Updated June 23, 2025
Award to Abridge AI, Inc to provide a Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS), cloud-based, ambient scribe solution, which utilizes AI techniques and technologies, and a Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery model, to transcribe clinical encounters and generate notes.
Contractor Awarded Name: Abridge AI Inc
Contractor Awarded Unique Entity ID: FVCYXMZGBH93
Notice ID: 36C10G25C0007
Related Notice: 36C10G25Q0088
Department/Ind. Agency: VETERANS AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF | STRATEGIC ACQUISITION CENTER FREDERICKSBURG (36C10G)
Contract Award Date: Jun 23, 2025
Contract Award Number: 36C10G25C0007
Base and All Options Value (Total Contract Value): $5,369,500.00
This sole source justification is executed by the Strategic Acquisition Center (SAC) – Frederick (SAC-F), on behalf of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Digital Health Office (OHO).
The Government proposes to issue a sole source, firm-fixed price (FFP) contract to Abridge Al, Inc. (Abridge) one of the winners of the “Al Tech Sprint for Documenting VA Clinical Encounters and Integrating Community Care Data” challenge. The challenge was a rigorous and competitive evaluation process authorized under the America COMPETES Act. The proposed contract pertains to pilot the top Al solutions identified through the VHA Al Tech Sprint Track 1: Ambient Dictation of Clinical Encounters, executed as part of the strategic initiatives outlined under EO 14110 for enhancing veterans’ healthcare and addressing provider burnout.
The pilot is designed to validate the Al solution in a real-world VA operational environment and to assess its impact on reducing provider burnout-a top priority for VHA. The advanced Al-enabled tools for ambient scribing focus on enhancing clinical documentation across primary care, mental health, and specialty care settings. The solution will fulfill the below requirements:
• Transcription and Note Generation: Automatically extract transcripts and key details from ambient recordings of patient encounters, creating traceable, high fidelity records.
• Interoperability and Integration: Seamlessly integrate with existing VA health system information technologies, particularly the Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems, to ensure smooth operational continuity and data consistency.
Security Compliance: Adhere to stringent VA privacy and security standards for the protection of patient data.
• Advanced Functionalities: May include capabilities to populate heterogenous note templates, recommend diagnoses and referrals, and maintain high performance even in challenging clinical settings.
• Patient Communications: Generate patient-facing summaries (After Visit Summaries) that include educational materials, reminders, and follow-up recommendations, adhering to clinical documentation compliance standards.
This contract shall include a 12-month base period of non-severable tasks and 4 additional 6-month option periods of severable tasks for a period of performance
— up to 36 months.
Added May 23, 2025
This notice is prepared in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 5.2, Synopses of Proposed Contract Actions. This announcement constitutes the only notice and synopsis of the proposed action.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Strategic Acquisition Center, on behalf of the Veterans Health Administration, Digital Health Office, intends to award firm fixed priced contracts, within 60 days of this notice, to Carahsoft Technology Corp. UEI: DT8KJHZXVJH5 and Abridge Al, Inc. UEI: FVCYXMZGBH93, winners of the “AI Tech Sprint for Documenting VA Clinical Encounters and Integrating Community Care Data” challenge. The challenge was a rigorous and competitive evaluation process authorized under the America COMPETES Act and aligned with the directives of Executive Order 14110. (Track One: Ambient Dictation for Clinical Encounter Notes). See challenge link for details: https://www.challenge.gov/?challenge=ai-tech-sprint-for-documenting-va-clinical-encounters-and-integrating-community-care-data
The challenge notified all interested parties that winners may receive sole source contracts to implement the pilot programs for test and evaluation in live VA environments. These resultant contracts will deliver commercial, cloud-based, ambient scribe tools, which utilizes Artificial Intelligence techniques and technologies, and Software as a Service tool, to transcribe clinical encounters and generate notes. The program will integrate with the VA Electronic Health Record and workflows such that providers can initiate encounter recording without manual entry of patient identifying information, and draft notes can be automatically inserted into the electronic health record without copy and paste manual effort.
The proposed procurement is for products for which the Government intends to solicit
and negotiate with only one source
