A15_DF_Consolidation.7331023Q0181.REDACTED.pdf

CONTRACT CONSOLIDATION DETERMINATION AND FINDINGS

Project Name: IT Service Center 2.0 (Consolidation ITSC NOC) Purchase Request Number: 3304030EQ03780 Solicitation Number: 73351023Q0181 Estimated value: REDACTED (Base Yr, 4 Option Yrs, and a 6-month option) Date of D&F: 10/24/2022 Bureau and Contracting Activity: U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), Office of the Chief Financial Operations and Acquisitions Management

(OFOAM)

In accordance with FAR 7.107-2, I have reviewed this requirement and associated market research and determined that consolidation of the referenced contract requirements is both necessary and justified.

This Consolidation D&F is organized by the following topics:

1. Proposed Consolidated Requirement Description

2. Pre-Consolidated Individual Requirements

3. Consolidation Quantitative and Qualitative Benefits

4. Market Research

5. Any Alternative Contracting Approaches

6. Negative Impact to Small Businesses

7. Additional Considerations

8. Summary and Signatures

1. Proposed Consolidated Requirement Description:

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) is responsible for delivering IT services and managing the day-to-day IT service desk operations.

The OCIO is looking to partner with an experienced and robust IT service desk to deliver a consistent and cost-effective IT experience. The SBA IT Services Center, commonly referred to as ITSC, is an IT support contract responsible for operating, maintaining, securing, and modernizing IT services and the enterprise network infrastructure. SBA strives to meet its strategic goal to Deliver Optimized Core Enterprise Services.

The OCIO manages the agency’s enterprise IT general support system and data centers, consisting of ≥10,000 end user, 6 major operating centers and 70 regional offices throughout the

United States territories, 1 major call center, and multiple cloud-based services environments, which is approximately 300 Network Nodes.

The SBA Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) is seeking an experienced and robust integrator to provide end-to-end support for its:

IT Program Management – supporting Tier 1-3 and System Developers/Analysis Incident Support Manager and/or Network Operations Lead NOC Tier 1- 3 support (see attachment for description) System Developers/Analysis

The combination of these services is commonly referred to as the IT Services Center (ITSC).

The Contractor will work as an integrated team with OCIO staff, Advanced Engineering Service (AES), other SBA program offices, Contractors, service providers, and outside vendors, as designated by OCIO.

For this acquisition, the Contractor shall provide Network(s) Management Support Services described in the Performance Work Statement (PWS) in order to ensure that SBA is able to maintain operations on a 24x7x365 basis. This includes providing support at the Network Operations Center (NOC) Primary and Secondary locations that operate in the confines of a secure facility, organized, staffed, and equipped to manage Network Operations and Maintenance (O&M) functions that are relevant across the SBA enterprise for up to approximately 4,800 SBA LAN, MAN, WLAN, and devices. The System Developers/Analysis efforts will only provide their services and support of the mission during regular business hours.

The Contractor shall coordinate with the OCIO to employ the ITIL Service Management Framework (Version 3 or any subsequent revisions), general Project Management Institute (PMI), International Standards Organization (ISO) and similar frameworks to guide provisioning of the services, processes, functions, and other capabilities needed to support them. The Contractor shall define, document, and maintain the process flows, integration points and procedures necessary to support this PWS. The Contractor shall provide network operations support services, examples of current SBA network(s) support functions include but not necessarily limited to the following:

Cabling Routers Switches Firewalls Load-Balancers Specialized appliances or hardware that provide network services (e.g., AD, Domain Name Services/Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DNS/DHCP), Load Balancing Support Services, Proxy Services, and Security Services) Wireless Controllers Wireless Access Points Wireless

Guest Wireless WAN Optimization Video Voice/UC Cloud (Azure and AWS)

SD WAN

VPN

Surveillance Cameras Cellular Network Security Network Tools such as SolarWinds Zscaler

VDI

VTC

Service Now Asset Panda Emerging Technologies AD HOC designs/networks

SSL

Understanding of IP, IPv6, subnetting, and TCP/IP protocols IP Protocols: DHCP, HTTP, TCP/UDP, FTP, TFTP, IP, DNS, etc.

