C01-JA-Find a Rep-Fully Executed_Redacted.pdf

CONTROL NUMBER VA-24-00084565

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics

Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, NJ 07724

2. Description of Action: The proposed sole source action is a firm-fixed price (FFP) contract for software development to create a suite of products to serve Veterans who wish to appoint someone with Power of Attorney (PoA), to serve the people assigned PoA with the ability to accept or reject the assignment and support the deprecation of the legacy systems currently used to take those actions. The proposed contractor is Oddball, Inc. (Oddball), 1875 K street NW, Ste 400, Washington, D.C. 20006.

3. Description of Supplies or Services: The proposed action provides support to help VA migrate Veteran and PoA experiences from the legacy Stakeholder Enterprise Portal (SEP) product and eBenefits platform to VA.gov. The Contractor will collaborate with other development teams, both internal and external to VA’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) as the teams implement digital solutions powered by Lighthouse Application Programming Interfaces (API) and APIs owned by the Office of Information and Technology (OIT) on behalf of the Office of the General Counsel. This work will include the research, design, implementation, testing, security, deployment, and support of a suite of products, as well as the capability to conduct technical spikes and assessments and ensure high levels of accessibility compliance. This proposed FFP contract is for a 12-month base period, with a one-month optional task to support the potential transition to a new contractor.

The total estimated price of the proposed action is .

4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition for this acquisition is 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(5), “Authorized or Required by Statute,” as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-5. For this action, 38 U.S.C. 8127(c), known as the Veterans First Contracting Program provides the authority to directly contract with a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) or a Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB).

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: The proposed source for this acquisition is Oddball. Oddball is a certified SDVOSB and is technically qualified to migrate the PoA functionality from current legacy systems to VA.gov and create/refine the suite of products assisting Veterans with appointing people with PoA, as well as assisting those granted PoA with filing Benefits claims on behalf of Veterans who have granted PoA. Oddball won a competitive task order awarded on July 20, 2023, to perform this work and has performed successfully to date. As part of this work, Oddball has led extensive research understanding the VA’s Accredited Representative program and gained expertise working with the APIs and other

Find a Representative Support Services Control Number: VA-24-00084565 systems integral to this work. The knowledge gained from this research will enable Oddball to move forward more efficiently with the proposed future work.

The existing task order expires on August 6, 2024, however, the need for continued support and iteration on the transition of functionality from legacy systems to VA.gov is an ongoing need beyond this task order. Any break in service for the current contract would result in VA not completing delivery of an online method for Veterans to submit, or representatives to accept, PoA requests via VA.gov. Additionally, the current SEP system supporting accredited representative (Accredited Rep) functions is scheduled to be shut down in March 2025, so Veterans and accredited reps would have to fall back to paper submissions and processing resulting in delayed Accredited Rep access to Veteran data in the Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS) and subsequent delays in submitting claims for Veterans benefits.

Due to Oddball’s, historical, technical, and programmatic knowledge of the Accredited Representative ecosystem, award of the proposed action to Oddball is in VA’s best interest in order to migrate from the legacy system prior to the March 2025 shutdown deadline. Utilizing any firm other than Oddball substantially increases the VA’s risk of not meeting that deadline.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted in July 2024, as discussed in Section 8. Upon the determination that a sole source award to Oddball was in the best interest of the Government, the Contracting Officer confirmed that Oddball meets all of the requirements detailed in VAAR 819.7008. Consistent with the guidelines of the Veterans First Contracting Program, the proposed action described herein will be synopsized and this justification will be posted on the Contracting Opportunities Page in accordance with FAR Part 5.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: The current task order was competed and awarded on the Customer Experience, DevOps, Agile Releases (CEDAR) Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. The contract ceiling of CEDAR is accounted for, and therefore the continued requirements cannot be obtained via the CEDAR IDIQ. A new IDIQ, the Secure, Performant, Reliable, and User-Centered Experiences (SPRUCE) contract is planned to replace CEDAR and is currently in the evaluation phase. Continued support for the transition of functionality from legacy systems to VA.gov, including PoA and claims submission functionality, is ongoing and needed to bridge the gap between the CEDAR and SPRUCE contracts.

It is expected that future needs for this work will be competed on the new IDIQ contract in fiscal year 2025. CEDAR (and SPRUCE, once awarded), are the preferred vehicles to acquire the type of software development services under this action as they are 100% set asides for SDVOSBs, and the awardees have proven software development capability.

8. Market Research: Market research was conducted in July 2024 and the Contracting Officer considered other contractors in the marketplace. However, given that the CEDAR contract is nearing its ceiling and is no longer a viable vehicle for this work, and the follow-on IDIQ contract, SPRUCE, is not yet awarded, it is not in the Government’s best interest to compete for a short-term bridge effort as it may result in a transition to a different contractor, and then a transition to a third contractor once SPRUCE is awarded. The potential for three different contractors to have to transition this work in roughly 12 months would likely result in disruptions to the services being performed. Such a disruption would severely impact VA’s ability to provide a modernized tool on VA.gov for Veterans and their assignees to manage PoA assignments quickly, easily, and securely using digital tools, including if they are using assistive technology. Therefore, it is in VA’s best interest to award this action to the contractor currently performing the work with the specialized knowledge and experience required to migrate data from the legacy system prior to the shutdown deadline of March 2025.

The Veteran Small Business Certification (VetCert) database was accessed on July 09, 2024. This search concluded that Oddball is registered and certified and qualifies as an SDVOSB in accordance with the federal small business size standard for the applicable North American Industry Classification System Code 541519. It was verified on July 09, 2024, that Oddball is registered in the SAM.gov database and is eligible to receive a Government contract.

Additionally, the Contracting Officer reviewed all 28 of Oddball’s performance ratings in the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS). Oddball had no rating lower than “satisfactory” for all rating categories, with 16 being rated “exceptional” under the Quality category, demonstrating it is a responsible contractor with respect to performance.

9. Other Facts: The Procuring Contracting Officer has determined that this proposed action meets all the requirements of 38 U.S.C. 8127(c) and VAAR 819.7008. This acquisition is below the $5,000,000.00 threshold, Oddball is a responsible SDVOSB for performance of the services described herein, the proposed contract can be awarded at a fair and reasonable price, and award to Oddball is in the best interest of the Government.

10. Technical/Requirements Certification

I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in this justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Date

Digital Services Expert Office of the Chief Technology Officer 811 G Street, Washington, D.C. 20024

11. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination

I hereby determine that the anticipated price to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable based on an analysis of historical prices paid by the Government for the same services. The contracting officer will use existing CEDAR labor rates, which have previously been determined to be fair and reasonable, to verify Oddball’s proposed price is fair and reasonable per FAR 15.404-1(b)(2)(ii).

Date

Contracting Officer Office of Procurement, Acquisition and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center Department of Veterans Affairs

12. Contracting Officer Certification

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

Contracting Officer Office of Procurement, Acquisition and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center

7/25/24

Approval

In my role as procuring activity Advocate for Competition, based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the acquisition of the transition of POA functionality from legacy systems to VA.gov on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority cited in Section 4 above, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the property and services herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

Advocate for Competition Technology Acquisition Center Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics