Services-Wayfinding System Implementation

Added: Aug 02, 2016 12:14 pm Modified: Oct 07, 2016 11:04 amTrack Changes LIMITED SOURCES JUSTIFICATION





Acquisition Plan Action ID: VA248-16-AP-9913



This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple Award Schedule Program. The material or service listed in par. 3 below is sole source, therefore, consideration of the number of contractors required by FAR Subpart 8.4 - Federal Supply Schedules, is precluded for the reasons indicated below.



Restricted to the following source:

Contractor: Vecna Technologies, Inc. GS-35F-0363L

Contractor POC: Mr. Jack Killian, jkillian@vecna.com, 508-517-0797

Contractor Address: 36 Cambridgepark Drive, Cambridge, MA 02140



1 The requested material or service represents the minimum requirements of the Government.



(1) AGENCY AND CONTRACTING ACTIVITY: Department of Veterans Affairs

NCO 8

8875 Hidden River Parkway

Tampa, FL 33637-1035

VISN: 8



(2) NATURE AND/OR DESCRIPTION OF ACTION BEING APPROVED: A limited source order to Vecna Technologies, Inc. (Vecna) to provide the services necessary to deploy, configure and implement a Wayfinding System at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital (JAHVH), Tampa, FL. Wayfinding refers to information systems that guide people through a physical environment and enhance their understanding and experience of the space. This system will help patients and their families find their way to healthcare services or hospital amenities within the medical center and get to their appointments in a timely fashion. Wayfinding technology ranges from printed maps to navigation software running on smart phones and interactive displays thru the hospital.



(3) (a) A DESCRIPTION OF THE SUPPLIES OR SERVICES REQUIRED TO MEET THE AGENCY'S NEED:



" Wayfinding System with configurable routes, map management, destination, location coding, content management, contextual messaging and indoor navigation.

" Integration with VetLink

" Integrated Google Maps for navigation from off campus to on campus and vice versa.

" Delivery of the application across multiple mediums/devices (web, kiosk and mobile).

" Web administrative tools.

" Technical support

" Onsite training



(b) ESTIMATED DOLLAR VALUE: $173,000.00



(c) REQUIRED DELIVERY DATE: 1 September 2016



(4) IDENTIFICATION OF THE JUSTIFICATION RATIONALE: IAW FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(B): Only one source is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services are unique or highly specialized. Describe in detail why only this suggested source can furnish the requirements to the exclusion of other sources.



Vecna is the only source capable of providing the required Wayfinding System at the level of quality and capabilities needed at the JAHVH. Vecna can provide a complete solution in terms of implementing the wayfinding capability on kiosks already owned by the VA (no additional cost incurred) and the future integration of the same technology on over 40 VetLink kiosks currently in use throughout the Tampa VA medical facilities.



The JAHVH will be leveraging the Wayfinding System recently installed at Lake Nona, Florida VA Medical Center (VAMC) and implementing this approach as an innovative and new platform. A significant portion of the Wayfinding System design, development, and configuration at Lake Nona has been completed under the national Veterans Point of Service (VPS) program office. VPS is the national self-service check in kiosk program responsible for deploying VetLink kiosks nationwide. VetLink are free standing secure, touch-screen devices equipped with a card scanner, card swipe and proximity sensors. The VPS program funded the proof-of-concept VetLink/Wayfinding integration at Lake Nona. The goal of the proof-of-concept phase was to validate technical capabilities and demonstrate the usability of wayfinding at this facility.



The Orlando NCO 8 contracting office issued task order GS-35F-0363L/VA248-16-F-2287 on July 2016 to Vecna to fulfill their requirement. During the implementation at Lake Nona, work was done to modify the core VetLink platform to enable the wayfinding integration and configuration, such as wayfinding maps, kiosk templates and destination mapping. In addition, technical capabilities were validated and a substantial amount of project artifacts specific to Lake Nona wayfinding were created.



Vecna has deployed over 5,000 VetLink kiosks across the entire VA healthcare network (over 150 VAMC and 600 CBOCs) through multiple task orders under a blanket purchase order (GS-35F-0363L-VA742-BP-0019). They currently have an operations and maintenance contract (Contract GS-35F-0363L-VA118-15-F-0047) in which support services and new VetLink releases are developed and distributed to the VA. They are working with the VPS program office leadership to include the wayfinding integration developed at Lake Nona in the next VetLink release. VetLink is based on a proprietary COTS product owned by Vecna, and modified to VA specifications. The wayfinding interfaces and VA cloud/network architecture are indented to be used by any/all VAMCs deploying this proposed solution.



The JAHVH is implementing the same Wayfinding System installed at Lake Nona, thereby leveraging economies of scale and providing a uniform, robust Wayfinding experience for patients and their families. Artifacts developed during the Lake Nona VAMC implementation will be reused at JAHVH, eliminating duplication of efforts in terms of design, development and time; with an estimated savings of approximately $150,000 and 6 months of time to deployment. In addition, Lake Nona VAMC will be providing the JAHVH with 6 kiosks (non VetLink). These kiosk are the same type deployed and currently in use at that facility. This will provide an additional $30,000 in savings. Utilizing the services provided by Vecna will provide economies of scale because the solution has been proved at Lake Nona. It will provide a uniform platform for Veterans and their families to use when visiting different VA medical facilities since they will be able to use the Wayfinding System at any of the available kiosks. Vecna is the only vendor capable of completing this project because of its unique ability to develop against the VetLink platform and the successful deployment and implementation of the Wayfinding System at Lake None VAMC.



