18-00369_JA_REDACTED.pdf

Tracking Number: JA18-0019 Bridge Number: 1

Justification and Approval for Other than Full and Open Competition Sole Source

Acquisition FAR Subpart 6.3 Other Than Full and Open Competition

1. Identification of the agency and contracting activity:

DHA Contracting Office – Falls Church (CO-FC) 7700 Arlington Boulevard Falls Church VA 22042

2. Nature and/or Description of Action being approved: This is a Justification and Approval (JA) pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.303-1(a). The action, once approved, will result in a sole source award of a short-term firm-fixed price contract to Deloitte Consulting, LLP, to support the existing level of effort under W81XWH-08-D-0028-0032 (awarded by United States Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA)) for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Electronic Standards Program Coordination and Analysis Support with no new work or change of scope. A longer follow-on competition is in process and is expected to be awarded no later than 28 May 2018. This short term contract is also necessary to prevent a stop in services while CO-FC conducts concurrent market research for the 5-year re-compete on the Federal Business Opportunities website, General Services Administration (GSA) One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS) Government-wide Multiple Award, Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (MA-IDIQ); and, GSA IT Schedule 70 (General Purpose Commercial Information Technology Equipment, Software, and Services) Special Item Number (SIN) 132-56 Health Information Technology Professional Services to include connected health, electronic health records, health information exchanges, health analytics personal health information management, innovative Health IT solutions, health informatics, emerging health IT research and other health IT services.

3. Description of Supplies/Services: This award provides for the continued support for the Defense Health Agency (DHA) Information Management (IM) Office HIPAA Electronic Standards Program Coordination and Analysis. The requested action will have a base period of performance of three (3) months from 28 December 2017 through 27 March 2018, and a possible three month extension pursuant to FAR clause 52.217-8 “Option to Extend Services” with three option periods of performance from 28 March 2018 through 27 April 2018, from 28 April 2018 through 27 May 2018, and from 28 May 2018 through 27 June 2018. The contract has an estimated value of $xxx,xxx.xx for the six (6) month period. The contract will be funded utilizing Fiscal Year (FY) 2018, Operations and Maintenance (O&M) funds. The short term contract will provide enough time to make the re-compete award needed by the date of 28 May 2018 and provide the desired one (1) month transition time, in order to transition the contracted services from the incumbent to another contractor.

4. Statutory Authority Cited permitting other than full:

Citation: 10 U.S.C. § 2304(d)(1)(B) : US Code - Section 2304: Contracts: competition requirements

FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii)(B) - Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. For DoD, NASA, and the Coast Guard, services may be deemed to be available only from the original source in the case of follow-on contracts for the continued provision of highly specialized services when it is likely that award to any other source would result in unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency’s requirements. Deloitte is the proposed source for this requirement because, as the current contractor, they are currently providing the services and are the only readily available source capable of providing all of the services required by the start date. An award to any other contractor would result in a hasty transition and would lead to unacceptable delays given the highly specialized work performed under this contract. Delays or the loss of support would negatively impact the Military Health System’s (MHS’s) mission in the following manner.

Proving timely and accurate responses to Congressional, Health and Human Services

(HHS), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), or civilian healthcare entity inquiries or complaints regarding HIPAA (required by federal law) transaction compliance;

Planning for, preparing MHS stakeholders for, and communicating internally and externally regarding upcoming HIPAA compliance initiatives (e.g., new transaction versions; an expected rule on compliance certification; an expected rule on clinical attachments);

Responding to HIPAA requirements and compliance inquiries having to do with understanding HIPAA transactions used in both MTF Direct Care (e.g., billing or referrals) as well as TRICARE Private Sector Care settings (all HIPAA adopted transactions);

Supporting functionally led MHS implementations of any new HIPAA adopted initiatives that would be posted to the Federal Register for U.S. healthcare-wide implementation and compliance. Significant degradation in ability to communicate HIPAA transactions, code sets, and identifiers initiative information to MHS stakeholders at functional working level and to higher MHS Governance;

The ability for the MHS to contribute in the development of upcoming nationwide HIPAA initiatives through engagement in and with HIPAA named standards development organizations (e.g., X12) and HIPAA implementation support organizations (Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI));

Reduced interaction with other Federal Agencies (e.g., HHS, CMS, VA) as related to contributions toward, preparations for, and implementations of HIPAA initiatives.

