JA_VISN 8 EMS Dashboard_Redacted.pdf

VISN 8 EMS Dashboard, VA-25-00024839

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-priced contract to renew existing Software as a Service (SaaS) brand name CrestPoint Solutions Environmental Management Operations Efficiency Dashboard subscriptions with maintenance and technical support services.

3. Description of Supplies or Services: VA, Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Sunshine Healthcare Network Veteran Integrated Service Network (VISN) 8 requires renewal of CrestPoint Solutions Environmental Management Operations Efficiency Dashboard to allow VA employees oversight necessary to manage and monitor Environmental Management Services (EMS) operations in a consolidated approach for the following EMS Scopes of Service: Healthcare Sanitation; Textile Management; Groundskeeping; Waste Management; Integrated Pest Management;

Rounding Audits/Inspections; Task Frequency Analysis (TFA) Staffing Model Guidance; and Cost/Budget Management. VISN 8 currently has 80 licenses and is renewing those 80 licenses to maintain current level of operations across 8 facilities with technical and training support ensuring continuous operations of the EMS system 99.0% of the time. Maintenance will enable continued uploading and downloading of existing and required future data, as well as data analysis for reporting capabilities.

The period of performance shall include a 12-month base period, with 2, 12-month option periods. The total estimated value of the proposed effort inclusive of all option periods is

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: Based on market research, as described in Section 8 of this justification, it was determined that limited competition is available for this procurement.

In 2020 CrestPoint Solution was competitively awarded for a pilot system; then was also awarded a follow-on contract in 2021.

CrestPoint externally developed the Unified Platform for the healthcare facilities.

CrestPoint's unique qualifications include a technical staff who have developed a proprietary software that creates a more patient-centered, mission-driven dashboard model, as it allows each EMS program to build a business plan focused on medical center priorities. To assist the Sunshine Healthcare VISN 8 work must be done to allow EMS programs to be better prepared for internal and external audits conducted by the VISN 8 Program Managers (Annual Workplace Evaluation Environment of Care Reviews), Office of Inspector General, The Joint Commission (TJC), Comprehensive Accreditation Program (CAP), TJC mock reviews by The Mihalik Group and other reviewing agencies. Post the initial “Pilot”, the software has been further customized to be much more comprehensive in helping the EMS operations and surpassing anything else on the market. The VA has always had challenges implementing new inspection system as they are seldom readily adopted by the staff members due to their lack of comprehensiveness. CrestPoint worked with our staff to customize the application to make it easy to use and easily incorporated in their daily routines. After numerous updates and training, CrestPoint has been able to work with our staff to have them consistently perform hundreds of sanitation inspections daily. Over 50 dashboards have been created for the VA. These are used on a daily basis to manage EMS operations effectively and identify areas of improvement to better serve our Veterans. The workflow for the ticketing system has undergone countless iterations over the first 2 years and has a level of user friendliness where it is used by the VA staff on a daily basis. This process has enabled the staff to address veterans’ issues within minutes of submission and monitor all work orders in real time. Some of the customization makes it the only product that currently tracks the VISN metrics in compliance with the 1850 Directives across all facilities. Among other things, new customization has allowed the software to provide in depth patient and employee feedback and is also capable of reporting facilities performances against the Survey of Healthcare Experience of Patients (SHEP).The EMS dashboard provides reliable, real-time information as the platform is collecting submitted data and populating it into easy-to-use accessible dashboards that give a visual breakdown of all EMS operational program components accessible via cloud storage. Software and system components have been centralized into one consolidated location, allowing for local, national and VISN oversight and allowing for but not limited to: Managing and tracking inspections and deficiencies for performance improvement, Tracking bed turnover process, Reporting and analyze Textile Care production data and cost of operations, Tracking project management critical milestones, risks and hurdles, Managing EMS budget object codes per fund control points to allow for up-to-date current data for efficient and critical decision making, Managing EMS day to day key performance metrics, Managing EMS Key Performance Indicators (KPI), Incorporating both second and third-party EMS related deficiencies in order to track remedy actions to closure, Incorporating the EcoSure VCS Audit EMS related findings, Incorporating IPM actions taken to address identified/reported deficiencies, Tracking on a per pay period basis each site’s EMS Housekeeping staffing variances.

