Attachment 6 - MS Premier Brand Name Justification Redacted.pdf

U.S. Department of Justice Washington, DC 20530

Brand Name Justification – Microsoft Premier Support Page 1

Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition

(Brand Name Justification)

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity.

This justification was prepared by the Department of Justice (Department or DOJ) in accordance with the requirements of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.303-1. The requiring organization is the Department’s Office of the Chief Information Office (OCIO).

The contracting activity is the Justice Management Division, Procurement Services Staff.

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

This requirement is to award a follow-on contract for Microsoft Services Premier Support for the Department of Justice. The Department intends to establish an Indefinite Quantity Indefinite Delivery (IDIQ) vehicle for a base period of one year with four (4) one-year option periods. The Department has used Microsoft Services Premier Support since fiscal year 2004 under succeeding contracts. In 2015, the Department established a Department-wide contract for Premier Support services.

3. Description of the supplies or services required, including the estimated value.

The Department of Justice maintains a substantial deployment of a suite of Microsoft software products throughout its Bureaus and Components. The Department has made significant investments in these products, conducting security assessments for said software, and training its personnel to support and utilize these products. The Department’s Microsoft environment supports mission critical functions or have become mission critical systems in and of themselves. In order to maintain the health of the Department’s Microsoft products and systems and also to optimize their usage, DOJ requires Microsoft Services Premier Support (Premier or Premier Support), which provides coordinated, specialized assistance for Microsoft products, including assistance that is based on proprietary information or in-depth information on Microsoft products and releases that are not yet available through other vendors.

Currently, DOJ components receive Premier Support through one competitively awarded enterprise-level contract. The Department plans to continue this successful approach with a follow-on enterprise agreement that will include the following required services:

Direct and unique access to quick and comprehensive resolution of product support, trouble-shooting, and hot-fix type issues that often require access to proprietary source code or otherwise not widely available information regarding new products or releases.

Brand Name Justification – Microsoft Premier Support Page 2

Specialized training of Government personnel/IT staff by Microsoft product development teams.

Premier specialized workshops, which help prevent problems, increase system availability and assist with the creation of applications, functionalities, and solutions based on Microsoft technologies and which includes instructor-led training.

Premier Problem Resolution Support, which aids with problems with specific symptoms encountered while using Microsoft products, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Support is provided electronically or by phone and allows for access to system and product experts and developers with proprietary information or information regarding new product releases that is not otherwise available from third parties.

Premier Support Assistance, which provides short-term advice and guidance for problems not covered by Problem Resolution Support, as well as requests for consultative assistance for design, development, and deployment issues.

Trusted Technical Advisors and Architects who help customers architect, plan, design, and implement solutions leveraging Microsoft products, tools and technologies, as well as lessons learned from previous installations.

Microsoft consultants work with customers on specific projects and strategic initiatives and enable customers to gain knowledge on Microsoft product sets and methodologies to build customer self-sufficiency over time.

The ceiling value of the proposed five-year contract, inclusive of one base year and four (4) one-year option periods, is $100 million.

4. Identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

This acquisition is being conducted under the authority of 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1) as implemented in subsection 6.302-1 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations.

5. Demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited.

Microsoft’s Premier Support is a comprehensive solution designed to support the continuous health of Microsoft products and systems and includes urgent access to subject matter engineers, operations/performance assessments, 24/7 support, hands-on training for IT staff, and account management. When taken individually, other contractors may be able to support similar tasks, but what makes Premier unique is the integrated solution set and the proprietary knowledge base. All components of the Premier team work together to assess and maintain the overall health of a system and provide access to code developers and software-specific experts who can provide rapid response and possess unequaled knowledge of the bugs, fixes and architecture of systems and software. Microsoft does not certify or train its partners to provide Premier Support. In fact, only Microsoft and a limited group of authorized resellers are able to provide Premier Support. In many instances, contractors that do attempt to provide unbranded Premier-type service offerings, generally field questions and contact or transfer the same Microsoft resources that are available under the Premier service offering. This results in unnecessary pass-through costs to the

Brand Name Justification – Microsoft Premier Support Page 3

Government, but without the added benefits of holistic account management/support, hands-on solution-specific training and direct access to the system/software experts.