Routing Protocols: ISIS, RIP, VRRP, OSPF, BGP, iBGP, EIGRP, MPLS.

These support services include Transition, Program Management, Network(s) Infrastructure Monitoring and Control (24x7x365), Event Management, Incident Management, Problem Management, Application Management, Request Fulfilment, Technical Support, Knowledge Management and Performance Reporting Services, Information Systems Security Officer (ISSO) Support, and Surge Support.

The Contractor shall support Virtual Private Networking (VPN) solutions, remote access services support, access control, and identity management tasks. The Contractor shall provide trained, qualified, and cleared staff to support these functions 24x7x365. The Contractor will be held accountable for the performance requirements outlined in a Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan

(QASP).

SBA envisions a single-award firm fixed price contract and a six-month optional services period per FAR 52.217-8. Projected costs for total contract award are displayed below in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1: Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE) for IT Service Center 2.0

Item Base Option Year 1 Option Year 2 Option Year 3 Option Year 4

Six Month Optional Services

(FAR 52.217-8)

Direct Labor REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED Grand Total (Base and All Option Years)

REDACTED

Estimated value: REDACTED (base and 4 Option Years with a 6-month optional services period)

This effort will be competed among Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB) on NITAAC’s CIO-SP4 Small Businesses, a Governmentwide Acquisitions Contract (GWAC). Additional information with regards to market research can be found in section four of this document.

NAICS: 541519 - Other Computer Related Services. This U.S. industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in providing computer related services (except custom programming, systems integration design, and facilities management services). Establishments providing computer disaster recovery services or software installation services are included in this industry.

Product Service Code for IT Service Center 2.0: DD01- IT and Telecom – Service Delivery Support Services: ITSM, Operations Center, Project/PM.

2. Pre-consolidated Individual Requirements:

The new IT Service Center 2.0 acquisition includes requirements previously acquired via two contracts: 73351021F0039 for the ITSC and 73351019F0224 the NOC. However, the new IT Service Center 2.0 also includes other requirements beyond and outside the scope of the two previous contracts. The scope in the new requirement has increased and is not solely the combining of the previous two contracts into one. Furthermore, the previous requirements are blended throughout new requirement rather than having a direct task mapping of the old requirements into the new requirement. It is important to note, this new consolidated requirement augments the previous two contracts.

This new consolidated acquisition seeks to incorporate the following requirements:

Table 2.1: Pre-Consolidated Requirements

Recipient Contract Number Duration Requirement Total Value World Services (8a set aside)

73351019F0224 (under SBA 8(a) IDIQ 73351018D0008)

Base year, OY1, OY2, 6mth extension (42 months total)

NOC REDACTED

1901 Group LLC (small business)

73351021F0039 (under GSA Schedule

GS35F0617W)

5mths base, 4mth option, 6mth extension, 8mth extension (23 months total)

ITSC REDACTED

Total REDACTED

The last day of the period of performance on both of the above contracts is: 03/08/2023.

As depicted in Table 2.1 above, these requirements are currently awarded to two distinct vendors under separate contracts with both of them being small businesses at time of award.

The NOC award was solicited as an 8(a) set aside to establish an SBA Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity(IDIQ) contract using: NAICS 541519 - Other Computer Related Services with PSC & Description: D316 IT and Telecom- Telecommunications Network Management Includes: Network Engineering and Operational Support. Note: Upon approval of the consolidation, a letter to the SBA 8(a) office will be provided notifying them of the increase in total value and scope of the new proposed consolidated effort.

The ITSC award was solicited via GSA MAS limited to small businesses using: NAICS 541519- Other Computer Related Services with Product/Service Code: DF01 Product/Service Description: IT AND TELECOM - IT MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SERVICES (LABOR)

The size standard for NAICS 541519 is $30 million.

3. Consolidation Qualitative and Quantitative Benefits:

Benefits of consolidation include both qualitative and quantitative improvements. There are operational, technical, and mission oriented qualitative improvements within OCIO.

Furthermore, there is quantitative improvements via a reduction in administrative personnel specifically within the procurement and COR workforce in addition to the removal of duplicative non-technical program management labor categories required by two separate contractors.

