JA - Logicare APPROVED Redacted.pdf

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs

Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, NJ 07724

2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for Brand name firm-fixed price delivery order issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for the purchase of Brand Name LOGICARE enterprise unlimited seat software licenses, implementation, service, and user technical support.

3. Description of Supplies or Services: The proposed action is for a software system that creates patient healthcare information which can be printed and provided to patients in either the English or Spanish language at a 5th or 6th grade literacy level, to include the ability to assign and track video content. The patient healthcare information will be automatically generated by orders from the patient’s VA Provider. Installation and implementation are required for all hospitals, outpatient clinics, and community-based outpatient clinics that fall under NF/SG VHS’s catchment area. The contractor shall provide all resources necessary to accomplish the deliverables described in this Statement of Work (SOW), except as may be otherwise specified. The contractor shall provide a Patient Healthcare Information System with unlimited licenses, installation/implementation, support services, and user technical support.

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: LOGICARE brand name software is the only software that can be integrated with the VA patient Electronic Medical Record (EMR) to produce customizable, printable patient healthcare education.

LOGICARE brand name software is also the only software that has the ability to generate customized patient education to be documented within the EMR as Notes supporting the patient encounter. LOGICARE’S critical features of providing healthcare instructions and education, in English and Spanish, at the 5th to 6th grade level of reading, ensure that discharged patients will have printed instructions that they can

Logicare Brand Name software understand to complete their post-discharge treatment and recovery. Given the number of VA offices now operating with LOGICARE brand name software, it facilitates the temporary transfer of trained medical personnel between VA medical facilities to respond to unusually high demands for medical care in some areas from areas with lesser demands.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in section 8 of this justification. This effort did not yield additional brand name software programs that can meet the Government's requirements. However, the undersigned VA technical representative determined that limited competition is available among resellers for brand name LOGICARE licenses, as well as software maintenance and support. In accordance with FAR 16.505(a)(4)(iii)(A)(1), this justification will be provided with the solicitation to all appropriate NASA SEWP V GWAC holders. 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 Federal Business 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 market place that would enable future actions to be competed.

8. Market Research: The Government’s technical experts performed market research on NASA SEWP and General Services Administration (GSA) web sites. A search for software programs similar to LOGICARE was conducted via GSA Advantage for “Patient Discharge Instructions,” however, no products were found. An internet search resulted in the following similar software brands: (1) Callibra, Inc.’s Discharge 1-2-3 Software has some similar features like English-Spanish options, but it does not provide the discharge instructions and education at the 5th to 6th grade level and is not currently integrated with VA’s EMR to generate the required education and instructions.

(2) iatricSystems software by MEDITECH-Centric is report-generating software for the medical community, but not specifically designed for discharge patient instructions. It does not generate reports in Spanish, and reports and instructions are not provided at the 5th to 6th grade level. The MEDITECH-Centric website states that this product is strictly MEDITECH-centric and only works in conjunction with a MEDITECH hospital information system / EMR system which is not compatible with the VA EMR. (3) A Cipher Heath system provides for the transmission of recorded care instructions via cell phones. The Cipher Health website does not indicate that the instructions can be sent in Spanish nor does it indicate that the instructions can be provided at the 5th to 6th grade level. VA Subject Matter Experts are regularly in touch with their counterparts located at different stations throughout VA and share information regarding the use of information systems such as LOGICARE. Based on all these market research efforts, the Government’s technical experts have determined that only LOGICARE brand name software can meet all of VA’s requirements. Based on all these market research efforts, the Government’s technical experts have determined that only LOGICARE brand name software can meet all of VA’s requirements.

9. Other Facts: None