Intent to Sole Source Hero Care UT School of Medicine

The Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Health Administration, Veterans Integrated Service Network 17, through the South Texas Veterans Healthcare System, has issued a Notice of Intent to Sole Source to the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, School of Medicine, Division of Hospital Medicine (UT Health-HospMed). This special notice, posted on January 12, 2026, with a due date of January 15, 2026, is intended strictly for market research and informational purposes and does not constitute a solicitation, obligation, or commitment by the government. The notice announces the VA's intention to make a sole-source award using Simplified Acquisition Procedures for expert research services valued under $250,000. The contract will support multiple VA-funded research initiatives across several research domains.

The primary objective of this sole-source award is to obtain specialized expert research services from UT Health-HospMed to support grant submissions and the execution of health services research studies across multiple VA research departments, including Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D), Clinical Services Research and Development (CSR&D), Rehabilitation Research and Development (RR&D), the Office of Rural Health (ORH), and the Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI). The services encompass roles such as Co-Principal Investigator, Co-Investigator, Research Associate, Project Management, Data Analysis, and Statistical Support, in addition to conference travel, graphic and printing services, and publication services for scientific articles. The VA determined that UT Health-HospMed was the only source interested in fulfilling these specialized research needs following a sources sought synopsis issued in July 2022 that generated no competing responses. Contractors will be required to comply with federal records management laws, privacy regulations, GSA travel rates, and complete VA-specific training on records management and information security, while maintaining de-identified research data and having no access to VA desktop computers or patient health information.