(5) DESCRIBE WHY YOU BELIEVE THE ORDER REPRESENTS THE BEST VALUE CONSISTENT WITH FAR 8.4 TO AID THE CONTRACTING OFFICER IN MAKING THIS BEST VALUE DETERMINATION: This is an order against a GSA contract. GSA has already determined the prices of supplies and fixed-price services, and rates for services offered at hourly rates, under schedule contracts to be fair and reasonable. The quoted prices by Vecna were also compared to the prices paid for similar services under contract GS-35F-0363L/VA248-16-F-2287 awarded to Vecna on July 2016 by the Orlando NCO 8 contracting office. Although the services under that contract are not exactly the same as our requirement, it provided us with an insight on the current pricing for similar services; such as:



Mapping

Mobile Wayfinding Templates

UXM Configuration

Wayfinding Platform Licensing and Maintenance

VetLink Integration



By placing an order against the GSA schedule contract awarded to Vecna, I have concluded that the order represents the best value and results in the lowest overall cost alternative (considering price, special features, administrative costs, etc.) to meet the Government's needs.



(6) DESCRIBE THE MARKET RESEARCH CONDUCTED AMONG SCHEDULE HOLDERS AND THE RESULTS OR A STATEMENT OF THE REASON MARKET RESEARCH WAS NOT CONDUCTED: Thorough market research was conducted which concentrated on the needs of the requiring services based on the following elements:



Product/Services: Procure a system that captures the synergies and investments completed by both the national VPS program office's Veteran Experience Phase One project and the Lake Nona VAMC Wayfinding design, development, and configuration effort. An important goal of these efforts was the demonstration that existing VPS VetLink kiosks could support patient facing wayfinding functionality. It is imperative that the Tampa Wayfinding effort capitalizes on these recent past efforts and sunk cost.



Vendors Capabilities: In addition to Vecna, the below listed vendors were contacted and their concepts/products were reviewed as recent as April 2016.



" Logic Junction (Beachwood, OH); large business

" Four Winds Interactive (using Navigo products) (Denver, CO); large business

" JDLA (DBA Med Maps) (Knoxville, TN); small business

" Interactive Touchscreen Solutions (Crofton, MD); small business



The below table summarizes the capabilities taken in consideration.







During this process, we were able to get estimated prices on some of the vendor's solutions.

" Logic Junction. $xxxx with an annual fee after the first year of $xxxx.

" Med Maps. $xxxx with annual reoccurring costs of $xxxx.

" Four Winds (Navigo). $xxxx with an annual reoccurring costs of approximately $xxxx.







Critical elements were weighed based upon the Wayfinding Systems capability to provide services through a mobile phone, self-service kiosk, offsite with preplanning capability, QR codes, Web Based Administrative Tools to edit on site, utilization dashboard, emergency management capability, push notification, integration of software with Vet Link kiosks already on site and integration with current display screens already installed throughout the facility. The integration with VetLink is key to any viable solution for the facility because of over 40 VetLink kiosks already in operation at the hospital and outpatient clinics.



Test Data: The product has been proven at the Lake Nona VAMC. The VPS program funded the proof-of-concept VetLink/Wayfinding integration at Lake Nona VAMC. The goal of the proof-of-concept phase was both to validate technical capabilities, and to demonstrate the usability of wayfinding at Lake Nona VAMC. Vecna Technologies, the supplier of VetLink kiosks, was contracted to do the work because of their highly specialized knowledge of the VetLink platform. During this phase, work was done to modify the core VetLink platform to enable the wayfinding integration. The phase also included wayfinding maps, kiosk templates, destination mapping, and wayfinding configuration specific to Lake Nona VAMC; technical capabilities were validated and a substantial amount of project artifacts specific to Lake Nona VAMC wayfinding were created.



The results of our analysis is that only one source is capable of providing an immediately available and cost effect Wayfinding System without duplicating both in-house effort and suffering additional development, integration and hardware cost. It is also unlikely that competing this requirement will result in either an award to a different vendor than Vecna.

Furthermore, market research demonstrates that only Vecna solutions has the capability to provide all the performance elements that the JAHVH would need for a complete solution. The Vecna Wayfinding System is proven to work within the VA environment as demonstrated at the Lake Nona VAMC. Market research did not find other solutions that could offer a sufficiently robust product and the price of the Vecna Wayfinding System or one from a potential supplier that could capitalize on sunken hardware and development cost.



(7) ANY OTHER FACTS SUPPORTING THE JUSTIFICATION: N/A



(8) A STATEMENT OF THE ACTIONS, IF ANY, THE AGENCY MAY TAKE TO REMOVE OR OVERCOME ANY BARRIERS THAT LED TO THE RESTRICTED CONSIDERATION BEFORE ANY SUBSEQUENT ACQUISITION FOR THE SUPPLIES OR SERVICES IS MADE: It is our policy to seek full and open competition to the largest extent possible while fulfilling the necessary requirements. The circumstances of this acquisition for a Wayfinding System cannot ignore prior VHA and VISN 8 Wayfinding Systems investment. The JAHVH Wayfinding System requirement includes the need for both a common system that avoids duplication of development and integration cost and meets JAHVH's requirements for timely installation and configuration. Only one source is capable of providing an immediately available and cost effect Wayfinding System without duplicating cost and effort. It is also unlikely that competing this requirement will result in an award to a different vendor than Vecna.



(9) REQUIREMENTS CERTIFICATION: I certify that the requirement outlined in this justification is a Bona Fide Need of the Department of Veterans Affairs and that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in the justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge. I understand that processing of this limited sources justification restricts consideration of Federal Supply Schedule contractors to fewer than the number required by FAR Subpart 8.4.