FINAL_K2_BLACKPEARL_BRAND_NAME_JUSTIFICATION_06-06-2017.pdf

BRAND NAME JUSTIFICATION

Department of Education, Federal Student Aid

K2 BlackPearl Software Maintenance

This acquisition is being conducted in accordance with FAR subpart 13.5, Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items.

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity.

It is the intention of the United States Department of Education Federal Student Aid’s (FSA) Acquisitions Group to acquire K2 BlackPearl software maintenance.

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

The purpose of this acquisition is to renew K2 BlackPearl software maintenance. The K2 Black Pearl software is a middleware software tool that provides workflow functionality to automate business processes. The software resides on the Enterprise Employee Business Collaboration (EEBC) and Partner Enterprise Business Collaboration (PEBC) systems.

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

FSA intents to renew the following software maintenance:

a. K2 BlackPearl Non-production Server

License Type: Server Quantity: 300

b. K2 Software Annual Maintenance – Gold Level

Software Maintenance for the following software products:

2 BlackPearl Internet Connector Servers 8 BlackPearl Production Server Licenses 9 BlackPearl Staging Server Licenses Designer, K2 Studio, K2 Workspace, K2 SharePoint 2010 and 2013

Licenses Type: Servers Quantity: 6,196

4. An identification of the statutory authority and supporting rationale.

The statutory authority for this acquisition is 41 U.S.C. 1901.

5. A demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited.

K2 is the only iBPM (Business Process Management) software that has a high-productivity application authoring environment that allows organizations the ability to create process-centric applications for process automation. The software possesses an extensible Smart

Brand Name Justification

Object framework that produces a nearly code-free solution. This allows FSA the ability to build and run business applications, including forms, workflow, data and reports without having to replace the current Microsoft applications being used in the FSA environment today. Other advantages of K2 BlackPearl include:

Uses visual tools to build reusable data forms and workflow components that use line-of-business and web-based data Provides a single view of business entities both in workflows and via their model-driven user interface experience Easily configured to integrate with other systems within an enterprise or on the web Best option, and tailored, for organizations that have a deep investment in Microsoft technologies (aka FSA) such as Windows server, Microsoft SQL server, SharePoint, etc.

Moving to a new Business Process Management (BPM) software platform would require FSA to acquire new BPM software licenses that could costs $10,000 to $50,000 or more per license and/or web front end. It is estimated that FSA would incur more than $110,000 to acquire new software BPM platform. This price does not include the required software maintenance and the re-training of the FSA staff that would also be required. Therefore, it has been determined that it’s in the interest of Federal Student Aid to acquire the necessary software maintenance for the K2 BlackPearl BPM licenses it possesses.

6. A description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under 5.202 applies.

K2 BlackPearl software has been used FSA since FY2014 and continues to meet FSA’s business requirements. Therefore, no effort was made to solicit other potential sources for the reasons stated within Section 5.

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

Price reasonableness will be determined by using historical pricing that FSA has paid in the past for software maintenance listed in Section 3 of this Brand Name Justification.

8. A description of the market research conducted among schedule holders and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

Market research was conducted, but it was determined that no other products can meet the FSA’s business requirements outlined in this Brand Name Justification.

9. Any other facts supporting the justification.

No other information is required to support this Brand Name Justification.

10. A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.

No other sources have expressed interest as of the date of this justification.

Brand Name Justification

11. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the restricted consideration before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made.

In the near term it is the intention of FSA to continue to use K2 BlackPearl software platform. The financial savings and increase technical capabilities in moving to a new software package would be minimal. If FSA business requirements change in the future, FSA will conduct new market research to determine if there are potential vendors that could support FSA’s new business requirements.

12. Technical Requirements Personnel Certification

I certify this requirement meets the Government’s minimum need and that the support data, which forms a basis for this justification, is complete and accurate. The requiring FSA program office has provided written supporting data, which is contained in the contract file, that verifies the technical requirements and support the government ongoing need to use the aforementioned brand name commercial items.

Cynthia Freshley Contracting Officer’s Representative FSA Technology Office

13. Certification

I certify that the data supporting this Name Brand Justification is accurate and complete.

Therefore, the Contracting Officer hereby determines that it is in the best interest of Federal Student Aid to move forward with this Name Brand acquisition.

Andrew Jernell Contracting Officer Federal Student Aid