IR212.22 - National HTM ScriptPro - JA Redacted.pdf

ScriptPro Pharmacy Management System Upgrade Control Number: VA-21-00096636

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, NJ 07724

2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for a sole-source, firm-fixed-price contract with ScriptPro for brand name ScriptProTM Pharmacy management software, hardware, maintenance and professional support services.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization (OEHRM) provides program management and oversight for the replacement of the VA’s legacy electronic health record, VISTA, with the Cerner implementation of the new Electronic Health Record (EHR). As part of the EHR implementation, VA pharmacies are migrating to Cerner Genesis. As such, VA has a requirement to upgrade and add-on to its existing ScriptPro pharmacy management system at various VA facilities throughout VISNs 10, 12, 15, 17, 19, 21, 22, and 23 to interface and communicate with Cerner. ScriptPro is a total solution system that manages pharmaceutical results, quality control, linearity, operators, certification, devices, device configurations. VA’s ScriptPro pharmacy management system has been in place since 1996 and is currently in use across 140+ plus locations [comprised of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers (VAMCs), Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) and Regional Data Centers]. This system supports Pharmaceutical Robots, Central fill, Specialty Pharmacy, and financial performance tracking. As part of this migration, brand name ScriptPro software, hardware and professional services are required in order to implement a Cerner Genesis ScriptPro bidirectional interface for orders and order status messaging between Cerner Genesis and ScriptPro’ s Workflow System and robotics on a site-by-site basis. Specifically, the Contractor shall provide Hyper Converged Infrastructure (HCI) Clusters for each VISN facility along with a virtual instance which mirrors the existing production server for each facility that currently has a production server. They shall also provide endpoint devices (datapoint, printer, smartcard scanner) for each virtual instance along with professional service hours to cover testing and cut-over activities. The hardware, software and services will enable the ScriptPro pharmacy management system to retain existing legacy ScriptPro database information, allow the database information to transition over to Cerner EMR, accept primary and secondary medical record number (MRN) workflows, and allow the system to co-exist with legacy databases. The add-on capabilities will also provide for new features required or recommended for optimal pharmacy operations in the Cerner Electronic Medical Records (EMR) connected production and test environments. The period of performance shall be 36 months consisting of a staggered upgrade schedule per facility. The total estimated value of the proposed action is .

4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C.3304(a)(1) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1 titled, "Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements."

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: The proposed source for this proposed action is ScriptPro USA, Inc. 5828 Reeds, Rd Shawnee Mission, KS 66202.

Based on market research, as described in Section 8 of this document, the Government has determined that ScriptPro is the only source capable of providing the required hardware, software and services; therefore, there is no competition for this acquisition.

Only ScriptPro hardware, software and associated maintenance and professional services are capable of meeting VA’s requirements for this effort. As stated in Section 3, VA’s ScriptPro Pharmacy management system has been in place since 1996 and is currently in use across 140+ plus VA medical facilities. This effort is only to upgrade and add-on additional hardware and software components to the existing systems at various VA facilities throughout VISNs 10, 12, 15, 17, 19, 21, 22, and 23 in order to implement a bidirectional interface between Cerner Genesis and ScriptPro’ s Workflow System so that the system can communicate with the new EHR. No other brand hardware or software components can be used to upgrade the existing ScriptPro management system due to the proprietary nature of the system. Further, no other source is capable of providing the required maintenance support and professional services as access to ScriptPro’s proprietary source code is required in order to ensure the services provided to the hardware and software components of the systems are properly configured.

Failure to upgrade/add-on to VA’s existing ScriptPro pharmacy management system throughout these VISNs will leave the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) without an integrated pharmacy management system able to connect to the Defense Health Agency enclave resulting in the need to transmit pharmacy results/orders in a manual fashion to the new Cerner EHR. Any such manual intervention would significantly impact VA patient care as VA clinical staff are dependent on the existing ScriptPro Workflow system to safely distribute Veteran medications in an accurate and timely manner. Furthermore, replacing the existing system or implementing a new and separate pharmacy outpatient management system for these VISNs to integrate with the new Cerner EHR would require an extensive implementation effort, including the replacement of all existing ScriptPro workflow systems, robotics and corresponding end-point devices. Any such replacement or new implementation effort is estimated to cost a minimum of $25M and take at least five years to complete. This estimate is based on previous implementation efforts of similar size and scope. Aside from this duplicative cost that would not be recovered through competition, and which would delay the Cerner transition for these VISNs, requiring VA pharmacy technicians and managers to learn, operate and manage a new system and workflows as part of the Cerner integration would add unnecessary complexity and duplicative activities thereby further compromising patient care.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in the market research section of this document. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government's requirements. There is no competition anticipated for this acquisition. The proposed action will be synopsized on the Contract Opportunities page in accordance with FAR 5.201. Any proposals that are received shall be evaluated. Additionally, in accordance with FAR 6.305(a) this Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition will be made publicly available on the Contract Opportunities page within 14 days after contract award.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: The Government will continue to conduct market research to ascertain if there are changes in the marketplace that would enable future actions to be competed.

8. Market Research: The Government’s technical experts conducted market research in August of 2021 by conducting online reviews of Pharmacy management systems available from other manufacturers including Rx30, McKesson Pharmacy Systems, and PrimeRx. While similar systems exist, the market research confirmed that due to the proprietary nature of the existing ScriptPro system, only brand name ScriptPro hardware, software and services can be used to upgrade the existing system to interface and communicate with Cerner and avoid the duplicative time and cost as outlined in Section 5 of this document. Based on this market research, VA’s technical experts confirmed that only brand name ScriptPro hardware, software, maintenance and professional services can meet all of VA’s requirements for this effort. Additional market research via direct communication with ScriptPro Government sales representatives on October 8, 2021 confirmed that ScriptPro is the only source capable of providing the hardware, software and services associated with this effort; therefore, no resellers exist. A formal letter stating such was also received from ScriptPro on October 13, 2021.

9. Other Facts: None.