P03 - J _ A Redacted.pdf

Vocera Hardware Maintenance and Control Number VA-21-00067828 Support Service

JUSTIFICATION

FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center 1701 Directors Blvd

Austin, TX 78744

2. Description of Action: The proposed sole source action is for a firm-fixed price delivery order to be issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for brand name Vocera maintenance service, licensing and administrative support at the Durham and Greenville HCS.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Durham VA Health Care System (VAHCS) has a requirement for the renewal of software maintenance and technical support for Vocera Communication System software licenses, and Contractor personnel support. Vocera system includes licensing, updates, upgrades, programming and all other needed maintenance of the software and system to keep the system fully operational. The support service includes 24/7 server support for troubleshooting problems. The administrative support includes an on site employee to administrator the day to day changes in the system and overall management of the system. The on-site administrator will include training of staff, generation of regular reports, reconciliation of devices, and other administrative duties. The period of performance is from date of award to February 15, 2022 with one, one-year option period. The total estimated value of the proposed action is $515,785.26 including option period.

4. Statutory Authority: Pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 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 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B), entitled “Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized.”

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based on extensive market research, as described in paragraph 8 of this document, it was determined that only Vocera, or an authorized reseller can provide the hardware, software, and installation, training, and technical support. Brand name Vocera Exchange VoIP infrastructure is currently installed and operational at the Durham VAHCS. Vocera owns the proprietary rights to its software and firmware source code. Only Vocera, or an authorized reseller can provide a complete end to end platform that is considered acceptable under the updated FCC guidelines for use of pagers by medical facilities, which requires Federal entities to control and sustain emergency communications without 3rd party dependencies (cellular service providers). Vocera has identified only one authorized reseller, Alvarez & Associates, for NASA SEWP contracts. The use of another brand name solution would require a complete replacement of the existing VoIP solution due to the proprietary nature of the Vocera Engage infrastructure. Vocera have the ability to provide the changes and upgrades as required to meet VA network security.

Replacement and would take a year or more and cost impact is $1,000,000.00 of the government a substantial amount while leaving the facility without the communication system. Additionally, no other solution can meet VA’s functional requirements.

Specifically, only Vocera’s solution provides wearable wireless hands-free voice activated communication badges. This functionality is critical to the improvement of medical staff services to Veterans. Furthermore, only the Vocera wearable communication badges have FIPS 140-2 certification for the wireless voice activation which is one of a kind for voice activated communication badges. Without FIPS 140-2 certification the Information Systems Security Officer will not allow this communication system to be installed on the VA Intranet. The proprietary code is required to ensure all Vocera software updates and patches are properly pushed through the fielded software and to ensure the software is properly configured. Access to this code is also required to ensure all services provided on the Vocera software is properly configured.

Therefore, only Vocera and its resellers can provide the required associated knowledge base specific maintenance and support services for Vocera as both require access to required proprietary code and technical data that meets the Government’s requirement.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted only to the extent of receiving notice that there is only one authorized distributer for NASA SEWP. Once the stipulation was received from the OEM that there was only one approved vendor, no other research was conducted. Any market research as to the purchase of this system in comparison to other competing systems would have been part of the original procurement. 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 beta.SAM.Gov 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 market place that would enable future actions to be competed.

8. Market Research: Market research was conducted by the VA technical experts in April 2021 by reviewing similar maintenance products to ascertain if other brands could meet VA’s functionality requirements. Government technical experts conducted thorough reviews of product information via web searches for similar solutions from Cisco Systems, MINITOR, Honeywell, and RMS Omega Healthcare Technologies.

While there are similar solutions offered from alternative vendors, only Vocera, or an authorized reseller can provide a complete end to end platform that allows Federal entities to control and sustain emergency communications without 3rd party dependencies. Additionally, only Vocera can provide a hands free enterprise level solution that offers the functionality to call by job role/function and ability to provide a rules engine to ensure the alerts to the relevant care giver are prioritized. Lastly, Vocera is the only solution that is FIPS 140-2 certified and which can meet Federal requirements. Utilization of a different brand name system would pose a significant risk to the VA/Government in its ability to provide care to the Veteran as detailed in Section 5.

The Contract Contract Specialist (CS) conducted market research in June 2021 by using the NASA SEWP V GWAC Market Research tool to determine what vendors are capable of meeting the requirement. Based on this market research, the CS found multiple resellers capable of meeting the full requirement but without the authorized reeller desingation. The customer informed the CS that Vocera only has one authorized reseller on NASA SEWP V GWAC, Alvarez & Associates. The CS contacted Vocera and confirmed that they only have one authorized Vocera reseller on SEWP and GSA.

Vocera followed up with a letter for confirmation.

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.

Ron Leatherman Date: ________________________________

Electronic Technician 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 because NASA SEWP V GWAC prices have previously been determined to be fair and reasonable. Additionally, price analysis may be performed in accordance with FAR 15.404-1(b). Finally, the successful quote will be compared to the Independent Government Cost Estimate.

Mary Accomando Date: ________________________________

Procuring Contracting Officer Signature: ____________________________

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

Mary Accomando Date: ________________________________

Procuring Contracting Officer Signature: ____________________________

Approval In my role as Procurement Service Director, One Level Above the Contracting Officer, based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the acquisition of Vocera Hardware Maintenance and Support Service, in accordance with VAAM M816.505(b)(2)(ii)(C)(1), 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.

Date: ____________ Signature: _________________________________ Jeff Bishop Procurement Service Director Technology Acquisition Center

Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics