GS-35F-0047S-012.pdf

VHAPM Part 808.405-6 Limiting Sources Attachment 2: Request for Limited Sources Justification Format >SAT

VHAPM Part 808.405-6 Limiting Sources Page 1 of 8 Original Date: 08/30/2017 Revision 01 Eff Date: 04/23/2018

LIMITED SOURCES JUSTIFICATION

ORDER >SAT

FAR PART 8.405-6

Acquisition Plan Action ID: 36C776-19-AP-2740

1. Contracting Activity: Program Contracting Activity Central (PCAC), 6150 Oak Tree Blvd, Suite 300, Independence, OH 44131

2. Description of Action: This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple-

Award Schedule Program (41 U.S.C. 251 and 40 U.S.C. 501). New requirement, base plus two (2) 12 month option years

The VHA Workforce Management and Consulting – Workforce Management (WMC-WFM) is seeking a federal benefits retirement solution. Purchase is for unlimited licenses and GRB web-based hosting license. Government Retirement & Benefits (GRB) is an application that provides inference calculation of Federal Government employee retirement and other benefits per the latest applicable laws governing CSRS and FERS retirement programs. Additionally, the application generates approved versions of form required for processing that meet standards and guidance set forth by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

GRB Platform Unlimited Access is an application that provides inference calculation of Federal Government employee retirement and other benefits per the latest applicable laws governing CSRS and FERS retirement programs. The application generates approved versions of form required for processing information that meet standards and guidance set forth by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). WMC-WFM has the need of a comprehensive retirement benefits calculator tool for federal benefits personnel. The calculator software is used for computing benefits and counseling employees under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), the Federal Thrift Savings Plan and the Social Security program.

Order against: FSS Contract Number: GS-35F-0047S Name of Proposed Contractor: Government Retirement & Benefits Inc. (GRB Inc.)

Street Address: 330 John Carlyle Street, Suite 600 City, State, Zip: Alexandria, VA 22314 Phone: 703-461-9100

3. Description of Supplies or Services:

WMC-WFM has a requirement for a commercial calculator that is web-based with capabilities to accurately compute various complex estimates needed in assisting employees with their retirement decisions.

To achieve the goal of a fully integrated retirement and benefits system, VA plans to procure a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Federal Retirement Administration solution that meets the goals https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2009-title41/pdf/USCODE-2009-title41-chap4-subchapIV-sec251.pdf https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2011-title40/pdf/USCODE-2011-title40-subtitleI-chap5-subchapI-sec501.pdf

VHAPM Part 808.405-6 Limiting Sources Page 2 of 8 Original Date: 08/30/2017 Revision 01 Eff Date: 04/23/2018 and objectives of the HR Line of Business (HRLoB). The Platform should be offered on a subscription basis which allows unrestricted access to all the features and functionality which will automate the entire retirement and benefits lifecycle from date of hire to include uploading all benefits documents, providing estimates, computations, analysis, reporting, tools, and forms to completed retirement documents submitted to Defense Finance and Accounting Services (DFAS) and OPM. The system shall comply with all VA, VHA, DFAS, and OPM requirements for benefits and retirements and system security requirements. The solution shall also demonstrate benefits and retirement efficiencies and cost savings from implementation of an electronic benefits and retirement system.

The Contractor shall provide a full platform with an integrated suite of web-based software modules specifically for the Federal security, which combines tools and capabilities for human resource specialists, managers, and employees into a common system. The Platform must contain a flexible bi-directional interface sued to communities with VA’s payroll/human resource information system (HRIS), third-party providers, and any outside parties as necessary.

The Platform must have certification and accreditation by meeting the stringent security requirements of FIPS 199 and NIST 800-60. This Platform provides HR Specialists with a suite of tools for assisting employees with their retirement and benefits decision in which it increases productivity and lowers cost by providing the framework for organizing and managing a high-volume caseload.

The Platform must capable of using Personally Identifiable Information (PII), which will be provided through the Defense Finance and Accounting Services (DFAS) payroll system. DFAS serves as the data collection for the employment and compensation data. Only pertinent PII that is necessary to accurately computer retirement estimates will be extracted from DFAS.

The service shall have robust security where any system downtime shall not exceed 24 hours. If system downtime is going to persist beyond 24 hours, the Contractor shall notify the Government of scheduled system downtime in writing. The service shall be accessible to users 24/7. Any technical issue shall be resolved within 48 hours. If the issue is going to persist beyond 48 hours, the Contractor shall notify the Government in writing.

