CONTROL NUMBER VA-26-00065858

LIMITED-SOURCES JUSTIFICATION

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, NJ 07724

2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for a 12-month, firm-fixed price task order for electronic Discovery (eDiscovery) Software as a Service (SaaS) and maintenance services to ensure continuity of operations for federally mandated eDiscovery services. This proposed action is being conducted under the authority of the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Program; the proposed action will be awarded under the General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) Contract 47QSMA19D08NU to Casepoint, LLC, 7900 Tysons One Place, Suite 225, McLean, Virginia, 22102-5977.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VA Office of General Counsel (OGC) and Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection (OAWP) requires an eDiscovery system to effectively preserve, collect, process, review, analyze, and produce Electronically Stored Information in compliance with legal obligations under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP). The proposed action for eDiscovery SaaS and maintenance is a continuation of the existing services provided by Casepoint, LLC being performed under 47QSMA19D08NU 36C10B21F0234. The required services are essential to ongoing Agency operations and directly support VA's delivery of benefits to Veterans and the public. The need to continue the eDiscovery SaaS and maintenance services for Veterans, VA, OGC, OAWP and the public is critical. The eDiscovery SaaS and maintenance services being performed under 47QSMA19D08NU 36C10B21F0234 expires on August 12, 2026. The proposed action is for the continuation of existing services on 47QSMA19D08NU 36C10B21F0234 and does not include any new, or added, services.

The period of performance shall be a 12-month task order beginning August 13, 2026 to August 12, 2027, and includes 4 optional tasks for transition out support, additional active storage, additional nearline storage, and additional users. The total estimated value of the proposed action is , inclusive of the 4 optional tasks.

4. Authority: This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the MAS Program. The specific authority providing for a limited source award is Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulation Overhaul (RFO) VA Deviation 8.401(b) and General Services Administration Manual / Regulation (GSAM/R) 538.7104-3(b)(1)(iii), “The order should be issued on a sole source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it is a logical follow-on to an FSS order already issued on a competitive basis.”

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Effective May 4, 2026, the Agency realigned the eFOIA, eDiscovery, and Digital Collection Services programs, eDiscovery Contract CONTROL NUMBER VA-26-00065858 consolidating their functional responsibilities under the OGC. As a result of this restructuring, the previously separate eFOIA and eDiscovery acquisitions must now be combined into a single follow-on procurement that reflects the consolidated program requirements. The consolidation requires development of a unified Performance Work Statement (PWS), revised independent government cost estimate, updated market research reflecting the consolidated scope, and a new competitive acquisition strategy..

A 12-month order is required to permit the consolidated competitive procurement.

Casepoint possesses specialized qualifications that no other source can presently match without an unacceptable disruption to essential VA operations. Specifically, the system supported under this requirement operates within an established Authority to Operate (ATO) granted under the VA Assessment and Authorization (A&A) process pursuant to the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA), 44 U.S.C. § 3551 et seq., and implementing guidance under the National Institue of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-37 (Risk Management Framework) and NIST SP 800-53 (Security and Privacy Controls). Casepoint’s personnel currently hold the active background investigations, Personal Identity Verification credentials, and system-specific access authorizations required to operate within the existing accredited security boundary. Transitioning operations to a new contractor prior to the new competitive award would require Re-baselining or reauthorization of the ATO to reflect the new operating environment and personnel, a process that, under VA Handbook 6500 series and current Office of Information and Technology A&A timelines, typically requires six (6) to twelve (12) months to complete; Initiation and adjudication of background investigations for new contractor personnel, with associated lead times;

Reassessment of system security controls, Plan of Action and Milestones continuity, and continuous monitoring obligations. The result is that no alternate source could assume operations within the existing accredited security boundary without creating a gap in compliance with FISMA and VA security policy.

The new requirements solicitation to compete the consolidated requirements along with other Agency eDiscovery requirements will be issued, in Fiscal Year 2027 with a planned award date in the fourth quarter of Fiscal Year 2027.

