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FBO DAILY - FEDBIZOPPS ISSUE OF OCTOBER 03, 2015 FBO #5062
DOCUMENT

D -- VISN 8 TELECARE RECORD MGR RENEWAL - Attachment

Notice Date

10/1/2015
 

Notice Type

Attachment
 

NAICS

541519 — Other Computer Related Services
 

Contracting Office

Department of Veterans Affairs;Technology Acquisition Center;23 Christopher Way;Eatontown NJ 07724
 

ZIP Code

07724
 

Solicitation Number

VA11815Q0371
 

Archive Date

1/8/2016
 

Point of Contact

Joseph Pignataro
 

E-Mail Address

5-1115<br
 

Small Business Set-Aside

N/A
 

Award Number

NNG15SD90B VA118-16-F-0419
 

Award Date

10/1/2015
 

Awardee

SWORD & SHIELD ENTERPRISE SECURITY, INC.;1431 CENTERPOINT BLVD STE 150;KNOXVILLE;TN;37932
 

Award Amount

$287,375.54
 

Description

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY 1. Contracting Activity:Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Acquisition Operations Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, New Jersey 07724 2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for a firm-fixed price delivery order issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) limited to authorized resellers for TeleCare Record Manager (TRM) Plus and Veterans Health Gateway (VHG) Plus software license and support renewals for Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 8. 3. Description of the Supplies or Services: The proposed action will provide VISN 8 with continued use of its existing TRM Plus and VHG Plus software licenses and support, which are highly specialized software applications used by VISN 8 Telecare staff to provide telephone triage and informational services to Veterans, thereby allowing VA to comply with Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Directive 2007-033 for 24/7 access to medical advice. TRM Plus and VHG Plus are both provided and supported by Document Storage Solutions, Inc. (DSS). TRM Plus is a complete telephone liaison care management software solution that provides access to telephone treatment protocols to update and organize information from different categories of patient calls. VHG Plus is a clinical software application used by nurses who provide telephone triage services to Veterans. VHG Plus supports nurse clinical decision making by systematically assessing a Veteran's symptoms through the use of electronic algorithms with branching clinical logic, while providing reference health education information during the process. The proposed effort shall also provide for customer support during the 12-month period of performance. The total estimated price of this proposed action is. The period of performance is 12 months from October 1, 2015 through September 30, 2016. 4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting an exception to fair opportunity is 41 U.S.C. 4106(c)(2) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B) entitled, "Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized." 5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based upon continued market research, as described in section 8 of this document, it is determined that limited competition is available among authorized resellers of DSS TRM Plus and VHG Plus software license and support renewals. TRM Software has been used within VISN 8 since 2001. TRM Software is an enhanced base-line commercial-off-the-shelf software product that VA information technology staff and VHA clinical staff have used to develop a custom VHA nursing telephone liaison care management system commonly referred to as the VHA Clinical Nursing Telephone Triage System. This telephone triage system provides clinical staff access to telephone treatment protocols that allow for the organization of patient information when patients make telephone calls into the medical facility. Patient information is organized into triage categories ranging from simple appointment to severe medical complaints. The system then updates the patient's information into a patient medical record. The telephone triage system has embedded knowledge base software known as VHG Plus that produces clinical recommendations for users to advise Veterans as to their current triage status over the telephone. The system allows users to create notes for registered and non-registered patients and has extensive reporting tools. Patients are able to call VISN 8 facilities and speak to VA representatives who are able to track and route calls for appropriate action while keeping a record of these contacts which are then stored within the patient's healthcare record through the existing Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) and Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) graphical user interface system. Documentation is automatically created in the background during the triage process and saved as a triage encounter record. VHG Plus helps the nursing triage staff identify emergencies, and reduces unnecessary clinic visits. The VHG Plus software supports nurses' clinical decision making by systematically assessing a Veterans' symptoms, while also providing reference health information during the process. This information is then integrated with the patient's actual health record. VHG Plus is the clinical algorithm software used by the registered nurse to triage Veterans. VHG Plus creates the clinical encounter record. VHG Plus is embedded in the TRM Plus software and facilitates a record of the encounter in VistA. The telephone triage system discussed above provides the support described and also includes a series of VA designed business rules which vary by clinical department and are applied during each triage encounter. There are also national business rules incorporated into the TRM Plus Software. Business rules are developed nationally for the telephone triage product and apply to all VA medical facilities. After beta testing several years ago, it was determined that these products would be used nationally by VHA medical facilities. VHA has integrated this software into both its computer hardware and clinical software environments. The triage system is fully integrated into the VistA CPRS system utilizing the VHG Plus software. By continuing to utilize DSS Inc.'s brand name TRM Plus software, VA will achieve cost-savings by not having to beta test a new software solution, create a new telephone triage system using that software, and train the clinical staff on the new system. VA has many years invested in the fine-tuning of these software products to meet the current and ongoing architecture needs of VA. To work with another manufacturer's product to achieve the current level of sophistication of this software would require extensive rework and high level programing and system design expertise to customize and retrofit another software product to meet the needs currently met by the existing software products which have been used for the past 12 years. This would entail a project involving 6 to 10 dedicated full-time employees working over a 5-year span to complete development and deploy the software. During this time VISN 8 would be without needed software to handle the total call volumes in all sites estimated to be half a million calls per year. It is not cost effective to re-customize another manufacturer's product. Currently, a product does not exist that would interoperate in the current VistA and CPRS environments without considerable reconfiguration and testing, the costs of which would not be recovered through competition. 6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in the market research section of this document. Even though the Government is specifying brand name DSS software license and support renewals, competition is anticipated among authorized resellers that hold current NASA SEWP V GWACs. In accordance with FAR 5.301 and 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D) the resulting contract award will be synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities Page within 14 days of award and this justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity will be made publicly available. In addition, this Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity will be posted on the NASA SEWP V website with the solicitation. 7. Actions to Increase Competition: In order to remove or overcome barriers to competition in future acquisitions for the required DSS TRM Plus and VHG Plus software license and support renewals, the Government will continue to perform market research to determine if there are any storage arrays and/or maintenance providers available in the market place that will enable future requirements to be competed. 8. Market Research: The Government's technical experts have conducted research using internet searches looking for compatible electronic triage protocols that could be readily integrated with VistA and CPRS. It was determined that the dual products of TRM Plus and VHG Plus are uniquely able to conform to VA's specified healthcare requirements that permit full and seamless integration with VistA and CPRS without significant development, configuration and associated testing. As of May 2015, no other manufacturer exists that has products that can meet the Government's requirement of working fully with VistA and CPRS without significant development, configuration and testing duplicating what VA has already completed and invested as detailed paragraph 5 above. Additional market research was conducted by utilizing the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) Provider Lookup tool that identified multiple GWAC holders capable of providing TRM and VHG Plus software license renewals and support. 9. Other Facts: None.
 

Web Link

FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/aded91fbdc738852fa433f85ee0ac631)
 

Document(s)

Attachment
 

File Name: NNG15SD90B VA118-16-F-0419 NNG15SD90B VA118-16-F-0419_1.docx (https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=2347444&FileName=NNG15SD90B-002.docx)

Link: https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=2347444&FileName=NNG15SD90B-002.docx

 

Note: If links are broken, refer to Point of Contact above or contact the FBO Help Desk at 877-472-3779.
 

Record

SN03912324-W 20151003/151001235123-aded91fbdc738852fa433f85ee0ac631 (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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