55CONS_LSJ_USSTRATCOM_Gartner__Redacted.pdf

Limited Sources Justification and Approval (J&A)

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

March 2018 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Page 2 of 5

I. Contracting Activity.

Department of the Air Force, 55th Contracting Squadron, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.

Contracting Officer: Theresa H. Bryant

II. Nature and/or description of the action being processed.

USSTRATCOM requests the issuance of a firm-fixed-price, sole source delivery order to Gartner, Inc., a large business utilizing DoD ESI BPA N66001-19-A-0049.

FY2020 3400 O&M funds will be used to fund this requirement.

The period of performance is estimated to be:

Base year: 15 Sep 2020 to 14 Sep 2021 Option 1: 15 Sep 2021 to 14 Sep 2022 Option 2: 15 Sep 2022 to 14 Sep 2023 Option 3: 15 Sep 2023 to 14 Sep 2024 Option 4: 15 Sep 2024 to 14 Sep 2025

An acquisition plan is not required because this action does not meet the threshold at Air Force Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (AFFARS) 5307.104-92 and will be awarded against an established DoD contract.

III. Description of supplies/services required to meet agency needs.

Data and Subscription Renewals (commercial licenses) - (all options) Consulting (commercial service)- Surge & Future Expansion (Government Populated Value) - Total Estimated Cost:

Data and Subscription Renewals:

a. Executive Programs Leadership Team Plus - Leader, QTY: 2, Unit of Measure: Each

b. Executive Programs Leadership Team Plus - Delegate, QTY: 1, Unit of Measure: Each

c. Executive Programs Leadership Team Plus - Partner, QTY: 4, Unit of Measure: Each

d. Executive Programs Leadership Team Plus - Advisor, QTY: 3, Unit of Measure: Each

e. Executive programs Leadership Team Plus - Cross Function, QTY: 2, Unit of Measure: Each

f. Technical Professionals - Department, QTY: 1, Unit of Measure: Each

g. Intensified Delivery Add On Days, QTY: 2, Unit of Measure: Each

h. Human Resources Leaders - Team, QTY: 2, Unit of Measure: Each

i. Enterprise IT Leadership Team Plus - Advisor Member, QTY: 2, Unit of Measure: Each

j. Enterprise IT Leaders - Individual Access Advisor, QTY: 1, Unit of Measure: Each

k. Enterprise IT Leadership Team - Leader, QTY: 1, Unit of Measure: Each

l. Enterprise IT Leadership Team - Cross Function, QTY: 1, Unit of Measure: Each

m. On-site Meetings Add-on days, QTY: 2, Unit of Measure: Each

n. Human Resources Leaders - Individual Access Advisor, QTY: 1, Unit of Measure: Each

Consulting:

Phase I - Data Shop Design - QTY: 1, Unit of Measure: Lump Sum

a. Gartner will deliver a draft data shop and target operating model design.

b. Gartner will deliver the final strategy and actionable roadmap for the data shop implementation.

Phase II - Data Capability Accelerator - QTY: 1, Unit of Measure: Lump Sum

a. Gartner will provide hands on support for select roadmap initiatives and/or pilot activities (i.e. artifact development).

b. Gartner will coach and transfer knowledge and expertise to USSTRATCOM in support of strategy roadmap execution.

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Phase III - Organization Capability Assessment - QTY: 1, Unit of Measure: Lump Sum

a. Gartner will consolidate all IT Org & Capability Gap Analysis results

b. Gartner will develop IT Org & Capability recommendations to mitigate existing risks and gaps to enable strategic direction.

IV. Identification of the justification/rationale for limiting sources and demonstration of the contractor's unique qualifications to provide the required supply/service.

USSTRATCOM J6/CIO is responsible to develop, coordinate, operate, and maintain globally-integrated C4ISR capabilities for USSTRACOMS execution of full-spectrum operations. In order to provide the most efficient and cost saving equipment, J6/ CIO must determine industry standards, best practices, and perspectives of how other IT organizations are deploying new technologies and standing up data and analytics capabilities.

USSTRATCOM is currently a Gartner research customer and the J6/CIO has multiple operational requirements that require access to proprietary databases belonging to Gartner. These research and development frameworks that are currently being utilized will enable critical support to ongoing IT modernization initiatives. Losing access to these proprietary databases would require a work around solution that is unfeasible and not cost effective at this time. No other vender can use, distribute, or modify the Gartner portal, which is copyrighted. Gartner owns all copyrights related to its research material and has no strategic or competitive relationships with the contractor support community, to include not entering into prime/subcontractor relationships.

In order for J6/CIO to leverage these toolkits and frameworks to stand up data and analytics capabilities, Gartner is the only viable vendor that can help J6/CIO interpret and apply these frameworks to achieve desired outcomes as they are not transferable to other private sector consultancies. The research databases and frameworks provided by Gartner have proven to be invaluable to J6/CIO IT needs, as it keeps them abreast of technological advances and trends that would otherwise take significant man-hours to compile and interpret.

If not approved, it will result in an unsustainable / unfeasible work around for various current operational requirements and a six to twelve month delay in standing up data and analytics capabilities that Gartner already has the data and frameworks for due to existing USSTRATCOM subscriptions. Not leveraging this data would also incur additional costs, well above what is estimated for the services being requested in this limited sources justification. The licenses for this product are renewed yearly to support current global operations. Any delay or disruption results in the inability to access the most current IT research which is used to keep the rapidly evolving IT infrastructure at USSTRATCOM up to industry standards. Lastly, in conjunction with Gartner, USSTRATCOM is also able to test and develop new technologies and methodologies giving USSTRATCOM an advantage over our adversaries.

