INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE THIS IS AN INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE ANNOUNCEMENT AND IT IS FOR INFORMATION & PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY; IT IS NEITHER A SOLICITATION ANNOUNCEMENT, NOR A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION, PROPOSALS OR QUOTES AND DOES NOT OBLIGATE THE GOVERNMENT TO AWARD A CONTRACT. IF A VENDOR RESPONDS TO THIS INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE, THE VENDOR WILL NOT RECEIVE A RESPONSE. THE PURPOSE OF THIS INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE ANNOUNCEMENT IS FOR MARKET RESEARCH, IN ORDER TO MAKE APPROPRIATE ACQUISITION DECISIONS, AND TO GAIN KNOWLEDGE OF POTENTIALLY QUALIFIED SERVICE-DISABLED VETERAN OWNED SMALL BUSINESSES, VETERAN OWNED SMALL BUSINESSES, 8(A), HUBZONE AND OTHER SMALL BUSINESSES WHO STATE THEY ARE CAPABLE OF PERFORMING THE WORK. **A sole source contract award will result from this Notice.** IN THE EVENT THAT A VENDOR DISAGREES WITH THIS SOLE SOURCE, THEN DOCUMENTATION OF TECHNICAL EXPERTISE MUST BE PRESENTED IN SUFFICIENT DETAIL FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO DETERMINE THAT YOUR COMPANY POSSESSES THE NECESSARY FUNCTIONAL AREA EXPERTISE AND EXPERIENCE TO COMPETE FOR THIS ACQUISITION. **VENDOR RESPONSE SHALL INCLUDE THE BELOW** Responses to this INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE shall include company name, address, point of contact, phone number, point of contact e-mail, DUNS Number, Cage Code, size of business pursuant to North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) 811210, (size standard of $34M, per SBA Table of Small Business Size Standards January 1, 2022) AND whether your company has special socio-economic status (i.e., SDVOSB, VOSB, Small Business, HUBZone, etc.). (A) COMPANY NAME (B) ADDRESS (C) POINT OF CONTACT (D) PHONE, FAX, AND EMAIL (E) DUNS NUMBER (F) CAGE CODE (G)TAX ID NUMBER (H) TYPE OF SMALL BUSINESS, E.G. SERVICES DISABLED VETERAN OWNED SMALL BUSINESS, VETERAN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS, 8(A), HUBZONE, WOMEN OWNED SMALL BUSINESS, SMALL DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS, OR SMALL BUSINESS HUBZONE BUSINESS, (I) WILL YOUR COMPANY BE PERFORMING THE WORK? OR DO YOU PLAN ON SUB-CONTRACTING OUT THE WORK? (I) Is your company considered small under the NAICS code identified under this RFI? (Size standard of = or < $30M, per SBA Table of Small Business Size Standards August 19, 2019) (J) Does your company have an FSS contract with GSA or the VA NAC or a GWAC contract holder with any other federal agency? If so, please provide the contract number. (K) If your company holds a FSS GSA/VA NAC contract other federal GWAC contract holder, are the services requested available on your schedule/contract? (L) General pricing of your products is encouraged. Pricing will be used for the purpose of market research only. It will not be used to evaluate for any type of award. AND (J) ***WILL YOUR COMPANY BE DOING ALL OF THE WORK? IF NOT, WILL YOUR COMPANY BE SUB-CONTRACTING OUT THE WORK?***MUST ANSWER*** MUST PROVIDE A CAPABILITY STATEMENT THAT ADDRESSES THE ORGANIZATIONS QUALIFICATIONS AND ABILITY TO PERFORM AS A CONTRACTOR FOR THE WORK DESCRIBED BELOW. IF THE VENDOR IS AN SDVOSB/VOSB, BE PREPARED TO DEMONSTRATE HOW IT WILL NOT SUB-CONTRACT THE WORK BY MORE THAN 51%, PER VAAR 852.219-75, VAAR 819.7011(b)Â Contract clauses. (DEVIATION) ***IF THERE ARE ANY OBJECTIONS TO THIS SOLE SOURCE, CONTACT THE CONTRACTING OFFICER AT AMY.WALTER1@VA.GOV.*** SCOPE The Contractor shall provide all software and hardware maintenance and technical support services, in both the Test and Production environments, for the Draeger Inc. Innovian Anesthesia Record Keeping System including Innovian Anesthesia Analytics (here forth referred to as ARK) for Veterans Integrated Service Network 5. This support shall include all scheduled preventive maintenance, unscheduled repairs/corrective maintenance, server, and workstation updates and/or replacements as determined by the Contractor (as deemed necessary to bring the provided equipment back to the VA and Contractor s published specifications) as described in this PWS. The VA will continue to be responsible for performing all Microsoft Patching for all Contractor ARK Workstations and Contractor ARK Servers after Contractor compatibility testing as applicable. The terms and conditions set forth in this contract are to provide for maintenance and support services only for the