FY21 JA for IBM Direct Connect Redacted.pdf

IBM-PPA Software Maintenance Renewal VA-20-00077331

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, NJ 07724

2. Description of Action: This proposed action is for a firm-fixed-price delivery order under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for maintenance renewal of IBM Infosphere DataStage, Quality Stage Designer, IBM Sterling Connect, and IBM Security Key Lifecycle Manager software.

3. Description of Supplies or Services: VA Office of Information and Technology, Service Delivery and Engineering, Enterprise Operations (EO) has a requirement for maintenance and support of International Business Machines (IBM) products that are only available under IBM's Passport Advantage (PPA) Agreements program. Maintenance support is required for the following software licenses included under this agreement: IBM Infosphere DataStage, Quality Stage Designer, IBM Sterling Connect, and IBM Security Key Lifecycle Manager, The software maintenance will consist of software upgrades and updates to include major releases, patch releases, service releases, and security releases of applicable software on a quarterly basis or within 48 hours in cases where high risk vulnerability fixes becomes available.

The period of performance is 12-months with three (3) 12-month option periods.

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”.

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based on extensive market research as described in section 8 of this document, it was determined that limited competition is available for the aforementioned IBM PPA software maintenance and support. Only IBM software maintenance can meet the Government’s requirements. The current EO infrastructure is based on existing IBM software product lines acquired under IBM's PPA program and VA requires support compatible with the existing infrastructure protocols and functionality for continued operational availability. It is critical that this infrastructure remain operational at all times and maintenance and support services be continuously available. Only IBM's PPA Division or a reseller can provide the necessary software updates because of the proprietary source code required to develop and implement software updates. Additionally, this source code is required to ensure all software maintenance support provided is properly configured. No other source is capable of providing the required software maintenance that meets VA's unique functional requirement. In addition, current IBM software licenses were purchased through IBM PPA program and have been installed and integrated into EO's IBM mainframe customer service packages. Replacing the existing software by purchasing new software would require onsite installation and configuration of the new software and re-training of all VA information technology support staff. The new software would also have to meet the qualifications of VA's stated functional needs and would require multiple support costs if the IBM PPA software licenses were abandoned in favor of a different product. No other license is compatible and interoperable with the existing IBM PPA proprietary database structures, protocols, and software application programming interfaces. As a result, the IBM PPA software maintenance and support are the only software maintenance that meets the Government's requirement. Failure to acquire the software maintenance and support will adversely affect VA’s ability to provide critical services to the VA and Veterans Nation-wide.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in the market research section of this document. In accordance with FAR 5.301 and 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), this action will be synopsized within 14 days of award on the Federal Business Opportunity Page. In addition, the Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity will be posted on the NASA SEWP V website along with the solicitation.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: In order to remove or overcome barriers to competition in future acquisitions for this requirement, the agency will work with the program office to continue to perform market research to ascertain if any other sources can provide these services in the future. Although the Government is limiting competition as a result of specifying brand name items, there are multiple resellers of the required brand name items on the NASA SEWP V GWAC. Limited competition among these vendors is anticipated.

8. Market Research: Market research was conducted in May 2020. The Government's technical experts reviewed similar service providers to determine if the current IBM PPA software being utilized in VA can be supported by other service providers. Specifically, the Government's technical experts conducted web-based research on Luxoft and Silicus products. As a result of the market research, the technical experts confirmed that due to proprietary nature of the source code, IBM PPA is the only source capable of providing the required maintenance and support of the software.

IBM PPA product line is software maintenance that covers multiple software packages currently in use in EO. No other service providers have the capability of developing and issuing software updates and fixes for the software necessary to support existing EO requirement. Based on the above, only IBM PPA software maintenance and support meets all of the Government's requirements.

Additional market research was conducted by Contract Specialist in August 2020 utilizing the NASA SEWP V Provider Lookup Tool, which found a total of 117 resellers of IBM brand name products, 12 of which are Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business contract holders in Group B(2). Furthermore, NASA SEWP has a dynamic catalog where line items can be added based on customer requests; therefore, as long as the required item or service is within scope of the NASA SEWP V GWAC, items and services can be added to the catalog on a daily basis. This requirement was determined to be within scope of the NASA SEWP V GWAC under a separate determination. Therefore, VA anticipates limited competition.

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.

Dawn Sturtz Date: ________________________

Manager – Mainframe Service Line Signature: _________________________

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. Additionally, pricing for products awarded on NASA SEWP V GWAC have already been determined to be fair and reasonable and more competitive pricing may result from competition.

Finally, if necessary, the proposed pricing will be compared to the Independent Government Cost Estimate.

David J. Sette Date: ____________________________________

Procuring Contracting Officer Signature: ____________________________________

12. Procuring Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. As this contract action exceeds the simplified acquisition threshold, but does not exceed $700,000, the certification required by FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(C)(1) serves as approval.

David J. Sette Date: ____________________________________

Procuring Contracting Officer Signature: ________________________