Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Health Administration Office of Informatics and Analytics February 25, 2014 VA701-14-I-0129 SPECIAL NOTICE - NOTICE OF INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE HEALTH LEVEL SEVEN BENEFACTOR MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL INTRODUCTION The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA) requires a renewal of an existing one (1) year (12-month) Benefactor membership with Health Level Seven International (HL7) or equal. BACKGROUND HL7 and its members provide a framework (and related standards) for the exchange, integration, sharing, and retrieval of electronic health information. These standards define how information is packaged and communicated from one party to another, setting the language, structure, and data types required for seamless integration between systems. HL7 standards support clinical practice and the management, delivery, and evaluation of health services, and are recognized as the most commonly used in the world. There are seven (7) HL7 standards categories: Primary Standards, Foundational Standards, Clinical and Administrative Domains, EHR Profiles, Implementation Guides, Rules and References, and Education & Awareness. Membership to HL7 is crucial to the ongoing expansion and enhancement of the HL7 standard and the overall success of the organization. The Benefactor level of membership offers additional benefits that help the organization emphasize their involvement with HL7. This Benefactor membership includes all the benefits of organizational membership plus immediate access to all HL7 standards as they are released, the right to distribute HL7's standards on an internal basis solely for use within the organization, authorization to use excerpts from HL7 standards in the organization's implementation guides and the right to distribute them publically, the maximum number of assigned voting members, Annual Benefactor Award and recognition at HL7 working group meetings, and listing in the online Benefactor Directory. The Benefactor Directory places the logo on the front page of the HL7 website and includes a link to the organization's website generic log-in that gives the entire organization access to the Members Only section of the website, special recognition in HL7 press releases and other promotional materials, and special recognition in HL7 News (HL7's official newsletter). VA has been an HL7 Benefactor member since 1996. HL7 develops standards required for the VA to exchange healthcare information internally within the VA and externally with agencies such as the Department of Defense and Indian Health Services. SUBMITTAL INFORMATION The Program Contracting Activity Central (PCAC) Office of Informatics and Analytics intends to issue a sole source solicitation to Health Level Seven, Inc. (HL7) requesting a benefactor membership to HL7. This procurement is being conducted in accordance with FAR 6.302-1(a)(2), "Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements." The NAICS code for this procurement is 813920 and the Small Business Administration Size Standard is $14.0M. This notice of intent to is not a request for competitive quotes. No solicitation document is available and telephone requests will not be accepted. However, any firm that believes it can meet the requirements may give written notification to the Contracting Officer within ten (10) calendar days from the date of publication of this synopsis. Supporting evidence must be furnished in sufficient detail, to demonstrate the ability to comply with the above requirements. Information, not to exceed five (5) pages single-spaced with a 12-point font minimum can be sent via email to this procurement's contract specialist, Michelle Rhodes, at
[email protected]. Responses received will be evaluated; however, a determination by the Government not to compete the proposed procurement based upon responses received to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. If no responses are received, PCAC of the Department of Veterans Affairs will proceed with the issuance of a sole source solicitation for this requirement to Health Level Seven, Inc. (HL7). DISCLAIMER In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this notice.