P03 justification redacted_Redacted.pdf

CENSITRAC SOFTWARE FORCE Number: VA-21-00003931

LIMITED SOURCES JUSTIFICATION

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 action is for a twelve (12) month firm-fixed price (FFP) task order with an option for an additional two (2) 12-month option periods for renewal of brand name Censis Censitrac software licenses and maintenance support.

This effort is being conducted under the authority of the Multiple Award Schedule Program; the proposed effort will be awarded under the General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) GS-35F-0462X to Censis Technologies, Inc., 377 Riverside Drive STE 300, Franklin, TN 37064.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VA utilizes the comprehensive Real-Time Location System (RTLS) suite as its Instrument Tracking System (ITS). The Sterile Processing Workflow (SPW) use case is one part of the RTLS suite. VA currently uses brand name Censitrac software, manufactured by Censis Technologies, Inc, for the SPW use case. Censitrac software provides complete traceability for Dental and Medical-Surgical instruments, resulting in increased accountability of instrument set reprocessing and assembly, sterilization records management, and training (competency)/standard operating procedures (SOPs) management for sterile processing services. VA requires the renewal of eleven Censitrac software licenses including 24x7 maintenance, technical support, and upgrades. The period of performance for this effort will consist of a 12-month base period with two, 12-monthoption periods. The total estimated value of the proposed action is inclusive of option periods.

4. Authority: This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple Award Schedule Program. The specific authority providing for a limited source award is Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 8.405-6(a)(1 )(i)(B), "Only One source is capable of providing the Supplies or Services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services are unique or highly specialized."

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: The proposed source for this action is Censis Technologies, Inc. 830 Crescent Centre Drive, Franklin, TN . Censitrac software and hardware is currently integrated into all sites in VA's Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 10. No other brand name software is interoperable and compatible with the existing Censis Technologies proprietary database structures, protocols, software application programming interfaces, and hardware infrastructure in place. Specifically, the existing hardware infrastructure in place is all Censitrac integrated hardware and consists of barcode scanners, handheld scanners, and work stations. No other software will work with the existing hardware due to the proprietary source code that operates in the environment. Specifically, if another brand name software was used, the barcode scanners and handheld scanners would be running on an unsupported operating system. In addition, the reusable medical equipment at VISN 10 facilities has been etched with a 3D barcode that is specific to the Censitrac software environment. Further, Censis Technologies, Inc. is the only provider of Censitrac software and maintenance due to the proprietary nature of the software. No other sources have access to the proprietary software code necessary to perform maintenance as each is proprietary to their unique products. If the VA uses any software other than Censitrac, the existing Censitrac hardware would need to be replaced. The duplicative cost to procure new hardware would be approximately $2 million. This estimate is based on previous acquisition history. These costs, which are not inclusive of the annual license fees and support that would need to be procured for the new brands product, would not be recovered through competition.

Failure to obtain the required Censis Censitrac software licenses and maintenance support would result in a degradation in VA’s ability to provide a complete traceability for Dental and Medical-Surgical instruments. This would lead to a decreased accountability of instrument set reprocessing and assembly and sterilization records management which could negatively impact Veteran patient care.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in the market research section of this document. 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 8.405- 6(a)(2), the awarded FSS task order will be synopsized, and this justification will be made publicly available, on the Federal Business Opportunities website within 14 days after award.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: In order to remove or overcome barriers to competition in future acquisitions for this requirement, the agency will work with the program office-to perform additional market research so that other solutions can be considered.

8. Market Research: The Government's technical experts conducted market research in May and July 2020 by reviewing similar software and maintenance support services such as SPM by Microsystems Inc. and KeyDot by KeySurgical to ascertain if other brands could meet VA's requirements. It was determined by the market research that only Censis Technologies has access to the proprietary database, structure, protocols, and software application programming interfaces specific to the maintenance needed for the software in place. Therefore, at present there is no other license and software maintenance available in the marketplace that can meet this requirement.

Based on the market research efforts, the Government's technical experts have determined that only the aforementioned Censis Technologies can meet all of VA's needs.

The Contract Specialist also conducted market research on September 11, 2020 by issuing a separate Request for Information through Contract Opportunities, General

Services Administration, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government-Wide Acquisition Contract. The market research was to ascertain if there were any other alternative solutions capable of providing similar software and maintenance support. No responses were received.

In addition, Censis provided a memo dated September 21, 2020 that all Versions of Censitrac, including but not limited to InstrumenTrac, LoanerLink, Advanced Data Analytics, TrayTrac, ScopeTrac, CensiMark, and Censis AWS GovCloud, are engineered, programmed, and are the sole property of Censis Technologies, Inc. No other entity may sell, market, implement, or instruct the use of CensiTrac, or perform CensiTrac commissioning via proprietary remote server upload and sole source catalog optimization with proprietary data, without the express written consent of Censis Technologies, Inc. Censis Technologies, Inc. is the sole 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. Determination of Best Value: I hereby determine that the proposed contract action will represent the best value to the Government consistent with FAR 8.404(d). GSA has already determined that the prices on the FSS contract are fair and reasonable. Further price analysis will be conducted and subsequent negotiations held as necessary.

Additionally, price discounts wilt be sought

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

Approval

In my role as procuring activity Advocate for Competition, based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the acquisition for the renewal of brand name Censis Censitrac software licenses and maintenance support 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.