Justification for Sole Source for Certain Commercial Items FAR 13.5_FINAL_Redacted.pdf

CONTROL NUMBER VA-25-00065695

JUSTIFICATION FOR A SOLE SOURCE AWARD

FOR CERTAIN COMMERCIAL ITEMS

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics

Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, New Jersey 07724

2. Description of Action: The proposed firm-fixed-price (FFP) action is for Value-Added Network (VAN) Services with a period of performance of 12 months, with four (4), 12-month option periods and one optional task to extend services. This effort is being conducted under the statutory authority of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 13.5, entitled �Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Products and Commercial Services�; the proposed effort will be awarded to Hixardt Technologies, Inc.

(Hixardt), located at 282 N Palafox St, Pensacola, Florida 32502-4841.

3. Description of Supplies or Services: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Financial Services Center (FSC) requires continued VAN Services to support its Electronic Commerce Branch (ECB). VAN Services act as the middleware interface between VA�s Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) platform and commercial vendors. The contractor will provide these services to enable the secure transmission of purchase orders and receipt of electronic invoices for a broad range of medical, surgical, prosthetic, and hearing aid supplies. These transactions directly support the Medical Surgical Prime Vendor (MSPV) program and are essential to ensuring uninterrupted delivery of medical products to Veterans and VA Medical Centers (VAMCs) nationwide.

The proposed action is for an award to a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business.

4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C. 1903 as implemented by FAR 13.501, entitled �Special Documentation Requirements�.

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Hixardt is the only responsible source currently positioned to meet VA�s VAN requirements without service interruption.

The contractor already provides ECB-compatible services via a secure, redundant infrastructure that is fully integrated with VA�s systems. Hixardt has maintained compliance with FIPS 140-2 standards and has embedded disaster recovery and 24/7 emergency support protocols. Hixardt was awarded the original/current task order under General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Schedule GS-35F-0576P, Task Order 36C10B20F0078 on March 01, 2020 for the same work as the instant effort. The task order is set to expire on August 1, 2025. Awarding the proposed action as a logical provides economic and efficiency value to the Government. If this sole source is not awarded, VA would suffer irreparable harm if the ECB were unable to process purchase orders and invoices submitted by commercial vendors under the MSPV program. The

Value-Added Network (VAN) Services CONTROL NUMBER VA-25-00065695

MSPV Program is the mandatory program for Medical Stations to order Medical Surgical supplies which are ordered and paid through the VAN. Without having the VAN, the stations would have to revert to manual order processing for MSPV vendors, resulting in delays and potential miscommunications based on human error and directly impacting the Veteran. It is estimated that transitioning to a new vendor would require a minimum of days, including technical onboarding, security vetting, interface development, and validation testing with ECB. Based on historical cost structures and the recent quote from Hixardt, switching vendors would likely incur one-time implementation costs exceeding in addition to risk factors such as duplicate system builds, parallel testing, and potential delays in processing 3 annual transactions. The VA has already invested over in VAN services infrastructure. This includes platform-specific configurations, staff training, and operational continuity planning. Migrating to another provider would require reinvestment in new configurations and revalidation of every connected vendor trading partner. All applicable ECB personnel are trained on Hixardt�s VAN platform and escalation protocols. Training a new team and revising Standard Operating Procedures would delay program readiness and require dedicated resources from both VA and the new vendor. This is not feasible within the short ordering window prior to the expiration of the current contract.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, and two Requests for Information (RFI) were released. One for GSA and another for www.SAM.gov, details of which are in the market research section of this document. The RFIs did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government�s requirements in the time required for continuity of operations. In accordance with FAR 5.201(b) and FAR 6.305(a), the award notice for this action will be synopsized on www.SAM.gov and the 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. No barriers to future competition are anticipated and future acquisitions are expected to be awarded on a competitive basis. However, any source other than Hixardt would require at least in order to successfully transition VAN services support.

