20251211 Sleep Study Services Bridge Other than Full and Open Competition JA.pdf

DEFENSE HEALTH AGENCY

COMPONENT ACQUISITION EXECUTIVE (J-4)

7700 ARLINGTON BOULEVARD, SUITE 5101

FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA 22042-5101

DEFENSE HEALTH AGENCY

HCD-NE

Other than Full and Open Competition, Justification & Approval 1 of 6

December 11, 2025

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL (J&A) FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN

COMPETITION PURSUANT TO FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION 6.302-2

FOR BRIDGE PURCHASE ORDER

1. AGENCY AND CONTRACTING ACTIVITY: This Justification and Approval (J&A) is prepared by the Defense Health Agency (DHA), DHA Contracting Activity (DHACA), Healthcare Contracting Division – Northeast (HCD-NE). The requiring activity is the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD (WRNMMC) and Alexander T. Augusta Military Medical Center (ATAMMC), acquiring urgent and essential Polysomnography support services as described below for WRNMMC and in support of the Alexander T. Augusta Military Medical Center, Ft. Belvoir, VA (ATAMMC), and the National Intrepid Center of Excellence, Bethesda, MD (NICOE).

2. NATURE AND/OR DESCRIPTION OF ACTION BEING APPROVED: A bridge purchase order is required to ensure that essential Polysomnography Support Services continue uninterrupted during the pendency of a bid protest filed with the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Pursuant to the Competition in Contracting Act, 31 U.S.C. sec. 3553(d), and FAR 33.104(c), performance under the protested contract must be suspended while the protest is pending. In accordance with 31 U.S.C. sec. 3553(d)(3)(A)(ii) and FAR 33.104(c)(1), the contractor must immediately suspend performance under the protested task order and suspend any related activities that may result in additional obligations being incurred by the United States under that contract.

Under the circumstances, however, due to the lapse in appropriations the contractor-awardee, AllTech Ventures, LLC had already transitioned in and was fully performing the services for over a month by the time the protest was docketed.

On November 13, 2025, disappointed offeror Sleep Care, Inc. (SCI) filed a post-award bid protest with GAO challenging the award with the assertion that HCD-NE improperly evaluated the awardee’s past performance and did not properly account for its own experience in conducting the best-value tradeoff contemplated by the solicitation (HT001425R0034).

During the furlough, GAO was not operating and posted information/instructions on the website concerning received protest during the furlough period. All protests would be considered received as of the opening of the agency. Accordingly, SCI’s protest was timely.

In light of the timely protest, the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) required the immediate issuance of a stop work order. Therefore, in accordance with CICA and the Stop-Work Order clause, FAR 52.242-15, AllTech was instructed to suspend performance immediately.

On November 18, 2025, the ATAMMC Sleep Center filed a Director’s Critical Information Requirements (DCIR) Situation Report (SITREP) informing DHA leadership of adverse impacts to patient care and healthcare operations (i.e., sleep studies) affecting the ability of ATAMMC to support military readiness. At that time, HCD-NE began exploring options either to expedite

Other than Full and Open Competition, Justification & Approval 2 of 6 resolution of the pending bid protest or to execute a bridge contract for the services. The decision was made to take corrective action, and on November 25, 2025, the protest was dismissed.

On November 25, 2025, HCD-NE completed corrective actions, affirming the decision to award to AllTech, and issued notice to AllTech lifting the Stop Work Order effective November 26, 2025. The protester, Sleep Care, was notified of the Agency’s decision on December 1, 2025, and Sleep Care filed a second protest at GAO on December 3, 2025. As before, because a post-award protest was filed timely at GAO, the CICA requires performance to be suspended while the protest is pending.

Depriving WRNMMC, ATAMMC, and NICOE of essential Polysomnography Services, even for a brief period, would immediately result in critical, adverse clinical impacts to patient care and significant harm to healthcare operations at the affected facilities and throughout the Military Health System (MHS) in the National Capital Region (NCR). Therefore, immediate, interim contract coverage for Polysomnography Services is essential in order to avoid irrevocable harm to ongoing operations, continuity of care, and critical healthcare functions.

