EBSCO Industries, Inc.

B-414150 Mar 02, 2017 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights EBSCO Industries, Inc., of Ipswich, Massachusetts, protests a notice issued by the Department of the Air Force, Air Force Medical Services, announcing its intent to award a sole-source contract to UpToDate, Inc., of Waltham, Massachusetts for access to an online medical reference database. EBSCO challenges the justification supporting the award and argues that EBSCO's product was improperly excluded from consideration. We deny the protest. We deny the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of:  EBSCO Industries, Inc. File:  B-414150 Date:  March 2, 2017 Bridgette Armstrong and Laura C. Ashburner, Esq., for the protester. Frank S. Murray, Esq., David T. Ralston, Jr., Esq., and Micah T. Zomer, Esq., Foley & Lardner, LLP, for UpToDate, Inc., an intervenor. Tedd J. Shimp, Esq., Alexis J. Bernstein, Esq., and Col. C. Taylor Smith, Department of the Air Force, for the agency. Gabriel D. Soll, Esq., and Christina Sklarew, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest of the proposed award of a sole-source contract, which the agency justifies on the basis that only one responsible source will satisfy the requirement without unacceptable delay, is denied where the record reasonably supports the agency’s justification. DECISION EBSCO Industries, Inc., of Ipswich, Massachusetts, protests a notice issued by the Department of the Air Force, Air Force Medical Services, announcing its intent to award a sole-source contract to UpToDate, Inc., of Waltham, Massachusetts for access to an online medical reference database.  EBSCO challenges the justification supporting the award and argues that EBSCO’s product was improperly excluded from consideration. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The Air Force Medical Service has an ongoing need for an online physician’s clinical reference database for its 76 military treatment facilities.  Contracting Officer’s Statement of Facts (SOF), at 2.  The database is a resource used by doctors and other medical professionals providing patient care to facilitate clinical decision-making, including medical assessments, diagnoses, and plans for treatment or drug therapies.  Id. In 2013, the Deputy Secretary of Defense implemented reforms of the Military Health System and tasked the Defense Health Agency (DHA) with adopting common clinical practices and consolidating shared services to realize health system cost savings throughout the military.  Id.; See generally, Agency Report (AR), Tab 3, DHA Contracting Concept of Operations.  DHA established a team dedicated to providing all military services with a virtual medical library, which was to include a clinical reference database.  Id. at 2-3; See generally, AR, Tab 4, Virtual Medical Library Integrated Product Team Charter.  In November 2015, this team notified the component services, including the Air Force, that a number of contracts would expire at the end of the year, and that “process impediments” with DHA’s funding office meant that there was an “imminent risk” that a break in virtual medical library services would occur.  AR, Tab 5, DHA Briefing Slides, at 3, 5.   As a result, the Air Force issued an interim contract to UpToDate with a period of performance running through the end of October, 2016.  SOF, at 3; AR, Tab 6, Interim Contract.  DHA informed the Air Force that it would not complete its procurement for the database to serve the military system prior to the end of this contract.  SOF, at 3.  The Air Force then initiated market research to identify sources able to provide similar web-based clinical databases to ensure its continuing needs were met.  Id. at 4; See generally, AR, Tab 10, Response to Requirements Research; AR, Tab 11, Contacting Officer’s Internet Market Research. On September 12, 2016, the Air Force posted a sources-sought synopsis on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOps) website for the clinical database, seeking capability statements from potential offerors.  AR, Tab 17, Sources-Sought Synopsis.  The posting specified that capability statements submitted in response to this synopsis should be tailored to demonstrate a clear understanding of the requirements and describe prior experiences providing this type of medical database, including references to previous contracts.  Id. at 2.  Potential offerors were provided a draft statement of work reflecting the Air Force’s requirements for the database.  Id., Statement of Work, at 5-10.  Relevant to this protest, the draft statement of work required, among other things, that the content of the medical topics in the database be written and peer-reviewed by “expert physicians in the specialty.”  Id.