LoadRunner Maintenance Renewal_JA_Redacted.pdf

Control Number: VA-24-00046413

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

Office of Procurement, Acquisition and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, New Jersey 07724

2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for a firm-fixed price (FFP) delivery order (DO) issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solution for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for the renewal of maintenance support for VA-owned brand name Open Text Micro Focus LoadRunner Software (LoadRunner software), which is used for testing by the Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS).

3. Description of Supplies or Services: The VA, Office of Information and Technology (OI&T), requires the renewal of the associated maintenance agreement of VA-owned LoadRunner software in support of the Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS). This proposed action shall provide continued maintenance and support for the LoadRunner software licenses for the existing VA-owned LoadRunner software inventory, which includes 16,000 – LoadRunner Enterprise (LRE) Web 2.0 Protocol Bundle, 5000 – LRE Database, 500 – LRE Java and 1- LRE Foundation Entitlement software licenses currently owned by VA. The VBMS Corporate System is a mission critical application, which is sponsored by the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) and supports the following business lines:

Compensation, Pension and Fiduciary Services. Open Text Micro Focus LoadRunner was originally Hewlett Packard (HP) owned, then in September of 2017, Micro Focus merged with HP and on January 31, 2023, Open Text acquired Micro Focus International. The LoadRunner software is an Integrated Performance and Load Testing software that provides VBMS the ability to support test administration, set up, scripting, execution and reporting. The software has the capability of identifying system performance degradation levels and failure levels due to system load/volume. LoadRunner software allows VBMS to detect bottlenecks before VBMS software application deployments and allows users to obtain an accurate picture of end-to-end system performance to ensure that the VA application meets specified performance requirements.

The software maintenance shall consist of all manufacturer-released software updates, patches, and versions. Additionally, the maintenance shall also include access to the manufacturer’s approved support resources, such as help-desk and consultation services for the purposes of resolving problems, issues, and questions concerning the existing LoadRunner software. This brand name software maintenance and support must be renewed on a yearly basis. The maintenance and support under this proposed action will provide the most up to date integrated performance and load testing capabilities for VBMS applications.

Open Text Micro Focus LoadRunner Control Number: VA-24-00046413 Maintenance Renewal

This action is for the renewal of maintenance support only. No new software licenses are being purchased under this acquisition. The period of performance for this effort is a 12-month base period plus two (2) 12-month option periods, if exercised. The total estimated cost of the proposed action, including options, is .

4. Statutory Authority: Pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 16.505(a)(4), the following brand name requirement is being justified and approved as an exception to fair opportunity under the statutory authority of Section 41 U.S.C.

4106(c)(2) as implemented by FAR Subpart 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B), entitled “Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized.”

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based on market research, as described in Section 8 of this document, it was determined that limited competition is viable among authorized resellers for the maintenance and support for the VA-owned LoadRunner software licenses. VBMS ensures that its applications perform as efficiently as possible in production use and provides a leadership role in pre-production testing at the system platform level. In order for VBMS to perform the pre-production testing, it’s necessary to use various Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) software products within the testing process.

LoadRunner Software is integral to the testing process and without it VBMS would not be able to adequately gauge the performance of software products prior to their release into a production environment. VBMS has been utilizing this product in its test lab since its original procurement of LoadRunner software licenses in Fiscal Year 2012 and has invested significant resources into both its implementation and in the training of staff. No other brand software is capable of integrating with the current LoadRunner testing software, which communicates through source code based on Open Text proprietary data. No other brand software is compatible with the currently fielded LoadRunner testing software platform. Additionally, the current Open Text testing software communicates through source code based on Open Text proprietary data. No other software can provide this communication capability without this source code.

VA owns LoadRunner software licenses, which are proprietary to Open Text.

Software maintenance is currently required for these licenses. Software support and maintenance are needed to ensure all versions and updates to the load testing software continue to operate successfully. Therefore, only the brand name technical support services provided by Open Text or an authorized reseller can fulfill all of the Government’s requirements. The estimated duplicated cost of replacing the current LoadRunner software solution and infrastructure entirely would be .

This estimate is based on previous acquisition history for software as well as the cost of engineering design, management, and the deployment of the original solution. This cost does not account for the maintenance and support that would also be necessary for any replacement software solution. Additionally, deploying a replacement testing infrastructure would take an anticipated one year to reconfigure and implement, which would delay critical testing and releases for the VBMS software.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in Section 8 of this document. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government’s requirements. It was determined that limited competition is anticipated among authorized resellers for this brand name item. In accordance with FAR 5.301 and 16.505(b)(2), this action will be synopsized at award on the System for Award Management Contract Opportunities website and the justification will be made publicly available within 14 days of award. Additionally, this justification will be provided with the solicitation to all on the NASA SEWP V GWAC.

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 competed.

8. Market Research: The Government’s technical experts conducted market research in January 2024 to ascertain if sources other than Open Text or authorized resellers could meet VA needs. Similar software reviewed included IBM Rationale Performance Tester and NeoLoad. Though these products provided similar services, none of these products could provide maintenance to the current LoadRunner software licenses’ inventory. The Government’s technical experts found that only the brand name support services, to include maintenance and software upgrades, from Open Text or an authorized Open Text reseller are compatible with the existing testing software platform. No other brand of software products reviewed for support and maintenance can meet the Government’s compatibility requirements as previously discussed. Other sources that provide similar technical support services do not have access to Open Text’s proprietary technical data which is required in order to integrate within the existing architecture and provide the required software updates and releases and associated technical support as described in Section 5 of this justification.

As a result of the above, the Contract Specialist conducted additional market research in March 2024 by utilizing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) Market Research Tool by searching for the provider listed within the Product Description. The search revealed that there are 114 contract holders that are resellers for the brand name Open Text Micro Focus LoadRunner software maintenance including 35 SDVOSBs, 2 VOSBs, 7 Historically Under-Utilized Business Zones, 23 Women-Owned Small Businesses, 25 Small Businesses, and 22 Large Businesses. Furthermore, NASA SEWP has a dynamic catalog where line items can be added based on customer requests provided the required item or service is within the scope of the NASA SEWP V contract suite; therefore, additional competition may be achieved.

Based on the information detailed above, there is a reasonable expectation that competition exists on the NASA SEWP V GWAC within SDVOSBs for the brand name Open Text Micro Focus LoadRunner maintenance and support. Therefore, given that there is a reasonable expectation of competition between at least two capable SDVOSBs, it has been determined by the Contracting Officer that the subject Request for Quote (RFQ) will be released as an SDVOSB set-aside under the existing NASA SEWP V contract vehicle, under the Value-Added Reseller NAICS code 541519.

9. Other Facts: None.

Advocate for Competition Approval

In my role as procuring activity Advocate for Competition, based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the acquisition for the renewal of maintenance support for the VA-owned brand name Open Text Micro Focus LoadRunner software on an other than fair opportunity basis pursuant to the authority cited in Section 4 above, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.