A short-term bridge contract to AllTech is vital to ensuring continuity of critical sleep study services across the affected locations until such time as the bid protest has been resolved. AllTech has been successfully supporting sleep study activities since OCT 2, 2025, and attempting to solicit other offers from alternative small business vendors, including the predecessor contractor, would create an unreasonable risk of a break in service. Although 10 U.S.C. sec. 3204(a)(2), sec. 3204(d), and FAR 6.302-2(c)(2) require the Agency to “request offers from as many potential sources as is practicable under the circumstances” (emphasis added), the need for the required services is so urgent and compelling under the circumstances presented here that any other approach, including a bridge to the predecessor contractor, would likely result in an unacceptable risk of a break in service.

Accordingly, a short-term bridge purchase order, issued on a sole-source basis to the original contract awardee, AllTech Ventures, LLC, is the only viable solution to maintain uninterrupted Polysomnography Services support while the protest is pending. This action ensures mission continuity and protects the Government from significant harm that would result from any break in service, however brief.

3. DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES AND ESTIMATED VALUE: The Department of Defense WRNMMC, ATAMMC, and NICOE require essential Polysomnography Services including, but not limited to full spectrum for the management and delivery of sleep study analysis for daytime and overnight studies, which include prepping, monitoring, tracking and recording of normal and abnormal sleep through collective medicine and technical monitors. These services require registered Polysomnography Technologists knowledgeable in all areas of sleep disorders technology, including the setup and recording of overnight Polysomnograms (PSG), continuous positive airway pressure/bi-level positive airway pressure (CPAP/BIPAP) titrations, Multiple Sleep Latency Tests (MSLTs), Maintenance of Wakefulness Tests (MWTs) and scoring of data. Services are performed in accordance with established principles of sleep technology, including those adopted by the American Sleep Disorders Association and those included in the Sleep disorders Center Standards of Practice.

A short-term, bridge purchase order will ensure that such essential services continue uninterrupted at WRNMMC, ATAMMC, and NICOE while the protest of the original order is pending.

Performance Periods Performance Period Dates Amount

Base Period (4 months) December 15, 2025 – April 15, 2026 $516,100.00

Other than Full and Open Competition, Justification & Approval 3 of 6

4. STATUTORY AUTHORITY PERMITTING OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN

COMPETION: Given the essential nature of the Polysomnography Services to the continuing healthcare operations at WRNMMC, ATAMMC, and NICOE, and the immediate and significant adverse clinical/facility harms that would result from even a short break in such services, awarding a short-term, bridge purchase order to AllTech on a sole-source basis is permitted pursuant to the statutory authority of 10 U.S.C. sec. 3204(a)(2): “the agency’s need for the . . . services is of such an unusual and compelling urgency that the United States would be seriously injured unless the agency is permitted to limit the number of sources from which it solicits bids or proposals.” Under the circumstances here, where even a short break in services to allow a contractor other than AllTech, which is currently performing the vital services, to transition in would create an unacceptable risk of harm to significant interests of the United States, it is not practicable request offerors from any other source, as required by 10 U.S.C. sec. 3024(d), or even to award a bridge purchase order to the predecessor contractor.

In accordance with FAR 6.302-2(b), the cited statutory authority applies in situations such as those presented here, where (1) an unusual and compelling urgency precludes full and open competition;

and (2) delay in award of a contract would result in serious injury, financial or other, to the Government. Notably, pursuant to FAR 6.302-2(d), the cited authority is limited to the time necessary to meet the unusual and compelling requirements of the work to be performed under the contract and for the Agency to enter into – or, as here, recommence performance under – a contract awarded through the use of competitive procedures.

5. RATIONALE JUSTIFYING USE OF AUTHORITY CITED: Due to the pending protest, the original contract for Polysomnography Services cannot proceed. The Agency’s need for such services is so urgent that requesting offers from any other source, including the predecessor contractor, would result in an unreasonable risk of unacceptable delays.

