JA Brillians - Redacted.pdf

Control Number: VA-26-00023343

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 contract is for a Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) contract for the procurement of brand name Brillians (SupraVISTA) Cognitive Support System (CSS) software license, technical support, and end user training with SupraVISTA Medical Decision Support Systems LLC, 514 Maon Road, Farnham, VA 22460.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: The Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) regional area 16 (VISN 16), Michael E.

DeBakey VA Medical Center (MEDVAMC) has a requirement for the procurement of one annual Brillians (SupraVISTA) software license, Technical Support, and End User Training. VA requires a solution that has the ability to interface with Vista and has a VA approved Technical Resource Manual (TRM). The required software license will allow access for an unlimited number of users to streamline all documentation and will provide automated alerts and problem-centric reports at the point of care. Brillians is a cognitive support system that works with VHA’s Veterans Health Information System Technology Architecture (VistA) system currently in use by VHA since 2006 and in nearly 28 medical centers throughout VISNs 4, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 21. The application will be used by a wide range of clinical staff in performing their patient care duties. Brillians is a desktop application that runs on VA’s existing computer systems. No hardware requirements are needed for this request. Technical support includes updates and support for end-users to report any potential bugs to the local Tier-1 support staff who can test and try to reproduce the problem, as well as accepted request enhancements agreed to by the vendor. In addition, technical support includes resolution of application or configuration errors related to major updates. For end user training, the Contractor shall provide extensive help and training resources in the form of written documentation, training videos, and various resources at Contractor’s website. The period of performance shall consist of a 12-month base period, with four 12-month option periods.

The total estimated value of the proposed action is inclusive of the option periods.

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 SupraVISTA is the only source capable of satisfying VA’s requirements. Brillians is the only software that has the capability to provide automated rule-based analysis of clinical data at point of care that integrates with the VHA’s existing Information Technology architecture.

Brillians can collect healthcare data from VistA systems, including the Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS), one of the front-end applications of VistA located in Albuquerque, NM; Oklahoma City, OK; Dayton, OH; Orlando, FL; and Altoona, PA using interoperability functionality within the VistA system. Brillians does not create any data but rather extracts existing data from VistA. This functionality, that is currently only available via the Brillians software, is required in order for providers to access healthcare data to maximize the quality of Veterans' health care across the entire VA enterprise. Furthermore, Brillians is the only software that also provides automated alerts and problem-centric reports at the point of care. This required functionality not only saves search time for the clinicians but also supports staff time that would be spent developing data visualizations or entering in additional data. These required features are central to patient safety, quality of care, and provider productivity. Additionally, Brillians is the only solution that currently has a Technical Resource Manual approved for use in the VA.

With respect to the required technical support, only Brillians has access to the proprietary source code necessary to provide the required software updates, security patches and technical support. Since the software is proprietary, a legal restriction is placed on access to the software code that is required to develop updates and patches to the software. Without this access, it is impossible to modify the software code as necessary to provide the required patches and updates.

Brillians is the only CSS software that can provide the necessary functionality as annotated above and also integrate with VistA and CPRS. This functionality to integrate with VistA and CPRS is required in order for providers to access healthcare data to maximize the quality of Veterans’ health care across the entire VA enterprise. Brillians automatically identifies and displays a list of the clinical issues which need clinician’s attention. Within seconds, one click displays all the relevant information about the given body system, disease or specialty on one page. Users can add personal and shared Views for their special needs. Users are also able to find information by searching a large subset of recent clinical data, which is otherwise siloed on multiple CPRS tabs.

Within seconds, users can download data from multiple VAMCs for any years. The combined data is displayed on CPRS like tabs. The user can “Keyword Search” on the entire downloaded data, just like local data. Users can instantly find items in the VA formulary. The user can search by the partial name of the drug or supply item. Users are also able to sort and review abnormal labs for past years with minimal effort, and instantly view the list of the imaging studies, which clearly flags the “Abnormal” reports.

Users can search imaging reports for any year as one document. The Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set metrics are a measure of quality of care. In CPRS, this data is scattered on multiple tabs; however, in Brillians, the user can review all this data in one place. These are all functionalities limited to Brillians that enhance Veterans health care because Brillians the only CSS software that can integrate with VistA and CPRS. The use of any other CSS software would require the redevelopment of interfaces to integrate with VistA and CPRS. The redevelopment of these interfaces are estimated to require up to three years and cost at least . These estimates of duplicative costs and time are based on previous similar development efforts. These duplicative costs would not be recovered through competition.

Due to the limited amount of time that medical providers have to go through a large volume of patient data in Vista/CPRS, lack of a decision support tool that can interface with VistA to provide quick data visualization and analytics would not minimize risk of errors in patient care. Only the Brillians software can provide the required functionality that will help to prevent potential harm to patients and will assist providers to treat Veterans as quickly and efficiently as possible. Without Brillians, clinicians will lack the ability to generate the critical problem-centric report and miss important clinical data that could lead to potential medical errors resulting harm to the Veterans and increasing potential liability for the organization. Brillians is the only CSS software which can meet the requirement to provide clinically relevant data within seconds. This allows clinicians to provide high quality of care in a timely fashion while at the same time prevent clinician-burn out and help with staff retention.

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. In accordance with FAR 5.301 and 6.302-1(C), the award notice for this action will be synopsized on the Contract Opportunities Page and the 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 in November 2025 by reviewing similar software to ascertain if other brands could meet VA’s requirements. Specifically, the Government’s technical experts conducted web-based research on EvidenceCare Platform, Premier Inc., and TruBridge. None of which work with the VistA systems. These brands were also reviewed to see if they were able to provide technical support but due to the proprietary source code, they were unable to.

Additionally, no other provider of similar software can currently integrate with VistA and CPRS or has the ability to provide automated alerts and problem-centric reports at the point of care. The technical experts confirmed that Brillians is the only source capable of providing the required proprietary source codes. No alternative software can avoid the time and duplication of costs as outlined in Section 5 of this justification. The market research also revealed that there are no resellers of the Brillians brand name products.

Additionally, the Contract Specialist conducted market research in December 2025, utilizing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Solutions for Enterprise- Wide Procurement V Government-wide Acquisition Contract Provider Lookup Tool using the key word “SupraVISTA” and “Brillians.” The search yielded no authorized resellers. Furthermore, research was conducted to obtain confirmation that SupraVISTA has no authorized resellers, and they do not plan to have any in the foreseeable future.

As such, there are no other resellers that can provide the requested Brillians software due to copyright and proprietary reasons.

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 comparison with historical prices paid and comparison to the Independent Government Cost Estimate.

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