existing ARK, including hardware and perpetual unlimited, non-exclusive software licenses which have been previously procured and installed in VISN 5. GENERAL PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT INFORMATION The Contractor shall provide support 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, and 365 days per year. However, normal hours of work are defined as Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, excluding Federal holidays or as otherwise arranged with the Contracting Officer s Representative (COR). There are 11 Federal holidays set by law (USC Title 5 Section 6103) that VA follows: Under current definitions, four are set by date: New Year's Day January 1 Independence Day July 4 Veterans Day November 11 Christmas Day December 25 Juneteenth June 19 If any of the above falls on a Saturday, then Friday shall be observed as a holiday. Similarly, if one falls on a Sunday, then Monday shall be observed as a holiday. The other six are set by a day of the week and month: Martin Luther King's Birthday Third Monday in January Washington's Birthday Third Monday in February Memorial Day Last Monday in May Labor Day First Monday in September Columbus Day Second Monday in October Thanksgiving Fourth Thursday in November PLACE OF PERFORMANCE ARK services provided under this contract shall be performed at VAMCs identified in Attachment A VISN 5 Locations, of this solicitation or may be performed remotely at Contractor facilities. Attachments B&C, VISN 5 Workstation List, VISN 5 Server List respectively comprise all existing ARK equipment to be covered under this service agreement contract. Work may be performed at remote locations other than Contractor facilities with prior approval of the COR. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE The government contemplates use of the five-year (60 month) BPA with an expiration date of August 20, 2028. The Contractor shall furnish supplies or services described in general terms, when requested by the Contracting Officer (CO) during a specified period and within a stipulated aggregate amount, if any. The existing BPA ordering periods and the period of performance for VISN 5 are as follows: BPA Ordering Periods: Base Period 1: August 21, 2023 August 20, 2024 Ordering Period 1: August 21, 2024 August 20, 2025 Ordering Period 2: August 21, 2025 August 20, 2026 Ordering Period 3: August 21, 2026 August 20, 2027 Ordering Period 4: August 21, 2027 August 20, 2028 VISN 5 Period of Performance: June 21, 2026 June 20, 2027 TRAVEL The Government anticipates travel to meet the requirements of specific Task Orders under this effort. Travel expenses associated with direct support of this contract will not be reimbursed separately by the Government and shall be included in any firm fixed price orders placed against the contract. REQUIREMENTS The Contractor shall perform the following: MAINTENANCE AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT The Contractor shall perform regular technical support 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, and 365 days per year. Periodic proactive monitoring shall be performance on a weekly basis. Support includes remote maintenance, scheduled updates, preventive maintenance, unscheduled repairs, corrective maintenance and technical support of all software and all hardware as specified on each contract task order including all software version changes, updates, patches, enhancements, corrections, and new releases during the performance period at each location. VA shall ensure Access Control Lists (ACLs), Firewalls, and Group Policies in Active Directory (GPOs) are built to allow required PowerShell communication between hosts. The VA will manage all Microsoft Patches for all ARK Workstations and Servers. The VA may require assistance with patches that require database administer training for ARK Servers. VA anticipates software update releases of terminology, in accordance with VA User Group determination when there are enough new terms for an updated terminology database. In turn, the Contractor shall respond to these updates as outlined in this PWS. The Contractor shall coordinate maintenance and support with the COR and VAMC Points of Contact (POCs) as designated on each task order. The service under this contract includes all labor, tools, test equipment, diagnostic software, parts, shipping, and Contractor staff supervision necessary to perform remote and/or on-site services defined herein. The Contractor shall provide express delivery of replacement parts when