Justification_and_Approval_for_Special_Notice.docx

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

In Accordance With (IAW) FAR 6.302-1

1. Contracting Activity: Army Contracting Command - Aberdeen Proving Ground (ACC-APG), Tenant Division, APG, Maryland 21005-3013.

2. Description of Action: U.S. Army Public Health Center (APHC) requires procurement services of an informatics systems integrator for the deployment and integration of an Enterprise Laboratory Information Management System (eLIMS).

3. Description of Services: The objective of this effort is to provide technical and programmatic expertise and support to the eLIMS Project Core Team at the Army Public Health Center (PHC) to develop project management plans, lead the team in the implementation of the eLIMS throughout the PHC regional labs and provide system life cycle management support to the eLIMS Project Core Team (PCT). The Contractor shall function as the Project Manager (PM) and provide the PCT with a deep knowledge of the selected enterprise StarLIMS product, capabilities, approaches, and limitations as well as a comprehensive understanding of the implementation needs for such a large scale implementation. The eLIMS is the concept of an enterprise approach and STARLIMS is the LIMS product selected for this effort. The measures of success are timely deliverables and deployments with sufficient user training to bring all users online an operational by the end of the Period of Performance (POP).

4. Authority Cited: 10 United States Code 2304(c)(1) as implemented in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii)(B), Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

5. Reason for Authority Cited: This contract will be awarded as a sole source effort to LabAnswer Government, LLC. for System integration. The Government currently has invested a great deal of funding with the services already performed by LabAnswer Government. Failure to award to LabAnswer would require significant financial rework on the part of the Government and significantly delay the Go-Live dates for subsequent regional deployments. No other contractor is capable of picking up where LabAnswer has left off and completing the work. If another company was awarded this effort, they would have to start over and the $2.8M already invested would be a sunk cost to the Government. This sole source contract will complete the laboratory work for PHC.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: The initial project began with a search for a systems integrator to manage the project encompassing the procurement of an eLIMS system. This involved procurement of project management services to ensure the gap analysis, implementation and deployment of the selected LIMS was effectively and efficiently deployed at RHC-Europe in Landstuhl Germany, APHC in APG Maryland, RHC-Atlantic in Ft Meade Maryland, PHC-Central in San Antonio Texas, RHC-Pacific in Washington, RHC-Pacific in Hawaii, RHC-Pacific in Camp Zama Japan and RHC-Pacific in Korea. Extensive market research was conducted by PHC as well as the Contracting Office. Trade shows were attended as well as online research was conducted in order to determine which vendors can provide PHC with the required Laboratory services. Based on information collected during market research, it was determined that the initial procurement effort could be solicited and competed amongst small businesses. Two proposals were submitted in response to the FedBizOpps 100% small business set aside posting. Evaluations were conducted based on Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA). The initial contract action for a systems integrator was awarded to LabAnswer Government, LLC. Since then, the project of installation services and configurations has not been completed. Upon release of this procurement, the services will be complete within the next three years. LabAnswer Government has already been performing the required services and is not in need for any subcontracting efforts.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: This systems integrator contract will be the final contract in the eLIMS initiative. Installation and configuration services will be completed after the completion of this three year service contract effort. If there were ever an effort for a system refresh or new requirement to implement a new system, the action would be full and open competition to increase competition.

8. Market Research: Market Research was conducted during the original competitive solicitation in FY12. This market research included onsite demonstrations, vendor shows, internet research and database searches by IT professionals within the organization. This procurement effort is a required sole source to LabAnswer Government, LLC. in order to maintain the project continuity of the project management and deployment tasks with the systems integrator. Any change in project management and project team at this stage would lead to significant time delays and excessive costs of rework for existing project documents with a new systems integrator staff and delays in obtaining new clearances and Common Access Cards and training for any staff accessing the APHC network. Another company would not be able to pick up where LabAnswer Government left off. They would have to re-configure some of their own services which would be significant sunk costs in resources to include funding and time.

9. Interested Sources: To date, no other sources have written to express an interest. Upon Service Acquisition Strategy (SAS) approval, a Notice of Intent will be posted on FedBizOpps to inform the commercial market of the Government’s intentions to solicit solely with LabAnswer Government for a continuation of the required eLIMS service effort. If any interested parties come forth indicating doubt that this action should be awarded solely to LabAnswer Government, than the Government will refrain from contract award and evaluate the contractor’s inquiry.

10. Other Facts: On 24 September 2012, the initial systems integrator contract for an eLIMS system was awarded following a competitive bid process as contract W91ZLK-12-F-0150. This was competed as 100% small business set-aside and awarded to the Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA). Only two responses were received in response to the RFQ, one from Dovel Technologies and the other from LabAnswer Government. LabAnswer Government, LLC was determined to be the LPTA contractor and was awarded the contract for $144,580.28 for a total value of $2,360,021.69 for a base year plus two option years. On 22 September 2015, a six week bridge contract, W91ZLK-15-P-0487 was awarded for $147,876.00 with a POP of 24 September 2015 through 06 November 2015. The award was a sole source due to the mission critical nature of the services which will cause mission failure for APHC based on the integration of the required software in the PHC laboratory operating systems. Notice of Intent (NOI) to award solely to LabAnswer Government, LLC, was posted to Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) and no challenges were received to the posting. On 03 November 2015, a six week bridge contract, W91ZLK-16-P-0011 was awarded in the amount of $149,760.00 with a POP of 12 November 2015 through 05 January 2016. NOI to award solely to LabAnswer Government, LLC, was posted to Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) on 03 November and no challenges were received to the posting. On 06 January 2016, a six week bridge contract, W91ZLK-16-P-0022 was awarded in the amount of $149,560.00 with a POP of 06 January 2016 through 04 February 2016. NOI to award solely to LabAnswer Government, LLC, was posted to Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) on 03 December and no challenges were received to the posting.