Justification_-_JOFOC_-_Symago.pdf

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL & OPEN COMPETITION

1. IDENTIFICATION OF THE AGENCY AND CONTRACTING AGENCY:

Contracting Activity Customer Agency

BLS/OA/BAM BLS/OEUS/OIES

2 Massachusetts Ave, NE 2 Massachusetts Ave., NE Washington, DC 20212 Washington, DC 20212

2. NATURE AND/OR DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTION BEING APPROVED:

This justification and approval authorizes and approves the issuance of a sole source Firm-Fixed- Price (FFP) order for a one year base period with two one year option periods.

3. DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES REQUIRED TO MEET THE AGENCY’S

NEEDS (Including the Estimated Value):

This requirement is for Symago Maintenance and Support. This includes annual 24x7 maintenance and remote and onsite support of the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Survey solution for Symago supplied software, licenses and the IVR application.

According to the market research quote provided by Symago, the estimated value of this request is $16,800/year for a total of $50,400.00.

4. AN IDENTIFICATION OF THE STATUTORY AUTHORITY PERMITTING

OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION:

FAR 13.106-1(b)(1).

For the reasons cited below in Section 5 and Section 6, Symago services are uniquely positioned to provide this type of telecom product to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

5. A DEMONSTRATION THAT THE PROPOSED CONTRACTOR’S UNIQUE

QUALIFICATIONS OR THE NATURE OF THE ACQUSITION REQUIRES USE OF

THE AUTHORITY CITED:

Symago is the only source capable of providing this service due to the unique or specialized nature of this custom built software product. This company developed this product according to the specifications provided by BLS and subsequently installed, configured, and provides continued maintenance. No other source would be able to provide the required development and maintenance support. Symago, LLC owns the data rights to the software currently being used by BLS. No other vendor is able to provide the services because of the data rights involved. The manufacturer has provided certification supporting that they are the only vendor able to provide support for BLS for this contract.

If this maintenance contract would be awarded to another vendor, that vendor would have to create their own IVR application, which increases the cost to BLS significantly because that would require additional funding for development of a new application.

6. A DESCRIPTION OF EFFORTS TO OBTAIN COMPETITION TO ENSURE THAT

OFFERS ARE SOLICITED FROM AS MANY POTENTIAL SOURCES AS

PRACTICABLE, INCLUDING WHETHER A NOTICE WAS OR WILL BE

PUBLICIZED AS REQUIRED BY SUBPART 5.2 AND IF NOT, WHICH EXCEPTION

UNDER 5.202 APPLIES:

This procurement will be publicized as required by FAR Subpart 5.2 on FedBizOps to open market vendors. A notice of intent to sole source was posted to FBO on July 3, 2019 – July 19, 2019. No responses were received from the posting.

7. A DETERMINATION BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER THAT THE ANTICIPATED

COST TO THE GOVERNEMENT WILL BE FAIR AND REASONABLE:

In accordance with 13.106-3(a)(2)(ii), BLS has determined that the cost will be fair and reasonable based on prices found fair and reasonable on previous purchases. A review of the previous contract DOL-BLS-15-P-0035 found that pricing was $16,200/year from 2015-2018. The proposed price of $16,800/year is a reasonable increase when factoring in inflation.

8. A DESCRIPTION OF MARKET RESEARCH CONDUCTED (PART 10) AND THE

RESULTS OR A STATEMENT OF THE REASON MARKET RESEARCH WAS NOT

CONDUCTED:

Sufficient market research was conducted by the requesting program office to determine that this product/service best fits BLS needs. In 2008, BLS contacted several vendors to replace an obsolete Touchtone Data Entry (TDE) application with a modern Interactive Voice Response (IVR) application. IVR was supposed to collect data from 20,000+ respondents. The largest vendors in the marketplace were not interested in such a small project. The only vendor interested and capable of completing this project was Symago LLC.

In September 2008, Symago LLC delivered the IVR application based on BLS specification.

Symago LLC was also awarded an annual maintenance contract which has been renewed multiple times since then. That maintenance includes updates to the specification (e.g. in 2012 a Spanish version of IVR was created), and upgrades of the hardware (telecom boards) and software. Symago LLC has maintained the IVR application for over ten years.

9. ANY OTHER SUPPORTING FACTS SUPPORTING THE USE OF OTHER THAN

FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION:

The IVR application, maintained by Symago LLC, performs its required tasks and works as expected. BLS intends to continue using this application for the life of this contract.

10. A LISTING OF SOURCES, IF ANY, THAT EXPRESSED, IN WRITING, AN INTEREST

IN THE ACQUISITION:

N/A

11. A STATEMENT OF THE ACTIONS, IF ANY, THE AGENCY MAY TAKE TO

REMOVE OR OVERCOME ANY BARRIERS TO COMPETITION BEFORE ANY

SUBSEQUENT ACQUISITION FOR THE SUPPLIES OR SERVICES REQUIRED:

When this product and the associated maintenance reach the end of their lifecycle, BLS will reevaluate product requirements and Bureau needs in a full and open competition.

12. SIGNATURE BLOCKS:

The program/technical official further certifies that no conflict of interest exists in awarding a sole source contract to the contractor identified herein.

TECHNICAL CERTIFICATION:

I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in the justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Signature: _________________________ Date: _____________________________

Type Name: Kathy Herring

Title: Contracting Officer’s Representative

CONTRACTING OFFICER CERTIFICATION:

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

Signature: _________________________ Date: _____________________________

Type Name: Marsha Daniels

Title: Contracting Officer

7/8/2019