Qualitative Benefits:

The current ITSC and NOC individual contract requirements are antiquated. This new requirement is not solely combining these two previously individual requirements. The scope has expanded. The NOC and ITSC will need to learn new technologies, tools and troubleshooting techniques to ensure the network is managed for SBA. The increase in scope is the result of the OCIO SBA modernization, automation, and consolidation initiatives. The consolidation of the ITSC and NOC supports the current OCIO modernization, automation, and consolidation initiatives. Specifically, the agency OCIO is charged with overseeing IT modernization efforts. The OCIO is responsible for addressing current impediments in policy, resource allocation, and agency prioritization to enable the use of cloud, collaboration tools, and other security shared services to enable agency efficiency by reducing duplication and costs through consistent delivery of standardized capabilities or functions in ways that make the most of innovative processes and commercial solutions. The OCIO must understand the organizational drivers for modernization and foster enterprise level planning. While enterprise planning is essential, the OCIO must also ensure delivery of benefits at the departmental level, the delivery of incremental improvements can pave the way for organizational buy-in. The OCIO cannot rely solely on previously developed strategic plans but must apply Agile iterative principles across the enterprise—whether in strategic planning, during the execution of change programs, developing new products and solutions, or managing day-to-day business operations. This approach will ensure a posture where the agency can rapidly adapt to changing environments— quickly setting up new teams, prototyping rapidly, developing strategies and plans in real-time with actionable, traceable results, and delivering new solutions to meet evolving mission needs.

Link to OCIO’s Strategic Plan:

https://www.sba.gov/about-sba/sba-locations/headquarters-offices/office-chief-information-officer/office-chief-information-officer-resource

Currently under two different contracts, and the NOC and ITSC do not collaboratively function as a Tier 1-3 center. There are no RASCI (Responsible, Accountable, Supported, Consulted, and Informed) project management matrixes in place, no standard operational procedures, and no defined functions within each of the levels of support. SBA needs a new modernized, automated, and consolidated approach in order to function effectively and efficiently. Upgrades to the hardware, applications, and methods for access and operational management will allow the ITSC and NOC to collaboratively perform like a true Tier 1-3 center. Keeping the ITSC and NOC as separate contracts prohibits them from performing collaboratively, effectively and efficiently as required.

There are many technical, SBA mission, and operational benefits to the consolidation. The network operations center (NOC) and help desk services (ITSC) are the foundation of the SBA network infrastructure. This new requirement is a modernization to the systems. A NOC serves as the central nervous system to the help desk services, providing connectivity, security, redundancy, and remote administration tools to help manage and monitor IT systems. NOC and ITSC are designed to complement each other. When they are separate contracts, the continuity, collaboration, teamwork, work process/flow becomes clouded. Combining the ITSC and NOC https://www.sba.gov/about-sba/sba-locations/headquarters-offices/office-chief-information-officer/office-chief-information-officer-resource https://www.sba.gov/about-sba/sba-locations/headquarters-offices/office-chief-information-officer/office-chief-information-officer-resource together in one contract will encourage continuity, collaboration, teamwork, and ease of workflow.

To deliver a cohesive solution to the customers, the consolidated contract will provide open communication, ease of escalation and a consistent support experience for the end customer. With a comprehensive requirement operating under one contract one can achieve a better economy of scale versus if they are separate teams. An integrated approach between help desk and NOC provides better visibility into the customer’s environment which in turn better supports the customer. Furthermore, the consolidation also fulfills SBA’s OCIO Mission and improves customer satisfaction. Additional qualitative advantages listed below.

Table 3.3: Qualitative Technical Advantages and Disadvantages

Technical Advantages of Consolidation

Technical Disadvantages of Separate Contracts

Approximate Cost Benefit

More accountability for deadlines within the entire life cycle of the requirement

Contractors are waiting on other contractors for action items out of their control.

REDACTED

Scopes are defined in one contract with more flexibilities of tasking

There is a reduction in task collaboration because it needs to be done between different companies.

REDACTED

Less in-office competition: one company one team.

More in-office competition between contractors and potential of in fighting.

REDACTED

Business consistency is present among all tasks for the entire requirement.

Consistency is complicated for two equal companies who are required to indirectly combine resources and staff on complimenting projects.

