P03_JA_Censis_ Redacted.pdf

Censis OR Scheduler Integration with Oracle Health VA-25-00088633

Lease 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 sole source action is a firm-fixed price purchase order to Censis Technologies, 377 Riverside Drive, Suite 300, Franklin, Tennessee, 37064 for brand name Censitrac Operating Room (OR) Scheduler Integration with Oracle Health (Cerner).

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: The Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 10 has a requirement for a software upgrade of its brand name Censis Technologies Censitrac Sterile Processing Service (SPS) software. VISN 10 is responsible for providing health care to Veterans in the states of Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan. The newly integrated VISN 10 is comprised of 10 VA Medical Centers (VAMC) and the independent Columbus, Ohio Ambulatory Care clinic.

VISN 10 is moving from its legacy Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VISTA) Electronic Medical Record (EMR) to the Federal Electronic Healthcare Record (FEHR) with Oracle Health. This move will require legacy systems to have their existing medical and laboratory devices interfaced and configured to communicate with the FEHR. Censis Technologies Inc’s Censitrac provides a provides a portfolio of surgical instrument tracking options using a web-based platform.

Surgical instruments, trays, endoscopes, and mobile equipment are accurately tracked through inventory controls and management. The Censitrac to Cerner OR Scheduler interface provides the ability to track instrument trays, and the instruments contained within them, by container names, product names, catalog numbers, suppliers, sterilization method, physician and additional parameters. The Censitrac system supports SPS through instrumentation management and workflow. The Contractor shall provide technical and phone support to facilitate operation of the Censitrac technologies.

The period of performance shall be one 12-month base period to implement the OR Scheduler with Oracle Health. The total estimated value price of this proposed action 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 the market research, as described in Section 8 of this justification, only Censis Technologies can meet the Government’s requirements. Censis Technologies owns the rights to all proprietary program language and intellectual property of all software products under the Censitrac umbrella. The current VISN 10 SPS instrument management system is based on existing Censis Technologies software and VA requires support to be compatible with the existing infrastructure protocols and functionality for continued operational availability. Due to the proprietary nature of the software code in the existing VAMC, only Censis Technologies will meet VA's requirements due to compatibility and interoperability with the proprietary software. No other source is available for Censis technical support.

Furthermore, the acquisition of a different product would result in the duplication of costs, the extent of which would not be recouped with competition. VISN 10 VAMCs would need to procure new hardware and software in addition to sustaining the previously procured software along with the associated maintenance support as each is proprietary to their unique products. The estimated cost and time for such a replacement would be $2 million and 18 months based on historical implementation efforts of similar size. This does not include annual license fees and support. No other software is compatible with or interoperable with the existing Censis Technologies proprietary database structures, protocols, and software application programming interfaces.

Failure to procure the Censitrac OR Scheduler Integration would negatively impact VA’s ability to ensuring proper trackability of medical instruments, ensuring that physicians use sterilized medical instruments and have the needed medical instruments supply required for surgeries. The inability to procure the Censitrac OR Scheduler Integration would adversely impact Veteran/patient care as these medical facilities would not be able to perform patient surgeries timely with the same standard of care. The software provides a proven way to track medical instruments used in surgeries and ensures that the medical instrument’s sterilization is tracked accurately. Not being able to track the sterilization of the medical instruments used in surgery would compromise the Veteran/patient’s health through risk of infection and increases risk for patient safety. No other licenses can integrate with the current Censitrac ecosystem.

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. There is no competition anticipated for this acquisition. In accordance with FAR 6.302-1(c)(1)(ii)(c) and 5.102(a)(6) this justification shall be posted with the solicitation. Furthermore, the proposed action will be synopsized on the Contracting Opportunities Page in accordance with FAR 5.201. Any proposals 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. With rapid changes in the industry with the implementation of

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and natural language processing as well as enhancements to the interoperability of healthcare software, VA will continue to explore alternatives and new products that will fulfill the evolving need of the Government.

8. Market Research: The Government's technical experts conducted market research by reviewing historical procurements and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) requirements as well as conducted web-based market research in April 2025 through July 2025. The research revealed that no other vendor can offer a solution that is interoperable with the existing Censis infrastructure currently installed across the VISN nor offer the required services under one package. Only Censis Technologies, the OEM, has access to the proprietary database, structure, protocols, and software application programming interfaces specific to the implementing the OR scheduler interface with Oracle Health. No other vendor, other than the software developer, has access to this source code. In addition, Censis technical personnel confirmed that the source code required to provide the technical services is proprietary to Censis.

Therefore, no other contractor has the capability of providing the technical services. The Government’s market research effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet its requirements. As a result of the market research, the technical experts have determined that Censis is the only source that can provide the services required. Due to proprietary software, Censis is the only vendor that can provide the software subscription renewal and support. Furthermore, VA confirmed that Censis is the sole authorized provider of Censitrac for the North American market.

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 price analysis to be performed in accordance with FAR 15.404-1(b).

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