Subscription for this retirement calculator will grants users access to the following features:

Full and Part-Time Retirement Annuity Estimates

- Optional

- Involuntary/Early

- Deferred

- Disability

- Survivor Benefits

- Special Groups (LEO, Firefighters, ATCs)

- Phased Retirement

- VA Title-38

Other Retirement Computations

- FERS Annuity Supplement

VHAPM Part 808.405-6 Limiting Sources Page 3 of 8 Original Date: 08/30/2017 Revision 01 Eff Date: 04/23/2018

- FERCCA Election Comparison

- Alternative Form of Annuity

- Supplemental Annuity for Reemployed Annuitants

- CSRS Voluntary Contributions

- Part-Time Service Proration Factors

- Severance Pay

- Lump-Sum Annual Leave Payment

- Divorce/Court Orders – Former Spouse

Service Credit Computations

- Civilian Deposits

- Civilian Redeposits

- Post-1956 Military Service Deposits

- Peace Corp/VISTA Service Deposits

Service Analysis

Retirement Coverage Determination

- Creditability of Service Determination

- FERCCA Determination Average Salary Computations

- High-3 Salary

- Breaks in Service

- Less Than 3-Year Period

- Part-Time Employment Service Computation Dates

- Retirement SCD

- Leave/RIF SCD

- TSP SCD

- Agency SCD

Social Security Estimates

- Retirement Benefits

- Survivor Benefits

- Disability Benefits

- Amount of CSRS Offset

- Windfall Elimination Penalty (WEP)

TSP Tools

- Single/Joint Life Annuities

- Withdrawal Estimates

- Account Balance Projection

- Loan Calculator

Create reports for various reports to include: retirement analyses, including retirement estimates, annuity estimates, service computation dates, average salary, part-time proration factor, Thrift

VHAPM Part 808.405-6 Limiting Sources Page 4 of 8 Original Date: 08/30/2017 Revision 01 Eff Date: 04/23/2018

Savings Plan, Social Security, military service, and civilian deposit/redeposits. The report displayed on screen shall look identical when being printed on paper and can be saved in PDF format.

Annuity estimates shall be computed with the utmost accuracy which includes taking into account the applicable reductions and deductions from their gross monthly annuity computation.

The reductions and deductions from the gross monthly annuity shall include calculations for health benefits, life insurance, dental and vision premiums, federal tax, survivor benefits, unpaid deposits/redeposits, alternative annuity, and early retirement age.

GRB Full Platform shall provide access to produce forms and come with an integrated forms package containing a variety of retirement and benefits related forms. Forms will automatically pre-populate with employee information saving significant time and minimizing manual data entry.

GRB has been the retirement calculator used throughout the VA for and has the historical records for previous estimates. The continued use of GRB will allow the VA to utilize previously developed GRB estimates by inserting new variables such as the dates of retirement and any changes in salary without having to create a new profile and enter personally identifiable information. This acquisition will also allow the VA to maintain the current level of accurate and efficient estimates.

The need is for a centralized requirement platform to meet the requirement for the VA’s Retirement Shared Service Office (RSSO). Approval for RSSO was on December 6, 2018.

(4) IDENTIFY THE AUTHORITY AND SUPPORTING RATIONALE (see 8.405- 6(a)(1)(i)(A), (B), and (C) or 8.405-6(b)), AND IF APPLICABLE, A DEMONSTRATION

OF THE PROPOSED CONTRACTOR’S UNIQUE QUALIFICATIONS TO PROVIDE

THE REQUIRED SUPPLY OR SERVICE.

Only one source is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services are unique or highly specialized; GRB is an application that provides inference calculation of Federal Government employee retirement and other benefits per the latest applicable laws governing CSRS and FERS retirement programs. GRB is the only vendor that can meet all of the government needs and also currently registered on the TRM.

