Sole Source Justification Zebra Scanners_Redacted.pdf

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 action is for a sole source firm-fixed-priced contract to be issued on Contract Opportunities for brand name Censis Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) Bundles with Zebra TC52ax-HC scanners to Censis Technologies Inc.

(Censis), 4031 Aspen Grove Dr Ste 350, Franklin, TN 37067, for the procurement of scanners and technical/warranty support services to augment the functionality of the Real Time Location System (RTLS) solution currently deployed.

3. Description of Supplies or Services: Integrated Services Network 4 (VISN 4) facilities has a requirement to procure ancillary support equipment and support services to provide scanning capability to work with our existing CensiTrac Instrument Tracking System (ITS) with barcode scanning capability of devices and equipment. Specifically, VISN 4 requires 64 brand name Censis PDA Bundles, which includes medical grade Zebra TC52ax-HC scanners and access to Censis Technical Support with a one-year commercial warranty support of the scanners. The Zebra TC52ax-HC scanners as part of this bundle will be maintained, managed, and supported by Censis. The ITS is used to automatically identify and track the location of objects or people in real time. The scanners shall be incorporated into the existing CensiTrac ITS which provides VISN 4 medical centers with the real-time capability to track medical instruments. The scanners provided as part of this brand name bundle will be a component part of the system. This action replaces current non-working scanners that are end-of-life along with adding scanners to sites who are improving their processes. As part of the Censis PDA Bundles, there is a one-time access fee that enables the devices to connect and receive maintenance and technical support. However, the ongoing cost of this maintenance and technical support shall be attributable to the specific VISN Censitrac Contract. As such, this is a one-time purchase. Additionally, the contractor shall provide a one year standard commercial warranty support for the Zebra TC52ax-HC Scanners. The Censis PDA bundles, inclusive of the Zebra TC52ax-HC Scanners, shall be delivered within 90 days of contract award to allow for coordination and delivery across the VA Enterprise.

The total estimated value of the 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: The proposed source for this action is Censis, the sole provider of the Censis PDA Bundles with Zebra TC52ax HC scanners, as detailed in section 8 below. Based on market research, it was determined that no competition is available for the required products and services. In 2010, VHA

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established the RTLS Project Management Office (PMO) within the Program Office for Healthcare Technology Management. The RTLS PMO assists facilities and Veterans Integrated Service Networks with the selection, deployment, and management of RTLS technologies at VHA facilities. In 2012, VA began implementing the RTLS technologies at VHA facilities. To date, there are currently 145 facilities using the scanners for Sterile Processing Services (SPS) alone. The original scanners reached life expectancy and are no longer supported. Approximately 600 Cybermed tablets were procured by the RTLS PMO group and provided to the VA facilities for use within SPS. The VA Office of Information and Technology (OIT) require VA Gold Image (Operating System) and McAfee security settings to be loaded on each device. The Cybermed tablets have major issues regarding battery life and overall 'slowness' in VA networks due to the installation of the VA Gold Image and McAfee security settings. These proprietary tablets no longer meet the need of VHA facilities due to their end-of-life status as noted above, and inability to be maintained by Censis.

As such, VA requires replacement equipment that is both interoperable and compatible with the existing CensiTrac ITS, and also maintained by Censis to ensure continued seamless interoperability and usability with the CensiTrac ITS system. Based on the Market Research as described in Section 8 of this document, only the Censis PDA Bundles can meet both of these requirements. Specifically, the Zebra TC52ax-HC Scanner has been validated and certified for use with CensiTrac by Censis.

Furthermore, VA has tested the scanner included in this bundle and validated it can hold VA Imaging, which is required for the use of products within the Agency. Any other scanner model would have to be configured for use with the CensiTrac ITS and would have to go through the vendor's verification and validation procedures. As a result, only the Zebra TC52ax-HC Scanner as part of this Censis PDA Bundle, can meet VA's interoperability and functional requirements while also replacing the current tablets.

Furthermore, because the source code is proprietary, only Censis can ensure that the CensiTrac ITS Censis System is properly configured and connected. Only Censis has access to this code. As a result, Censis stated in a letter that unless a component is purchased directly from Censis, it cannot be maintained as part of the RTLS system in its entirety.