8. Market Research: Since February 2025, the Government�s technical experts and contracting personnel have been actively conducting market research to identify viable sources capable of meeting the requirement. On April 23, 2025, the Government contract specialist posted a Request for Information (RFI) under General Services Administration (GSA) eBUY under special item number (SIN) 54151ECOM, Electronic Commerce and Subscription Services to a total of 20 vendors. The RFI closed on April 30, 2025. One response was received from a vendor acknowledging they are unable to provide the service. No responses were received from interested vendors. On May 1, 2025, the contract specialist posted a RFI on www.SAM.gov under North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 541519, Other Computer Related Services. The RFI closed on May 7, 2025. Three responses were received by the following small businesses � ; and

Hixardt Technologies, Inc. A capability statement was required from each vendor. Due to the unique requirements of the existing VAN Services, the Government specifically requested vendors include a description of the capabilities/qualifications/skills the company possesses to perform the work, to include identification of the requested VAN services and timeline of obtaining agreements to exchange data with commercial vendors in Attachment 1 of the Performance Work Statement (PWS). Additionally, vendors were instructed to include at least one relevant project and include the following information: customer name, customer/client point of contact email, total contract value, period of performance, brief description of services provided, and indicate if there is a Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System assessment available. A relevant project is similar to the described PWS requirements and has occurred in the past five years.

All capability statements were reviewed by the Government's technical experts and only Hixardt Technologies, Inc., was determined to be capable of meeting the Government�s requirements. displayed experience in program management, database administration, server administration, and SharePoint cloud development and architecture. displayed experience in cloud computing, cybersecurity, and program management. However, neither , nor demonstrated experience in VAN services. The two vendors did not present an approach for providing a VAN Service, as neither demonstrated they had acquired, contracted, or owned an EDI VAN Software package such as OpenText VAN, which is necessary to process Purchase Orders and Invoices with trading partners. Additionally, neither vendor demonstrated they had experience in Supply Chain logistics operating as an EDI VAN. The capability statements lacked significant details that would demonstrate a clear understanding of the FSC�s unique VAN services, to include interconnections, protocols, security requirements, and transactional volume, to acquire VAN services in support of VA. The Government�s technical experts determined that Hixardt Technologies, Inc. possess the necessary technical expertise with FSC systems to meet the requirement. Hixardt Technologies, Inc. already provides ECB-compatible services via a secure, redundant infrastructure that is fully integrated with VA�s systems. Hixardt Technologies, Inc. has maintained compliance with FIPS 140-2 standards and has embedded disaster recovery and 24/7 emergency support protocols. Hixardt Technologies, Inc. was awarded the original/current task order under GSA Federal Supply Schedule Contract Number GS- 35F-0576P Order 36C10B20F0078 on March 01, 2020, for the same work as the instant effort. The current task order expires on August 1, 2025. Failure to acquire the required services would result in irreparable harm to VA if the ECB were unable to process purchase orders and invoices submitted by commercial vendors. Without the VAN, medical stations would have to revert to manual order processing for vendors, resulting in delays and potential miscommunications based on human error and directly impacting the Veteran.

9. Other Facts: The VAN process 300-400k transactions (Purchase Orders and Invoices) annually for Medical and Surgical supplies to VAMCs. An example of this service would be a Veteran has heart surgery for a pacemaker scheduled for the next day, an order is placed in IFCAP and processed through ECB�s EDI System, transmitted to the VAN, the VAN transmits to the vendor, and the vendor ships a pacemaker overnight to that VAMC.

In addition to Medical and Surgical supplies, VAN processes hearing aids and other medical supplies to Veterans. An example would be a Veteran is receiving a replacement continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine shipped directly to their home. An order is placed in IFCAP and processed through ECB�s EDI System, transmitted to the VAN, the VAN transmit to the vendor, and the vendor ships the CPAP machine to the Veteran or to a VA Facility to deliver to Veteran.

The VAN is used as the vendors are not able to connect to the VA directly for various reasons, such as locality, technology, etc.

More supportive detail that explains exactly what FSC intends to purchase:

o Procuring a vendor that can interface with FSC FTS ECB EDI application and process electronic PO's and Invoices to VA approved vendors/trading partners for Medical Supplies, Surgical Supplies, Veteran Hearings aids and other medical and prosthetic devices.

The benefits to FSC and its customers:

o The VA uses FSC ECB Groups EDI application to process Purchase Orders and Invoicing transactions for all vendors. Vendors that cannot directly connect to the VA, use a "VAN" as an intermediary to be able to accept and process orders.

Impact if this is not funded/awarded:

o VA Medical Centers would have to find another way to submit orders and receive medical and prosthetic supplies.

o Veterans may not be able to receive hearing aids, medical supplies etc. VA Supply centers would have to find another way to order and receive these items.

Technical/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.

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 the technique(s) identified at FAR 15.404-1(b). If necessary, the Government reserves the right to enter negotiations.

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