The use of other software would require VISN 8 to duplicate the past four year’s work including uploading three years of historical data into the platform modules and delay on-going functionalities of the software. The modules were exclusively developed requiring extensive work in the pilot phase for VISN 8 facility needs and are proprietary to CrestPoint’s platform. Selection of any alternate vendor would require an extensive development of a new product to produce modules including the EMS Scopes of Service to include Healthcare Sanitation; Textile Management;

Groundskeeping; Waste Management; Integrated Pest Management; Rounding Audits/Inspections; Asset Management; TFA Staffing Model Guidance; and Cost/Budget Management comparable to what Crestpoint has already developed and would also require the migration and upload of years of data into a new platform. Based on previous acquisition history, VA estimates that the time necessary to complete this migration and upload of data to any other platform would take up to 12 months. Additionally, another one to two years is estimated to re-develop and integrate all interfaces and modules that have been customized. The duplicated costs is estimated to be over $2 million. These duplicated costs would not be recovered through competition.

Lastly, the CrestPoint EMS Dashboards work together to ensure tasks are completed in a timely manner by tracking the different tasks to ensure patients are provided care in a clean facility while also ensuring inspections are passed. Failure to adequately track infection prevention efforts, the various deficiencies, and the management of the EMS Key Performance Indicators (KPI) will have a direct effect on the health and the wellbeing of the veterans. Possible consequential effect includes infection outbreak and/or epidemiological breakout. This failure would lead directly to falling short on regulatory audits like the Joint Commission Audits. It will directly affect the facilities' Survey of Healthcare Experiences of Patients (SHEP) and the Veterans’ health. Furthermore, the EMS platform was uniquely designed to help the EMS Leadership manage the EPS 1850 directives.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in the market research section of this document. This effort did yield additional sources that can meet the Government’s requirements. In accordance with (IAW) FAR 6.302-1(c)(1)(ii)(c) and FAR 5.102(a)(6) this justification shall be posted with the solicitation. Furthermore, the proposed action will be synopsized on the Contracting Opportunities Page IAW FAR 5.201. Any quotes that are received shall be evaluated.

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. Specifically, the government will continue to research similar SaaS and maintenance support services to determine if new products and services enter the marketplaces that would meet VA’s requirements.

8. Market Research: Market research was conducted by VA technical experts in January 2025. Government’s technical experts conducted web-based market research to review similar software products and services. Specifically, products from Cority and Walsh Integrated were reviewed. Both companies provide software that is comparable to the current customized platform in use; however, both companies would only be able to provide a portion of the requested tracking software in this requirement. Walsh Integrated software can only track Quality Assurance, Housekeeper Task Management, Pest Control, and Linen Quality. The remaining tracking software needed, sanitation, groundskeeping, waste management, inspections, cost/budget, and bed turnover are not available through this company. A review of Cority software shows that they have tracking ability for Waste Management, Audits and Inspections but not for sanitation, housekeeping grounds inspections, or bed turnover.

Additionally, CrestPoint Solutions, the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), is a Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) and has identified three authorized resellers, one of which is an SDVOSB. However, all services required to maintain, support and train on the use of the EMS software would be completed by CrestPoint Solutions and none by the resellers.

Based on this market research, the Government had determined that this acquisition shall be solicited as an SDVOSB set aside for brand name CrestPoint Solutions EMS software with maintenance and technical support.

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.

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 on comparison of the proposed price to competitive published price lists, published market prices of commodities, similar indexes, and discount or rebate arrangements.

Additionally, the proposed price will be compared with the Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE). Finally, an analysis of data other than certified cost or pricing data provided by the offeror may be utilized.

12. Procuring Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.