S02 JA DSS_Redacted.pdf

Control Number VA-22-00001123

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 for a firm-fixed-price (FFP) contract for the renewal of software maintenance and help desk support for Sunrise Decision Support System (DSS) software with Strata Decision Technology, 200 E Randolph St. Chicago, IL 60601.

3. Description of Supplies or Services: Veterans Health Administration, Office of Finance, Managerial Cost Accounting (MCA) Office, has a requirement for ongoing annual maintenance and support of existing DSS software, from Strata Decision Technology, currently used enterprise-wide by VA as its designated MCA system.

DSS software is proprietary Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software that only Strata Decision Technology has the authority to maintain, update, and modify. DSS software was fully deployed as VA's enterprise wide MCA in 1999. This software is designated as the system that exclusively provides VA compliance with Public Law 101-576 (Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Act of 1990) and its government-wide cost accounting standards.

MCA transforms day-to-day operational data into tactical information that is used by leadership to make informed operational decisions. The DSS software provides integration of clinical, financial, and workload data that enables decision-makers to determine costs down to an individual episode-of-care, product, and/or benefit provision, thus improving the quality of medical care and benefits. Furthermore, MCA calculates the total operating costs of a healthcare network, medical center, station, or department and differentiates between fixed and variable costs and between direct and indirect costs. This enables management to establish a data-driven operating budget and to monitor any variances from expected costs and workload and also compare performance and productivity among VA stations and medical centers. MCA is utilized at all levels of VA, from a single department at a clinic or regional office to the Office of the Secretary, Office of Management and Budget (0MB), and U.S. Congress.

The Contractor shall provide software maintenance services for DSS software to include periodic functional maintenance and updates to the software, customization enhancements to meet changing VA requirements, and consultative support to MCAO Help Desk and VA Austin Information Technology Center's staff in order to support all mainframe operations related to DSS software. These services will ensure the software remains operational. No hardware or software will be procured as a result of this action. This action is for software maintenance and helpdesk support services only. The period of performance shall be

Sunrise Decision Support System (DSS) Control Number VA-22-00001123 Software Maintenance and Support with three 12-month option periods. The total estimated value of this proposed action, 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) Subpart 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: The proposed source for this action is Strata Decision Technology; 200 E Randolph St. Chicago, IL 60601. Based on extensive market research, as described in section 8 of this justification, it was determined that competition is not viable, as Strata Decision Technology is the proprietary owner and only vendor that can provide the required software maintenance services. DSS software code is proprietary to Strata Decision Technology; therefore, only Strata Decision Technology has the ability to update, maintain, and modify this code. This proprietary software code is also needed to understand the inner workings of the DSS application in order to develop and deploy updates and modifications of the software's code. Furthermore, access to the proprietary code is required to ensure security updates are pushed through and there are no software proprietary constraints. Access to software code is also required to ensure services are properly configured. Due to these proprietary constraints, the use of any other vendors maintenance would necessitate the complete replacement of the existing DSS infrastructure in place. Estimated costs and duration to replace DSS software would require a duplication of costs estimated at a minimum of $50 million and more than five years. These estimates are based on previous acquisition history. Failure to continue to maintain DSS software, which is used as VA's MCA, will put VA at risk of non-compliance with U.S. law and halt the wealth of reliable cost information provided to VA leaders, which is a necessary input for key management decisions. DSS’ Cost Accounting information is utilized for budgeting, resourcing, and optimizing the provision of healthcare/benefits throughout the VA Enterprise. The impact of not maintaining the software would be catastrophic and degrade VA’s ability to provide healthcare and benefits to its Veterans. These impacts would be not only felt across VHA, VBA, NCA, OIT, VACO, VHACO, VISN’s, VAMC’s, Regional Offices, and National Cemeteries, but would also cause serious and negative impacts in VA’s ability to provide information products to Congress, OMB, and GAO, among others.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, the details of which are in the market research section of this document. The market research conducted did not yield any potential sources, other than Strata Decision Technology which could meet all of the Government's requirements. There is no competition anticipated for this acquisition. Additionally, the proposed action will be synopsized on the Contract Opportunities in accordance with FAR Part 5.201. Any proposals received shall be evaluated. In accordance with FAR 5.301 and 6.305(a), notice of award for this action will be synopsized on Contract Opportunities within 14 days of award along with a copy of this justification.

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. Specifically, the government will research similar software and maintenance services to determine if any changes have been identified in the market place.

8. Market Research: The Government's technical experts conducted market research from April 2021 through June 2021, by reviewing other similar software products. The other similar software products reviewed to date include CGI’s Momentum and Cerner’s Millennium. However, none of these products can provide the software updates, fixes, security alerts and patches for the currently deployed Strata Decision Technology without access to the proprietary DSS source code.

Unauthorized software providers do not have access to use the proprietary source code of the DSS applications and are not able to provide troubleshooting, updates, fixes, patches, and upgrades. Further, both products were found incapable of meeting VA’s robust and customized Sunrise DSS solution and fulfilling the Department’s MCA federal requirements.

On July 01, 2021, VA conducted further market research by issuing a Request for Information (RFI) 36C10B21Q0421 on Contract Opportunities. The Government requested capability statements from vendors that demonstrate its current ability to provide DSS Software Maintenance. The RFI closed on July 13, 2021 and one response was received. One response was from vCloud Tech Inc. who did not address any of VA's requirements listed in the RFI and only provided marketing literature. The Government technical expert contacted Strata directly to find out if it would provide its' source code to any other vendors/contractors. Strata provided a sole source letter on May 21, 2021 stating that Strata does not permit any third party to resell or support the Sunrise Decision Support software. On June 2, 2021 Strata sent the Governments technical expert an email stating “Strata is the only firm permitted to sell, operate and/or support the Sunrise Cost Accounting System”.

Strata prohibits access to the software source code by other vendors/contractors for the purposes of maintenance, support, or customizations. The only response determined to be technically capable of meeting the Government's requirements was submitted by Strata Decision Technology, which was found to be qualified for the maintenance and support of its own proprietary software. No other source is capable of meeting VA's current requirement due to Strata Decision Technology’s proprietary data constraints. No sources were found that have ever provided the aforementioned services on the DSS software other than Strata. The software maintenance and help desk support are proprietary to Strata Decision Technology and are not made available through authorized resellers. Additionally, no sources were found that have previously provided support for the DSS software other than Strata.

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 include comparison of negotiated prices to the Independent Government Cost Estimate and historical pricing data.

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 software maintenance and help desk support for existing Sunrise Decision Support System (DSS) software on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the statutory authority cited in Section 4 above, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.