P03 - JA - Censis_Redacted.pdf

CONTROL NUMBER VA-24-00085252

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 warranty to augment the functionality of the Real Time Location System (RTLS) solution currently deployed.

3. Description of Supplies or Services: VA, Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Healthcare Technology Management’s (HTM) Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 17 has a requirement to procure equipment for barcode scanning capability to the Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) solution (the CensiTrac Instrument Tracking System (ITS)) with . Specifically, VHA requires 55 brand name Censis Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) Bundles, which includes medical grade Zebra TC52ax-HC scanners and one-year warranty support. The Zebra TC52ax-HC scanners in this bundle will be maintained, managed, and supported by Censis. The scanners provided as part of this brand name bundle must be interoperable with the RTLS system. As part of the Censis PDA Bundles, there is a one-time access fee that enables the devices to connect to the RTLS system. The Censis PDA bundles, inclusive of the Zebra TC52ax-HC scanners, must be delivered within 90 days of contract award to allow for coordination and delivery across VISN 17 sites.

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.”

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. Based on market research, it was determined that no competition is available for the required products and services. The Censis PDA Bundles are the only interoperable and compatible scanning devices that can work with the fielded RTLS solution. Any other scanner model would not be interoperable without major configuration for use with the CensiTrac ITS.

Furthermore, the source code is proprietary, only Censis can ensure that the CensiTrac ITS Censis System is properly configured and connected; therefore, only Censis has access to this code. As a result, Censis stated that unless a

Censis PDA Bundles CONTROL NUMBER VA-24-00085252 component is purchased directly from Censis, it cannot be maintained as part of the RTLS system.

Failure to procure these brand name Censis PDA bundles as proposed will leave VISN 17 HTM sites 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. Market Research: Market research was conducted by VA technical experts, reviewing previous Government contracts, online searches, and querying vendors from July 2018 through January 2024, 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 were 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 maintenance.

Furthermore, the Contract Specialist (CS) conducted additional market research in June 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- 1HCH7P-FT08 Scanners. In an email sent to VA dated June 25, 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 June 27, 2023 from Zebra stating that only maintenance can be provided by Censis. As such, there is not an expectation that

Censis PDA Bundles CONTROL NUMBER VA-24-00085252 competition exists, limited or otherwise. The Censis email and sole source letter have been placed in the contract file.

8. Other Facts: None.

VA-24-00005847