FY23 JA Merrill - FAR Part 6 - signed.pdf

Control Number VA-23-00000267

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

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: The proposed action is for a sole source, firm-fixed-price (FFP) contract with Herbert W. Merrill dba Merrill Consultants (Merrill) for renewals of Merrill Software Subscription and Support.

3. Description of Supplies or Services: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Office of Information and Technology has the requirement for a renewal of Merrill MXG Software Subscription and Support. This renewal is required for continued use of the software and access to maintenance releases, version releases, and upgrades to the MXG software currently in use at the VA Data Center located in Austin TX. MXG software is utilized to read raw data from IBM System Management Facility (SMF) data records; and the software organizes this statistical data into a performance database.

The period of performance shall be one 12-month base period with four 12-month option periods. The total estimated price of the proposed action, inclusive of option periods, is $16,789.06.

4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1 entitled, “Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.”

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: The proposed source for this action is Herbert W. Merrill dba Merrill Consultants (Merrill). The VA data center in Austin, TX utilizes MXG software for performance analysis and billing/accounting chargeback. This software is the only software integrated with VA's current infrastructure and reporting systems. Replacing MXG software with any other software would require a custom system integration effort where the time and effort required for the installation, integration, and testing of any new software would result in a loss of data center performance metrics and would significantly disrupt data center services and accounting. Replacement of the MXG software will result in the aforementioned delivery delay of no less than 30 days and will also result in duplication of costs in greater than $50K to replace MXG license renewals and MXG software support. Merrill does not have any authorized resellers of its products. The MXG software is proprietary to Merrill and only Merrill has access to or is able to modify the MXG software source code. Without access to the proprietary software source code, continual software use, new MXG versions, MXG patches, and MXG support cannot be provided.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, the details of which are in section 8 of this justification. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government’s requirements; therefore, no competition is anticipated for this acquisition. Additionally, the proposed action will be synopsized on the Federal

Merrill MXG Control Number VA-23-00000267

Business Opportunities (FBO) Page in accordance with FAR 5.201 and this Justification will be posted on FBO within 14 days after award

7. Actions to Increase Competition: The Government will continue to conduct market research to ascertain if there are changes in the market place that would enable future actions to be competed.

8. Market Research: Technical subject matter experts conducted extensive market research in February 2022 by reviewing catalogs, performing database queries, researching the independent http://www.lookupmainframesoftware.com/soft_detail/dispsoft/1542 web site. This research determined that no other product or services in the market meet VA’s requirement. Also, similar statistical analysis software providers, CA MICS Resource Management Software and Tableau Statistical Analysis Software were investigated.

Both possessed similar technical capabilities to the required MXG software however neither provided the required integration with VA data centers nor the required support or licensing to the integrated MXG software without access to the MXG source code.

Research on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Solutions for Enterprise-wide Procurement V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (NASA SEWP V GWAC) and General Services Administration (GSA) platforms yielded no suppliers or resellers of Merrill MXG software products. Search screenshots have been uploaded to the contract file. As such, the required Merrill MXG Software Subscription and Support cannot be solicited under the NASA SEWP V GWAC or GSA platforms. Furthermore, the Contract Specialist obtained a letter from Merrill Consultants dated February 14, 2022 that confirms they are the sole provider of MXG software and maintenance. A copy of this email has been uploaded to the contract file. The Market Research Worksheet provided by the requiring activity indicates that this software has been purchased previously by VA under contracts 36C10B19C0044 and VA118-17-C-1511.

On both occasions, this software was acquired directly from Merrill Consultants. Market research confirms that Merrill Consultants is the only provider capable of meeting the Government’s requirements. Therefore, this requirement cannot be set-aside for SDVOSBs, VOSBs or any other socioeconomic group. Accordingly, VA will pursue award of a sole source contract with Merrill Consultants.

9. Other Facts: None

Merrill MXG Control Number VA-23-00000267

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

Service Line Manager 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 a comparison with prior acquisitions of this same software service as well as comparison to the Independent Government Cost Estimate.

Robert C. Kately

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 does not exceed $750,000, the certification below required by FAR 6.304(a)(1) serves as approval.

Robert C. Kately

Procuring Contracting Officer Signature: ____________________________