JA - BioPoint Renewal_Redacted.pdf

BioPoint Annual Software License Support Renewal Control Number: VA-24-00064199

BioPoint Annual Software License Support Renewal Control Number: VA-24-00064199

JUSTIFICATION

FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, NJ 07724

Description of Action: The proposed action is for a Firm-Fixed-Price delivery order to be issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for brand name annual software license support renewal for the BioPoint Patient Identification Wristband System. The software license support is for Veterans Integrated Services Network (VISN) 10 sites (VA healthcare System Serving Ohio, Indiana and Michigan)

Description of the Supplies or Services: The VA Office of Information and Technology (OIT), IT Operations and Services (ITOPS) has a requirement for brand name BioPoint Patient Identification Wristband System annual software license support renewal for BioPoint Patient ID software that is currently being utilized in 10 VA facilities and 28 Community-Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) within VISN 10.

BioPoint Patient Identification Wristband System allows user to create and print medical wristbands for the purpose of patient identification, security, and patient care. If the required brand name annual software support for the BioPoint Patient Identification Wristband System is not procured it would impact the ability for VA to provide care and services to our Veterans.

No hardware or software will be procured as a result of this action. This action is for annual support only. The annual support includes: application version upgrades to include new features and enhanced functionality (Virtual Private Network access required), upgrade installation documentation, and telephone support Monday through Friday, 08:00 - 20:00 ET. The period of performance shall include a base period of 12 months with two (2) 12-month option periods, if exercised. The total estimated price for the proposed action is , inclusive of options.

4. Statutory Authority: Pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.505(a)(4), the following brand name requirement is being justified and approved as an exception to fair opportunity under the statutory authority of Section 41 U.S.C. 4106(c)(2) as implemented by FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B), entitled “Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized.”

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based upon market research, as described in section 8 of this justification, it was determined that limited competition is available among resellers of the BioPoint Annual Software License support. Only brand name BioPoint Annual Software License Support has the capability to satisfy the Government’s requirements. Only BioPoint Patient Identification Wristband System software meets the Government's requirement. Specifically, the government requires the ID system to provide a picture of the patient for visual verification of the patient.

This is a critical function in the event the patient becomes incoherent or incapacitated, medical personnel are still able to identify and verify the patient’s identity. BioPoint Patient Identification Wristband System software is the only product that provides this functionality. Additionally, any other brand name software support is unable to provide the necessary support for the currently utilized BioPoint Patient Identification Wristband System. Any other vendor’s patient identification wristband system support could not meet the VA’s requirements as no other vendor has access to the proprietary source code necessary to provide the software maintenance and support. VA does not have a requirement to replace the current infrastructure that supports the existing implementation of the BioPoint software. The Government only requires a renewal of the software and support to retain the current system and not impact the existing environment. The cost of transitioning, inclusive of new equipment, manpower time, and training is estimated to be approximately $500,000.00 per facility or approximately $5,000,000.00 for the ten (10) facilities in VISN 10. These duplicative costs for implementation, testing, training and changes to the environment for any alternative solution would not be recouped through competition.

If non-brand name support is procured, 10 VA Health Care facilities and 28 CBOCs within VISN 10 would not have adequate support necessary to successfully utilize the functions and capabilities of the system. Without adequate support, the aforementioned VA facilities would encounter unacceptable delays in patient identification, receiving patient information, and ultimately would result in an adverse impact on Veteran patient care.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in section 8 of this document. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government’s requirements. However, it was determined that limited competition is viable among authorized resellers for the brand name support. In accordance with FAR 16.505(a)(4)(iii)(A)(1), this justification will be provided with the solicitation on the NASA SEWP V GWAC website for review by prospective offerors.

Furthermore, in accordance with FAR 5.301, 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), and 16.505(a)(4)(iii), the award notice for this action will be synopsized on the Contracting Opportunities website and this justification will be made publicly available within 14 days of 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 during May 2024 by reviewing similar software products to ascertain if other brands could meet VA’s functionality requirements. Specifically, the Government’s technical experts conducted web-based research and reviewed two patient wristband systems: Identisys and Precision Dynamics Corporation (PDC).

While both companies offer patient wristband systems, they do not include the full range of functionalities that are already included in the brand name BioPoint Patient Wristband System.

Specifically, Identisys and PDC systems do not include a color picture of the patient themselves for visual verification of the patient. This is a critical function in the event the patient becomes incoherent or incapacitated, medical personnel are still able to identify and verify the patient’s identity. However, this effort is not intended to replace the current wristband system, the purpose is only to procure the necessary annual software license support for the currently fielded BioPoint Identification Wristband System. Only brand name BioPoint Patient Identification Wristband System annual software license support can provide the necessary maintenance and support for the BioPoint Identification Wristband System already being utilized across the VISN. In addition, VA networking Subject Matter Experts regularly review industry trade publications and conduct internet research to ascertain if any other brand name hardware or software is available. Based on all these market research efforts, the Government’s technical experts have determined that only the aforementioned brand name BioPoint Patient Identification Wristband System Annual Software License Support can meet all of the VA’s needs.

Additional market research was conducted by the Contract Specialist (CS) in May 2024 by utilizing the NASA SEWP V GWAC Provider Look-up Tool to determine whether there are authorized resellers of BioPoint software support that hold NASA SEWP V GWACs. The CS searched for Bio-Optronics, who is the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), and found that the search revealed three Service- Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB) of which two are considered to be Authorized Resellers. Furthermore, the NASA SEWP V GWAC has a dynamic catalog where line items can be added based on customer requests provided that the required item or service is within the scope of the NASA SEWP V GWAC contract suite and therefore additional competition may be achieved.

Based on the results of the review set forth above, there is reasonable expectation that two or more SDVOSBs will be able to provide the required support. Therefore, given that there is a reasonable expectation of competition between at least two capable SDVOSBs, it has been determined by the Contracting Officer that the subject Request for Quote will be released as a SDVOSB set-aside under the existing NASA SEWP V GWAC contract vehicle, under the Value-Added Reseller NAICS code 541519.

9. Other Facts: None.