Notice of Intent - Sole Source to MHS GENESIS Solution providers

This is a notice of intent to award five sole source contracts and is not a request for competitive quotes. A sole source justification in accordance with FAR Part 6 is being processed for this requirement and will be posted when the approval process is accomplished.

The forthcoming Class Justification and Approval (J&A) authorizes the Defense Health Agency (DHA) to award multiple sole-source contracts, on an other than full and open competition basis, to the following proprietary platform vendors:

Cerner Corporation (Oracle Health)

8779 Hillcrest RD Kansas City, Missouri, 64138-2700

Cage: 1JCJ0

UEID: DMHXTXRARC74

Philips North America LLC (Philips Healthcare)

222 Jacobs ST, East Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02141-2296

Cage: 0ZBJ4

UEID: PWFVQLA9SX78

American Well Corporation (Amwell)

75 State ST FL 26, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109-1827

Cage: 64FM6

UEID: DJC6XVXQMV15

Henry Schein, Inc.

135 Duryea RD, Melville, New York, 11747-3834

Cage: 0NUS8

UEID: D6MTSKS115L9

Solventum Health Information Systems, Inc. (Solventum)

575 W Murray BLVD, Murray, Utah, 84123-4611

Cage: 3L5X5

UEID: LUYEUMH42L88

These contracts will provide critical system components, software licensing, and specialized services that form the foundational architecture of the Military Health System (MHS) GENESIS environment, which are currently being delivered through a legacy solution provider integrator. The Government's target timing is to transition the Philips and Amwell relationships to direct contracts prior to the end of July 2026, Oracle Health by November 2026, and Henry Schein and Solventum by July 2027. Note: Additional direct relationships may be established over time based on the operational and financial benefit to the Government. If additional proprietary solutions can be broken out are identified, the J&A will be updated to support the direct procurement of those systems.

This action represents a deliberate and strategic shift in the Government's acquisition approach, moving away from a monolithic solution provider integrator model toward a competitive, modular, direct-vendor contracting strategy. Under the new model, DHA will contract directly with the proprietary solution providers for core system capabilities, rather than procuring these services and paying pass-through overhead through an intermediary.

This shift is driven by both operational experience and Department-level policy direction. Historically, the use of a single solution provider integrator—tasked with integrating the efforts of multiple vendors—enabled the rapid deployment and initial stabilization of the MHS GENESIS system-of-systems. However, as the system has reached full deployment and transitioned into the sustainment and optimization phase, this intermediary model has introduced:

• Reduced cost transparency
• Duplicative layers of vendor management and administration
• Limited Government visibility into underlying pricing structures
• Constraints on the Government’s ability to directly manage vendor performance and enforce Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

Consistent with Department of Defense policy, DHA is now transitioning to a model that emphasizes direct acquisition from core solution providers, systematically reducing reliance on integrators and improving overall acquisition efficiency.

This sole-source action directly supports those Federal mandates by:

• Eliminating integrator pass-through costs and duplicative overhead
• Establishing direct contractual relationships with foundational solution providers
• Improving pricing transparency and Government cost control
• Stabilizing the core architecture to enable future competition at the modular component level (e.g., integration of efforts, ancillary services)

While this transition introduces near-term integration and execution complexities, DHA has determined that such risks are manageable and entirely warranted to align with Department policy direction and achieve long-term improvements in cost efficiency. This phased transition ensures uninterrupted continuity of operations and a controlled assumption of integration responsibilities by the Government.

Because the required capabilities are proprietary, deeply embedded, and available only from the original vendors currently providing them, DHA has determined that award on an other than full and open competition basis is required. Securing these direct vendor relationships is absolutely critical because the MHS GENESIS platform operates as the anchor of a unified Federal health IT ecosystem. In 2018, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the United States Coast Guard (USCG) determined that alignment with the DoD’s Electronic Health Record (EHR) system was in the Government's best interest to enable total interoperability. Today, this shared baseline supports not only DoD operations, but also the United States Coast Guard (USCG), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and other organizations using MHS GENESIS to document the delivery of healthcare.  It is also a shared baseline with the VA who is  actively  deploying its solutions, slated for completion in 2031. Transitioning to direct vendor contracts ensures interagency continuum of care remains stable and undisrupted.

