JA Audiocare Signed.pdf

AudioCARE SW & Maintenance CONTROL NUMBER VA-25-00061105

LIMITED-SOURCES JUSTIFICATION

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 firm-fixed-price task order under General Services Administration (GSA) contract: 47QTCA22D00CM, under category 511210-Software Licenses with Payton Merger Sub II LLC, doing business as AudioCARE, an Artera Company (hereinafter referred to as AudioCARE), for AudioCARE PREFILL software licenses, support, and training.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: The VISN 8 network requires the renewal of AudioCARE pharmacy licenses and the addition of Spanish version licenses to improve pharmacy operations at VISN 8, specifically AudioPREFILL, TM PREFILL, RxREADY, AUDIORENEWAL, AudioCARE System-Text Messaging-Base ( ACS-TM-BASE) at 6 of their locations; Bay Pines, Miami, West Palm, North Florida South Georgia, San Juan, and Tampa. New modules TM Communicator and AudioPREFILL Spanish version are needed at the same six locations and Orlando additionally. The ACS-TM Base license shall provide for up to 120,000 texts per year. VA requires the renewal of term software licenses, maintenance, fully configured licenses applications, parameter settings, remote training, remote installation, and testing all compatible and interoperable with current VA infrastructure. VA requires that these applications allow VA to send notifications to Veterans regarding the readiness of prescriptions to be picked up and reminder notices regarding patient’s prescriptions that need to be refilled or renewed.

VA also requires text notification function that will allow Veterans to remotely wait for their prescriptions and be notified when their prescription is ready for pickup. The period of performance is a one-year base period with four one-year options. The total estimated value of the proposed action is $2,194,745.00 (inclusive of options).

4. Authority: This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple Award Schedule Program. The specific authority providing for a limited source award is Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(B), “Only one source is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services are unique or highly specialized.”

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: The proposed source for this action is AudioCARE, 1025 Chapala Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101-3245.

AudioCARE is the original software publisher and sole authorized seller of AudioCARE PREFILL software licenses, maintenance and support products. No other brand name software can function within the existing environment of AudioCARE software and applications developed to interact with the AudioCARE Brand software and the current VA Infrastructure AudioCARE systems without disrupting critical services offered to Veterans. The current VISN 8 infrastructure is based on AudioCARE software, and only AudioCARE can service that infrastructure. Without AudioCARE’s proprietary software codes, no other software provider can provide guaranteed configured and updated software, develop patches and fixes, or provide AudioCARE PREFILL products to notify Veterans that their prescriptions are needing to be refilled, request refills, or are ready for pickup. The existing infrastructure and configuration rely on proprietary source codes and data formats to function effectively.

No other software products could meet VA’s interoperability and compatibility needs, without necessitating the total replacement of the current infrastructure. The duplicated costs to the Government to replace the infrastructure would be in an amount of over $100 million and take a minimum of four years to implement, while requiring the current system to be maintained until the new infrastructure is complete and ready for use.

These estimates are based on previous efforts similar in nature. No other software is interoperable with the current VA infrastructure. The software acquired under this effort needs to be interoperable with the current AudioCARE infrastructure, therefore only AudioCARE is capable of meeting VA’s technical requirements.

Should the VA fail to acquire these licenses and maintenance, it would result in a negative health outcome for Veterans. They would fail to receive notification of prescription readiness and needs for refill, which would result in delays in patient care and Veterans not getting their medications on time or at all.

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 could meet the Government’s requirements. There is no competition anticipated for this acquisition. In accordance with FAR 8.405-6(b)(3), the ordering activity will post the justification and request for quotation to GSA eBuy.

In accordance with FAR 5.301 and 8.405-6(a)(2), the award notice for this action will be synopsized on the Contract Opportunities website and the justification will be made publicly available within 14 days of the 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: In February and March of 2025 VA networking subject matter experts reviewed industry trade publications and in June of 2025 reached out to vendors directly and conduct internet searches to ascertain if any other solutions are available to meet this requirement. Specifically, VEText’s Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy (CMOP) was reviewed and VEText advised that they would not be able to meet the text message notification requirement. Additionally, AmbiFi, ClinicBox, Java Telephony, and PageGate were reviewed. AmbiFi was found to be focused on guiding decision makers in healthcare to select the best protocol for care and did not offer the ability to alert patients to prescription needs. ClinicBox offers medical consultations and basic health assessments but also did not offer prescription alerts. Java Telephony is centered on call centers and customer service, managing incoming calls, and handling refill requests, however it does not offer an alert system. Lastly PageGate, while being a application for Government Agencies to issue text messaging alerts, does not offer alerts for prescription refills. Additionally, a request for information (RFI) was published on the GSA eBuy website on May 8, 2025, and closed on May 29, 2025, with a single response received from AudioCARE where the company advised AudioCARE is the sole provider of their products, maintenance, support, and license renewal and is only available through their GSA MAS contract. Based on all these market research efforts, the government’s technical experts have determined that only AudioCare can meet the VA’s technical requirement.

9. Other Facts: N/A

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.

Ivan S. Itebejac Date VISN 8 Pharmacist Executive VISN 8 Sunshine Network

Best Value Determination

I hereby determine that the proposed contract action will represent the best value to the Government consistent with FAR 8.404(d).

GSA has already determined that the prices on GSA contracts are fair and reasonable.

Further price analysis, in accordance with FAR 15.4 may be conducted. Additionally, price discounts will be sought.

Debra Clayton Date Contracting Officer Technology Acquisition Center Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Department of Veterans Affairs

Contracting Officer Certification/Approval

I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Debra Clayton Date Contracting Officer Technology Acquisition Center Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Department of Veterans Affairs

Approval

In my role as procuring activity Advocate for Competition, based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the acquisition for the renewal of AudioCARE pharmacy licenses and the addition of Spanish version licenses on an other than fair opportunity 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.

Jason Bullen Date Advocate for Competition Technology Acquisition Center Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Department of Veterans Affairs