JA - Continuation of External Paging Services - AM Sole Source REDACTED.pdf

Continuation of External Paging Services VA-23-00040577

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 sole-source firm-fixed price, contract with a 12-month base period and four 12-month option periods with American Messaging Services, LLC to continue wireless messaging pager/beeper services at 21 Veteran Affairs Medical Centers (VAMC) in the states of Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin. The proposed source for this action is American Messaging Services, LLC, 1720 Lakepointe Drive, Suite 100 Lewisville, TX 75057.

3. Description of Supplies or Services The proposed action is to continue the current wireless messaging pager/beeper services and current functionality of the 21 VAMC’s in the states of Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin. The contractor will ensure that the proposed wireless messaging pager/beeper services shall include lease of one-way, two-way messaging, and wireless information services, as well as maintenance and replacement beepers for lost devices. Additionally, the Contractor shall provide access to a web-based portal for moves, adds, deletions and changes. Furthermore, the Contractor shall provide shipping and return support of deployed devices. The period of performance for this effort shall be a 12-month base period with four 12-month option periods, if exercised.

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: The Office of Information and Technology has issued a new contract for wireless messaging pager/beeper services to cover the entire District 1. The contract was awarded to Spok, Inc., however they do not provide coverage for 21 VAMC’s in the states of Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin and do not plan to make any enhancements to provide this coverage. The proposed source for this action is American Messaging Services, LLC, 1720 Lakepointe

Continuation of External Paging Services VA-23-00040577

Drive, Ste 100, Lewisville, TX 75057. Based on market research conducted, as described in section 8 of this justification. this effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government’s requirements and it has been determined that only American Messaging Services, LLC, Inc. is capable of providing the aforementioned pager services. Due to the type of services that are currently in use, no other vendor can test and turn up new services without first conducting extensive testing at the locations to determine if a signal strength could penetrate structures and vegetation which would require approximately 60- 90 days to provide an overall evaluation. Additionally, based on the evaluation results another vendor might require the use of its specific equipment, as opposed to the native infrastructure, which would add significant costs, approximately and longer lead times, approximately an additional 60- 90 days to turn up the services. Loss of existing services would result in disruptions of service of communications that aid medical staff. Due to the type of telecommunication services, to introduce another vendor, to test and provide new services would provide for an unacceptable high level of risk in regards to patient care.

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 provide the services that can meet the Government’s requirements. There is no competition anticipated for this acquisition.

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

7. Actions to Increase Competition: The government is currently conducting vendor showcase demonstrations with industry to determine the next generation for clinical communications capabilities. 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 was conducted during the periods of September 2021, January 2022 through March 2022, and January 2023 to ascertain if sources other than American Messaging Services, LLC, can meet the VA’s need. The Government’s technical experts utilized sources from Sam.gov and previous pager contract holders. A total of three responses were received from the Requests for Information (RFI) issued during the aforementioned period, the interested respondents were

. A technical review was conducted on the three RFI proposals and it was determined that no other source can meet the Government’s leased wireless messaging pager/beeper service coverage for these 21 VAMC’s in the states of Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.

9. Other Facts: None.