Specifications include, but are not limited to: The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare has requested an exemption from competition for the purchase of Horizon Software Upgrade. If approved, an exemption from competition may allow the agency to procure the property with limited or no competitive process. Exemption from competition is at the discretion of the DOP Administrator. In the interest of transparency, DOP is offering suppliers the opportunity to review this requested exemption and provide relevant information. The decision remains discretionary, and suppliers have no right to appeal the Administrator’s decision. The Idaho Bureau of Laboratories (IBL) requires on-going support, maintenance and periodic upgrades of the software to keep the system functioning as needed. If the system experiences issues or goes down, IBL may not be able to recover it. IBL has previously encountered issues where upgrades to software outside the system, such as Java and OS patches, have brought down the system, but were able to utilize Horizon’s priority support to get the system up and running again. Also, Horizon only provides support for a certain number of back-releases and, if IBL does not perform the required updates, the Department risks running the system unsupported and possibly going down for good. The Horizon system is vital to the Department. It is how IBL receives samples and test requests from other laboratories, hospitals, doctor’s offices and environmental organizations such as the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), as well as law enforcement agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). These samples and tests include Influenza, Salmonella, E. Coli, Shigella, Anthrax, Botulism, etc. Once received at the laboratory, the LIMS tracks the specimens from receipt until destruction and, if necessary, which employee handled the specimens. The system also schedules the necessary steps, preparation, testing, follow-up testing and reporting that must be performed.