JA_LSJ_GSA_FSS__Over_SAT_FAR_8_405_Zolon_fully_signed_Redacted_1.pdf

LIMITED-SOURCES JUSTIFICATION

AUTHORITY: FAR 8.405-6 and 40 U.S.C 501

Solicitation Number 140D0424Q0393

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple Award Schedule Program.

1. Identification of the agency and contracting activity, and specific identification of the document as a “Limited-Sources Justification.”

This document is a limited sources justification for the Department of the Interior (DOI), Interior Business Center, Acquisition Services Directorate, Division I, Branch IV, on behalf of the DOI Business Integration Office (BIO).

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

DOI/BIO competitively awarded GSA task order 140D0419F0248, FBMS Supplemental Support contract, to Zolon Tech, Inc. (Zolon) on August 1, 2019. The objective of this GSA task order is to provide supplemental support services to achieve the BIO’s mission of supporting the Financial and Business Management System (FBMS) and related work. FBMS support is performed by multiple Government organizations and contract sources. Contractors supporting this acquisition work with federal and contractor staff that support the administration of FBMS and its related tools.

FBMS is currently migrating to a new in-memory database solution. FBMS’s migration is the most critical deployment to date scheduled in October/November 2024. SAP1 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is the software platform currently utilized for FBMS financials. The SAP platform requires current users to be migrated to its new SAP S4HANA platform by 2027 to continue SAP licensing and software maintenance support. Migrating all SAP ERP modules (i.e., ERP Central Component (ECC), Business Intelligence (BI), Business Objects (BOBJ), Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC), Process Integration (PI), Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC), Enterprise Portal, etc.) to SAP S4HANA, the new in-memory database solution supported by SAP, is the largest system effort since FBMS’s initial deployment with DOI’s nine bureaus and Departmental Offices that was completed in 2013.

The FBMS Supplemental Support task order supported by Zolon provides a critical support role for FBMS operations during the S4HANA deployment and stabilization on the new platform.

Support on this task order includes SAP Solution Manager administration, FBMS’s release and change management tool; FBMS stress and volume performance testing; Tableau Server

1 Software manufacture’s name administration, one of FBMS’s data extraction tools used by over 1,000 users; and technical writing that supports FBMS system and user communications.

GSA task order 140D0419F0248 will expire on July 31, 2024. The BIO has a need for a logical follow-on GSA order to maintain services from Zolon during the FBMS migration period. It is critical that DOI maintain services from its current vendor, Zolon, to ensure continuity through FBMS’s migration to S4HANA and through its first major release on S4HANA, expected one year after the deployment to the S4HANA platform. Deployment is scheduled for October/November 2024, so the first release is expected to be October/November 2025.

3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the estimated value).

FBMS is a critical agency business management process necessary for financial management, budget execution, acquisition, grants and cooperative agreements, real and personal property management, fleet management, aviation, travel, enterprise information management and reporting. Continuing contractor support relevant to this contract is necessary to perform FBMS change management, release management, stress and volume performance testing, data extraction software utilized by over 1,000 FBMS users and technical writing that supports release documentation and FBMS system and user communications. DOI relies significantly on the contractor’s performance to carry out its mission in support of the greater enterprise-wide DOI mission.

Services unique to this requirement include:

SAP Solution Manager administration with a SME that has been involved with all planning and execution meetings related to the upcoming FBMS S4HANA deployment relevant to SAP Solution Manager impacts. SAP Solution Manager is the software utilized for FBMS change and release management.

Stress and volume performance testing for FBMS, which includes testing all landscapes and familiarity with system and landscape FBMS configurations. Support is provided in developing functional and technical test plans, executing and monitoring tests, and resolving test issues.

Tableau Server administration with a SME that has been involved with all planning and execution meetings related to the upcoming FBMS S4HANA deployment relevant to Tableau data extractions from SAP Business Warehouse (BW) data sources. This administrator supports over 1,000 Tableau users within DOI for various data visualizations extracted from FBMS data.

Technical writing support for FBMS release notes, system and user communications, FBMS migration status reporting and FBMS user documentation.

S4HANA is scheduled to go live in October/November 2024. Following this FBMS platform change, the following support work is needed to ensure S4HANA is stable through support of its current vendor:

S4HANA Hypercare Support, October/November 2024 – January 2025: This post go-live support will require resources available to fix emergency production issues that ensure FBMS operations are not disrupted;

possess the necessary security clearances, which allow them to work at the federal worksite, and to access the necessary systems that integrate with FBMS. Changing contractors during this implementation could result in a failed migration which would be detrimental to DOI operations.

