Inactive

VHAPG Part 813.5 Simplified Acquisition Procedures for Certain Commercial Items Attachment 1: Request for Sole Source Justification Template >SAT-$7.5M under FAR13.5 VISN 10 IN & MI DME/HME Services E... VHAPG Part 813.5 Simplified Acquisition Procedures for Certain Commercial Items Attachment 1: Request for Sole Source Justification Template >SAT-$7.5M under FAR13.5 VISN 10 IN & MI DME/HME Services Effective Date: 02/01/2022 Page 2 of 7 DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION UNDER SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURES FOR CERTAIN COMMERCIAL ITEMS IN ACCORDANCE WITH FAR 13.5 Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs, VISN 10, Indiana (IN) & Michigan (MI) VA Medical Centers located in Veteran Health Indiana (VHI), Northern Indiana Healthcare System (NIHCS), Battle Creek VA, VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, John D. Dingell VA, and Aleda E. Lutz VA submits to Network Contracting Office (NCO) 10 located at 8888 Keystone Crossing, Suite 1100, Indianapolis, IN 46240, a procurement request for Durable Medical Equipment/Home Medical Equipment Services with First Community Care, LLC., a small business. All funding for this requirement will be through Government Purchase Card (GPC) as the established payment method. Nature and/or Description of the Action Being Processed: This procurement is to provide prescribed government owned DME/HME equipment to patients of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration at their residences. The contractor shall provide storage, delivery, set-up, repair, in-house instructions, and/or pick-up of government-owned items and equipment for beneficiaries of the VISN 10, IN & MI geographic areas as required in the Statement of Work (SOW) and Price Schedule of the contract. In addition, the contractor shall furnish all necessary labor, materials, and equipment to assemble, clean, refurbish, and store DME/HME equipment to include patient education. Contractor shall meet Joint Commission accreditation standards, all Government requirements, as well as all Local, State, and Federal rules and regulations. The estimated value of this procurement is $424,355.50. All payments will be made via GPC. Description of Supplies/Services Required to Meet the Agency s Needs: The estimated value of this procurement is $424,355.50. All payments will be made via GPC. Statutory Authority Permitting Restricted Competition: FAR 13.5 Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items. The statutory authority for applying the Simplified Procedures for Commercial Items of FAR 13.5 is 41 U.S.C. § 1901 and is implemented by FAR 13.106-1(b)(2) for restricting competition on this procurement. Competition is restricted on this procurement for the reason below: (X) Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements ( ) Unusual and Compelling Urgency ( ) Industrial Mobilization, Engineering, Developmental or Research Capability or Expert Services ( ) International Agreement ( ) Authorized or Required by Statute ( ) National Security ( ) Public Interest Demonstration that the Contractor s Unique Qualifications or Nature of the Acquisition Requires the Use of the Authority Cited Above (applicability of authority): IAW 41 USC §3304(a)(1) as implemented by FAR 6.302-1, Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements as the FCC is familiar with the medical centers listed in this document and their needs, have an established management approach, and is providing all necessary storage, labor, vehicles, and other required sources to perform services. DME/HME services are critical to the medical centers timely service in delivering patient care and quality of life services. Disrupting services who rely on DME/HME services could be detrimental to their health if they do not receive this equipment timely. Switching companies for such a short period of time would cause a break in critical service for medical center patients. If there were a break in services to switch companies in the short-term would leave veterans without a way to obtain DME/HME equipment to improve their quality of life. Veterans rely on these services to rehabilitate from an injury or live their daily lives to a close to normal as possible. Currently FCC is the only contractor providing DME/HME services for VISN 10 - IN & MI sites. Competing this in the short-term is not in the best interest of the Government. Awarding a contract to other than the incumbent would result in additional start-up costs and potentially cause a delay in services. The risks associated with awarding this contract to other than the incumbent is prohibitive. There has been a change in the long-term acquisition strategy from a single award, Firm Fixed Price (FFP), Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with the use of ordering officers. This will require additional planning, documentation, and adjustment of already completed documents to aptly reflect the acquisition strategy change, competition, and allow for time for the new contract to implement services without the same additional costs such as leasing or purchasing storage facilities, acquisition of vehicles and labor force, and knowledge of medical center policies, and routes associated with a short-term contract. The incumbent already has the storage facilities, vehicles, labor force, and knowledge of the medical centers policies and routes. FCC is capable of continuing services without interruption. VISN 10 IN & MI medical centers wish to compete the long-term requirement and provide for multiple awards through an IDIQ. This will allow ample competition and award to multiple companies to ensure that there is constant availability and flexibility to provide DME/HME equipment to patients without delaying timely care. It has been determined that utilizing multiple awards will provide availability and choice when equipment needs delivered to patients throughout the VISN, having a single award spanning two states is not conducive nor in the best