C55_MISC_-_Redacted_BN_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)

SOLICITATION #140D0425Q0760

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 Appraisal and Valuation Services Office (AVSO).

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

This is a Brand Name Justification to a follow-on requirement of Salesforce and DocuSign licenses in support of DOI AVSO’s Appraisal and Valuation Information System (AVIS) that is currently developed and in production leveraging: SalesForce for case management, MuleSoft for system integrations, Trust Asset and Accounting System (TAAMS) for real estate records look up, eMail Enterprise Records Document Management System (eERDMS) for electronic records management and DocuSign for document generation and primary storage. System access is provisioned to internal DOI staff based on business need. This requirement will be solicited against the DOI Foundation Cloud Hosting Services 2 (FCHS2) Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts.

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 meet these requirements in a Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) Moderate level environment. This application will contain Personally Identifiable Information (PII). AVIS is currently in production and requires basic Operations and Maintenance (O&M) professional services support along with configuration enhancement as additional platform(s) functionality becomes available or the business process evolves. AVIS has an Authority to Operate (ATO).

Professional support services may be required periodically to respond to system compliance audit findings or ATO reauthorization. AVSO currently staff the dedicated AVIS Helpdesk where user accounts are managed, tier 1 support is provided, basic configuration changes may be handled, and tier 2/3 support is elevated to the professional services O&M contractor and/or the platform vendor support team. The objective is to maintain the existing AVIS system and implement periodic enhancements as business processes change or new functionality and integration opportunities emerge.

SOLICITATION #140D0425Q0760

In addition, AVIS (SalesForce) maintains over 200k case records with 15.2GB of used data space in production and leverages one full sandbox and multiple other sandboxes for dev/test.

MuleSoft is running 6 applications in production which are also mirrored in a User Acceptance Testing (UAT) environment. MuleSoft also uses 2 network connections, 2 Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs), and 2 load balancers. DocuSign current storage is 750GB and there are 9 document generation flows configured in production. The user interface is primarily through the SalesForce case record with no direct access to MuleSoft or DocuSign. AVIS also maintains a dedicated helpdesk system monitored by sys admins staffed by AVSO personnel. Tier 1 support is provided by AVSO to include routine user account management and minor configuration changes. The system interconnection agreements and authority to operate AVIS are dependent on and specific to the SalesForce/MuleSoft/DocuSign solution currently in production.

These customizations are tightly integrated into the Salesforce applications and were developed over several years to meet these requirements in a FISMA Moderate level environment.

Transitioning to another platform would not only result in loss of these tailored capabilities but would also require the DOI AVSO 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. AVSO has invested over in AVIS since 2011. The current solution leverages configuration, flows and code in SalesForce and DocuSign to automate portions of case management and file storage for records management.

The Salesforce and DocuSign 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 an exception to fair opportunity being considered is to limit the software subscriptions and maintenance on a brand name basis.

4. 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 and DocuSign, market research found that all FCHS2 contract holders are Salesforce and DocuSign 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 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.

SOLICITATION #140D0425Q0760

5. Any other facts supporting the justification.

The SalesForce and DocuSign licenses will be 60 % firm fixed priced and the professional services will be 40% T&M. This procurement specifically requests two six-month increments for the base period with two 12-month option periods for the continuation of existing Salesforce and DocuSign licenses to ensure uninterrupted of services. The previous licensing agreements are under the existing Federal Cloud Hosting Services (FCHS 1) IDIQ contract under task order 140D0418F0366 with an expiration date of 29 October 2025, which established the initial framework for Salesforce and DocuSign utilization.

6. 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 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 on how AVIS 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.

SOLICITATION #140D0425Q07

7. The contracting officer’s certification that the justification is accurate and complete to the best of the contracting officer’s knowledge and belief.

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

Renada Cooper Contracting Officer

8. Evidence that any supporting data that is the responsibility of technical or requirements personnel (e.g., verifying the Government’s minimum needs or requirements or other rationale for an exception to fair opportunity) and which form a basis for the justification have been certified as complete and accurate by the technical or requirements personnel.

I certify that the technical data which forms a basis for this justification is complete and accurate and meets the Government’s minimum needs.

Kenneth Daw Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR)

9. A written determination by the approving official that one of the circumstances in FAR 16.505 applies to the order.

The basis for this justification is set forth in FAR 16.505(a)(4)(i), The contracting officer must justify restricting consideration to an item peculiar to one manufacturer (e.g., a particular brand-name, product, or a feature of a product that is peculiar to one manufacturer).

RENADA COOPER

Digitally signed by RENADA

COOPER

Date: 2025.08.28 17:16:19 -04'00'

KENNETH DAW

Digitally signed by KENNETH

DAW

Date: 2025.09.03 09:04:25 -05'00'

10. Reviews and Approvals

Concur

Deion Turner Branch Chief

Concur

Shelita Saint-Louis Division Chief

Approve

Michael Farrell Competition Advocate

SOLICITATION #140D0425Q07

DEION TURNER

Digitally signed by DEION

TURNER

Date: 2025.09.03 10:53:20 -04'00'

SHELITA SAINT-

LOUIS

Digitally signed by SHELITA

SAINT-LOUIS

Date: 2025.09.03 11:06:14 -04'00'

MICHAEL FARRELL

Digitally signed by MICHAEL

FARRELL

Date: 2025.09.04 15:17:40 -04'00'