

The Mirth Connect product is currently used in/for various SDD and Joint Operational Medicine Information System (JOMIS) projects and systems. The DoD requires that commercial off-the-shelf software should be leveraged wherever possible. There are only a very few commercial products that can natively construct HITSP C32 documents. Out of these, most of them are part of a much larger, comprehensive, and complex software package. Mirth Connect is the only available commercial product whose sole function is to process medically specific electronic messages, such as HL7 and Health Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP) defined message types. Because of its very narrow space of medical message processing, Mirth Connect is significantly easier to configure than alternative products that could be configured to execute the same functionality, but does not do it natively. This provides a significant reduction in risk to the project’s schedule and technical implementation.

Mirth Connect is the only free and open source software package available that can reasonably execute the functionality needed. The Military Health System (MHS) is embracing the use of free and open source where available. Since the licensing for Mirth is free, the DoD is only responsible for acquiring support of the product and any necessary training which provides for a significantly lower overall cost of ownership.

Also, due to ongoing tasking and Lines of Action (LOA) for the Program Executive Officer (PEO) Clinical Systems, applications in the Medical Health System (MHS) need the ability to communicate with disparate health information systems. Other than Mirth Connect, there are currently no applications existing within the PEO Clinical Systems Enterprise to support the HL7 standard or speak to complex protocols needed to exchange information. Mirth provides a comprehensive integration solution that can handle all of the work to transform and route healthcare, and open source allows interfaces to be shared and reused. Failure to procure this follow on support will render medical treatment facilities unable to utilize this toolset in the event of trouble and/or upgrades. Mirth only has one reseller source, WWT. World Wide Technology is the only vendor authorized by Mirth to provide Tier 3 maintenance support. They have been providing support to DHA for the agency’s Mirth Connect licenses for the past few years. Although there are other resellers like Nanthealth, Latric Systems and Med Tech Solutions, these resellers can only provide Tier-1 support. Tier-1 support only allows the specialists in this tier to handle straightforward and simple problems while possibly using knowledge management tools. This includes troubleshooting methods such as verifying physical issues, resolving username and password problems, verification of proper hardware and software set-up, and assistance with navigating application menus. The support provided through WWT is Tier-3 support that is directly from the manufacturer. Tier-3 support is the highest level of support responsible for handling the most complex problems. The specialists in this tier are experts responsible for reviewing work orders, assessing the time already spent with the customer, and to make sure time management is adequately utilized. They also determined if a problem can be solved, establish and develop one or more courses of action, evaluate each of the corrective actions in a test case environment, and execute the best solution to the problem to deliver to the customer.

If the DHA were to procure licenses and support for any product other than Mirth Connect or procure the required support services from any Mirth reseller offering only Tier-1 support, the Government estimates that it would incur significant duplicative costs as a result of needing changes to system infrastructures, training, and loss of capabilities. These impacts would also cause unacceptable delays in fulfilling requirements and risk gaps in service or impaired service for these essential Health IT systems.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: CO-HIT posted a Request for Information on the Federal Business Opportunities website on 24 July 18 for 10 days and received no responses. For the reasons discussed in Section 5 above, and until such time as the infrastructure changes, no effort will be made to solicit this requirement from multiple offerors due to the fact that this modified system cannot fully be maintained to the Government’s requirements by any other vendor than

WWT.

7. Determination that Anticipated Cost to the Government will be Fair and Reasonable:

The Contracting Officer hereby determines that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable through analysis of the current contract, the Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE), and technical evaluation by a subject matter expert.

8. Market Research: In accordance with FAR Part 10, market research was conducted by synopsis of the proposed acquisition, advising industry of the pending acquisition and soliciting inquiries from interested parties. No additional market research was conducted because it is not practicable for any company other than World Wide Technology, Inc. to provide the required software licenses and upgrades and support services.

9. Other Facts: The goal is to set up an Enterprise Mirth contract so that all Projects/Programs can use an unlimited amount of Mirth instance and not have to come up with more funding as they grow. Previous related actions include:

a. Procurement History: This is not a new requirement. Mirth has been used for the past seven (7) years and there is no other channel-based architecture to connect HIT systems.

b. Contract Number HT0015-16-F-0158 awarded to WWT on 1 October 2016.

c. Procurement actions were previously awarded with the same authority.

d. WWT has licensed the application to the seven (7) Projects/Programs that are using the 15 named developer Platinum users and 79 Mirth Platinum instances.

10. Interested Sources: To date, there are no other known sources that can provide the required type of license and support.

11. Actions to overcome barriers: SDD perpetually reviews data on the industry and commercial products that provide similar software applications. When a decision is made to change the Mirth software the SDD and JOMIS programs will be consulted to determine the optimum evaluation process/criteria for the new application and maintenance requirement.

Maximum consideration will be given to the most competitive approach in order to provide the best value to the Government.

COORDINATION:

12. Technical/Functional Representative:

I certify that the information provided in this justification, is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

9/27/2018 Date

13. Requirements Certification:

I certify that the information provided in this justification, is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

9/27/2018

14. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination:

I have determined that the anticipated cost to the Government for this contract action is fair and reasonable.

9/27/2018

Contracting Officer, Contracting Office - Health Information

Technolgy

15. Legal Review:

I have reviewed this justification and have found it to be legally sufficient.

9/27/2018

Office of General Counsel

APPROVAL:

16. Contracting Officer:

I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

9/27/2018 Date Contracting Officer, Contracting Office - Health Information Technolgy

17. Competition Advocate:

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of Mirth Enterprise Software and Maintenance on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), subject to availability of funds, and provided that the supplies and/or services herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

9/27/2018 Jake Lewis Date Competition Advocate (J-4)