Additionally, the Department maintains a substantial deployment of Microsoft Products throughout its components such as O365 and Azure Cloud computing services. Due to this large Microsoft footprint, the Department requires direct access to Microsoft Services Premier Support Teams who can aid DOJ with product support, trouble-shooting, and hot-fix issues; this will help maximize DOJ’s significant investment in Microsoft software and technologies. The support provided by Microsoft Premier Support allows access to proprietary source code developers and product group SME (Subject Matter Expert) who have the ability to fully support early and pre-release Microsoft products. This service is only available from Microsoft and a limited number of authorized resellers.

Finally, for the reasons cited above, recently the Department of Justice designated the new Premier Services Support contract as a Justice Mandatory Solution under its Category Management program.

6. Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under 5.202 applies.

The Department intends to use commercial item procedures under FAR Part 12 and post a combined synopsis/solicitation to the Contract Opportunities website at SAM.gov. For the reasons identified in Section 5 above, the Department will conduct the procurement of a new contract for Microsoft Services Premier Support, limiting competition of potential sources to Microsoft and its authorized resellers of Microsoft Services Premier.

7. Determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

As described in Section 6 above, a competitive procurement will be conducted among authorized Premier Support resellers (Microsoft is also included as a potential source). The Department anticipates receiving a minimum of three competitive proposals in response to the published solicitation. The Contracting Officer will conduct a price analysis which will include a review of historical prices, recent commercial pricelist(s) and any other available pricing information. This will provide enough information to make a determination of fair and reasonable cost.

8. Description of the market research conducted (see FAR Part 10) and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

Market research conducted in accordance with FAR 10.002 was based on the requirements complexity, past experiences, and a determination the items are available commercially to meet the Government’s needs. The Government utilized a variety of techniques to locate available Premier support sources, including internet inquiries, issuing a Request for Information (RFI), conferring with subject matter experts, conducting industry days, Brand Name Justification – Microsoft Premier Support Page 4 reviewing catalogs and other generally available product literature, and reviewing historical acquisition information.

During this research phase, Microsoft confirmed that it maintains all proprietary rights to support the source codes and systems associated with its suite of software products included in the DOJ Microsoft Enterprise License Agreement. Additionally, Microsoft Corporation provided the Department a list of authorized resellers who, teaming with Microsoft, can provide these services.

Finally, the results of an RFI issued in March 2021, revealed that there were neither vendors available under the General Services Administration (GSA) Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) nor the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise- Wide Procurement (SEWP) who could provide these services. Accordingly, the Department of Justice concluded that there was no other viable alternative to Microsoft Services Premier Support except through the open market on a Brand Name basis.

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

None.

10. List of the sources, if any, that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.

In response to the recent RFI and through additional market research, six (6) vendors, including certified resellers, expressed interest in providing Microsoft Services Premier Support.

Microsoft Corporation TrueTandem, LLC.

Sterling

NGEN

Insight

CDW-G

11. Statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required.

The government will continue to survey the market to determine whether any of its requirements can be supported by vendors not included in this competition. Should any portion of the requirements become non-exclusive to Microsoft Inc. or its reseller community, the Department will assess whether to continue its contract or re-compete the effort to include new sources.

In addition, the DOJ OCIO routinely considers evolutionary changes to technology and continually evaluates corresponding services. Any offerings that will meet the needs of the Department’s mission, while saving the Government on the total cost of ownership, will be fully considered during the next procurement cycle.

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12. Certifications, concurrence and approval.

Technical/Requirements Personnel Certification:

I certify that the information contained in this document for which I am responsible is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Carol Yang, Program Manager Contract Management Services, Office of the Chief Information Officer

Date

Contracting Officer Certification:

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

Fitzgerald Escalona, Contracting Officer Procurement Services Staff, Justice Management Division

Date

Concurrence:

Subsection 2806.304 of the Justice Acquisition Regulation requires concurrence by the Bureau Procurement Chief.

Tom Naccarato, Director Procurement Services Staff Justice Management Division

Date

Concurrence:

Subsection 2806.304 of the Justice Acquisition Regulation requires concurrence by the Competition Advocate for the procuring activity.

Tara Jamison, Competition Advocate Justice Management Division

Date

07/19/2021 fescalona Stamp fescalona Stamp

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Approval:

Attorney General Order #1687-93, as implemented in Subsection 2806.304 of the Justice Acquisition Regulation, delegates approval authority to the Senior Procurement Executive.

Michael H. Allen Senior Procurement Executive United States Department of Justice

Date