Brand Name Justification Elastic Subscription.31JUL25.pdf

Version 2.0

CONTROLLED UNCLASSIFIED INFORMATION

Sensitive in accordance with 32 CFR 2002 Controlled by: U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid

BRAND NAME JUSTIFICATION

FOR AN ORDER/BPA EXCEEDING

THE SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION THRESHOLD

(AUTHORITY: FAR 16.505(a)(4))

91003125Q0024

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (NASA SEWP) Program.

1. Agency and contracting activity. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid Acquisitions, Software Acquisition Division and Technology Directorate

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

This is a brand name justification for the renewal of software and maintenance support of Federal Student’s Aid (FSA) Elastic Federal Annual Subscription. This will be a firm-fixed-price delivery order issued under NASA SEWP.

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

FSA require annual software support and maintenance for the Elastic Stack Solution accordingly:

No. MFG SKU Part Description Quantity 1 SKU: SBF-SN Elastic Federal Annual Subscription 5

The Elastic Stack is a solution for aggregating and viewing applications and product logs across Enterprise Middleware Architecture and Services (EMAS). It eliminates the need for application teams to have access to Next Generation Data Center (NGDC) servers, thereby reducing the risk of insider threats. Elastic enables FSA with the ability to build powerful search experiences for websites, applications, and enterprise data. It searches across a range of data sources while keeping permissions enforced to deliver relevant, up-to-date results:

Period of Performance:

Base Year: August 1, 2025, through July 31, 2026 Option Year 1: August 1, 2026, through July 31, 2027 Option Year 2: August 1, 2027, through July 31, 2028 Option Year 3: August 1, 2028, through July 31, 2029

Total Value :

4. Authority and supporting rationale. The following circumstance justifies limiting the source as supported below:

(91003125Q0024)

Item(s) peculiar to one manufacturer (including brand name) under the authority of FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B).

Market Research was conducted on various Log Event and monitoring tools with similar capabilities as Elastic. The additional tools compared against the performance and functionality requirements were IBM QRadar, Setinal, and Apache Solr. Elastic was the only tool that could fulfill all requirements with QRadar following shortly behind but lacking on security plugin functionality that has auditing capabilities. Additionally, QRadar is about five times the cost of Elastic with total costs estimated to be about $220,000.00

5. Determination by the ordering activity contracting officer that the order represents the best value.

“X” If part of researc h

SOURCES USED IN MARKET

RESEARCH

Details of Research/Comments

Contract Acquisition history reviewed

X Previous Requirement acquisition history reviewed

All requirements from FY17 through today were reviewed

X Other recent market research reviewed Use Cases, Implications, Benefits, Cost Comparisons

X Interviewed knowledgeable individuals in Industry or Government

Discussions were held with technical leads of Elastic

Participated/Attended Tradeshows and Industry Conferences

Professional Journals, Catalog and/or Product Literature reviewed

Participated in Small Business Industry Outreach Sessions

X Reviewed existing Multiple-Award Contract Vehicles and/or Other Government- Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs)

GSA; NASA SEWP; GWAC Contract Inventory Exploration Tool

X Reviewed other sources not listed GSA e-buy; GSA Advantage; Gartner Magic Quadrant; Acquisition Gateway Prices Paid Portal;

USASpending.gov; SAM.gov; FPDS.gov, The contracting officer may request additional discounts/price reductions before award.

6. Market research conducted among schedule holders (or reason market research was not conducted).

(91003125Q0024)

Yes

7. Any other facts supporting the justification.

All supporting facts have been introduced accordingly.

8. Actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the restricted consideration before any subsequent acquisition for supplies and services is made.

For the reasons stated above, only Elastic and no other brands or services, will satisfy agency requirements for commonality, interchangeability, and interoperability. Market Research indicates other companies’ similar products are lacking features, do not meet, or cannot be modified to meet the agency’s needs. Until it is fiscally justified to change the entire infrastructure, Elastic will continue to be utilized

9. Technical/Requirements Representative Certification. I certify that this requirement constitutes the Government’s minimum needs, and the supporting data provided herein is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Stacey Jacobs Date Contracting Officer Representative

10. Contracting Officer’s Certification and Approval

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

For justifications between greater than the SAT (as defined by FAR 2.101) and the threshold specified FAR 16.505(a)(4), my signature also serves as approval of the justification.

Elvis Taylor Date Contracting Officer

11. Approval for Justifications.

Approve

Florence Kasule Date FSA Advocate for Competition