C55_MISC_BrandName_Justification_140D0425Q0738_DOI_OHC_Salesforce_O_M_Redacted_1.pdf

United States Department of the Interior

INTERIOR BUSINESS CENTER

Washington, DC 20240

BRAND NAME JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

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

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1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity, and specific identification of the document as a “Brand Name Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity.”

This document is a Brand Name Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity for the Department of the Interior (DOI), Interior Business Center (IBC), Acquisition Services Directorate (AQD), Division 1, Branch 4 on behalf of DOI Office of Human Capital (OHC).

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

This is a Brand Name Justification in support of a follow-on requirement to contract D13PC00029, task order 140D0418F0366 for professional services and Salesforce licensing in support of OHC three applications, Interior-Management Accountability & Reporting (I- MART), Executive Review Board (ERB) Request Tracking, and Retirement Tracking System (RTS) using the Salesforce Service Cloud platform. OHC has a continuing need for licensing to maintain I-MART, ERB, and RTS applications to ensure continuity of services. This requirement will be solicited against the DOI Foundation Cloud Hosting Services 2 (FCHS2) Indefinite Delivery / Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts resulting in a hybrid Firm Fixed Price and Time-and-Materials task order.

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

This requirement will provide support services and Salesforce licenses required to operate and maintain OHC I-MART, ERB and RTS applications. The I-MART application is used by Human Resource (HR) Employee and Labor Relations staff and Servicing Personnel Offices (SPOs) to create, update, view, and manage employee and labor relations cases including disciplinary and adverse actions, administrative grievances, performance-based actions, negotiated grievances, and reasonable accommodation requests. The ERB Request Tracking application is used by the Executive Resources team to create, update, view, and manage ERB requests including establish position, reassignment, recruitment, and selection. It allows HR staff to track the status of executive resources requests, and supports DOI to comply with statutory, regulatory and executive reporting requirements. The RTS is used by the Retirement team to create, update, view, and manage retirement requests including general inquiries about DOI retirement plans, claims/appeals for decisions, Federal Erroneous Retirement Coverage Corrections Act (FERCCA) requests, Individual Retirement Record (IRR) requests, new Firefighter or Law Enforcement position requests, Certification of Service Performed (RI 20-

124) requests, and Work History Summary Log (WHSL) requests. It allows HR staff to track the status of retirement requests, and supports DOI to comply with statutory, regulatory and executive reporting requirements such as providing evidence to support the requirements found

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OHC’s operational and security requirements. Maintaining system compatibility and FedRAMP Moderate compliance requires continued use of this specific brand name product.

In addition, the three applications include numerous customizations, configurations, and workflow automations that are specifically designed to align with DOI OHC’s management processes. These customizations are tightly integrated into the Salesforce applications and were developed over several years to meet unique federal operational, reporting, and compliance needs. Transitioning to another platform would not only result in loss of these tailored capabilities but would also require the DOI OHC to re-enter the full discovery, design, testing, and implementation lifecycle. This would represent significant resource expenditure, increase the risk of implementation failure, and lead to prolonged service disruption.

The Salesforce brand name licensing and support are items peculiar to these vendors. These products are essential to the Government's requirements and market research indicates other companies' similar products do not meet, or cannot be modified to meet, the agency's needs without significant interruption, delay and additional cost. It is expected that this action will be solicited under FCHS2. The justification for the fair opportunity being considered is to limit the software subscriptions and maintenance on a brand name basis.

5. A determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

Although this requirement is brand name specific to Salesforce, market research found that all FCHS2 contract holders are Salesforce authorized resellers, capable of providing the required subscriptions. This requirement will be competed amongst all the FCHS2 IDIQ contract holders and the award will be made against the successful quoter’s FCHS2 contract with time-and-materials and firm-fixed prices. Adequate price competition is expected and, if achieved, the Contracting Officer will determine pricing to be fair and reasonable based on adequate price competition. The AQD Contracting Officer (CO) will also seek price discounts from quoters.

6. Any other facts supporting the justification.

This procurement specifically requests a six-month base with an optional six-month contract line-item for continuation of existing Salesforce licenses to ensure uninterrupted operation of the I-MART, ERB and RTS applications. The previous licensing agreement was under expired Federal Cloud Hosting Services (FCHS 1) IDIQ contract D13PC00029, task order 140D0418F0366, which established the initial framework for Salesforce utilization.

7. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the exception to fair opportunity before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made.

The Department of the Interior (DOI), in collaboration with the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is actively undertaking a

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comprehensive review of government-wide platforms, technologies, and existing contracts. This initiative aims to identify and implement the most cost-effective solutions for the entire federal government. This ongoing research and potential consolidation of contracts and technologies could significantly impact how the I-MART, ERB and RTS are supported in the future.

Specifically, these efforts are designed to address and potentially overcome the barriers that currently necessitate an exception to fair opportunity for our Salesforce licenses.

There are no further practical considerations that can be taken at this time to eliminate the Brand Name only restriction on these required software products due to the proprietary nature of software subscriptions and the need for compatible components. The Government will continue to conduct market research to identify changes in the marketplace that would allow unrestricted competition.