(5) DESCRIBE WHY YOU BELIEVE THE ORDER REPRESENTS THE BEST VALUE

CONSISTENT WITH FAR 8.404(d) TO AID THE CONTRACTING OFFICER IN

MAKING THIS BEST VALUE DETERMINATION:

As part of the VA Modernization effort, Human Resources functions currently spread across many VA HR offices are being consolidated under single “Shared Services” offices. All retirement functions will be consolidated first under WMC-WFM’s new “Retirement Shared https://www.acquisition.gov/sites/default/files/current/far/html/Subpart%208_4.html#wp1091891 https://www.acquisition.gov/sites/default/files/current/far/html/Subpart%208_4.html#wp1091891

VHAPM Part 808.405-6 Limiting Sources Page 5 of 8 Original Date: 08/30/2017 Revision 01 Eff Date: 04/23/2018

Services Office” (RSSO), more than likely followed by a benefit’s functional consolidation under the same RSSO office in the near future. This will ensure VA has a structure that provides efficient, consistent, accurate, timely and measurable Retirement and Benefits services that meet the needs of management, supervisors, employees, and HR staff in a cost-effective manner while leveraging current resources. On December 6, 2018, the VA Revolving Funds Board approved the creation of RSSO under the Franchise Funds model.

The GRB application has been in use at WMC-WFM and throughout VA HR offices for many years. This application provides end users with inference calculation of federal government employee retirement and other benefits according to the latest applicable laws governing CSRS and FERS retirement programs.

GRB is currently in use by more than 150 facilities in the VA and more than 300 HR Retirement and 286 Benefits HR staff members. We estimate we would lose at least one week (40 hours) of production time per employee to train on a new application. The estimated cost of that lost production is approximately $457,600. Loss of production time due to familiarization on a new application is estimated to be an additional 80 hours per employee resulting in a cost of approximately $572,000. The VA currently has approximately 40,699 employee records/data in the GRB system that would be lost if the RSSO is required to seek a new servicing platform from a different vendor. The time to recreate these documents is estimated at 241,709 hours with an estimated cost of $262,868,961.78. These records consist of critical data from the employee’s Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF) which may include federal employment/service history, military time, determinations of whether the employee was full-time or part time during specific periods, status of Federal Employee Government Life Insurance (FEGLI), Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB), high three years of salary, etc. Once the data is entered GRB it stays until its changed.

Item

Time to

Task (min)

% of Total Time

Number of

Actions Cost per item Total Cost Total mins

Total hours to replicate

MSD/CSD,

Dep/Redep 35 2% 813.38 $136.28 $110,847.43 2,8468.3 474.47 Voluntary Estimate 80 5% 2,033.45 $311.50 $633,419.68 16,2676 2,711.27 Disability Estimate 120 7% 2,846.83 $467.25 $1,330,181.32 341,619.6 5,693.66 Voluntary Retirement 240 14% 5,693.66 $934.50 $ 5,320,725.27 1,366,478.4 2,2774.64 Disability Retirement 225 14% 5,693.66 $876.09 $4,988,158.59 1,281,073.5 2,1351.23 Death-in- Service 480 29% 11,794.01 $1,869.00 $ 22,043,004.69 5,661,124.8 94,352.08

FERCCA 480 29% 11,794.01 $1,869.00 $ 22,043,004.69 5,661,124.8 94,352.08

VHAPM Part 808.405-6 Limiting Sources Page 6 of 8 Original Date: 08/30/2017 Revision 01 Eff Date: 04/23/2018

Totals 1,660 100% 40,669.00 $6,463.62 $262,868,961.78 14,502,565.4 241,709.42

GRB is an application that provides inference calculation of Federal Government employee retirement and other benefits per the latest applicable laws governing CSRS and FERS retirement programs. The application generates approved versions of form required for processing information that meet standards and guidance set forth by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The calculator software is used for computing benefits and counseling employees under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), the Federal Thrift Savings Plan and the Social Security program.

When an employee requests a retirement action; such as military service/civilian deposit, service computation date (SCD), retirement or estimate, the HR Specialist will conduct a review of their eOPF then enter that data into GRB (storing it for future use which can be used repeatedly).

Regardless of when an employee submits their retirement paperwork or wants another estimate or to make a deposit, the HR Specialist simply does another review and updates the data in GRB.

Without GRB Full Platform we will have to do a full review and generate the data manually each time. This is not only time consuming but increases the error rate. The system prevents mistakes by providing red flags when rules are being broken. The rules are built in for the different retirement plans, important dates, buying back time, etc. and more; thereby preventing errors.

