JA Accusoft Redacted.pdf

Control Number VA-24-00036289

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 sole source action is for a firm-fixed price Contract for the procurement of maintenance and support of the following brand name Accusoft ImageGear, Accusoft Software Developer Toolkit (SDK), and Accusoft Priority Support perpetual licenses with Accusoft Corporation (Accusoft) 4001 N. Riverside Drive, Tampa, Florida 33603-3226, United States.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VA, Office of Information and Technology (OIT), Software Product Management, Health Clinical Services, requires brand name Accusoft ImageGear license maintenance, Accusoft SDK license maintenance and Accusoft Priority Support package to support the previously purchased Accusoft ImageGear run-time enterprise site licenses. OIT has a requirement to renew 148 perpetual licenses for ImageGear MD Pro v18 Windows ActiveX x32 Server, 148 licenses for ImageGear MD.NET v24 ANY CPU Server, nine (9) licenses for ImageGear MD Pro v18 Windows ActiveX x32 SDK toolkits, nine (9) licenses for ImageGear MD.NET v24 SDK toolkits, nine (9) licenses for ImageGear MD.NET v25 SDK toolkits and the annual Pro PDF Priority Support Service.

This maintenance is necessary for the Veterans Health Information System Technology Architecture (VistA) Imaging sites for each of the following versions: Windows and .NET. The Accusoft SDK license maintenance is utilized by VA OIT developers coding VistA Imaging applications and for each of the following versions: v18 Windows, v24 .NET and v25 .NET. This maintenance will ensure that Accusoft ImageGear SDKs will run on end user machines for the VistA Imaging users who are using the applications.

The Accusoft Priority Support package is to aid Accusoft ImageGear SDK developer users for the Accusoft ImageGear product suite. This purchase provides Priority Support for Silverlight, .NET and Pro PDF. This purchase is for maintenance and support only and no software will be renewed or procured with this action.

The period of performance shall be a 12-month base period, with two (2) 12-month option periods to be exercised at the Governments’ discretion for maintenance.

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 entitled, “Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.”

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based on market research, as described in Section 8 of this document, it was determined that Accusoft is the only

Accusoft Maintenance Support Control Number VA-24-00036289 source capable of satisfying VA’s requirements for maintenance. Accusoft is the only application that has the capability to provide the VistA Imaging sites for Windows and .NET. The existing VistA Imaging Clinical Display and Clinical Capture user applications were created utilizing the Accusoft ImageGear SDK. Accusoft ImageGear brand name software is the only software that can continue to support VA’s existing VistA Imaging without extensive technical analysis. This purchase is for maintenance for VA’s existing licenses already owned by VA perpetually, which was originally established in 1997 for the purpose of VistA Imaging sustainment activities. Accusoft ImageGear Local Server run-time site licenses are utilized to evoke the code written with the Accusoft ImageGear SDK at each of the 144 VA sites running VistA Imaging in addition to four

(4) regional test sites for a total of 148 ensuring timely and efficient health care services are provided to Veterans. Accusoft ImageGear provides VA the ability to meet critical VA requirements to include the ability to view diagnostic images and image files (reports) that has been converted into a readable format required to make informed decision for Veteran healthcare treatment and services by providing a toolkit to enhance applications with image processing, PDF manipulation, multi-file conversation and rendering and compression. Continued utilization is required to address reported software defects within the current code. Accusoft ImageGear license maintenance, Accusoft SDK license maintenance and Accusoft Priority Support package is the only stand-alone application that seamlessly and safely integrates with the VistA. If maintenance services are not purchased, Veterans will be impacted by a degradation or delay in diagnostic health services directly affecting patient satisfaction and patient safety.

Replacement of this tool in the existing VA’s user client application would be a very large undertaking that would require an estimated minimum of three years to gather/document technical requirements, prepare and solicit an acquisition package, rewrite code to integrate with VA infrastructure (VistA and CPRS) with a new solution, resolve compatibility issues, address technical debt concerns and time needed to decommission the current Accusoft solution. VA estimates that the costs to acquire a new solution, integrate within VA’s infrastructure and continue with yearly maintenance would exceed an estimated $3,250,000.00.

More so, only Accusoft can currently provide the required maintenance services due to proprietary constraints. Specifically, only Accusoft can access the proprietary source code necessary to perform these services.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in Section 8 of this justification. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government’s requirements. There is no competition anticipated for this acquisition. The undersigned VA technical representative determined that only the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) for brand name Accusoft ImageGear software maintenance and support is capable of providing the support. In accordance with FAR 6.302-1(c)(1)(ii)(c) and 5.102(a)(6) this justification shall be posted with the solicitation.

Furthermore, the proposed action will be synopsized on the Contracting Opportunities Page in accordance with FAR 5.201. Any proposals that are received shall be evaluated.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: VA 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: Market Research was conducted in December 2023 to ascertain the capability of any source, other than Accusoft that could provide the aforementioned technical support and maintenance services and to determine the viability of transitioning to another commercially available software solution. VA’s technical experts reviewed alternate products, which were found not to meet VA’s requirements. VA’s technical experts reviewed DICOMObjects Dcm4che and Laurel Bridge DCF and found that none of these applications integrate with the VistA. More so, VA’s technical experts determined that none of these products can meet the Government’s interoperability and compatibility requirements without a significant refactoring and reengineering effort of the VistA Imaging client software which consists of over 180 clinical and administrative applications integrated within a single shared database. Only Accusoft can provide the necessary software maintenance and updates to the Accusoft licenses because of the propriety source code required to develop and implement software updates and upgrades. Access to this proprietary code is also needed to ensure all services provided are properly configured.

On February 20, 2024, a Request for Information (RFI) was posted on SAM.gov.

On February 27, 2024, the SAM.gov RFI closed, and VA received a response from one (1) Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), one (1) Small Business and one (1) Other than Small Business. Of the three (3) responses received, none of the resellers were able to provide a letter from Accusoft stating they were an authorized reseller. On February 28, 2024 the Contract Specialist reached out directly to Accusoft. Accusoft responded stating, “each is considered a buyer’s agent and not a reseller. Accusoft is the sole source provider of the code and corresponding support.”

Based on the results of the review set forth above, only Accusoft will be able to provide the required brand name Accusoft maintenance and support. Accusoft is listed in SAM.gov as a Small Business.

9. Other Facts: None

10. Technical/Requirements Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in this justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

11. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated price to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable based on price analysis to include an analysis of the proposed price in relation to the Independent Government Cost Estimate and past historical prices paid for the same and/or similar requirements and subsequent negotiations held as necessary.

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

Approval

In my role as procuring activity Advocate for Competition, based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the acquisition of brand name Accusoft ImageGear license maintenance, Accusoft SDK license maintenance and Accusoft Priority Support package on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority cited in Section 4 above, subject to availability of funds and provided that the property and services herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.