Electronic Health Record Open Source Custodial Agent

Amendment 0003 - The Government hereby rescinds Amend 0002 to this Presolicitation notice and amends this Presolicitation notice to reflect the following information. Based upon guidance recently provided by the General Services Administration (GSA), an Offeror must be a GSA Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contract holder under the applicable Special Item Number (SIN) at the date/time the SOLICITATION is issued in order to participate in this acquisition, submit a response to the solicitation and be considered for award. The proposal submission instructions for the solicitation will be updated to reflect this latest guidance received from GSA . Consequently, a copy of the solicitation will not be posted on the Federal Business Opportunities web site for the benefit of non-schedule contract holders.

Amend 0002 - The notice as well as the proposal submission instructions for draft solicitation VA118-11-RP-0275 specified that "Offerors must be a GSA FSS holder for Schedule 70 by the date and time for receipt of offers/quotations in order to be considered for award." The current E-Buy website used for posting of solicitations for qualified FSS holders does not afford other than current FSS holders for the Special Item Number (SIN) designated to view the solicitation in E-Buy. To accommodate prospective offerors who don't have an existing FSS but believe they'll have a qualifying FSS in place to allow for submission of a proposal by the date and time specified for receipt of offers/quotations in the solicitation, the final solicitation shall be posted to FBO for their reference in order to develop an offer. However, please be advised that if the final solicitation maintains a prospective offeror must be a GSA FSS holder for Schedule 70 all offers must be submitted and received in GSA E-Buy for the applicable solicitation record for this acquisition by the date and time specified. Offers submitted outside of GSA E-Buy shall not be considered.

Amend 0001 - For the benefit of all interested parties, please be advised that Government responses to questions submitted on the draft Request for Proposal for the Electronic Health Records Open Source Custodial Agent will be provided on the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) web site under Presolicitation Notice VA118-11-RP-0275 on or about April 18, 2011. The Government will not identify the submitter of the question but will post BOTH the question submitted and Government response. Responses to questions will only be provided on FBO and will not be sent directly to the submitter.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is seeking to establish a Custodial Agent (CA) that will facilitate the establishment and operations of an Electronic Health Records (EHR) Open Source software development ecosystem and define the relationship between and interactions among developers, users, vendors and service providers.

On February 18, 2011, the VA issued Request for Information (RFI) #VA118-11-RI-0194 on the Federal Business Opportunities web site requesting feedback from industry on the establishment of a Custodial Agent. Responses have been reviewed and considered by the Department. Attached herewith is a draft Request for Proposal (RFP) for the procurement of an EHR Open Source community Custodial Agent. The solicitation number assigned to this effort is VA118-11-RP-0275 and will be issued on or about April 22, 2011, under General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) Schedule 70 for General Purpose Commercial Information Technology Equipment, Software and Services. Offerors must be a GSA FSS holder for Schedule 70 by the date and time for receipt of offers/quotations in order to be considered for award. Award will be placed on a Firm Fixed Price basis for a one year period of performance. An award date of June 15, 2011 is planned.

This notification is not a request for competitive proposals and proposals will not be accepted at this time. The draft RFP is provided herewith for industry comment and to address any questions prior to formal solicitation. Comments and/or questions on the draft RFP will be accepted until 4:00PM on April 11, 2011. Comments and/or questions shall be submitted to the Contract Specialist at Elizabeth.dean2@va.gov with a copy to the Contracting Officer, Mr. Kevin Loesch at Kevin.loesch@va.gov. Please include VA118-11-RP-0275 in the subject line of your e-mail submission. Responses to questions are expected to be provided by April 18, 2011.