A08-JA 12314420C0021.pdf

AOP No. 5, J&A-Other Than Full & Open Competition- Attachment 6 (Feb. 26, 2020)

Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition United States Department of Agriculture

FAR 13.5 – Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity.

United States Department of Agriculture, Departmental Administration, Office of Contracting and Procurement, Procurement Operations Division, 301 S. Howes Street, Suite 321, Fort Collins, CO 80521.

2. The nature and/or description of the action being approved.

The USDA proposes to enter into a limited source, brand-name, firm fixed-price contract with AgWare, Inc. using the simplified procedures for certain commercial items under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13.5

3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the estimated value).

FY20 AGWARE License Renewal is an Annual Appraisal System. The system is a complete commercially available off-the-shelf appraisal PC based software system that encompasses the features and data required to complete both an Agricultural Real Estate Appraisal (AREA) and a Housing Appraisal. The product includes base appraisal software capable of producing an industry standard Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) compliant report, a USPAP compliant industry standard land appraisal compliant report and the Uniform Residential Appraisal Report (URAR). The software incorporates as an add-on package, third party mapping and sketching.

The software under this contract must be Windows 10 Pro compliant. The agricultural appraisal software shall incorporate generally accepted rural appraisal techniques promulgated through professional appraisal organizations for use in the developing and reporting of property valuations.

The requirement is for Personal Computer (PC) and Mobile PC based software capable of functioning in remote access areas where no network connectivity is available. Estimated price $475,000.00

4. The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

41 U.S.C § 1901 - Simplified Acquisition Procedures up to $7 million, as authorized by FAR 13.500(a) and implemented by FAR 13.501(a).

5. A statement demonstrating the unique qualifications of the proposed contractor or the nature of the action requiring the use of the authority.

The AgWare software was specifically designed for use with appraisals of Agriculture Properties.

There is no other software on the market to date that can satisfy the requirements of the FSA. Some of these requirements are below and can be further identified in section 9.2 of the Statement of Work:

FSA requires its appraisals to be developed in accordance with general accepted appraisal techniques for rural property valuation and as exemplified and promulgated through the Appraisal Institute and American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraiser.

This software has a unique data base, which is sortable by capabilities to conduct multiple specific searches. In addition, the database is interfaced to allow end users to transfer comparable sales reports directly into the appraisal reports without fault.

Maps, exhibits, documents, and images capable of being added as attachments to the comparable sales in either PDF or JPG file formats. FSA’s 2162 outlines the minimal presentation for comparable sale field level information relative to its physical and economic attributes. Options allow users to create sale templates and add addition fields labels for greater user specificity, i.e., property rights sold, mineral rights, zoning, utilities, highest and best use, etc.

The Agware software for residential and agricultural appraisal reports shall be USPAP compliant and agricultural software conforming to generally accepted appraisal techniques for rural property valuation as exemplified and promulgated through professional organizations.

6. A description of efforts made to ensure offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable.

Solicitation will be placed on beta.sam.gov for public posting to all IT companies registered through SAM. No further requirements are anticipated for this software at this time.

7. A determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The quote provided by AgWare Inc. is deemed fair and reasonable since this is an off the shelf commercial itema and the price charged to the Government is the same price charged to private industry.

8. A description of the market research conducted and the results or a statement of the reason Market Research was not conducted.

4 software applications were evaluated as possible replacements for the current application, AgWare. One issue discovered while performing market research was that the field of rural agricultural appraisals is a limited field with limited technical resources. The following are the results of reviewing the applications available and why they do not satisfy FSA’s needs:

Conservis: Conservis is a provider of services and software to manage crops, crop returns, return of investment analysis, and software to interface/integrate with equipment yield monitors (i.e. John Deere combines and tractors). A representative of Consevis was contacted and they informed FSA that they are not a provider of farm appraisal software.

Chetu: Chetu is a provider of custom software. A representative of Chetu was contacted and they stated that they do not offer any Off-the-Shelf applications. Customizing an application to suite FSA needs would cost more to the government than remaining with our current solution.

Acre/Value: Acre/Value is a service provider of information on property sales and soils productivity to generate reports to estimate property value, based on productivity. This is not agricultural appraisal software, nor does it comply the reporting requirements required under the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice.

Alamode: Alamode is a provider of residential appraisal software. A representative of Alamode was contacted who stated they do not have any agricultural appraisal software.

They used to have fillable forms which mirrored the old FmHA appraisal form (422-1) used in the late 80’s and early 90’s and he thought but was not sure if the was still available and, if so, it does not interface with comparable sales and automatically populate the sales in the appraisal report nor does it use the current and recognized methodologies and techniques required by industry standards.

9. Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition.

Due to brand specific nature of software there is only one company that provides the required software, AgWare, Inc.

FSA requires it appraisals to be developed in accordance with general accepted appraisal techniques for rural property valuation and as exemplified and promulgated through the Appraisal Institute and American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraiser.

Agware software is the only product on the market that uses these prescribed techniques and methodologies illustrated in “Valuing Rural American Foundations of Data Analysis” American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, Copyright 2019 and “Rural Property Valuation, Appraisal Institute, Copyrighted 2017

10. A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed a written interest in the acquisition.

AgWare, Inc.

11. A statement of actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition if subsequent acquisitions are anticipated.

Market research will continue during the base year and all option years to stay aware of any similar software programs that may enter the market

Certifications & Approvals

Supporting data which form the basis for and included in this justification are certified accurate and complete.

Charles L. June II Supervisor, Acquisition Management Section

The information contained in this Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition is certified accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Benjamin Alpers Administrative Specialist

The information contained in this Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition is certified accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

John Selenske Contracting Officer

Benjamin Alpers Ad i i t ti S i li t

April 3, 2020

CHARLES JUNE Digitally signed by CHARLES JUNE Date: 2020.04.03 10:26:33 -06'00'

JOHN SELENSKE

Digitally signed by JOHN

SELENSKE

Date: 2020.04.03 10:31:20 -06'00'