interest of the Government. The anticipated award will be an FFP, IDIQ contract with a contract minimum of $2,500.00 and a contract ceiling of $6,000,000.00. There is a current contract for services. Contract 36C25022D0057, a FFP IDIQ contract was awarded to FCC on 04/15/2022 for a period of 6-months and included FAR 52.217-8. FAR 52.217-8 was exercised for 6-months on 09/15/2022. After this extension it was found that the acquisition strategy for the long-term requirement needed to include multiple-awards and ordering officers. Due to the re-evaluation of the acquisition strategy the long-term contract will not be solicited, evaluated, or awarded by the time the contract expires on 4/18/2023. FCC has successful past performance history with VISN 10 in providing DME/HME services and is familiar with the locations, processes, and has an established workforce, storage space, and fleet of vehicles. It is anticipated that the long-term contract will be awarded by October 2024. Consequently, there is insufficient time to have a new long-term contract(s) in place by 4/18/2023. An interim contract is needed to provide continued services. Description of Efforts Made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as deemed practicable: Market research was conducted by searching the SBA VetCert and SBA DSBS databases. In addition, past procurement history was considered. More in-depth details are found in the market research section of this document. These efforts, based on the circumstances surrounding this procurement, did not yield any other sources that can meet the Government s requirements at a fair and reasonable price without lead start-up costs. IAW FAR 5.201, this action will be synopsiz3ed at award on www.SAM.gov Contracting Opportunities section of the website and the justification will be made publicly available. Determination by the CO that the Anticipated Cost to the Government will be Fair and Reasonable: It is anticipated that the cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable. The contracting officer will use the price analysis technique at FAR 13.106-3(a)(2)(ii) and any other price analysis techniques necessary to determine the prices to be fair and reasonable. Description of the Market Research Conducted and the Results, or a Statement of the Reasons Market Research Was Not Conducted: While market research found 298 results through a search of the VetCert database using NAICS code 621610, and the following results from SBA DSBS using NAICS code 621610 for SD/VOSB concerns using key word search Durable Medical Equipment Services , which resulted in 3, none are capable of immediately providing services as needed at a fair and reasonable cost for such a short period of time. A search was also conducted in the SBA DSBS database for all small businesses using NAICS code 621610 and key word search Durable Medical Equipment Services , and there were 12 results. As the agency can no longer use VIP as of January 9, 2023, as the principal means of seeking CVE verified SD/VOSB concerns and given the short-term need for continued services both the VA and SBA Rules of Two are not met. It has been determined that the current contractor, FCC a small business contractor, is the only source capable of satisfying the Government s requirements, based on the current situation and circumstances, and that award can be made at a fair and reasonable price only to the current contractor due to the short-term nature of this contract and associated start-up costs that would be passed along to the VA. Any Other Facts Supporting the Use of Other than Full and Open Competition: None. Listing of Sources that Expressed, in Writing, an Interest in the Acquisition: First Community Care, LLC. 3024 James Savage Road Midland, MI 48642 A Statement of the Actions, if any, the Agency May Take to Remove or Overcome any Barriers to Competition before Making subsequent acquisitions for the supplies or services required: For the long-term requirement, market research will be performed to ensure potential sources are identified to determine the appropriate type and degree of competition. The barriers associated with this procurement is having a company in the short-term be able to immediately provide services at a fair and reasonable cost without passing along start-up costs for such a short time. This barrier will be removed with the long0term requirement as there are ample businesses who give the CO confidence that services will be provided at a fair and reasonable price and will have ample time to implement services. In addition, the long-term award will remove further barriers by switching from a single award IDIQ to a multiple award IDIQ procurement strategy. The procurement will be competed as a multiple award IDIQ requirement. The decision to re-evaluate the long-term procurement strategy stemmed from difficulty in a single award acquisition strategy due to services being provided across two states versus one smaller area. Moving to a multiple award IDIQ will allow the VA the ability to spread the work through multiple contractors for different areas within both states. It is expected that the long-term requirement will be a small business set-aside. The incumbent, FCC, is a small business concern. Allowing multiple awards will allow the risk of the contract being spread out amongst all awardees, instead of one contractor holding all the risk to provide services. 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 and belief. VISN 10 AUS - IN VISN 10 AUS - MI Approvals in accordance with the VHAPM Part 806.3 OFOC SOP: Contracting Officer or Designee s Certification (required): I certify that the foregoing justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. Contracting Officer Network Contracting Office (NCO) 10 Services Team 3 One Level Above the Contracting Officer (Required over SAT but not exceeding $750K): I certify the justification meets requirements for other than full and open competition. Branch Chief Services Team 3 Network Contracting Office (NCO) 10