Description
Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition Per the requirements set forth in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Parts 6.302, 6.303, and 6.304 the following justification and approval is made regarding the procurement of a service contract with iCom International. This is sole source procurement and competitive procedures will not be used. The format for this justification is from the FAR Part 6.303-2 and presented In the format prescribed. 1. Agency: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Contracting Activity: VISN 20 Purchasing and Contracting, North Branch VA Puget Sound Healthcare System, Tacoma WA 98108 2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved. The proposed action is a sole source action to be awarded as a commercial contract to: iCom International, Inc 2718 Linden Drive: Boulder, CO 80304 Phone: 303-449-1197; Fax: 303-415-1366 3. A firm fixed price emergency contract is anticipated and will be issued pursuant to FAR Part 13.5. effective May 1, 2009 to June 30, 2009 for a total of $57,500 4. A description of the supplies or services required. The contractor will be responsible for the continued development, testing and ongoing implementation and maintenance of the Cardiac Cath Lab (CART-CL) application and database. The contractor will be expected to be an active participant/consultant with the CART-CL workgroup, participate in regular conference calls and weekly face-to-face meetings with the Clinical Director and other CART-CL staff. Services required from May 1 to June 30 include: Upgrade, enhancement and maintenance to the CART application, data repository, and website data interface. Technical training and user support to all sites. Development of interface for CART-CL Website with clinical/technical support, and documentation. 5. An identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition. The statutory authority allowing use of other than full and open competition for this requirement is 41 U.S.C. 253 (c) (2) Unusual and Compelling Urgency. Hans Gethoffer, iCom CEO and chief programmer, has provided a large portion of the design, development, and testing of CART-CL application and has been responsible for all of the installation related tasks from its inception of the CART-CL program in 2003 through the end of his previous contract period. He is uniquely qualified and authorized to maintain, update, and document the systems design of CART-CL. The architecture system iCom created allows changes and additions to the system to be quicklyimplemented and iteratively tested. This capability is necessary to support the dynamic clinical environment of VA cardiac oath labs. It is estimated to take two years to train another programmer and obtain authorization and certification from VA Office of Information and Technology. Valuable time and the financial resources expended to date would be lost. There is no other VA employee or vendor with the expertise and knowledge of the CART-CL system design and capabilities. There is no other vendor or employee that OI&T or ISS has both the level of access needed to fill this position and the knowledge of the CART-CL system. iCom has been responsible for distribution of all application updates to all 76 VA Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories. This is a very demanding and timely process that includes getting authorization to access particular file and VistA systems all 76 VA facilities, using specialized tools that Hans Gethoffer has developed to verify that new updates to the CART-CL application will work safely with each facilities systems, and distribution of all new updates over a single night to all VA facilities. Because there has been no contract in place, the CART-CL program has not been able to distribute any updates to the facilities using the CART-CL program since the end of the previous contract period. This puts the security of the CART-CL program at risk, and that risk increases with the time that the CART-CL program goes without the ability to provide updates to the field. 6. Need for Emergency contract Delay to awarding this contract has already prevented the VA from providing regular updates and fixes to our users. The dynamic nature of the Cardiology department requires that the CART-CL program be easily and quickly updatable. If these delays continue, then cardiology departments across the VA will be forced to seek out alternative and potentially costly solutions to make up for deficiencies in the current version of the CART-CL system that are ready to be addressed with an update. CART-CL staff members are currently working on a solution to this problem, but this solution is weeks, if not months in the future. in addition, if a major security flaw in the CART-CL application were to be uncovered, we would be completely unable to correct the flaw and distribute an update to users in a timely Manner. Depending on the nature of the security flaw uncovered, this could expose the VA to: Patient data records that the CART-CL system is responsible for being lost, exposed to unauthorized users, or destroyed. Patients at risk of going undiagnosed or having unnecessary procedures performed with potentially life-threatening consequences 7. Efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable, including whether a CBD notice was or will be publicized as required by Subpart 5.2 and If not, which exception under 5.202 applies. A notice of intent to award sole source will be posted on FB0 on or about April 27, 2009. 8. A determination that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable. At a Minimum, a price analysis will be conducted to determine whether the price is fair and reasonable by requesting a listing of other customers they have provided similar services to. If a determination can not be made based upon this information the contractor will be required to submit information other than cost or pricing data to support further analysis. 9. A description of the market research conducted and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted. Market research was not conducted since this contractor, iCom International has done the development and testing of CART to date through VA contracts. To switch contractors in the midst of the development would be extremely detrimental to the success of this nationally Mandated project. 10. Other support the use of other than full and open competition (Quantitative/Qualitative). Initiating a new five-year contract with iCom has been delayed since September 2008. Our acquisition request was contingent on getting approval through a newly implemented Ol&IT Approval Request System (ITARS), Staff members were not authorized to enter requests into !TARS until early November 2008 and it was February 2009 before the request received focal, VISN, and National 018,T approval. During this time, little progress on CART-CL application was possible. Work was limited to tasks VA CART-CL staff members were able to do without the contractors input and expertise. While some updates to the CART-CL application have been completed, a system to distribute those updates is still several weeks away. it is Imperative that an emergency contract is put in place to ensure that the CART CL application can be updated and this gap in our development process caused by the change over from service contract to 018,T contract is quickly and efficiently filled. A full and open acquisition will add several months to the process which the program an not sustain. in addition this would require, appropriate training, obtaining security clearances, and reproducing the tools and techniques that 1Corn is currently able to provide. 11. A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisitioh. How this requirement was initially procured or how was Mom selected as the contractor? No other vendor has been identified that has the programming expertise, direct experience with the CART-CL system, or security clearance that 3Com has been given. iCom has been working with the CART-CL system for more than five years, and has the,exact qualifications, tools, and experience needed to fill this position. 12. A statement of actions, If any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required. No competition is planned. The costs Involved in seeking out a competing bid from another entity with ' the skills to cover this position, going through appropriate training, obtain security clearances, and reproducing the tools and techniques that 1Com already has provided for the CART-CL system for the past five years are prohibitive as long as 'Com is willing to provide the CART-CL program with these services. 13. Requirements Certification: I certify that the requirement outlined in this justification is a bonafide 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 and belief. /s/ Larry Bradbury, Acquisition Branch Mgr