GS-35F-0058N-003.pdf

Limited Source Justification (Prepared in accordance with FAR 8.405-6(c))

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

Office of Acquisition Operations Stragetic Acquisition Center

321 Ballenger Center Drive, Suite 125 Frederick, MD 21703

2. Description of Action Being Approved:

This acquisition is being conducted under the authority of the Multiple Award Schedule Program.

The proposed action is for a base year firm-fixed price (FFP) task order awarded to Envisage Technologies under its GSA Contract # GS-35F-0058N, with options for an additional four (4)-year period provision of the Acadis Readiness Suite, a COTS software solutions, as software as a service (Saas).

3. Description of Needed Supplies or Services:

The Acadis Readiness suite is a (Saas) solution that allows the VA Law Enforcement Training Center (LETC) to manage its traing and certifications, automate its academy operations in North Little Rock, Arkansas, deliver Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) 2004-compliant online learning courses and provides a uniform training environment that creates a lifelong learning for the Department of Veterans Affairs law enforcement personnel.

The Acadis Readiness Suite is a comprehensive web-based training and certification management system designed to accurately track personnel, curriculum, training and certifications in on consolidated, legally defensible, enterprise-class database. Acadis was designed specifically for law enforcement organizatons to track the entire range of law enforcement training activities, including academic, physical skills, classroom and online learning.

The Acadis software modules required to meet the VA-LETC requirments include:

Acadis Training, Acadis Learning Management System, Acadis, Compliance, Acadis Scheduling, Acadis Registration/Online Registration, Acadis Housing, Acadis Testing/Online Testing, Acadis Documents, Acadis Performance Evaluations, Acadis Inventory, Acadis Surveys, Acadis In-service Portal, Acadis Person Portal and Acadis Workforce Portal, 4000 users.

The estimated value of the acquisition is as follows:

Base Yr. 9/30/18-9/29/19 Enterprise Bundle $224,640.00 Opt. Yr. 1 9/30/19-9/29/20 Enterprise Bundle $224,640.00 Opt. Yr. 2 9/30/20-9/29/21 Enterprise Bundle $224,640.00 Opt. Yr. 3 9/30/21-9/29/22 Enterprise Bundle $224,640.00 Opt. Yr. 4 9/30/22-9/29/23 Enterprise Bundle $224,640.00

IGCE: $1,123,200.00

4. Statutory Authority and Supporting Rationale:

Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(B), 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.

This is a brand name justification in support of FAR 1.105, Items Peculiar to One Manufacturer.

Extensive market research revealed that only one product, Acadis Readiness Suite, met all the requirments of the VA LETC with respect to managing curriculum, training, scheduling, testing, registration, certification, housing , compliance, instructor and resource availability, surveys and performance evaluation, and document generation, storage and retrieval. VA-LETC requires the training management solution to be comprehensive and web based; it must allow for the management of the entire lifecycle of training. Acasidness Readiness Suite serves as a centrl repository for personnl records and includes a web portal for secure training reporting (internal and external), delivery of SCORM 2004 compliant online learning contrent and registration by agencies and field offices.

The VA LETC implemented the Acadis Readiness Suite in 2013. The Acadis Readiness suite of product license and maintenance support provides a unique solution that is compatible with the existing systems and with current business needs. If another vendor is selected, the VA LETC would lose the past 4 years work and would have to begin integrating with new software again as well as being time and cost prohibitive. Training would be needed, as would time to come up to speed.

Through prior market research on SEWP, GSA and an open market search for COTS software that could meet the need, only Acadis was found to be a suitable solution.

A SEWP RFI to all SEWP vendors resulted in no proposed solutions. An RFI on GSA resulted in the proposal of the Acadis Readiness Suite, which upon review, was determined to be a suitable solutions for the VA LETC. Open market research revealed four possible COTS solutions:

Cornerstone, Mindflash, NetDimension and Unit 4 Business Software. Of these options, Cornerstonf, Mindflash and NetDimension all lacked the abilti to meet multiple requirements required by the VA-LECT solution (student registration, housing, administration, lifetime training record, instructor scheduling, etc.). At the same time, no additional module are available to make the features active. Extensive and cost prohibitive software development would need to be funded to make any of these viable solutions. While Unit 4 Business Software appeared to have all fo the required elements, a point of contact for Unit 4 indicated that “Unit 4’s student information system would not likely be a good fit for the LETC (as it) typically work (s) with colleges and universities with over 2000 full-time staff and that Unit 4’s functionality is more geared towards the higher education model and their learning model versus training institutes.

