36C10A19C0008-001.pdf

COBOL-IT Annual Software Maintenance Control Number TAC-19-54737

Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Procurement Acquisition and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center 1701 Director’s Blvd.

Austin, Texas 78744

2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for a firm-fixed-priced purchase order to ESI Services, LLC, a small business.

3. Description of Supplies or Services: VA, Office of Information and Technology, Information and Technology Operations and Services, Infrastructure Operations (IO) has a requirement for COBOL-IT Complier Suite plus Run Time Software Enterprise SUN SPARC annual software maintenance. The software maintenance is needed to allow IO to receive software upgrades and updates, to include major releases, point releases, service releases and security releases on a quarterly basis, or within 48 hours in cases that a high-risk vulnerability fix becomes available. The upgrades and updates that this software maintenance provides are required to ensure the software remains operational and necessary for IO to be able to operate successfully. The period of performance will be from October 1, 2019, through September 30, 2020, plus two 12-month option periods.

4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C.3304(a)(1) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 6.302-1 entitled, "Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements".

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited: ESI Services, LLC, is the only source for the required annual software maintenance. The manufacturer of VA’s perpetual licenses of COBOL-IT Complier Suite plus Run Time Software Enterprise SUN SPARC software is COBOL-IT, located at 231 Rue, Saint- Honore, 75001 Paris, France, and COBOL-IT has designated only one North American distributor: ESI Services, LLC, P.O. Box 15888, Tallahassee, FL 32317. The current IO infrastructure is based on existing COBOL-IT software and VA requires support compatible with the existing infrastructure protocols and functionality for continued operational availability. COBOL-IT provides compilers for file migration that are switch-compatible (makes the files compatible across applications without the need for software solutions and licensing agreements) with the previous vendor, minimizing any rework needed in the hundreds of files used to build COBOL programs. Only COBOL-IT can provide the necessary software updates because of the propriety source code required to develop and implement software updates. Acquisition of a different product, even if another

COBOL-IT Annual Software Maintenance Control Number TAC-19-54737 one existed with qualifications that met VA's standard functional needs, would require multiple support costs:

• IO would need to purchase new software licenses, as no other software is compatible with or interoperable with the existing COBOL-IT proprietary database structures, protocols, and software application programming interfaces;

• Use of another product requires a full migration which will require a dedicated release cycle and a full regression and performance test; and

• Any change to COBOL code will impact all VBA applications as the COBOL code provides core services used by most VBA applications such as SHARE and CSUM.

Therefore, only COBOL-IT’s North American Distributor, ESI Services, LLC, can provide the software maintenance that meets the Government's requirements.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in the market research section of this document. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government’s requirements. There is no competition anticipated for this acquisition. Additionally, the proposed action will be synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities Page in accordance with FAR 5.201. Any proposals that are received shall be evaluated.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: The Government will continue to conduct market research to ascertain if there are changes in the marketplace that would enable future actions to be fully competed.

8. Market Research. The Government's technical experts conducted market research in March 2019, by communicating directly with the following competitors of COBOL-IT: . Both companies confirmed that they are unable to provide maintenance for the COBOL-IT software. In addition, ESI Services, LLC, was contacted on August 13, 2019, and provided a signed letter stating that they are the sole distributor of COBOL-IT products and services and the only company certified to provide the necessary software maintenance by COBOL-IT. On August 19, 2019, COBOL-IT corroborated ESI Services’ statement confirming in another signed letter that ESI Services, LLC, is the only authorized distributor and service provider for COBOL-IT products in North America, and there are zero other resellers. Based on these market research efforts, the Government's technical experts have determined that only the ESI Services software maintenance can meet all of VA's needs. Therefore, this will be a sole source action on the open market via the Federal Business Opportunities pages.

9. Other Facts: N/A