JA-REES Maint-Redacted.pdf

Control No: 21-RHCO-P-261 Contractor: REES Scientific Corporation

Program/Equipment: REES Systems, Korea

Version – March 2017 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY 4 and all outlying clinics located Camp Casey, K-16, Camp Humphreys, Camp Carroll and Camp Walker in South Korea.

The software that runs the monitoring system is proprietary to REES Scientific Corporation as the company is the developer and owner of the source code. No other companies have software rights or are authorized by REES Scientific to work on their systems. Upgrading of software is included in the proposed contract and must be done by REES Scientific in order to maintain product warranty. Due to the proprietary nature of the system, which includes software updates, new replacement parts, licenses, and patents covering the intricate designs of the instruments, no other known sources are authorized or possess the knowledge necessary to maintain and validate the monitoring system.

The REES system provides real-time, 24/7, 365 Temperature Sensitive Medical Products (TSMP) monitoring and notification capabilities. Without a validated system, areas with TSMP would have to perform in-person/manual checks of their refrigerators and freezers holding TSMP to meet the The Joint Commission (TJC), American Association of Blood Blanks (AABB), and College of American Pathologists (CAP) accreditation standards. This will impact staffing schedules and significantly increase MEDDAC-K’s risk of TSMP loss due to the intervals in which the manual checks are performed as well as human error.

b. Alternatives. Suspension of the REES Scientific service contract would drastically impact BDAACH’s TSMP program. Without the REES system receiving regular annual validation services from REES Scientific technicians, the system would no longer meet the specific accreditation standards required by The Joint Commission (TJC), American Association of Blood Blanks (AABB), and College of American Pathologists (CAP).

In-house personnel cannot be utilized as training is not offered to non-REES Scientific technicians.

Smartsense by DIGI is an alternative system used at other military treatment facilities (Ft. Stewart, Ft. Bliss). However, DIGI does not offer their product or services overseas.

Other similar systems do not meet TJC, AABB, or CAP criteria for accreditation.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition:

a. Effective Competition. The Contracting Officer shall publish the notices required by FAR 5.201 and any bids or proposals received shall be considered. A Sources Sought Notice was posted on beta.SAM on 14 Jan 2021 inviting all possible sources to submit a capability statement. It closed on 21 Jan 2021 and the Government received submittals from REES Scientific, STG-Korea, and F-Concepts. The Requiring Activity reviewed all submittals and advised that only REES Scientific is qualified to perform these services, further stating that STG-Korea and F-Concepts both fail to demonstrate the experience or training, let alone the rights and authorization which is necessary to access, maintain, update, and repair REES proprietary software.

Program/Equipment: REES Systems, Korea

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b. Subcontracting Competition. Subcontracting opportunities do not exist for this requirement. The services that are performed by REES Scientific is proprietary and therefore, they do not subcontract any of their services to other firms.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: The government conducted ongoing market research of the industry to determine if there were new entrants into the local market to meet the government’s requirements. Market research conducted within the past 12 months revealed that there were no new entrants. In addition, STG-Korea’s and F- Concepts’ responses to the beta.SAM sources sought notice revealed they are both not qualified to perform these services. Based on this, it has been determined that REES Scientific is the only contractor that can fulfill the government’s requirements. The government will continue to conduct ongoing market research of the industry to determine if there are new entrants into the local market to meet the government’s requirements.

8. Market Research: Market research was conducted within the previous 12 months as required by AFARS 5153.303-5, para 8. It is a commercial practice for each manufacturer to provide these types of services for their own systems or by their authorized service providers. After contacting multiple vendors in Seoul, it was found that no vendors have the authority to service REES systems. The list of vendors contacted are as follows:

-Daeiltech, Ltd – 727-5, 6 Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu Seoul, Korea POC: Mr. Lee, Ja Den, +82-070-8633-8203

-Ku Sung Traders – 50 25-gil Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea POC: Mr. Lee, Jun Chol, +82-2-6014-9845

-CHENKWANGSCIENCE – A-ple Tower B-1#207,9 Geumsan-ro, Gunpo-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea POC: Mr. Lee, Kyu Baek, +82-31-456-4104

-BMI Seoul – Sunman Bldg. 5, 20-gil, Gaepo-ro Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea POC: Mr. Lee, Kyung Soo, +82-2-2057-2945

-Shin Ki Commercial Co., Ltd. – 33 Gangnam-Daero 34-Gil, Seocho-Gu, Seoul, Korea POC: Mr. Lee, Sang Ik, +82-2-550-3469

9. Interested Sources: As a result of a Sources Sought Notice posted on beta.SAM on 14 Jan 2021, the Government received submittals from REES Scientific, STG-Korea, and F-Concepts. The Requiring Activity reviewed all submittals and advised that only REES Scientific is qualified to perform these services, further stating that STG-Korea and F-Concepts both fail to demonstrate the experience or training, let alone the rights and authorization which is necessary to access, maintain, update, and repair REES proprietary software.

10. Other Facts:

Program/Equipment: REES Systems, Korea

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a. Procurement History:

(1) W81K02-18-P-0087 REES Scientific Corp. for Nodes #1-3. 7 Mar 2018 – 6 Mar 2021.

W81K02-20-P-0101 REES Scientific Corp. for Node #4. 7 Sep 2020 – 6 Mar 2021.

(2) Both previous contracts were Sole Source to REES Scientific Corp.

(3) Authority previously cited for W81K02-18-P-0087 was FAR 13.501(a)(1)(ii); and for W81K02-20-P-0101 was FAR 13.106-1(b)(1)

(4) The reasons for authority cited on both previous justifications remain unchanged for this follow-on procurement, and were as follows. REES Scientific is the sole manufacturer of the REES hardware and software installed at BDAACH. The software that runs the monitoring system is proprietary to REES Scientific Corporation as the company is the developer and owner of the source code. No other companies have software rights or are authorized by REES Scientific to work on their systems.

Upgrading of software is included in the performance work statement and must be done by REES Scientific in order to maintain product warranty. Due to the proprietary nature of the system, which includes software updates, new replacement parts, licenses, and patents covering the intricate designs of the instruments, no other known sources are authorized or possess the knowledge necessary to maintain and validate the monitoring system.

(5) Prior procurements for this requirement were sole sourced to REES Scientific.

(6) There are no unusual patterns that are revealed by the history of this requirement.

(7) The proposed follow-on sole source contract will combine all Nodes onto the same service interval and contract in order to reduce government cost and increase efficiency. The actual duties of the contractor remain unchanged from previous contracts.

Program/Equipment: REES Systems, Korea

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Approval Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of Maintenance and repair services for Government Owned REES Scientific Centron Temperature Monitoring and Alarm System on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority of the Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items, 41 U.S.C.

1901 as implemented by FAR Subpart 13.5, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

Command Advocate for Competition