ERA 2.0 DIT Exception to Fair Opportunity_FINAL_All Signatures.pdf

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B), Only One Awardee is Capable of Providing the Supplies or Services

National Archives and Records Administration 8601 Adelphi Road

College Park, MD 20740-6001

ERA 2.0 DevOps and AWS Managed Services for Non-Production Environments

Technical or Requirements Personnel Certification:

I hereby certify that this justification for an exception to fair opportunity is made in good faith, that the supporting data and information are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief, and that I would not be making this request if it were feasible to compete this requirement. I further certify this request is not the result of a desire to expend funds while those funds are still available.

David Lake Date

IG

Contracting Officer Concurrence:

I have reviewed this justification and conclude that it is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Ty Senour Date Contracting Officer (Z)

General Counsel Concurrence:

I have reviewed this justification and consider it legally sufficient.

Stephani Abramson Date Legal Counsel

February 2, 2022

February 2, 2022

Senior Acquisition Concurrence:

I have reviewed this justification and conclude that it is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

La Verne A. Fields Date Senior Procurement Executive (Z)

NARA Competition Advocate Approval:

I have reviewed this justification and hereby certify that it is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. In accordance with FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(C) and NARA 501, I approve this justification.

Mark Smith Date NARA Competition Advocate (B)

I. IDENTIFICATION OF THE AGENCY AND THE CONTRACTING ACTIVITY, AND

SPECIFIC IDENTIFICATION OF THE DOCUMENT AS A “JUSTIFICATION FOR

AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY”.

See Page 1.

II. NATURE AND/OR DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTION BEING APPROVED.

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) intends to restrict competition in order to maintain continuity of existing services during its competition of a replacement contract for these services.

III. A DESCRIPTION OF THE SUPPLIES OR SERVICES REQUIRED TO MEET THE

AGENCY’S NEEDS (INCLUDING THE ESTIMATED VALUE).

NARA has an ongoing requirement for DevOps and Amazon Web Services (AWS) Managed Services for the non-production environments of the Electronic Records Archive (ERA) 2.0 system. The current services are being provided through a six (6) month extension to the current Enterprise Cloud Bridge task order limited only to these services through March 29, 2022. The period of performance for this task order is March 30, 2022 through September 29, 2022 and one (1) six (6)-month option period. The estimated total ceiling value of the task order is $1,361,864.00.

IV. IDENTIFICATION OF THE EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY (SEE

16.505(b)(2)) AND THE SUPPORTING RATIONALE, INCLUDING A

DEMONSTRATION THAT THE PROPOSED CONTRACTOR’S UNIQUE

QUALIFICATIONS OR THE NATURE OF THE ACQUISITION REQUIRES USE OF

THE EXCEPTION CITED. IF THE CONTRACTING OFFICER USES THE LOGICAL

FOLLOW-ON EXCEPTION, THE RATIONALE SHALL DESCRIBE WHY THE

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE INITIAL ORDER AND THE FOLLOW-ON IS

LOGICAL (E.G., IN TERMS OF SCOPE, PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE, OR VALUE).

FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B), 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. It is not feasible to seek fair opportunity competition for this requirement, effectively transition services to a new vendor, and maintain continuity of services by March 29, 2022. NARA is executing a six (6) month task order with one (1) six (6)-month option period. The option period will only be exercised if necessary to allow sufficient time for adequate competition, evaluation, contract award, and transition of services. NARA expects transition to require 90 days.

NARA is in the process of conducting market research and acquisition planning to execute a competitive acquisition for ERA 2.0 Application Development, DevOps, and AWS Managed Services through a separate contract to be awarded by the end of FY 2022. This new contract would acquire these DevOps and AWS Managed Services, as well as services for application development under one new contract. However, due to various developments and changes in strategy over the past year, the execution of this acquisition has been delayed.

When NARA was planning to replace its Enterprise Cloud contract in FY 2021, the decision was made to decouple the Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) / Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) from the cloud managed and professional services. NARA decided to initiate a separate acquisition to obtain DevOps and Managed Services for AWS and other Cloud Service Providers, under a Cloud Professional Services vehicle. In order to acquire professional services for supporting these various cloud environments, NARA first had to know which CSPs would be available under its IaaS / PaaS contract vehicle. The IaaS / PaaS blanket purchase agreement (BPA) for AWS and two (2) other CSP providers was executed in August 2021. The current task order that provides the ERA 2.0 DevOps and AWS Managed Services was extended through March 29, 2022.

During the fourth quarter of FY 2021, NARA was internally deciding whether it would be in the ERA program’s interest to issue a new ERA 2.0 Application Development contract with DevOps and AWS Managed Services as part of the requirements to improve efficiency in the actual development process. The ERA 2.0 DevOps and AWS Managed Services were the only professional cloud services that were ongoing from the previous Enterprise Cloud contract.

Based on that, it was determined that if professional services are required for the other cloud environments, then that would be addressed in a separate acquisition. At this time, NARA is still assessing the need and the best strategy for acquiring cloud professional services for all three (3) of its available CSPs.

These changes in strategy for acquiring cloud professional services caused delays in the execution of acquisitions for these services. These services must continue uninterrupted in order for NARA to continue performing its mission during the competition for these services.

The strategy has increased the complexity, and thus the time necessary for execution of contracts to continue the existing services and acquire professional services to enable effective cloud integration and management. Reference paragraphs III and VI.

V. A DETERMINATION BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER THAT THE

ANTICIPATED COST TO THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE FAIR AND

REASONABLE.

The prices on the National Institute of Health (NIH) Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes for Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC) Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) CIO-CS contracts have already been determined to be fair and reasonable. This requirement is for commercial items that are available on CIO-CS. NARA developed its independent government cost estimate (IGCE) based on the projected labor categories, mix, and level of effort necessary to continue these services. The hourly rates are based on the current NITAAC CIO-CS rates with a 3% escalation.

VI. ANY OTHER FACTS SUPPORTING THE JUSTIFICATION.

This requirement was originally awarded as a sub-task under NARA’s competitively awarded Enterprise Cloud Flexible Ordering Agreement (FOA), NAMA-15-G-0007, which included professional services in its original scope. Subsequently, NARA executed a bridge task order, 88310320F00192, for the continuity of services for cloud hosting as well as to continue the ERA 2.0 support services while it competed the current cloud blanket purchase agreement (BPA) for IaaS / PaaS services. The six (6) month extension executed against 88310320F00192 was limited to ERA 2.0 DevOps and AWS Managed Services and will expire on March 29, 2022. NARA requires continued services for the sustained development of ERA 2.0 in the non-production environments hosted within AWS, without interruption. Any disruption to the continued DevOps support and AWS managed services could result in government caused delays in the professional development services being provided by other vendors and thus cause NARA to incur significant costs and delays in the execution of its mission.

VII. 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.

NARA is issuing this task order for a period of six (6) months one (1) six (6)-month option period in order to allow sufficient time to develop its requirements, conduct a competition, and allow for transition to the replacement contract.

VIII. THE CONTRACTING OFFICER’S CERTIFICATION THAT THE JUSTIFICATION

IS ACCURATE AND COMPLETE TO THE BEST OF THE CONTRACTING

OFFICER’S KNOWLEDGE AND BELIEF.

See page 1.

IX. 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.

X. A WRITTEN DETERMINATION BY THE APPROVING OFFICIAL THAT ONE OF

THE CIRCUMSTANCES IN (b)(2)(i)(A) THROUGH (E) AND (G) OF THIS SECTION

APPLIES TO THE ORDER.