D--Healthcare Services Platform Consortium (HSPC) membership

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Strategic Acquisition Center (SAC) intends to enter into a contract on a single source basis to provide Benefactor level membership from the Health Services Platform Consortium Corporation (HSPC) for the Office of Information & Technology (OIT). VA is currently building a health services platform as part of VistA Evolution program, but as this technology is new, there are not many guiding standards. Having standards in place would allow VA to acquire components and integrate them at low cost, to acquire and integrate applications that promote higher quality of care, population health, and reduce per-beneficiary expenditures, and to share plans of care with other healthcare providers to ensure a smooth transition of care to improve quality. HSPC is a multi-stakeholder organization of quality-leading healthcare systems and vendors that will make decisions about reference architecture and standards for service interfaces in electronic health records, and will make decisions about advocating for standards with nationally and internationally recognized standards bodies. HSPC's Benefactor membership will provide VA with a seat on the Board of Directors and voting rights in general session initiatives, enabling the VA to drive decisions for standards that are maximally beneficial for VA. This type of membership is available only through HSPC. The statutory authority for this effort falls under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) FAR13.106-1(b), for purchases not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold, Contracting Officers may solicit from a single source if the CO determines that the circumstances of the contract action deem only one source reasonably available (e.g., urgency, exclusive licensing agreements, brand-name or industrial mobilization). The North American Industrial Classification Code (NAICS) for this effort is 813920, Professional Organizations, with a corresponding small business size standard of $15 million. The resultant contract will be firm-fixed-price with a one-year base period of performance, and will include four (4) one-year option periods for continued membership access. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals; however, all responsible sources may submit a capability statement in response to this notification which shall be considered by the agency. A determination by the Government not to open the requirement to competition based on responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received as a result of the notice of intent will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. No solicitation documents are available and telephone requests will not be honored. Capability statements are due by 2:00pm EST on August 19, 2016. The Point of Contact (POC) for this action is Katharine Lindner, Contract Specialist, [email protected].