REDACTED

Cohesive Project Management Plan and Milestone Schedule:

One all-encompassing requirement where all components are on the same, cohesive project management time/life cycle.

Multiple project management plans and milestones schedules with several similar or duplicating tasks.

REDACTED

Less burden on the COR, and Federal staff for items such as accounting, accountability, and deliverables.

More burden on the COR and acquisition staff for items such as accounting, accountability, and deliverables

Less complications when resolving work performance.

Separate contracts add complexity to determine lack of performance, especially if tasking overlaps and conflicts with another contractor.

REDACTED

Single contract is easier to track work performance by the CORs

Separate contracts require more tracking of work performance by the CORs

REDACTED

Cross training efforts between ITSC/NOC will enhance end user experience when technologies are added or changed

Conflicts between companies with cross training employees not on their staff (i.e.: use of one company’s funding/manpower to train an employee not within their company)

REDACTED

Encourages professional development and promotion among contractor staff. Help Desk and NOC duties are different skill sets and pay levels. The NOC is of a higher professional/skill level than the ITSC and when combined, it encourages professional development and promotion (promote from within from Help Desk to NOC).

Help Desk and NOC duties are different skill sets and pay levels, separate contracts will generate no promotional path/professional development, will increase a higher turnover rate.

REDACTED

Removal of the duplication of tasks.

There are required tasks with the ITSC and NOC that are the same.

The tasks overlap and are duplicated.

Each contractor does that same task independently causing a duplication.

Approximate cost savings for the qualitative benefits: REDACTED

Quantitative Benefits:

In addition to the qualitative technical benefits, there are quantitative cost savings benefits in the consolidation.

Through consolidation, the government can decrease its administrative, procurement and oversight expenses while also maximizing the amount of contract dollars awarded to small businesses. Prior to consolidation, these individual efforts required duplicitous government manhours as there are two designated COR’s providing oversight and two COs doing each administrative action. Consolidation will decrease those manhours by at least 50%. Additionally, procurement expense and acquisition cycle times will decrease to one half of the current procurement man-hours as two requirements will be reduced to only one.

Furthermore, at the contract level, with the contracts functioning independently from one another, there is a duplication of four professional positions. With a consolidation, the following table demonstrates the positions dropping from eight to four:

Table 3.4 Quantitative Benefits- Contract Level- Prior to Consolidation:

Labor Category Estimated Hourly Rate

ITSC Project Engineer/Manager REDACTED

ITSC Information Technology Project Manager REDACTED

ITSC Information Technology Project Manager REDACTED

ITSC Information Technology Project Manager REDACTED

NOC Project Engineer/Manager REDACTED

NOC Information Technology Project Manager REDACTED

NOC Information Technology Project Manager REDACTED

NOC Information Technology Project Manager REDACTED

Table 3.5 Quantitative Benefits- Contract Level- After Consolidation:

Labor Category Estimated Hourly Rate

Project Engineer/Manager REDACTED

Information Technology Project Manager REDACTED

Information Technology Project Manager REDACTED

Information Technology Project Manager REDACTED

A single Project Manager’s annual salary is estimated to be REDACTED. An Information Technology Project Manager annual salary is estimated to be REDACTED x 3 positions is approximately REDACTED.

One Project Manager and three Information Technology Managers together cost approximately REDACTED per year.

By cutting the duplicative professional positions in half or in other words, dropping from eight positions to four, there is a cost savings of approximately REDACTED at the contract level.

In conclusion, the cost savings for this consolidation includes a 50% reduction in SBA administrative costs, a REDACTED dollar savings at the contract level, plus approximately REDACTED in qualitative benefits. In total, the consolidation provides approximately a REDACTED dollar savings.

Although the savings do not meet the 10% mark as noted in SBA’s regulations, 13 CFR 125.2(d)(1)(ii)(B), there are still savings in the amount of REDACTED.

4. Results of Market Research Conducted:

Market research included research of the use of the Veterans Affairs Administration, search of the GSA federal supply schedules to include a formal request for information (RFI) sent to multiple vendors via GSA MAS, and research of the NITAAC SP4 vehicle. Market research was conducted to see if the Veterans Affairs Administration (VA) could fulfill our needs. After lengthy discussions, it was determined that the VA rates were too high, they could not guarantee us an award made to a small business, nor were there any administrative benefits. As a result, the VA was not a viable option to fulfill this requirement.