Additionally an open market review of the top 10 Learning Mangement Systems (LMS) revealed that these solutions lacked the needed features and cannot be modified to meet the VA LETC’s need.

Features for the following were reviewed and it was determined that each of these could meet some of the requirement but not all. Talent LMS, Docebo, eFrong, Litmos LMS, Canvas, Bridge, iCims, Firmwater LMS, iSpring Learn, Mindflash.

The proposed source for the Acadiness Readinss Suite is Envisage Technologies Corporation, 101 West Kirkwood Avenue, Ste 200, Bloomington, IN 47404. Envisage Technologies is the exclusive developer and distributor of the Acadis solution set. As such, purchase of the Acadis Softawre Suite can only be made through Envisage. Envisage currently offers the COTS solution via its GSA Schedule GS-35F-0058B.

5. Best Value Determination:

See paragraph 10 below.

6. Market Research:

A Deputy Secretary Memorandum, Mandatory VA Use of NASA Solutions for Enterprise Wide Procurement (SEWP) IV Contracts, dated 2006 provides that SEWP IV contracts will be VA’s mandatory source for IT hardware and software.This contract vehicle, however is primarily available for the purchase of IT products (supplies) and other IT product based services secondary to the products). None the less, a market research request for a “Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) Training Manangement Solution. These services are considered to be commercially available. SAAS is considered by VA policy to be Non-IT.

Given the nature of the requirement, GSA IT Schedule 70, SIN 132-33 is the most appropriate for this acquisition. Most of the work under the contract involves licensing, set up and configuratoof web-based training and certification management system software. As such, a sources sougt RFQ (RFQ1281489) was posted to GSA eBuy on April 27, 2018 for a COTS Commercial Training Management System. Of all companies that received notice of the RFQ, one response was received from Envisage Technologies. In its response, Envisage proposed the use of the Acadis Readiness Suite software for the VA Law Enforcement Training Center and indicated that its software meets all salient characteristics that were identified in the sources sought notice.A review by the program office of the information presented by Envisage revealed that the software could meet the VA LETC’s requirement.

Based upon the market research performed on GSA thus far, it is expected that the rule of two will not be met as there are not at least two or more SDVOSBs anticipated to quote. Under 38 U.S.C. § 8127(d), when using competitive procedures, VA must set aside procurements for veteran-owned small businesses “if a contracting officer has a reasonable expectation that two or more small businesses owned and controlled by veterans will submit offers and that the award can be made at a fair and reasonable price that offers the best value to the United States.” As a result of the Market Research above, it has been determined that the Rule of two has not been met. Furthermore, there is not any anticipated competition for this requirement. As such, the requirement will be awarded on a sole source basis to Envisage Technologies as there is only one source.

7. Other Facts: Not Applicable

8. 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. The Government intends to conduct periodic market research to determine whether compatible systems become available, and the whether replacement costs become feasible. When (if) these occur, the

Government will compete future requirements. Additionally, FBO Special Notices will be used in the future to notify vendors in advance of upcoming requirements of the program.

9. Technical and Requirements Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included and form the basis for this justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Signature: ______________________ Date: ______________

10. Procuring Contracting Officer Certification: Based upon the facts within this justification, I hereby conclude and determine that the proposed order represents the best value (as defined in FAR 2.101) and results in the lowest overall cost alternative considering price, special features, administrative costs, and the potential system replacement impacts and costs to meet the Government's needs. In regard to pricing, GSA has alreadydetermined that the prices on the FSS contract to be fair and reasonable. Further price analysis, to include an analysis of proposed level of effort and mix of labor, will be conducted and subsequent negotiations held as necessary. Additionally, price discounts will be sought.

I additionally certify that 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 and belief.

Signature: ______________________ Date______________

Allen L. Smith, Contracting Officer

11. Justification Approval ($700K to $13.5M)

As Competition Advocate for the contracting activity, I have reviewed the foregoing justification and approve the justification for other than full and open competition pursuant to the authority cited in paragraph 4 above, subject to the availability of funds, and provided that the services herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

Clint Druk Date Deputy Director, Competition Advocate Strategic Acquisition Center - Frederick vacosmithall Typewritten Text 9/10/18