C01 Redacted JA - MBMS ManagerPlus Professional Software Annual Service Plan.pdf

Control Number VA-21-00009112

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, New Jersey 07724

2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for a firm-fixed-price delivery order to be issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for brand name ManagerPlus Enterprise Software Extended Service Agreement to cover the 296 Named User desktop software licenses and 80 Entity desktop software licenses.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VA, Office of Information Technology, Enterprise Portfolio Management Department, Benefits, Appeals and Memorials (BAM) Portfolio has a requirement for brand name ManagerPlus Enterprise Software Extended Service Agreement in order to maintain and support 296 Named User desktop software licenses and 80 Entity desktop software licenses owned by VA. VA-owned and operated brand name ManagerPlus Enterprise desktop software acts as an inventory management tool for the National Cemetery Administration (NCA), allowing them to more easily track, in real-time, burial markers and other memorial benefits related orders. Additionally, the aforementioned software provides the ability to manage assets across the NCA enterprise by tracking its equipment, purchase orders, work orders, schedules, and warranties while instantly sharing information across the entire organization in a Dashboard. VA BAM Portfolio requires brand name ManagerPlus Enterprise Software Extended Service Agreement to ensure technical support coverage and provide software updates, patches, and bug fixes for the aforementioned VA-owned ManagerPlus Pro desktop software. This software maintenance is required to ensure the ManagerPlus software remains operational. This proposed action is for software maintenance only, no new software will be procured or renewed. This effort shall have a base period of performance of April 20, 2021 through April 19, 2022, with two 12-month option periods. The total estimated value for this proposed action is

4. Statutory Authority: Pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.505(a)(4), the following brand name requirement is being justified and approved as an exception to fair opportunity under the statutory authority of Section 41 U.S.C. 4106(c)(2) as implemented by FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B), entitled “Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized”.

ManagerPlus Software Annual Service Plan Control Number VA-21-00009112

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based on market research, as described in section 8 of this document, it was determined that limited competition is viable among NASA SEWP resellers for the brand name ManagerPlus Enterprise Software Extended Service Agreement. NCA’s infrastructure is comprised of ManagerPlus Pro desktop software (296 Named User desktop software licenses and 80 Entity desktop software licenses) at 79 sites throughout VA. The aforementioned ManagerPlus Pro software prevents the loss of critical data while providing an enterprise solution to electronically track maintenance requirements at all VA NCA cemeteries. The current Equipment Maintenance Tracking (EMT) system and ManagerPlus software communicates through a source code that is based on ManagerPlus proprietary data. No other brand name software can provide this communication capability without this source code. Additionally, no other brand name software is compatible or interoperable with the currently fielded EMT system and ManagerPlus brand name software.

VA requires software maintenance to support the current ManagerPlus Pro desktop software that runs on the EMT system. In order to maintain this mission critical system, VA must ensure a software maintenance subscription agreement is in place to provide access to ManagerPlus updates, fixes, security alerts and patches for all the Named User and Entity desktops mentioned above. No source other than ManagerPlus, through its resellers, has access to the proprietary data and source code necessary to provide the required access to software updates, fixes, security alerts and patches and access to 24 x 7 customer support/assistance for ManagerPlus currently deployed throughout VA. This continued Enterprise Software Extended Service Agreement is required to maintain the integrity and security of VA’s inventory management tool.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in section 8 of this justification. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government’s requirements. However, the undersigned VA technical representative determined that limited competition is available among resellers for the brand name ManagerPlus product. In accordance with FAR 16.505(a)(4)(iii)(A)(1), this justification will be provided with the solicitation to all appropriate NASA SEWP V GWAC holders. Furthermore, in accordance with FAR 5.301,16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), and 16.505(a)(4)(iii), the award notice for this action will be synopsized on the Contract Opportunities website and this justification will be made publicly available within 14 days of award.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: The Government will continue to conduct market research to ascertain if there are changes in the marketplace that would enable future actions to be competed.

8. Market Research: The Government's technical experts conducted market research in November 2020, which consisted of a review of similar software, including Maximo and AMES/MERS. However, none of these products can provide the software updates, fixes, security alerts and patches for the currently deployed ManagerPlus software already in place within VA without access to the proprietary source code for the ManagerPlus products. Unauthorized software providers do not have access to use the proprietary source, and are not able to provide technical support coverage or software updates, patches, and bug fixes. Only ManagerPlus or an authorized reseller, can provide an Enterprise Software Extended Service Agreement that is compatible and interoperable with existing ManagerPlus software protocols and functionality for continued operational availability for seamless integration into NCA’s infrastructure. In addition, there are no products that are currently compatible and interoperable with the existing EMT system. Based on this market research, the VA technical experts have determined that ManagerPlus is the only approved software that can meet all of VA’s needs.

Further market research was performed by the Contract Specialist in March 2021 utilizing the Provider Lookup Tools on the NASA SEWP V GWAC website, which identified multiple Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) Value Added Reseller GWAC holders in Group B(2) that provide brand name ManagerPlus products. Therefore, limited competition is expected among SDVOSBs for this proposed action.

9. Other Facts: None.

10. Technical and 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.

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 anticipated competition and discounts among multiple value-added resellers of the required brand name ManagerPlus Enterprise Software Extended Service Agreement described herein. Additionally, further price analysis of quotes received will be conducted to determine fair and reasonable price. Finally, pricing of products awarded under NASA SEWP V GWAC have already been determined to be fair and reasonable.

12. Procuring Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.