JA_for_FA8052-17-Q-0001_Redacted.pdf

[FOUO - Not Applicable After Award]

Justification and Approval (J&A) for Other Than Full and Open Competition

[FOUO - Not Applicable After Award] Page 2 of 5

Note 1: See guidance at the end of this document for completing the following sections.

Note 2: Each field will expand automatically if additional space is needed.

I. Contracting Activity.

Department of the Air Force

AFICA 773 ESS/PK (OL-WPAFB)

1940 Allbrook Drive, Building 1, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433-7401

II. Nature and/or description of the action being processed.

The contract action is to award a sole source firm fixed price (FFP) contract for a subscription of the Physician Clinical Reference Database (PCRD) that will be posted on the Air force Medical Services (AFMS) Virtual Library. This database is used by 76 Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs) world-wide and is currently being utilized under contract FA8052-16-P-0006 (ten month FFP bridge w/o options, value $ ) which was a sole source award. This current contract will expire on 31 Oct 16.

A follow-on contract (FFP, base (1) year and four (4) 12 month options, estimated value is $ ) to the incumbent contractor is required by 1 Nov 2016 to prevent a break in the subscription's availability of the database.

III. Description of supplies/services required to meet agency needs.

Under the Physician Clinical Reference Database (PCRD) contract, the contractor is required to provide a working database at 76 CONUS and OCONUS Medical Treatment Facilities (MTFs) in accordance with the SOW. This database provides the latest published research and best practices, and written expert guidance which is either written or edited by physicians. The physicians' expert guidance expands upon the research and may list the contra-indications for drug use and various procedures when complicating factors are present.

This database is used by AFMS physicians, nurses, dentists, medics, pharmacists, rehab staff, allied health personnel and others in developing a diagnosis, treatment and care plans for Airmen, their dependents, and other eligible personnel. The use of the PCRD provides a method for earning acceptable Continuing Education credits (per year) to help USAF medical practitioners meet the minimum standard to maintain their license for USAF health professionals to practice.

The total estimated amount for base (1) year and four (4) 12 month options is $ . The type of appropriations used to fund this requirement will be Operations & Maintenance (O&M) (97X0130.1883). Options are in the best interest of the USAF to review the requirement annually and, if necessary, provide continuing coverage.

IV. Statutory authority permitting Other than Full and Open Competition.

This requirement is excluded from competition under the authority of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1(a) (2), when the services required by the agency are available from only one responsible source.

V. Demonstration that the contractor's unique qualifications or nature of the acquisition requires the use of the authority cited above (applicability of authority).

Market research was conducted to determine if other sources could meet the requirement and based upon this market research it was determined that the other sources were unable to meet the needs of AFMS. The AFMS requires specialized analysis to assist the medical staff with decision-making at the point of patient care delivery.

Also, the current PCRD allows for contra-indications for drug use and various procedures when complicating factors

[FOUO - Not Applicable After Award] Page 3 of 5 are present. In review of other sources, more than one company offered the integration of medical information into a single database; the features of the offered products are not the same. All the databases provide possible courses of treatment and enable continuing education credits to be earned. More than one database contained the commonly required topics. However, the way the information contained in each database is developed and presented significantly differs. One database consists of a bullet list of possible courses of treatment linked to the applicable third-party published abstract/article, but lacked the necessary reasoned analysis of the topic. The current database includes the reasoned analysis by presenting a thorough, discussion of topics with prioritized, recommended actions including critical caveats from an expert author.

The current contractor, Uptodate Inc., a Large Business, is the only source that can provide the unique capability in providing the service and has the required personnel and technology to allow for uninterrupted access to the clinical reference database now in place, following the expiration of the current contract.

Accordingly, after conducting market research, the incumbent contractor is the only firm capable of providing the service described in Section III above. Therefore, this acquisition is for the continued performance of a specialized service.

VI. Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable.

IAW FAR 6.302-1(d)(2) this J&A will be synopsized.

A sources sought synopsis (FA8052_17_PCRDS) was issued 12 Sep 2016 with, a draft Statement of Work (SOW) to locate any additional sources not responding to the prior contract. No additional potential sources were identified.

Additionally, Internet searches were conducted in an effort to find additional sources and any reviews or evaluations of sources responding to the sources sought.

This requirement will support the Air Force. However, the Defense Health Agency (DHA) is pursuing a consolidated contract for the Physicians Clinical Reference Database needs of all DOD military services. The solicitation for the DHA contract is currently being developed, but no milestones have been set, and no approved SOW has been developed.

Inclusion of options will enable the Air Force to transition to a Defense Health Agency contract when feasible.

VII. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The Contracting Officer has determined the anticipated cost to the Government to be fair and reasonable. Current pricing under the contract was derived based on market research and relative historical prices paid. As a part of the initial award prices paid were deemed fair and reasonable in accordance with FAR Part 15.404-1(b)(2)(ii). The Contracting Officer will use price analysis techniques, and other than certified cost and pricing data to determine the cost to the Government to be fair and reasonable IAW FAR Part 13.106-2 prior to making award.

VIII. Description of the market research conducted and the results, or a statement of the reasons market research was not conducted.

As described in Section VI above, market research, in accordance with FAR Part 10, was conducted by synopsis of the proposed acquisition, advising industry of the pending acquisition and soliciting inquiries from interested parties. A sources sought was published on FBO on 12 Sep 2016, Internet searches were performed, and the 773 ESS/PK (WPAFB- OL) conducted market research utilizing the NAICS code 519130 on SAM.gov and the SBA dynamic search tool. While Uptodate Inc., has a proprietary database, the market research actions described above searched for companies, small and large, that

[FOUO - Not Applicable After Award] Page 4 of 5 appeared to have the capabilities to perform the work described in the Statement of Work.

Since, this requirement will directly affect the health and lives of USAF members being treated at USAF MTFs, it is paramount that the data and reasoned analysis be provided the medical practitioners.

Market research identified two (2) companies (EBSCO Health and PEPID) who stated they could provide a similar database to the AF. PEPID and EBSCO were evaluated by the customer and found that they were both unable to provide what the AF currently needs to support the medical staff at each MTF. In one case, some of the required topics returned NO or few articles when a search was run, thus not meeting all of the required topic coverage listed in the SOW. In the case of another product, while the articles were there, the product did not present as required in the SOW, a thorough reasoned discussion of the topics with prioritized, recommended action(s) with critical caveats from the expert author. Neither of these companies provide a product that meets the life and health requirements of the

USAF.

Therefore it is in the Air Force's best interest to continue with Uptodate, the incumbent contractor.

IX. Any other facts supporting the use of Other Than Full and Open Competition.

Break in service will result in significant degradation to the mission and impact our ability to meet the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations requirements. If a break in service would occur, there will be a significant impact to care of Air Force personnel and their families. Physicians use this service on average over 16,000 times a day; providers in the clinics and on the wards will either have to search multiple, less user-friendly and less reliable resources to guide decision-making or will make decisions in a relative vacuum if time constraints are high. The end result will be a significant decrease in the quality, safety and efficacy of care provided in the AFMS.

X. List of sources, if any, that expressed interest in the acquisition.

Identified on prior solicitation.

A) EBSCO Health (Dynamed Plus) 10 Estes Street Ipswich, MA 01938

(978) 356-6500 https://health.ebsco.com/

B) PEPID

2800 S River Rd, Ste 285 Des Plaines, IL 60018

(847) 491-9100 (http://www.pepid.com/

Responses to current Sources Sought:

EBSCO Health (Dynamed Plus) Microsoft (suggested Azure as cloud based storage only: does not offer a Physician Clinical Reference Database)