V. Determination by the ordering activity Contracting Officer that the order represents the best value consistent with

FAR 8.404(d).

DoD Class Deviation 2014-O0011-- Determination of Fair and Reasonable Prices When Using Federal Supply Schedule Contracts, states that GSA's determination that prices of supplies and services under schedule contracts are fair and reasonable, does not relieve the ordering activity contracting officer from the responsibility of making a determination of fair and reasonable pricing for individual orders, BPAs, and orders under BPAs, using the proposal anlysis techniques at FAR 15.404-1. The deviation continues to say that the complexity and circumstances of each acquisition should determine the level of detail of the analysis required.

The Contracting Officer will use appropriate and available information to review proposed prices and determine that they are fair and reasonable, and such documentation shall be included in the contract file. The contracting officer will review the offerors’ published commercial price, including prices list on various government-wide acquisition vehicles and other sites, such as pricing data contained in the GSA Acquisition Gateway Pricing Portal. The Contracting Officer will also request other cost data, and explanations regarding market conditions, from the offeror, in the event that the offeror submit prices that exceed published commercial prices. Other information that may be used includes Independent Government Cost Estimates (IGCE), historical information, contractor’s invoice payments and commercial pricing that have been determined to be fair and reasonable.

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The ESI BPA includes an across the board 4% discount in comparison to published GSA rates for the same licenses and services. Furthermore, consulting service discounts are applied based on the overall value of the consulting services placed on the delivery order. The Contracting Officer shall seek a price reduction in accordance with FAR 8.405-4.

In accordance with FAR 8.405, the contracting officer has determined that placing an order against the DoD ESI BPA represents the best value and results in the lowest overall cost alternative (considering price, special features, administrative costs, etc.) to meet the Government's needs.

VI. Description of the market research conducted and the results, or explain why market research was not conducted.

Market research was conducted on the service agreements available via DoD ESI (CISCO, Forrester, Microsoft Enterprise Services (MES) IDIQ, Fedmine LLC, and Gartner). Gartner is the only one with access to the databases (proprietary) that are currently used by the USSTRATCOM CIO in multiple operational requirements. There are no other contractor's available who have the scope and depth of readily available research databases besides Gartner.

The main objective of the consulting portion of the task order is to help the J6 define capabilities, gaps, and requirements. J6 will then use the proposed solutions as needed to ensure compatibility with the USSTRATCOM IT enterprise. While CISCO and MES both provide consulting services, they also sell their brand specific IT products and services which would need to be purchased in order to implement the solutions provided as a result of their consulting work. If the Government were to receive solutions tailored to a particular OEM, it opens the potential for other required system changes to ensure compatibility within the current system which is a risk that is not advantageous to the Government. Gartner's BPA includes a third party assessment via their consulting services which gives the Government the flexibility to ensure it can find the most effective solution with minimal impact on the USSTRATCOM IT enterprise.

Fedmine does not offer services to meet our requirements, and although Forrester offers similar services, they do not have access to the currently employed databases referenced above which negates the Government's interest of economy and efficiency.

Gartner personnel also have working knowledge of the USSTRATCOM IT enterprise due to previous consulting work accomplished for the USSTRATCOM network. The costs associated with transitioning to databases provided by other companies are unquantifiable since no other company has a repository near the size of Gartner.

VII. Other facts supporting the justification.

DFARS 208.7402 states that departments and agencies shall fulfill requirements for commercial software and related services, such as software maintenance, in accordance with the DoD Enterprise Software Initiative (ESI). ESI promotes the use of enterprise software agreements (ESAs) with contractors that allow DoD to obtain favorable terms and pricing for commercial software and related services.

Furthermore, the Acquisition Procedures at DFARS PGI 208.7403 state the contracting officer must:

(1) Review the information at the ESI to determine if the required commercial software or related services are available from DoD Inventory;

(2) If the required commercial software is not in the DoD inventory, and not on an ESA, the contracting officer may fulfill the requirements by other means;

(3) If the commercial software or related services are on an ESA, the contracting officer shall review the terms and conditions and prices in accordance with otherwise applicable source selection requirements;

(4) If an ESAs terms and conditions and prices represent the best value to the Government, the contracting officer shall fulfill the requirement for software or services through the ESA.

The contracting officer has determined that Gartner Licenses and Consulting, a commercial product and service, after having

March 2018 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Page 5 of 5 reviewed the term and conditions and pricing of the Gartner ESA, that the ESA terms and conditions and prices represent the best value to the Government, which resulted in this limited sources justification.

VIII. Actions 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.

The USSTRATCOM/J6 will conduct ongoing research into commercially available research and consulting services in order to remain informed of the latest developments in the Information Technology Industry. The customer will validate annually when requesting the exercise of the next option period that there are no other firms available to meet the Government's requirement and that services from Gartner, Inc. remain the best value. Any subsequent acquisition will be competed amongst qualified and capable firms participating in the mandatory Enterprise Software initiative program.

IX. Certification by the Contracting Officer.

As evidenced by my signature above, I have determined this document to be both accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

X. Certification by the technical/requirements personnel.

As evidenced by my (our) signature(s) above, I (we) certify that any supporting data contained herein, which is my (our) responsibility, is both accurate and complete.