This delay would result in serious injury, especially financial, to the Government. Overall, not having continuous support could result in the cost of non-compliance (potential for fines in accordance with HIPAA (by federal law) or cost of not planning for, preparing for, testing for, and implementing for HIPAA transaction compliance. Loss HIPAA support could result in ill-planned or incorrect implementations of HIPAA transactions and this could have a cost through rejected MTF healthcare claims; non-compliant referral transactions between MTFs and MCSCs;

and lost ability to contribute HIPAA transactions language to TRICARE Manuals that affect guidance to TRICARE Managed Care Support Contractors implementation of and compliance with HIPAA transactions. The quantified cost of the unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency’s HIPAA requirements is as follows: $xxx,xxx.00 for a period of six-months.

5. Reason for Authority Cited: Deloitte Consulting, Inc., has the operational infrastructure and knowledge required for successful performance and the necessary skillsets to complete this effort without a loss of efficiency and impact to the DHA for analysis and coordination of the tasks and activities required to prepare for and achieve compliance with the federally mandated electronic standards requirements of HIPAA. It will be time effective and cost efficient to utilize the resources already on contract to continue the requirements and is the least costly choice for the Government. The follow-on action referenced in paragraph 2 has adequate time built in for proper transition. The following estimate represents the cost that would be duplicated (that is not expected to be recovered through competition) if this award was made to any other source:

$xxx,xxx.xx for a period of six months.

This estimate was derived by multiplying the current IGCE by 50% as the first three months of effort would not reflect actual support for all the areas of the PWS and instead would consist of hiring, training and transitioning new staff without benefit of assistance from the incumbent contractor. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Bids, proposals, or quotations for this short-term contract have not been solicited from additional sources because of the short-term nature of the effort;

however, proposals will be solicited for the follow-on contract which is currently in the re-compete process. It is anticipated the contract award will be completed no later than 28 May 2018.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Those prices were based on negotiated rates under their TEAMS task order. At the time of contract award, these prices were determined to be fair and reasonable. However, for this requirement, the CO- FC Contracting Officer will perform a price evaluation to make a final determination of fair and reasonable pricing. As the incumbent, Deloitte’s past performance record has been consistent for the level of effort, they have successfully demonstrated the experience for this requirement, and the current personnel are very qualified. The Government has assessed the level of effort and the labor mix employed under the current firm-fixed-price contract to ensure the activities required are the same services throughout the contract.

8. Market Research: No market research was done specifically for this short-term contract; and a waiver was approved on 12/21/2017 to the requirement to posting a Request for Information (RFI) or Sources Sought (SS) Notice prior to soliciting non-competitive acquisitions citing FAR 6.302-1 "Only One Responsible Source" as per DFARS 206.302-1(D).

However, market research will be conducted for the follow-on contract in order to determine whether there is a reasonable expectation of receiving offers from at least two responsible small businesses, in accordance with FAR 19.502.2 (b).

During the course of the current contract, a new Special Item Number (SIN) 132-56 was established under the GSA IT-70 schedule (General Purpose Commercial Information Technology Equipment, Software, and Services) to allow for Health Information Technology professional services that offer a wide range of Health IT services to include connected health, electronic health records, health information exchanges, health analytics personal health information management, innovative Health IT solutions, health informatics, emerging health IT research and other health IT services. The short term contract is necessary to provide the IM Program Office and Contracting Office with sufficient time to post an RFI on the GSA IT-70 schedule under SIN 132-56 in order to determine whether there are small businesses that are capable of fulfilling this requirement.

In addition, an RFI will be posted on the previously-competed GSA One Acquisition Solutions for Integrated Services (OASIS) Government-wide Multiple Award, Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (MA-IDIQ) contracts for the responsible sources.

The results of this market research will be used in the determination of whether this requirement can be set aside as a competition for small businesses after reviewing data from RFIs posted on the GSA IT 70, OASIS, and FBO websites. Also the market research will be include additional searches on the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Online Dynamic Search, Federal Data Procurement System (FDPS), and the System for Award Management (SAM) government-wide databases of contracts.

9. Other Facts:

a. Historical data. The current services are being provided by Deloitte through a TEAMS ID/IQ order. TEAMS was established by USAMRAA for the Military Health System (MHS) in order to have an IDIQ tailored for the MHS to obtain any and all components of a program management solution. The TEAMS vehicle allows clients to obtain services in support of policy development, decision-making, management and administration, and program and/or project management and administration. This acquisition represents the third generation of the requirements for HIPAA Electronic Standards Program Coordination and Analysis.

Before the Deloitte award, the Government awarded a task order under the TRICARE – Acquisition, Automation, and Resource Management Support (T/AARMS) Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) through USAMRAA.

b. Unusual and compelling urgency. There is no material differences in the work scope of services currently provided under W81XWH-08-D-0028-0032 and those planned in this short-term contract. Failure to award the contract will stop analysis and coordination of tasks and activities required to prepare for and achieve compliance with the federally mandated electronic standards requirements of HIPAA for the DHA and will harm the Government for reasons stated in Paragraph 4.