In preparation for conducting a fair and open competition at the completion of the incumbent current contract (N003915D0044), the Defense Healthcare Management System Modernization (DHMSM) Program Management Office (PMO) engaged industry and conducted extensive market research looking to inform its acquisition strategy starting in early 2023 through early 2026. The Government determined that the most responsible and effective path to expanding competition is a phased, deliberate approach. By establishing direct, sole-source contractual relationships with the current proprietary solution providers now, the Government stabilizes the core platform, preserves the unified Federal baseline, and eliminates the legacy solution provider integrator's pass-through costs. This critical stabilization serves as the prerequisite foundation that will enable the Government to progressively introduce full and open competition for discrete capability areas such as the integration of efforts, product management, and ancillary support services once delivery dependencies are mitigated and modularization objectives are fully realized.  

Even though alternative commercial systems possess similar functional capabilities, no alternative sources were identified that could replace the currently selected and deployed proprietary platforms without substantial disruption to interagency operations. Crucially, during the market research process, no industry respondents or participating vendors recommended changing out or replacing any of these core solution components. Industry consensus acknowledged that attempting to swap the selected foundational platforms at this stage would trigger immense interagency operational risk, severe schedule delays, and duplication of cost.

Based on the above, the DHMSM PMO decided that the above proprietary platform vendors are the only sources available to meet these agencies’ needs to sustain the unified Federal EHR baseline within the required timeframe and without introducing unacceptable risk.

Services:

The Government will establish direct contractual relationships with select Best of Suite (BoS) and Best of Breed (BoB) proprietary solution providers supporting the MHS GENESIS ecosystem. These direct contracts will transition essential capabilities, services, licensing, and support functions—previously obtained through the incumbent solution provider integrator under a bundled delivery model—into a modular, transparent acquisition structure.

Not all contractors identified in this J&A will perform all categories of work listed below. The specific scope will vary based on the solution, capability area, and operational requirements associated with each respective vendor’s proprietary products. Broadly, the services authorized under this J&A include:

Software Licensing, Maintenance, and Subscription Services

Provision of commercial software licenses, software maintenance, subscription services, updates, patches, fixes, upgrades, enhancements, and associated vendor technical support necessary to sustain and operate the contractor’s proprietary solutions within the MHS GENESIS environment.

Hosting and Infrastructure Support

Provision of hosting services and associated infrastructure necessary to ensure the continuous operation, availability, interoperability, security, and performance of the contractor’s solution within the MHS GENESIS ecosystem. This includes cloud-based hosting, on-premises hosting, hybrid hosting models, storage, networking, compute resources, hardware, backup and recovery capabilities, disaster recovery support, cybersecurity compliance, and environment management.

• Interagency Coordination: Hosting services will require deep coordination with other DoD contractors, commercial cloud providers, Government-furnished infrastructure, and third-party technology providers to support interoperability across the MHS GENESIS ecosystem, DHA infrastructure, DoD Information Technology (IT) networks, and Military Medical Treatment Facilities (MTFs) worldwide.
• Cloud Transition: The contractor is responsible for providing all hosting services unless specifically agreed to be provided by the Government. As the program continues its strategic transition to a cloud-based architecture, hosting responsibilities will increasingly shift toward commercial cloud infrastructure in strict accordance with DoD cloud policies and vendor-supported deployment models.

Sustainment and Operational Support

Provision of sustainment, continuous operational support, advanced troubleshooting, technical assistance, enable efficient resolution of Tier 1 and Tier 2 incidents, Tier 3 vendor help desk support, and lifecycle management services necessary to maintain uninterrupted continuity of interagency healthcare operations.

Enabling New Capabilities

The contractor shall be responsible for activating and enabling new capabilities that align with functional requirements approved by the Configuration Steering Board (CSB) and the Milestone Decision Authority (MDA). These new capabilities must be native to the vendor's existing Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) solution and must provide functionality that is not otherwise available via another product within the MHS GENESIS ecosystem or available via a standalone BoB product.

Optimization

Provision of optimization, configuration, workflow enhancement, and performance improvement services explicitly intended to improve functionality, usability, interoperability, operational efficiency, and clinical user experience within the existing MHS GENESIS environment.