needed to maintain full performance of the system. For defective parts the Contractor shall provide shipping instructions to the Government to return the defective parts at Contractor expense. The Contractor shall supply and install replacement or additional hardware components consisting of any server components, if purchased from Draeger, (including associated operating system software) and data acquisition equipment technically required on account of the occurrence of the technical or functional obsolescence of such hardware. The Contractor shall supply and install replacement or additional hardware components, in accordance with local task orders, when component replacements or additions are technically required to: (a) maintain the reliability of a system in compliance with the uptime requirements of the agreement, (b) permit the installation and clinical use of the most recent update/upgrade version of the ARK software made available by the Contractor for installation, (c) maintain the performance and responsiveness of a system, including performance following installation of an update/upgrade or (d) the manufacturer of the operating system software no longer supports security updates for such software for use with the installed server hardware. While no specific replacement schedule is being established, historically replacement of computer servers (or major components) is needed at intervals of five years, and data acquisition hardware is necessary after seven years due to the occurrence of one or more of the circumstances described in preceding clauses (a) to (d) above. The Contractor acknowledges that it is aware that many of the ARK systems previously deployed are approaching these useful life ranges. Replacement or additional hardware components shall materially meet or exceed the characteristics and specifications of the existing items. INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE During the term of this agreement, a VISN/VAMC with an existing Draeger ARK may elect to purchase expansion or replacement ARK software and/or hardware, as needed to expand an existing Draeger ARK or to replace aging or out of date Draeger ARK hardware and/or software and services. After additional item warranty periods, the new hardware and software may be included under this agreement though a modification to the local task order. The Contractor will provide an official contract priced quotation for any and all said expansions, upgrades or additional VISN 5 locations. Deliverable: B. Maintenance and Technical Support TELEPHONE AND ON-LINE SUPPORT AND TECHNICAL CONSULTATION The Contractor shall provide the VA with toll free corporate office telephone numbers for both normal hours and after hours. The Contractor shall provide telephone and online remote support 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, and 365 days per year for both maintenance and technical support. The Contractor shall provide the following communication options: Contractor Help Desk number and Contractor email for incidents or general questions. Deliverable: C. Telephone and On-line Support and Technical Consultation SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE The Contractor shall perform scheduled (preventive) maintenance in accordance with manufacturer s recommendations of all ARK software and hardware. The Contractor shall initiate corrective maintenance whenever equipment defects are discovered as a result of the Contractor performing scheduled/preventive maintenance services. For full functionality of Proactive Maintenance scripting, VA will ensure ACLs, Firewalls, and GPOs are built to allow PowerShell communication between hosts and provide access to VA mail relay if alerts are desired. The contractor will not be aware of alerts to VA staff. Contractor shall assist VA facility contacts with scheduled maintenance when needed during password updates which affect Contractor administrative passwords every 3 years. The Contractor shall provide scheduled maintenance and software updates during normal working hours or at a mutually agreed upon time by the COR and the Contractor. The Contractor shall contact the COR and POCs to schedule mutually agreeable times for the performance of any scheduled activities. The Contractor shall recommend to the COR when equipment should be made available for scheduled maintenance. Upon COR approval, the Contractor shall finalize that schedule. Deliverable: D. Scheduled Maintenance INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE OEM LETTER