DOI/BIO needs continuity and continued support from this team of Zolon experts to ensure a seamless transition to the new S4HANA platform.

5. A determination by the ordering activity contracting officer that the order represents the best value consistent with FAR 8.404(d).

The IGE for this GSA follow-on task order is based on historical escalation rates utilized by Zolon’s GSA schedule. These discounted rates were awarded as a result of adequate price competition. The government believes that the rates can be determined fair and reasonable based on comparing the historical data and GSA schedules. All established rates will be reviewed and evaluated to determine fair and reasonableness.

6. A description of the market research conducted among schedule holders and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

DOI/BIO is unaware of any other vendors familiar with FBMS’s upcoming migration of S4HANA supporting the roles on this GSA follow on order. On October 12, 2023, the Contracting Officer (CO) posted a notice of intent to sole source the FBMS IDIQ 140D0419D0007 work through the S4HANA migration and stabilization. The notice of intent was posted to SAM.gov. Interested sources were directed to submit capabilities statements to the CO no later than October 27, 2023, at 4pm ET. The Contracting Officer did not receive any responses to this notice of intent to sole source. A review of GSA Schedule 54151S confirms that Zolon is still eligible to receive awards on that schedule.

7. Any other facts supporting the justification.

Zolon resources have already been cleared and vetted to perform this work. They have also demonstrated that they have the knowledge and skills necessary to complete this migration effort. Onboarding and clearing new resources can take up to six months which would cause significant delays in migration timeline.

At this time, this requirement cannot be modified to enhance competition. Due to the amount of daily work and coordination that is required for both upgrading and maintaining FBMS, BIO Federal staff and contractor staff must be well coordinated to ensure that the FBMS users do not experience any unnecessary downtime. Using multiple contractors would generate significant risk and cause operational issues and delays due to the complexity of FBMS operations. Past experience with multiple sources on previous system integration projects of similar complexity have led to a multitude of challenges which included extensive documentation and disagreements about how documentation was interpreted. Within FBMS, the flow of work from development to implementation in production is tightly integrated. Having a single source enables the BIO to hold the Contractor responsible for all phases of support. Multiple contractors would complicate the associated tasks, relationships, and streamlined communication required for FBMS operations and management activities, as well as would create significant extra work for the BIO to identify and delineate responsibilities across multiple contractors.

8. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the restricted consideration before any subsequent acquisition for supplies and services is made.

Once the S4HANA migration is complete, the BIO will conduct a competitive recompete which is anticipated to be awarded in 2025. The BIO and AQD will begin market research in early 2025.

9. The ordering activity contracting officer’s certification that the justification is accurate and complete to the best of the contracting officer’s knowledge and belief.

I certify this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Heather Watroba, Contracting Officer AQD, Division I, Branch IV

10. Evidence that any supporting data that is the responsibility of technical or requirements personnel (e.g., verifying the Government’s minimum needs or requirements or other rationale for limited sources) and which form a basis for the justification have been certified as complete and accurate by the technical or requirements personnel.

I certify the technical data which forms a basis for this justification is complete and accurate and meet the Government’s minimum needs.

Stacy Zellers, Contracting Officer’s Representative Business Integration Office

HEATHER WATROBA

Digitally signed by HEATHER

WATROBA

Date: 2024.04.05 09:42:28 -04'00'

STACY

ZELLERS

Digitally signed by

STACY ZELLERS

Date: 2024.04.05 11:42:54 -04'00'

11. For justifications under 8.405-6(a)(1), a written determination by the approving official identifying the circumstance that applies.

FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)C – In the interest of economy and efficiency, the new work is a logical follow-on to an original Federal Supply Schedule order provided that the original order was placed in accordance with the applicable Federal Supply Schedule ordering procedures. The original order or BPA must not have been previously issued under sole-source or limited-sources procedures.

12. Reviews and Approvals

Concur

Rajendra Panchal, Branch Chief AQD, Division I, Branch IV

Concur

Shelia Saint-Louis, Division Chief AQD, Division I

Approve

Michael Farrell Bureau Competition Advocate

RAJENDRA

PANCHAL

Digitally signed by RAJENDRA

PANCHAL

Date: 2024.04.08 07:37:14 -04'00'

SHELITA SAINT-LOUIS

Digitally signed by SHELITA

SAINT-LOUIS

Date: 2024.04.10 10:14:23 -04'00'

MICHAEL FARRELL Digitally signed by MICHAEL FARRELL Date: 2024.04.12 13:50:54 -04'00'