Coordination with Program Office Support Contractors

Active interfacing with the Program Management Office (PMO) and supporting functions to coordinate activities, API enablement, interface management, ensure clinical requirements are met, product roadmaps are clearly understood, and capability enhancements are prioritized based on mission value and interagency needs.

Specific Solution Provider Capabilities

Each of the solutions detailed below shares common foundational requirements: they all provide the essential software licensing, maintenance, subscription services, hosting, and sustainment support necessary to operate MHS GENESIS ecosystem, working in concert to ensure seamless interoperability, support complex clinical and operational workflows, and maintain the continuity of care across the unified Federal EHR baseline.

Oracle Health (Best of Suite)
Oracle Health will be engaged as the Best of Suite provider supporting the core MHS GENESIS EHR platform. Oracle Health (formerly Cerner Corporation) provides the foundational enterprise EHR architecture, including the Millennium platform and associated hardware and infrastructure components.  Additionally, Oracle Health may provide access to certain third-party capabilities that are pre-integrated, certified, or optimized within the Oracle Health ecosystem. Utilizing these pre-integrated capabilities enables the Government to significantly reduce integration complexity, implementation timelines, operational risk, and duplicative integration costs.

Philips (Best of Breed)
Philips Healthcare will be engaged as a Best of Breed provider supporting tele-critical care capabilities. Philips provides specialized tele-critical care software, remote patient monitoring infrastructure, and associated proprietary hardware components (including cameras and related specialized equipment) required to sustain high-acuity remote clinical observation and intervention workflows that are not natively delivered within the core enterprise EHR platform.

Amwell (Best of Breed)
Amwell will be engaged as a Best of Breed provider supporting virtual care and telehealth capabilities. Amwell provides telehealth platform access enabling secure, remote patient-provider interactions and virtual care delivery. This specialized solution complements the core MHS GENESIS environment by supporting expanded patient access and digital health modernization initiatives across the interagency footprint.

Solventum (Best of Breed)
Solventum (formerly 3M Health Information Systems) will be engaged as a Best of Breed provider supporting clinical documentation, coding, workflow optimization, and related healthcare administration capabilities. Solventum provides proprietary software intended to improve clinical documentation workflows, coding efficiency, and operational performance, directly supporting complex revenue cycle functions and evolving federal healthcare administration compliance requirements.

Henry Schein / Dentrix (Best of Breed)
Henry Schein will be engaged as a Best of Breed provider supporting dental EHR capabilities through its proprietary Dentrix platform. The Dentrix platform provides dedicated, highly specialized dental care delivery functionality and workflows that are not natively provided within the core enterprise EHR platform.

The Government anticipates awarding firm-fixed-price, outcome-based contracts for these requirements.  The period of performance across all solutions is anticipated to begin no later than July 2027, with a maximum duration of five (5) years per contract.

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 interest and capabilities in response to this synopsis within 8 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. System Replacement & Interoperability: The Government has determined that replacing the incumbent proprietary platforms (Oracle Health, Philips, Amwell, Solventum, Henry Schein) would cause immense interagency operational risk, severe schedule delays, and duplication of cost. If your company believes it can provide an alternative solution, please detail how your approach would replace any of these core components without disrupting the unified DoD, VA, and USCG Electronic Health Record (EHR) baseline.
2. Scale and Capacity: MHS GENESIS processes at least 20 million messages daily, encompasses 12 major subsystems, and supports 191,000 users globally. If proposing an alternative to the proprietary solutions, detail your firm’s experience successfully deploying and hosting a clinical solution of this scale/ complexity within an Impact Level 4/5 (IL4/IL5) or equivalent secure environment.
3. Data Migration Risk: MHS GENESIS currently holds 255 TB of Millennium data, growing at 100 TB annually. If proposing an alternative system, how would your firm execute the necessary data migration without degrading clinical performance or extending the July 2026/2027 transition timelines?
4. This contracting approach relies on direct-vendor contracts to eliminate overhead, maximize transparency, and stabilize architecture. If you are recommending an indirect or intermediary approach, how will your company replicate these specific advantages and prove the Government will not incur duplicative costs or lose direct visibility into the foundational solution?

The Government’s assessment is that responses must elaborate on all four 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 Sonya Edom (sonya.m.edom.civ@health.mil) and Gabriela Hurte (gabriela.y.hurte.civ@health.mil). 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 to 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.