JA MediSpan - Redacted.pdf

VA-25-00028348

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 action is for a firm-fixed price contract issued as a set-aside for the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) concerns via the open market to provide the brand name Medi-Span license for updated access and support. Wolters Kluwer Health dba UpToDate Inc. (UpToDate), 230 3rd

Ave, Waltham, MA 02451, is the Original Software Developer (OSD) of the Medi-Span Database Software Licenses.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Office of Information and Technology (OIT) requires a software license agreement for access to the Medi-Span website and Master Drug Interaction Data Base. This license shall provide VA with access to the latest drug information and pricing to be utilized by the Community Care Product Line (CCPL) information technology projects. The database shall contain the latest industry standard identifiers for all brand and generic drugs on the market including the National Drug Code, Universal Product Code, Generic Product Information, and Health-Related Item numbers with medication profiling and disease management, automated access, and up-to-date pricing information. Additionally, the product includes proprietary drug identifiers, therapeutic classification system and generic product packaging codes with names of manufacturers, distributors, labelers, products, ingredients and packaging information. The period of performance shall be 12 months, with three 12-month Option Periods. The total estimated value of the proposed action is $681,284.00, inclusive of options.

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: This brand name justification is based on extensive market research, as described in Section 8 of this document, it was determined that only Medi-Span software license access and support can meet the Government’s requirements. The proposed source is Wolters Kluwer, dba UpToDate Inc. VA already has Medi-Span and Master Drug Interaction Data Base software licenses integrated into the Electronic Health Record Management System to provide efficient access to current information on drug usage, patient safety, and other essential drug content. No other brand name software can integrate and communicate with the current VA owned Medi-Span software licenses which communicates through a source code that is based on UpToDate proprietary data. UpToDate requires annual software

Medi-Span License Renewal VA-25-00028348 access and support for existing Medi-Span licenses to provide technical assistance to support patches, hot fixes and any other corrective action for bugs and issues discovered not only by VA but by industry. Only UpToDate or its authorized resellers can provide the required license access and support services due to UpToDate proprietary software code.

There is no other source that provides aggregated database content with Industry Standard Identifiers for all brand name and generic drugs on the market including the National Drug Code, Universal Product Code and Health-Related Item numbers with medication profiling and disease management, automated access, and up-to-date pricing information. If the CCPL cannot procure license access and support for the Medi-Span and Master Drug Interaction Data Base the software that reviews invoices for payment may not bill accurately, leading to overpayments to Community Care providers or overcharging of Veterans for Patient Responsibility. The acquisition of license access and support for the CCPL will enable consistent application of the latest drug information and pricing resulting in efficiencies in the payment process and improved safety for the Veteran.

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. Additionally, the ordering activity will make publicly available the justification along with the solicitation in accordance with FAR 6.302-1(c). Any proposals that are received shall be evaluated.

Furthermore, the award notice for this action will also be synopsized on the Contracting Opportunities website.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: In order to remove or overcome barriers to competition in future acquisitions for the requirements described herein, 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 December 2024 by reviewing similar software services to ascertain if other brands could meet VA’s requirements. Specifically, the Government’s technical experts conducted web-based research utilizing the General Services Administration (GSA) Advantage e-buy site searching for similar product licenses which included Codify, DynaMed, and DrugBank. Based on the reviews of these products, the Government’s technical experts concluded that none of these licenses contained the Generic Product Identifier (GPI) codes which is a VA requirement. Additional market research was conducted by Government representatives in December 2024 utilizing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract Provider Lookup Tool, and no comparable software was found.

Therefore, at present there is no other software license available in the marketplace that can meet VA’s requirement to provide the Generic Product Identifier (GPI). In addition, VA Subject Matter Experts regularly review industry trade publications and conduct internet research to ascertain if any other brand name software is available. Based on all of these market research efforts, the Government’s technical experts have determined that only the aforementioned UpToDate’s, Medi-Span software can meet all of VA’s needs.

Additional market research was conducted by the Contract Specialist by emailing UpToDate to determine whether Nationwide Pharmaceutical (NWP), LLC, was an authorized reseller of Medi-Span brand name software database licenses. UpToDate confirmed via email that NWP was an authorized reseller and that they had a second Medi-Span reseller, Samples Professional Healthcare Consulting (Samples) dba PC Medical Equipment and Supplies, LLC. The CS utilized the GSA and National Aeronautics and NASA SEWP websites to determine if NWP and Samples had GSA or NASA SEWP contracts. From this review, it was determined that both NWP and Samples neither had GSA nor NASA SEWP contracts. A search of the Small Business Administration (SBA) Vet-Cert database did confirm that NWP and Samples are SDVOSBs. Therefore, this requirement for Medi-Span Database Software Licenses will be issued as a set-aside for SDVOSB concerns eligible under the SDVOSB Program on the open market, SAM.gov.

9. Other Facts: N/A

10. Technical and 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.

George Brittingham Date: 03/24/2025

CCPL Technical Director Signature:

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 upon anticipated competition among UpToDate’s authorized resellers, comparison with the Independent Government Cost Estimate and comparison to historical prices paid.

Newton Maloba Date: 03/24/2025

Procuring Contracting Officer Signature:

12. Contracting Officer Certification/Approval: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. This contract action exceeds the simplified acquisition threshold, but does not exceed $750,000, therefore, the certification required by FAR 6.304(a)(1) serves as the Contracting Officer’s approval.

Newton Maloba Date: 03/24/2025

Procuring Contracting Officer Signature:

GEORGE

BRITTINGHAM

Digitally signed by GEORGE

BRITTINGHAM

Date: 2025.03.24 15:08:17 -04'00'

Digitally signed by NEWTON

MALOBA

Date: 2025.03.24 15:22:06 -04'00'