Notice of Intent to Award a Sole Source Contract- MHS GENESIS Bridge

This action is therefore not a continuation of the current approach, but a time-limited transition mechanism to enable a fundamentally different and more competitive acquisition strategy.  This functions as a bridge contract that allows the Government to complete these prerequisites while maintaining operational continuity and transitioning toward a modular contracting approach that introduces competition across discrete capability areas within the MHS GENESIS ecosystem. The incumbent, Leidos, Inc., currently maintains unique MHS GENESIS development, integration, and sustainment knowledge necessary to seamlessly migrate integration and sustainment responsibilities to the cloud and to ensure unfettered support of MHS GENESIS during the transition period.

The Government intends to bridge the Leidos, Inc. contract for the minimum time necessary to establish a multi-contractor and direct solution structure.  The bridge is expected to be no more than 12 months (an optional six-month extension of service can be exercised if needed in accordance with FAR 52.217-8), which will include transition to new contractors. 

The Government intends to leverage an IDIQ structure with a base ordering period and option periods that provide flexibility to tailor task order durations to the minimum time necessary to complete cloud migration activities, finalize system documentation, and transition responsibilities to additional contractors supporting the modular contracting approach.  While the contract includes option periods to ensure continuity if required, the Government’s intent is to progressively reduce the scope of work performed by the incumbent contractor as responsibilities transition to additional vendors through competitively awarded contracts.

In the event of unforeseen circumstances that delay timely awards to the initial direct solution contractors (Amwell, Philips, and Oracle), the Government has included optional Contract Line Item Numbers (CLINs) to prevent any break in service.

The bridge contract ensures continuity of expertise, preserves system knowledge, and enables the Government to implement a deliberate transition strategy aligned with long-term modernization objectives.

Broadly, the services that fall under this J&A are as follows:

Solution Access through Software Licensing and Subscriptions:  In accordance with the implementation directive from Executive Order 14222 to “acquire from the direct service provider”, the Government will establish direct relationships with the Solution providers.  This will result in dozens of new Government contracts and are planned to be migrated in phases.  Under the current contractual construct, the incumbent contractor manages procurement and administration of enterprise software licenses for the suite of COTS products that comprise the MHS GENESIS system of systems.  These licenses support the operation of the EHR platform and associated capabilities used across the DOW and its federal partners.  The Government will transition certain licenses from Leidos and enter into new license maintenance agreements and subscription (SaaS or Software-as –a-Service) agreements to provide continuity.  The migration of the solutions to direct relationships with the Government will occur during the bridge period.

Hosting: The contractor is responsible for providing all hosting services or coordinating with another DOW contractor for hosting services.  The MHS GENESIS solution uses both on-premises hosting as well as cloud-based hosting and leverages the DOW Information Technology networks, as well as the Defense Health Agency (DHA) infrastructure to enable communications between the MHS GENESIS solution and the Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs) worldwide.  As the program continues its transition to cloud-based architecture, hosting responsibilities will increasingly shift toward commercial cloud infrastructure in accordance with DOW cloud policy and vendor-supported deployment models.  This follow-on contract includes the Oracle cloud hosting services until the direct relationship with Oracle can be established and transitioned to the Government during the bridge period.

System Integration: The contractor is responsible for connecting and maintaining all the interfaces that connect the software and subscription solutions that comprise MHS GENESIS to ensure smooth interaction and data flow.  Duties include system/sustainment engineering, testing, cybersecurity/accreditation, system/database administration, and optimization efforts (technical and functional) of the current DHMSM portfolio of products and hardware refresh for solution specific proprietary hardware.  During the bridge period, the incumbent contractor will continue to perform core system integration functions while supporting the Government’s phased transition toward a modular contracting approach in which discrete capability areas may be supported by additional contractors.  The contractor will be required to deliver documentation of its sustainment processes and procedures and system interface configurations, among other deliverables.  As part of the bridge period, the incumbent contractor will also be required to develop and refine documentation necessary to support transition of system integration and sustainment responsibilities to additional contractors supporting discrete capability areas within the MHS GENESIS ecosystem.  This documentation will include operational procedures, configuration details, system interface descriptions, and other information necessary for third-party contractors to assume responsibilities without disruption to system operations.

During the bridge period, the incumbent contractor will also be required to support knowledge transfer and transition activities associated with the phased onboarding of additional vendors.   These activities may include documentation walk-throughs, technical collaboration sessions, and limited transition overlap to ensure continuity of operations as responsibilities are transferred. 

Be advised that the aforementioned information is anticipatory in nature and is not binding. This notice is not a request for competitive proposals; however, any firm believing it can fulfill the requirement of providing these services may be considered by the Agency. Interested parties shall identify their interests and capabilities in response to this synopsis within 5 calendar days of publication.

The response must clearly demonstrate an ability to successfully fulfill the above requirements without duplicating the investment already made.  Specifically address as part of the response the following:

1. Given that the Government intends to fully transition to a modular contracting model within 12 months, what specific strategic advantage, cost savings, or risk reduction does your firm offer by taking over this short-term bridge contract, rather than the Government simply retaining the incumbent until the final modular transition is complete?
2. How will your company execute a rapid 'Transition-In' phase to capture critical system knowledge from the incumbent while strictly avoiding a lengthy handover timeline, preventing duplicative overlap costs, and guaranteeing zero disruption to Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs)?
3. During the 12-month bridge, how will your company orchestrate the 'Transition-Out' phase, specifically managing the knowledge transfer and technical handover with the new, incoming contractors to ensure a seamless cutover with no degradation in clinical operations?

The Government’s assessment is that responses must elaborate on all three enumerated paragraphs above.  If a company disagrees with that assessment, please respond by explaining how the Government may otherwise meet the requirements listed in this notice.  While there is no maximum page limit, the Government is only interested in responses relevant to this notice.  The Government will not review individual resumes or general marketing materials.  While there is no mandatory format for responses, the Government requests that responses in excess of four pages include a table of contents, page numbers and corresponding headers. 

The Government reserves the right not to respond to any expression of interest received. Any comments, questions, or concerns regarding this notice may be submitted IN WRITING via email to Chastity Hill ([email protected]) and Gabriela Hurte ([email protected]) No telephone responses will be accepted.

Submissions will NOT be reimbursed by the Government and the entire cost of any submission will be at the sole expense of the source submitting the information. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract action based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.

Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. This synopsis is for informational purposes only. Any Justification and Approval resulting from a decision to award the proposed sole source action will be posted on this website.

All information received in response to this notice that is marked Proprietary will be handled accordingly. The Government shall not be liable for or suffer any consequential damages for any proprietary information not properly identified. Proprietary information will be safeguarded in accordance with the applicable Government regulations. Submissions will not be returned, nor will the Government confirm receipt of submissions.