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FBO DAILY - FEDBIZOPPS ISSUE OF DECEMBER 25, 2014 FBO #4779
DOCUMENT

R -- Extension of Option 4 Services - Justification and Approval (J&A)

Notice Date

12/23/2014
 

Notice Type

Justification and Approval (J&A)
 

NAICS

813920 — Professional Organizations
 

Contracting Office

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs;Strategic Acquisition Center;10300 Spotsylvania Ave;Fredericksburg VA 22408
 

ZIP Code

22408
 

Archive Date

1/31/2015
 

Point of Contact

Lori A. Smith
 

Small Business Set-Aside

N/A
 

Award Number

VA101(049A3)-P-0413
 

Award Date

1/1/2015
 

Description

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION 1.Contracting ActivityDepartment of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Acquisition Operations Strategic Acquisition Office 10300 Spotsylvania Avenue Suite 400 Fredericksburg, VA 22408 2.Description of Action The proposed action is for a contract extension for contract VA101(049A3)-P-0413 with McKesson Technologies Inc. (MTI), 5995 Windward Parkway Alpharetta, GA, 30005-4184 a large business concern. The contract extension is for of Veterans Health Administration (VHA) enterprise-wide licensing for unlimited use, updates, and clinical and technical support for evidence-based Utilization Management (UM) criteria and associated tools that interface seamlessly into the VHA's Quality Management System NUMI. The existing contract is set to expire on December 31, 2014. The period of performance will include a 2-month extension to services and has a total anticipated two month value of $196,975.33. 3.Description of Supplies or Services This extension is for the continued services for the nationally recognized enterprise-wide licenses to utilize both the electronic format and hard copies of evidenced-based clinical criteria for use with VHA's Quality Management System, NUMI. The government-owned, NUMI application standardizes clinical appropriateness review of patient care at over 150 VHA facilities by integrating evidence-based clinical criteria into the application to assist clinicians and managers in care management decisions.The criteria is used in the process of reviewing care prospectively, concurrently and retrospectively to determine the appropriateness, medical necessity and efficiency of clinical care services across the health care continuum. The Agency requires a UM product that is nationally recognized, evidence-based, and accepted for use with the nationwide healthcare systems similar in size to VHA. VHA requires a product that specifically can operate with NUMI application's middle tier business logic layer, criteria user interface, primary data entry screen, and all embedded reports. In addition, the UM product must be able to integrate with NUMI warehousing databases, cubes (multidimensional databases that allow complex business intelligence analysis), and all reports that are currently used to inform real-time business processes as well as long-term strategic planning. Clinical review criteria is essential to the UM review process. Standardization, across the VA, of clinical review has been achieved through the integration of the clinical criteria product into NUMI. Without the web-based licensed clinical content in NUMI, the VHA would be limited in its ability to determine the medical necessity and appropriateness of VHA delivered healthcare. NUMI generated reports provide real-time data used by facilities to make decisions and plan improvements that increase access and quality of healthcare for Veterans. The new requirement is currently in the procurement process, however there is not sufficient time to award the new contract. Therefore, a two month extension is required in order to prevent a lapse in services. 4.Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C.3304 (a) (2) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 6.302-2(a) (2) Unusual and compelling urgency. 5.Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: McKesson is the only UM evidence based criteria product that meets all the Agency's needs. McKesson is compatible with NUMI as it is able to operate with NUMI's middle tier business logic layer and integrate with the NUMI warehouseing databases which are essential to ensure a comprehensive Quality Management system. Although there are other UM evidenced based products, none can seamlessly interface with the VHA NUMI system because of the technical constraints of the NUMI system. The other UM evidence based criteria products that are available would necessitate that VHA redesign NUMI to accept their third party product. Such a redesign would require a shutdown of NUMI which cannot be happen as it would negatively impact the healthcare of Veterans. Without the full integration of the UM evidenced based criteria product into NUMI, hospitals would have to rely on hard copies