GRB Full Platform also allows the HR Specialist to provide benefits information to include Social Security Estimates, retirement benefits, survivor benefits, disability benefits, amount of CSRS Offset, Windfall Elimination Penalty (WEP). Ability to access TSP Tools which include Single/Joint Life Annuities, Withdrawal Estimates, Account Balance Projection, and Loan Calculator. The GRB Platform is the only known customized and distinctive software system capable of providing accurate retirement and benefit estimates for the Civil Service (CS) system, which include the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). GRB Full Platform is a self-service system web-based application that will allow VA employees to have 24/7 access to personal benefits and retirement information, user retirement calculators to perform “what-if” scenarios to assist in planning for the future, review a Total Compensation Statement, complete electronic forms to print for submission, personalized benefit pages, resource library, self-service calculators, benefits/payroll transactions, electronic retirement application, document loading, request-response system, view benefit and retirement course that are designed to reach employees at all stages of their careers.

The GRB Full Platform is a complete Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Federal Retirement and Benefits Administration solution that meets the goals and objectives for HR. Offered on a subscription basis for unlimited use and developed specifically for the Federal sector, the GRB Platform combines tools and capabilities for human resource specialists, managers, and employees into a common system. The GRB Platform contains a flexible bi-directional interface used to communicate with an Agency’s payroll/human resource information system (HRIS), VHAPM Part 808.405-6 Limiting Sources Page 7 of 8 Original Date: 08/30/2017 Revision 01 Eff Date: 04/23/2018 third-party benefits providers, and any outside parties as necessary. Hosted in GRB’s data center, the GRB Platform has received certification and accreditation by meeting the stringent security requirements of FIPS 199 and NIST 800-60. This Platform also provides HR Specialists with a suite of tools for assisting employees with their retirement and benefits decision in which it increases productivity and lowers cost by providing the framework for organizing and managing a high-volume caseload.

A requirement exists from the Department of Veterans Affairs One-VA Technical Reference Model (One-VA TRM) that establishes a common vocabulary and structure for describing the information technology used to develop, operate, and maintain enterprise applications, including the Standards Profile and Product List, for supporting Office of Information Technology (OIT).

Technologies must be operated and maintained in accordance with Federal and Department security and privacy policies and guidelines. All Office of Information Technology (OIT) staff and contractors use http://trm.oit.va.gov/ to ensure all technologies, programs, and projects comply with a single TRM, see Memorandum WebCIMS #447341. GRB is on the TRM Approved List, http://trm.oit.va.gov/ToolPage.aspx?tid=5988.

GRB Full Platform is able to interface with the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), third-party PeopleSoft products such HR Smart, and is FEDRAMP certified..

(6) DESCRIBE THE MARKET RESEARCH CONDUCTED AMONG SCHEDULE

HOLDERS AND THE RESULTS OR A STATEMENT OF THE REASON MARKET

RESEARCH WAS NOT CONDUCTED:

Notice of Intent to Sole Source was posted on FBO.gov on May 23, 2019. As a result, one (1) response was received and determined to not be capable of performing. EconSys was deemed not capable because they aren’t on the VA’s TRM list of approved vendors and the solution they offered doesn’t meet the governments need.

Vendor Information Pages (VIP) was queried on June 19, 2019 in an attempt to locate Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB) concerns. The search produced 2156 results. There were 0 responses received.

Additionally, the previous market research efforts were also taken into consideration as the results of the market research have been determined to remain recent, relevant and accurate.

(7) ANY OTHER FACTS SUPPORTING THE JUSTIFICATION:

The Contracting Officer does not have a reasonable expectation of receiving at least two (2) offers from SDVOSB concerns and the award can be made at a fair and reasonable price.

Further, since there are no authorized resellers of the subscription, GRB is the only authorized distributor. Therefore, the “Rule of Two” has been considered, but is not able to be satisfied for this procurement.

(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 THE

SUPPLIES OR SERVICES IS MADE:

VHAPM Part 808.405-6 Limiting Sources Page 8 of 8 Original Date: 08/30/2017 Revision 01 Eff Date: 04/23/2018

For any subsequent acquisitions for services similar to this procurement, the Government will continue to conduct market research to locate potentially reasonably capable vendors.

(9) REQUIREMENTS CERTIFICATION: I certify that the requirement outlined in this justification is a Bona Fide Need of the Department of Veterans Affairs and that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in the justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge. I understand that processing of this limited sources justification restricts consideration of Federal Supply Schedule contractors to fewer than the number required by FAR Subpart 8.4.