J_A_Redacted.pdf

This is a Justification for Restricting Competition under FAR 12.102(a) for a federal procurement action by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Iowa City VA Health Care System is procuring three (3) MassLynx Acquisition PCs with Windows 11 upgrade kits for use with existing Waters Corporation LCMS (Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry) instruments used in the Pathology and Laboratory Department for drug confirmation testing. The contracting activity is identified as VISN 23, Iowa City VA HCS, Pathology and Laboratory Department (636-26-4-4154-0204), with Acquisition Plan Action ID 36C263-26-AP-2889. The estimated amount is redacted in the document.

The justification establishes that competition is restricted to a single source based on the unique technical requirements of the existing Waters Corporation LCMS system. The current operating system (Windows 7) is no longer supported on the VA network, necessitating hardware upgrades. The MassLynx software required to operate these instruments is only available from Waters Technologies Corporation, making them the sole capable vendor for this upgrade. The document notes that purchasing alternative PCs would require repurchasing the MassLynx software at the initial cost of $32,300, whereas upgrading the existing system substantially reduces costs. The Contracting Officer, Becky De Los Santos, certified the justification on April 29, 2026.