or static versions of the criteria that will result in a loss of standardization and automation of the UM review process, a negative impact on the decisions for appropriate patient care will result, and ultimately, the access to inpatient care. The McKesson InterQual ® Criteria, Care Enhance ® Review Manager Enterprise (also call Review Manager), and the InterRater Reliability (IRR) Suite are all nationally recognized, clinically rich, evidence-based, and updated at least annually as well as seamlessly interfacing with NUMI, which meets the needs of the VHA. The contract is currently in the fourth option year and set to expire on December 31, 2014. There is an urgent need to continue the current services for an additional two months in order to allow time for the new requirement. If the current services were to lapse the VA would be without the web-based licensed clinical content in NUMI, the VHA would be limited in its ability to determine the medical necessity and appropriateness of VHA delivered healthcare. 6.Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted as described in Section 8 of this document. Additional sources of UM Criteria were identified; however, none of the other UM Criteria products can seamlessly interface with NUMI. The proposed action will be synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities web site (www.fbo.gov) in accordance with FAR 5.2. Any proposals received will be evaluated against the requirements. 7.Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: The contracting officer has already determined the price as fair and reasonable based on the current contract pricing listed in contract VA101(049A3)-P-0413. The current pricing for option year four will be used for the extension period. 8.Market Research: Market research included internet searches to identify all clinical appropriate criteria available in the marketplace. Although several products exist, only two meet VHA's need for a nationally recognized, evidence-based criteria, which is accepted for use with nationwide healthcare systems similar in size to the VHA. The first product is InterQual ®, which is owned by McKesson Technology, Inc. Second, the MCG product, formerly known as the Milliman Care Guidelines, is owned by Hearst Health Network. VHA contacted Hearst Health Netowrk to inquire as to the ability of its product to work with NUMI. According to the point of contact at Hearst Health Network, the MCG product cannot seamlessly integrate with NUMI without additional NUMI development. A Sources Sought Notice was also published on FedBizOps on June 18, 2014 with responses due on June 25, 2014. Four responses were received: (1) McKesson Technologies Inc., (2) Hearst Health Network, (3) The Oak Group, and (4) Maximus Federal. As noted when conducting the internet market research, both McKesson and Hearst Health Network offer products that are nationally recognized and accepted for use by large healthcare systems, but only McKesson seamlessly interfaces with VHA's proprietary NUMI system. As to the other two sources, Maximus offered the Hearst MCG product which is not compatible with NUMI. The Oak Group is not a nationally recognized product. Furthermore, VHA contacted a representative of The Oak Group by telephone to inquire as to its ability to work with NUMI and according to a company spokesperson the Oak Group product could not be used without alterations to the NUMI application. Consequently, only InterQual ® products, which are proprietary to McKesson Technology, are compatible with NUMI. McKesson can grant the right for VA to utilize their licensed clinical content and therefore is the only viable option at this time. 9.Other Facts: N/A 10. A listing of the sourcesthat expressed an interest in the acquisition: No other sources have expressed an interest in this acquisition. 11.Actions to overcome barriers to competition: The Government will continue to conduct market research to ascertain if there are changes in the market place that would enable future actions to be competed. 12.Contracting Officer Certification: In accordance with FAR subpart 6.303-2(b) (12), I hereby certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.
 

Web Link

FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/d9699f6436441dfa88dafc9ec782aa6b)
 

Document(s)

Justification and Approval (J&A)
 

File Name: VA101(049A3)-P-0413 P00013 VA101(049A3)-P-0413 P00013_1.docx (https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=1788789&FileName=VA101(049A3)-P-0413-P00013000.docx)

Link: https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=1788789&FileName=VA101(049A3)-P-0413-P00013000.docx

 

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

Record

SN03603405-W 20141225/141223234432-d9699f6436441dfa88dafc9ec782aa6b (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)

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