The data managed under the predecessor contract is currently maintained in a proprietary file format associated with the incumbent's tooling. Migration to the consolidated follow-on environment will require conversion of these files from the existing proprietary format into the format required by the consolidated target environment. Casepoint possesses unique knowledge of: The structure, schema, and undocumented dependencies of the proprietary source format; The data integrity, validation, and reconciliation procedures necessary to ensure that converted files retain fidelity, auditability, and chain of custody for records that may be subject to statutory retention or production requirements; The interim data maintenance activities that must continue to ensure that the data set remains current, complete, and ready for conversion at the point of follow-on award. Currently, VA has 330 terabytes of encrypted data in Casepoint’s eDiscovery platform that would need to be converted into a concordance format and loaded into a new system. This would take six months, based on decrypting data for active cases and moving that data into the new system in order to litigate cases on an as needed basis. Average size per case is 350 gigabytes, and VA is legally required to keep them, depending on type, up to 10 years. Moving data from one system to another risks data corruption and loss. This is due to decryption, migration, and re-encryption to the new system. There’s also a risk of loss of chain of custody documentation, where the data could be challenged as legally questionable. If a new vendor was selected, VA would need to continue paying Casepoint, LLC during the data transition phase, as noted above, and to avoid data corruption and loss.

OGC and Office of Accountability and OAWP require an eDiscovery system to effectively preserve, collect, process, review, analyze, and produce Electronically Stored Information (ESI) in compliance with legal obligations under the FRCP. VA OGC requires the capability to meet time sensitive requests to process, upload and analyze millions of ESI records as required to meet time sensitive court ordered deadlines for productions in litigation, investigations, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and Congressional Oversight requests to minimize risks of court sanctions and costly unmerited settlements.

Engaging an alternate contractor would not eliminate the need for Casepoint’s involvement in conversion; it would instead introduce a third party into a workflow that already requires the incumbent's participation, increasing cost, schedule risk, and the risk of data loss or corruption.

The services are essential to Agency operations. A lapse in service would result in interruption of eDiscovery response timelines under FRCP, with resulting noncompliance risk and direct mission impact. Bridging with the incumbent for 12 months is the lowest risk means of preserving continuity, maintaining ATO compliance, and positioning the data set for orderly conversion into the consolidated follow-on environment.

For the reasons stated above — specifically the active ATO and accredited security boundary, the lead time required for reauthorization and personnel adjudication, and the incumbent's unique knowledge of the proprietary source data format required for the conversion to the follow-on environment — only one source is presently capable of providing the required services at the level of quality required.

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. In accordance with GSAM/R 538.7104-3(b)(3)(i) the justification will be made publicly available on the Contracting Opportunities Page within 14 days of award.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: No barriers to future competition are anticipated.

The current effort for eDiscovery SaaS and maintenance services was competed. As a result of the change in acquisition strategy, a new enterprise-level requirement will be awarded on a competitive basis.

8. Market Research: Market research was conducted by OSS and SCLA for eDiscovery in April 2026, which included and RFI. There were 22 responses received and all were reviewed against the requirements. The market research showed that there are multiple vendors capable of performing these requirements, but all, besides Casepoint, would require months to onboard and then an extended migration period and extensive retraining to complete the transition. Therefore, in the interest of economy and efficiency this logical follow-on order is being awarded until the new consolidated contract is competitively solicited in 2027.

9. Other Facts: None.

Technical/Requirements Certification

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

07/01/2026

Office of Information Technology

Department of Veterans Affairs

Best Value Determination I hereby determine that the proposed contract action will represent the best value to the Government consistent with FAR Overhaul Deviation 8.401 and GSAM/R 538.71. GSA has already determined that the prices on the MAS contract are fair and reasonable.

Further price analysis be performed by comparing the quote to the Independent Government Cost Estimate. Additionally, price discounts will be sought.

07/01/2026

Technology Acquisition Center

Department of Veterans Affairs

Contracting Officer Certification

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

07/02/2026

Advocate for Competition Approval

In my role as procuring activity Advocate for Competition, based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the acquisition of a 12-month task order to Casepoint, LLC for the continuation of the eDiscovery SaaS and maintenance services 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 property and services herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.