Justification and Approval For Other than Full and Open Competition

Plan ID Number: 2026-CRS-0021

Form Updated 4/14/2023

Justification & Approval For Other than Full and Open Competition

As a legislative branch agency, the Library is subject to the competition and advertising requirements of 41 U.S.C. § 6101. Like the Competition in Contracting Act and the FAR, 41 U.S.C. § 6101 does not require competition when a contracting officer certifies that only one source or brand-name item is available, when dictated by public exigency, or when otherwise authorized by law.

This document sets forth the justification and approval for award of a contract or order by means providing for other than full and open competition per 41 U.S.C. § 6101, LCR 7-210, and, as applicable, FAR 6.302, FAR 13.106-1, FAR 8.405, and FAR

16.505. Contracting without competition shall not be justified on the basis of a lack of advance planning or concerns related to availability of funds.

This form shall be used to support instances where competition will be limited to a single source, a limited number of sources, including where a brand name product is required.

Part 1 Identification

1. Contracting Agency and Activity: Library of Congress, OCIO, IT Design & Development, Software Engineering, Platform Service, COTS

2. Nature of Action Being Approved Contract (or modification) LoC or Leg Branch Order (or modification) GSA Schedule or GWAC: Identify Schedule/Contract Other: Identify

Plan ID Number: 2026-CRS-0021 Contractor (or Brand Name): Squirro Estimated Value (Base and all options):

Period of Performance:

9/28/2026 3/27/2027 6-month Base Period3/28/2027 9/27/2027 6-month Option Period

3. Description of Supplies or Services Required to Meet Library Needs meet those needs. Do not focus on a description of the program.

The Library requires the following supplies or services:

The Contractor shall deliver the following products and services:

1) Squirro Cognitive Search including the Insight Engine and AI Studio (or latest compatible upgrade thereof) supporting a maximum of 10,000 possible users or not more than 50,000 searches per month;

2) Amazon Web Service (AWS) Hosting (continuation of existing services), and

3) Operational Support.

Note: The terms Squirro Search Engine, Squirro, or Squirro Search are used interchangeably throughout this document.

Point 1) The Squirro Search Engine shall be able to find content across the CRS Application enterprise including the Oracle database - known as Consolidated database (CDB); the Content Management System (CMS) with an integrated Authoring/Document Management System (DMS) implemented on M365 leveraging SharePoint Online (SPO) and the Microsoft Power Platform; and the PoolParty taxonomy application used to tag CRS content.

Point 2) The contractor shall continue to host, operate, and maintain the existing AWS hosting environment for Development, Test, Staging and Production environments as follows:

Plan ID Number: 2026-CRS-0021

Form Updated 12/10/2025

PART 3 CONTRACTING OFFICER DETERMINATIONS & CERTIFICATION

8. Efforts to Solicit from As Many Potential Sources As Practicable Unless a justification is based on FAR 6.302-2, Unusual and compelling urgency, contracting officers shall post justifications for other than full and open competition, including brand name justifications, to the Contract Opportunities website on sam.gov (or eBuy for Brand Name Justifications under FAR Part 8) prior to requesting a proposal or otherwise entering into negotiations.

Advance notice will be published in sam.gov for 15 days before a contract is awarded. FAR 5.203(a).

Advance or concurrent notice will be published in sam.gov for a reasonable time for commercial items FAR 5.203(a) and 12.204(b).

Advance notice will not be published because the action meets the following FAR exception:

Notice would compromise national security. FAR 5.202(a)(1).

Unusual and compelling urgency; notice period would seriously injure Government. FAR 5.202(a)(2).

Expressly authorized or required to be made through another Government agency. FAR 5.202(a)(4).

Order will be placed against an IDIQ contract awarded under FAR 16.5. FAR 5.202(a)(6).

Order will be placed against GSA schedule or other competitively-awarded contract. FAR 5.202(a)(11).

Other:

Advance notice will not be published per 41 U.S.C. § 6101; see attached deviation from the FAR per LCR 7-210 § 3.A.

We made the following efforts to interest potential sources in this award: None

9. Listing of Sources That Expressed Interest in Writing

The following sources expressed interest in this award: None

10. Additional Information

The following additional information is relevant to this justification and approval: A copy of the Justification and Approval will be posted on SAM.gov, before entering into negotiations, in accordance with LC06.305(a).

11. Contracting Officer Determination that Price Is Fair and Reasonable As explained in detail below, I have determined that the prices for this contracting action are fair and reasonable based on comparison of the prices to the following (see FAR 15.404-1(b)(2)):

Historical prices paid by the Government Published competitive price lists

Prices obtained through market research Other: Prices obtained through competitive proposals

The following analysis (based on attached pricing information) supports my determination: Pricing will be requested directly from Squirro. Squirro will be asked to confirm that their quoted prices are their published list prices for their software.

12. Contracting Officer Determination of Responsibility Checked System for Award Management (or will check in the case of competitive proposals for a brand name product)

13. Contracting Officer Determination of Best Value I have determined that this action represents the best value to the Government because: Squirro is the only offeror consequences outlined in Section 5 above, while granting the Library sufficient time to locate, procure, and implement a replacement. Accordingly, awarding directly to Squirro represents the best value to the Government.

Plan ID Number: 2026-CRS-0021

Form Updated 12/10/2025

Part 4 Competition Advocate Approval (Required for actions valued at greater than $900,000)

Approved. Based on the information, determinations, and certifications provided by the program office and the contracting officer, and in accordance with the instructions below, I approve contracting without competition for this requirement.

Option periods: No Yes, six months through 9/27/2027

Not Approved. As explained below, I do not approve contracting without competition for this requirement.

Comments or instructions:

________________________ Assist/Assoc General Counsel

Name Title

Signature

Date