Failure to sustain this requirement would immediately and significantly disrupt daily operations at WRNMMC, ATAMMC, and NICOE sleep medicine clinics and laboratories – facilities that depend on rapid, dependable healthcare services to meet mission demands. A break of even a short duration of the essential services provided by the sleep medicine facilities would have a significant impact on operational readiness, delay in essential follow-up care, and reductions in access to accurate, military-standard evaluations for service members, including pilots and air crews in the National Capital Region. The Director of the NICoE and the Chiefs of Sleep Medicine at WRNMMC and ATAMMC, respectively, have all provided declarations attesting to the significant adverse impacts to patient care, military readiness, and facility healthcare operations that are likely to result from a break in service.

These include significant delays, and even failures, in critical treatment of conditions including, but not limited to, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), narcolepsy, and traumatic brain injury patients. Some of the sleep studies performed at the facilities with contractor support are highly specialized, and either cannot be or cannot easily be referred to supporting civilian care providers (e.g., studies for pilots’ and flight crews’ readiness for flight status). The sleep centers at ATAMMC and WRNMMC maintain busy schedules, and even brief impacts could result in irreparable harm to essential training and accreditation outcomes.

Awarding a short-term bridge purchase order to AllTech is therefore the only viable solution to maintain uninterrupted support while DHA OGC & HCD-NE respond to the GAO protest. This action ensures mission continuity, mitigates unacceptable operational risk, and protects the Government from significant harm that would arise from any break in service.

6. EFFORTS TO OBTAIN COMPETITION: The original contract, currently being protested, was fully competed under FAR Parts 12 and 13. The competition was robust, with nine proposals being

Other than Full and Open Competition, Justification & Approval 4 of 6 received and evaluated. The proposal by AllTech was found to offer the best value to the Government, with a fair and reasonable price. Given the urgency of the Agency’s need for these essential services to continue uninterrupted, without even a momentary break in services, no actions to solicit further offers, including from the predecessor contractor, are practicable under the circumstances.

7. ACTIONS TAKEN TO REMOVE OR OVERCOME ANY BARRIERS TO COMPETITION:

The original contract, currently being protest, was fully competed under FAR Parts 12 and 13. The competition was robust, with nine proposals being received and evaluated. The proposal by AllTech was found to offer the best value to the Government, with a fair and reasonable price. Given the urgency of the Agency’s need for these essential services to continue uninterrupted, without even a momentary break in services, no actions to solicit further offers, including from the predecessor contractor, are practicable under the circumstances.

8. MARKET RESEARCH: Given the urgency of the Agency’s need for these essential services to continue uninterrupted, without even a momentary break in services, no other vendor would be capable of providing the services without unacceptable delay.

9. OTHER FACTS:

a. Procurement History:

(1) Is this a new Requirement? No

(2) If not, then was the action just prior to this one competed? Yes, the protested contract was fully competed under FAR Part 13. Nine offers were received, including the offers received from AllTech and from the protester, Sleep Care. The proposals were evaluated in accordance with the terms of the solicitation, and consistent with the solicitation’s basis for award the proposal of AllTech was determined to offer the best value to the Government, with a fair and reasonable price.

b. Additional Information: None.

10. INTERESTED SOURCES: See paragraph 7, above.

11. TECHNICAL CERTIFICATION:

I hereby certify that the supporting data under my cognizance included in this justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Dr. Jennifer Creamer LTC, MC Chief of Sleep Medicine

WRNMMC

12. Requirements Certification:

Other than Full and Open Competition, Justification & Approval 5 of 6

I certify the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in the justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

SHANNON C. FORD, COL, MC, US Army Director, NICoE

13. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine the anticipated cost to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable.

Basis for Determination: FAR 15.404-1(b)(2)(i)

Edgar DuChemin Contracting Officer

14. Legal Review:

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

James A. Douglas Office of General Counsel Office

15. Contracting Officer Certification: I certify this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Edgar DuChemin

DHACA HCD-Northeast

Approval Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of Polysomnography Services at anticipated cost of $516,100.00 on an other than full and open competition basis

Other than Full and Open Competition, Justification & Approval 6 of 6 pursuant to the authority of : 10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(2) or 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(2) as implemented in FAR 6.302-2(b)(2), Delay in award of a contract would result in serious injury, financial or other, to the Government, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

Edgar DuChemin

DHACA HCD-Northeast