Furthermore, VISN 4 requires that Censis maintains the RTLS system, and all of its components for optimal use by Censis, particularly in order to comply with VHA Directive 1116, which requires electronic tracking for all SPS processing. As previously stated, the scanners would be configured for seamless interoperability as part of this Censis PDA bundle, and Censis would provide maintenance and technical support. The required maintenance can only be provided by Censis because it requires access to the proprietary software code updates/pushes that Censis only provides. No other source has the required access to the code to ensure seamless interoperability. Furthermore, as part of this bundle, the Contractor shall provide a one-year standard commercial warranty for the Zebra TC52ax-HC scanners. If issues cannot be resolved through the maintenance support service process, Censis must receive, configure, and maintain the replacement scanner.

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The only viable alternative solution is to test and validate a new scanner in collaboration with Censis, which would take at least minimum of eight months based on existing market research and the validation effort for the Zebra TC52ax-HC scanners. As previously stated, VA has not been successful in identifying an alternative solution that meets the requirements for seamless interoperability and the ability to hold the required VA image (Operating System) on the device. However, if a new scanner could be identified, it still would not meet the timeliness requirements, because VA has an immediate requirement to get these scanners deployed and maintained. As a result, the only option is to replace the existing RTLS system in its entirety, which would incur a duplicative cost of $42,696,132.00 and take approximately five years to complete. This estimate is based on the historical timeline and cost of the RTLS deployment. During this time, the system would still need to be maintained and a new scanning solution purchased, which is this immediate action.

Failure to procure these brand name Censis PDA bundles as proposed will leave VISN 4 without a reliable scanning capability, hindering VA's ability to inventory reusable medical instrumentation electronically as required; thus, eliminating the ability to track instruments back to patients. Failure to replace these scanners will reduce productivity in the Sterile Processing Department's decontamination and assembly areas, limiting the amount of reusable medical equipment available for Operating Room and clinical procedures. This will lead to appointment cancellations, appointment delays, and longer patient wait times and an increased risk to patient safety due to the lack of instrument availability to perform medical procedures. As a result, the scanners and maintenance must be purchased as proposed.

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. In accordance with (IAW) FAR 6.302-1 (c)(1 )(ii)(c) and FAR 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 quotes 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.

8. Market Research: Market research was conducted by VA technical experts, reviewing previous Government contracts, online searches, and querying vendors under the General Services Administration from July 2018 through December 2022 with revalidation in July and August 2023 by the RTLS PMO and in November 2023 through January 2024 by Jordan Boland, VISN 10 HTM Lead, to ascertain the ability of industry to provide a scanning solution that can meet the Government's requirements. VHA subject matter experts researched and reviewed other products including other Zebra models and other brand name products like ScanSKU. It was determined that none of these models could meet the requirement of maintaining the VA Gold Image (Operating

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System). None of these scanners have been tested and validated for interoperability with the existing CensiTrac ITS by Censis. Additional market research revealed that none of the vendors have the required access to the proprietary CensiTrac ITS software code to provide the required maintenance. Furthermore, the Contract Specialist (CS) conducted additional market research in July 29, 2024 by contacting Censis to determine whether Censis has any authorized resellers on General Services Administration (GSA) eBuy or the NASA SEWP V GWAC of Censis PDA Bundles inclusive of Zebra TC52ax-HC Model TC520L 1 HCH7P-FT08 Scanners. In an email sent to VA July 29, 2024, Censis stated that it was the only provider of the Censis PDA Bundles due to their sole source agreement with Zebra Technologies Corporation (Zebra). Furthermore, Censis provided the sole source letter dated July 15, 2024 from Zebra stating that only maintenance can be provided by Censis. As such, there is not an expectation that competition exists, limited or otherwise. The Censis email and sole source letter have been placed in the contract file. Based on this market research, the Government does not expect to receive two or more offers from multiple Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses, Veteran-Owned Small Businesses, or any other socio-economic groups; therefore, this action cannot be set-aside. The Government had determined that this acquisition shall be solicited as a sole source to Censis as the only authorized reseller and sole Government provider of the Censis PDA Bundles which includes medical grade Zebra TC52ax-HC scanners and access to Censis Technical Support with a one-year commercial warrant ort for the scanners.