VA-27-00001594

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

2. Description of Action: This proposed action is for a firm-fixed-price delivery order issued under the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for the renewal of brand name Document Storage Systems, Inc. (DSS) Databridge software license subscriptions and maintenance support.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VA, Veterans Health Administration, Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 21, has a requirement for brand name DSS Databridge software license subscriptions and maintenance. VA requires a software interface between the Clinical Information System (CIS) and Analytics system and the VA Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Veterans Health Information System and Technology Architecture (VistA) systems. The interface needs to provide two-way data transfer between VA VistA systems and CIS and one-way transfer from VistA to the Analytics platform. The interface includes patient demographics, Text Integration Utilities, patient allergies, problem list, care status and delivery, lab orders and results, medication orders and administration, and information regarding surgeries. Databridge meets the interface requirements for the Anesthesia Record Keeper (ARK), Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Data Analytics. The contractor shall provide six Databridge subscription licenses, updates and support for six VISN 21 medical centers located in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Northern California, Fresno, Reno and Las Vegas. The maintenance support shall include bug fixes, minor release upgrades and telephone support 24x7x365 coverage. VA may require 120 hours of EMR technical installation services, up to 40 hours per year, for any enhancements or changes when necessary, which may be exercised as an optional task.

The period of performance shall be October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027, plus 2 12-month option periods for continued licensing and support services. The total estimated price of the proposed action is , inclusive of all options.

4. Statutory Authority: Pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.507-7(b), 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 16.507-6 the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or

DSS Databridge License/Support VA-27-00001594

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based on market research, as described in Section 8 of this justification, it was determined that limited competition is available among authorized resellers for the required brand name DSS Databridge software license subscription and maintenance support. DSS Databridge software is the only product that can manage the integration of the CIS/ARK software with the VistA EMR. There is no other commercial off the shelf (COTS) product that can provide the required interface between VA VistA system and the CIS software. Any other solution

Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System (MUMPS) programming language.

In addition to identifying programmers who are able to program in an older programming language such as MUMPS, there are over 2,300 data elements that are transmitted between the CIS/ARK and VistA and the Analytics platform that must be developed to match between the systems and transmitted between the platforms when called upon by each application. Based on previous software development efforts for similar VistA integrations, it is estimated that it will take over five years to fully test, validate and implement a new solution with an estimated cost of more than $30 million. These estimates are based on previous acquisition history. The costs would not be recovered through competition. due to VistA type of programming. DSS Databridge is unique in being able to seamlessly integrate with VistA. The Databridge software must constantly communicate pharmacy orders to allow the physicians to make informed treatment decisions at any back to VistA periodically to auto- EMR. DSS Databridge is the only COTS product that can do this. If another solution were to be introduced there would be major delays and gaps in treatment to Veteran patients while the interfaces are developed and templates are built, which will cost the VA significant amounts of time and money to ensure those patients are still treated timely and safely.

The Databridge Software license subscription and subsequent maintenance and support are required for consistency amongst the VISN VA Medical Centers so communication between hospitals CIS and VistA can be transmitted without any disruptions. Not having the Databridge software implemented across the VISN would have adverse effects on the transmission of information between Anesthesia, Post- Anesthesia Care Unit, and ICU Critical care Areas and VistA, VistA Imaging, and Computerized Patient Record System, putting the most critically ill patients at risk of receiving inappropriate care, illness, or possible death.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in the market research section of this justification. 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 resellers for this brand name DSS Databridge licenses, maintenance and support. In accordance with FAR

DSS Databridge License/Support VA-27-00001594

16.507-7(c)(1)(ii), this justification will be provided with the solicitation to all appropriate NASA SEWP V GWAC holders.

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 January 2026 by reviewing other COTS software requirements. -based research for other similar software available from Cerner and Epic. Based on reviews of these s determined that none of these products interoperate with the MUMPS programming that VistA is built on. Only brand name DSS requirements and can avoid the estimated duplication of time and cost as outlined in Section 5 of this justification. Due to proprietary data the software and maintenance can only be provided through DSS or an authorized reseller.

Additional market research was conducted by the Contract Specialist in May 2026 by using the Provider Look Up Tool on the NASA SEWP V GWAC website. Using keyword Document Storage System

Document Storage System, including five Small Business resellers, two which are SDVOSBs, two Woman-Owned Small Businesses, and one Small Business. Therefore, based on the results of the market research, there is reasonable expectation that competition exists among verified SDVOSB contract holders on the NASA SEWP

GWAC.

9. Other Facts: None