With regards to GSA, SBA conducted a review of the GSA FSS and held extensive discussions with Christopher Cole and Garrett Pride of the Office of Customer & Stakeholder Engagement within GSA Federal Acquisition Service to determine how to assess the current market in conjunction with SBA’s needs.

On 10/12/2022 a formal Request for Information was sent out with assistance from GSA:

RFQ1593012 (MAS), RFQ1593013 (STARS 3), RFQ1593014 (VETS). Closed at 5 PM EST on Friday, 10/21/22. The MRAS report will follow on the next business day, Monday, 10/24

Table 4.3 – Market Research Report

The RFI found 124 vendors were researched/contacted and 123 were found to be technically capable of providing the required services.123 of small business stated they could fulfill the requirement.

NAICS code 541519 was determined to be the best fit for the requirement.

During the GSA Market Research Report time, several vendors recommended for SBA to look at the NITAAC’s CIO-SP4 Small Businesses, a Governmentwide Acquisitions Contract (GWAC).

On NITAAC it was determined that the rates were better in comparison to GSA’s and there was competition among small businesses. It was concluded that this effort will be competed amongst Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB) and 8(a) businesses on NITAAC’s CIO-SP4.

5. Any alternative contracting approaches and rationale for rejection:

Alternative contracting approaches that would involve a lesser degree of consolidation include keeping the NOC and ITSC as separate requirements. However, the previous scopes of individual requirements are no longer in accordance with SBA’s needs due to the increase in scope which is the result of the CIO SBA modernization, automation, and consolidation initiatives. Please see section three above for challenges when the requirements are kept separate.

SBA also considered the inclusion of the Security Operations Center (SOC) into the consolidated effort. However, although the SOC’s tasking could function effectively with the ITSC and NOC on the same contract, it would take away a contracting opportunity to a small business. It was determined that the SOC could function well on its own contract and should remain on its own contract and not to be included into the consolidated effort.

6. Any negative impact by the acquisition strategy on contracting with small business concerns has been identified:

While the consolidation effort reduces the number of contracts from two to one, contractual opportunities are not reduced. The current acquisition strategy for the consolidated effort will include setting the requirement aside for small businesses. The small business set aside is subject to Limitations of Subcontracting which allows for subcontracting opportunities to similarly situated companies. The SBA is ensuring that small business concerns are addressed to the fullest extent possible.

7. Additional considerations, Facts, and Reasoning Supporting the Determination:

None other than those already listed under previous and subsequent sections.

8. Summary and Signatures:

Consolidation of these requirements is in the best interest of the government and small businesses alike. The consolidation will help SBA’s OCIO meet its strategic goal to Deliver

Optimized Core Enterprise Services. The consolidation provides significant operational, mission, and technical advantages to SBA. Additionally, there is 50% reduction in procurement lead times and administrative matters, a REDACTED dollar savings at the contract level, and approximately REDACTED savings in qualitative benefits. The estimated cost benefit is $1.3 million. Furthermore, small businesses will not be excluded or negatively impacted because the requirement will still be set aside for small businesses.

Based on the above facts, I determine that in accordance with FAR 7.107-2:

1. The necessary steps have been taken to support the need for consolidation.

2. The benefits of the acquisition substantially exceed the benefits that would be derived from each of the alternative contracting approaches identified above including benefits that are quantifiable in dollar amounts as well as any other specifically identified benefits; and

3. As a result, consolidation for the above referenced requirement is necessary and justified and in the best interest of the government and small business concerns.

CONTRACTING OFFICER CERTIFICATION: All supporting data provided and the contents of this justification are complete and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Contracting Officer U.S. Small Business Administration

SMALL BUSINESS SPECIALIST CERTIFICATION:

Small Business Specialist

SENIOR PROCUREMENT EXECUTIVE

Upon the basis of the findings above, I hereby determine, pursuant to the authority of FAR 7.107-2, that the consolidation of contract requirements is both necessary and justified

Senior Procurement Executive