JA Redacted VISN7 Internal Paging_Redacted1.pdf

VISN 7 Paging System Maintenance and Hardware Upgrade VA-24-00068483

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: The proposed action is for the award of a firm-fixed-price delivery order issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government-wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for brand name Multitone Electronics maintenance, technical support, and repair or replacement of components and pagers for the Life Safety Compliant Multitone Access 3000/5000 internal paging system, and hardware transmitter upgrades already in use in Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISN) 7.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VA Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Office of Information and Technology (OI&T) Region 3, VISN 7 Telecommunications requires maintenance, technical support and repair or replacement of components of the existing Life Safety Compliant Multitone Electronics Access 3000/5000 Internal Paging System in use in VISN 7. In addition, the proposed action includes upgrades to the existing Communications System transmitters (including backup capabilities) located at each facility to support modernization of existing telecommunication equipment. The upgrade will allow for a total of 11 transmitters within VISN 7 to be upgraded. The paging systems and Communications System transmitter upgrades are one of the -going major initiatives to support access to care to our

ns. The primary place of performance will be at eight locations in Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina. Additionally, there are two remote sites, one in Augusta, Georgia and another in Tuskegee, Alabama, that do not have paging systems, but they have transmitter interfaces that link them to the other sites that require maintenance. The performance period shall be a base period of 12-months, with four 12-month option periods, and one optional task. The total estimated price of this

4. Statutory Authority: Pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 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 Subpart 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B), awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the suppl

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based on the market research, as described in Section 8 of this document, VA has determined that limited competition is available for this action. The Federal Government has mandated the use of narrow band technology for any site where it owns and operates an internal paging system.

VISN 7 medical centers have a Narrow Band Paging Multitone Electronics Access 3000/5000 Paging System that is proprietary to Multitone Electronics. In addition, all sites have alphanumeric and voice pagers with primary and backup transmitters, and antennas already installed in and on VA-owned buildings. Transmitters and antennas work together as one component to communicate to the Paging System using VA assigned frequencies. Since pages may be required in life threatening situations, these systems must be maintained and have paging service available 99.9% of the time, 24 hours per day, seven day a week, 365 days per year. Multitone Electronics manufactures the components and pagers that are compatible with the existing VISN 7 owned Multitone Electronics Access 3000/5000 Internal Paging System. The Multitone Access 3000/5000 system and components are proprietary to Multitone Electronics.

Turn-Key Technologies, Inc. (Turn-Key) is Multitone Electronics only authorized distributor in the United States for its products and services. As a result, only Turn-Key and its resellers are authorized to provide the required maintenance and support services.

Use of any other brand name components for these upgrades would result in replacing the existing paging systems at the VISN 7 medical facilities being supported. If VA were to replace the existing system, it would require the de-installation of the old antennas and transmitters with the installation of new antennas and transmitters. Installation of new antennas could require approval from local authorities which would create additional delays and VA estimates that it would also incur duplicative costs of four million (more than $500,000 per site) since we would be replacing hardware already installed at these facilities. It s anticipated that these costs would not be recovered through competition and would put Veterans in need of care at risk during the approval process, design, installation, testing, and deployment phase of the new systems. These estimates are based on previous acquisition history. There are many challenges with changing an in-house paging system. Local approval to access the physical spaces where the antennas are located, distributing 2000 + pagers to healthcare personnel, training these healthcare personnel on how to use the new/different technology. This change is not acceptable and could have life-threatening consequences. Failure to acquire compatible components, pagers, and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) authorized maintenance, technical support and repairs for the system in use would result in a form, fit, function change due to the proprietary nature of the current system.

The use of another vendor and its services would require access to the Multitone Electronics proprietary data to perform the required maintenance and upgrade services The vendor shall have extensive knowledge of the system components and functionality to ensure continuous performance without interruption. Due to the proprietary constraints, the use of the OEM maintenance, technical support, and upgrade is required to ensure the hardware functions as intended. For all the reasons set forth above, only Turn-Key and its authorized resellers can provide the service for meeting the Government functional requirements. Therefore, no other brand name maintenance, technical support, and repair or replacement of components would meet VA's compatibility requirements.

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 meet the Government's requirements. However, the undersigned VA technical representative determined that limited competition is available among Turn-Key authorized resellers for brand name Multitone Electronics pager maintenance support, services, and transmitter hardware upgrade. 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 Contract 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 marketplace that would enable future actions to be competed.

8. Market Research: The G hnical experts conducted market research in March 2024 by conducting internet searches in google to ascertain if there are viable sources other than Turn-Key, who can provide the necessary maintenance, technical support, and transmitter hardware upgrade. The Governm cal experts analyzed similar products from alternative vendors, such as Veteran Technology Partners and Spok Inc. Although these vendors offer similar services, the hardware maintenance is proprietary to Multitone Electronics.

No other products would be compatible with current VA owned hardware and infrastructure. Only Turn-Key Technologies and it authorized resellers can perform the necessary maintenance, technical support, and transmitter hardware upgrade. In addition, the Government technical expert contacted the distributor Turn-Key Technologies, to identify its authorized resellers for Multitone Electronics maintenance, technical support, and transmitter upgrade. Turn-Key Technologies has three (3) NASA SEWP V authorized resellers, V3Gate, RedHawk IT Solutions, LLC, and GMC Tek, LLC. Therefore, at present, there is no other brand or solution available in the marketplace that can meet this requirement. Based on the above market research efforts, the Governme mined that only Turn-Key can provide the maintenance, support services, and transmitter upgrades can meet requirements.

Additionally, the Contract Specialist (CS) conducted market research in May 2024 using the NASA SEWP V GWAC market research tools to determine what vendors are capable of providing the full requirement. Based on this research, the CS identified several Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) that are Turn-Key authorized resellers able to provide the required brand name products and capable of meeting the Governmen s needs for this effort. As a result, limited competition is anticipated.

9. Other Facts: None.

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.

Date

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 since NASA SEWP V GWAC contract prices have already been previously determined to be fair and reasonable. Additionally, price competition is expected amongst authorized resellers.

Finally, the successful quote will be compared 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.

Approval

In my role as procuring activity Advocate for Competition, based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the acquisition for maintenance, technical support, and repair or replacement of components and pagers for the Life Safety Compliant brand name Multitone Electronics Access 3000/5000 internal paging system, and hardware transmitter upgrades in use in VISN 7 on an other than fair opportunity basis pursuant to the authority cited in Section 4 above, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the property and services herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.