Gartner Class LSJ_redacted.pdf

Limited Sources Justification and Approval (J&A)

March 2018 Page 2 of 4

I. Contracting Activity.

21st Contracting Squadron at Peterson Air Force Base Purchase Request Number:

Contracting Officer: Amanda Davidson Class Limited Sources Justification

II. Nature and/or description of the action being processed.

Current Requirement: SMC/ECP has a continuing requirement for Gartner Leader subscription licenses for Peterson Air Force Base and Space Force. The Gartner licenses support Range of the Future (ROTF) and sustainment acquisition by keeping key SMC decision-makers informed of current and accurate information that impacts mission decisions. The requested licenses will provide access to on-line information retrieval and analysis daily by SMC/ECP for research and analysis. The action will be awarded as a BPA call utilizing DoD ESI BPA# N66001-19-A-0049, in accordance with Air Force Manual 17-1203. The estimated cost for the current annual requirement is

SMC/ECP is funded with R&D and Procurement funds due to the nature of their requirements (procurement and sustainment efforts), therefore will utilize FY21 3620 (R&D) and 3022 (Procurement) funds for this acquisition which is not prohibited by the DoD ESI BPA User's Guide.

Class Limited Source Justification and Approval: SMC/ECP has a yearly requirement for Gartner subscription licenses, but the exact requirement fluctuates annually. Gartner is the sole provider of the subscription licenses with no authorized resellers.

This Class Limited Source Justification and Approval shall only be used by SMC/ECP to ensure their mission needs are being met. Each use of this Class Limited Source Justification and Approval will be required to complete a separate Market Research Report to confirm that the requirement is still applicable and compliant with contracting regulations. This will also ensure that no other software products exist in the current market that can meet the requirements of SMC/ECP or that there might be a more viable option.

The Gartner BPA expires 24 Mar 2029 and has a ceiling of $446M. This class limited source justification and approval will expire no later than January 1, 2029 or when the class limited source justification ceiling is reached; whichever occurs first to allow adequate time for re-procurement of follow-on requirements. The class limited source justification ceiling was determined by averaging the previous requirements and utilizing inflation rate for future years with a requirement growth buffer.

III. Description of supplies/services required to meet agency needs.

FAR 8.405-6 requires an ordering activity to justify its actions when restricting consideration of schedule contractors to fewer than required in FAR 8.405-1.

FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(B), "Only one source is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services are unique or highly specialized."

SMC/ECP is the center of technical excellence for developing, acquiring, fielding and sustaining military space systems.

n order to sustain current operations at the required levels of performance, SMC/ECP requires access to current information on current and emerging technologies, market trends, and research and analysis to inform key decisions in planning and delivering IT services. The research and advice must be relevant to the requirements in support of strategic planning, cost reduction, understanding and optimization. Based on the market research and needs presented by SMC/ECP, Gartner is the only vendor able to provide the level of resources and tools needed.

Gartner provides research and other tools that are proprietary and exclusive to their subscription licenses such as Chief Information Officer (CIO) research tools, analyst inquiries, and IT collaboration. The Government requires specialized supply chain research and financial management tools in order to optimize operations. Gartner is also the only brand name company that provides a specialized supply chain license with insight as it relates to the IT field. Additionally, other brand

March 2018 Page 3 of 4 name companies do not provide the on-going advisory relationships regarding the finance sector that Gartner provides.

Gartner differentiates itself in the industry of research data by also providing financial advisory assistance in relation to IT and emerging technologies to assist in decision making for end-users. The financial advisory assistance with implementation aspects are not being provided by other companies, presently.

The work to be performed by SMC/ECP requires access to classified information which Gartner has currently cleared IT analysts with space operations expertise. Additionally SMC/ECP contractors must be cleared for classified information to support various facilities, including Peterson AFB and Space Force, which Gartner is currently cleared for.

IV. Identification of the justification/rationale for limiting sources and demonstration of the contractor's unique qualifications to provide the required supply/service.

FAR 8.404 states, "Supplies offered on the schedule are listed at fixed prices, GSA has already determined the prices of supplies and fixed-price services, and rates for services offered at hourly rates, under schedule contracts to be fair and reasonable. Therefore, ordering activities are not required to make a separate determination of fair and reasonable pricing, except for a price evaluation as required by 8.405-1. By placing an order against a schedule contract using the procedures in 8.405, the ordering activity has concluded that the order represents the best value." Furthermore, the DoD ESI BPA states "The minimum BPA discount off of the GSA FSS prices is 3% and must remain at this level for the life of the BPA." As GSA Federal Supply Schedules (FSS) prices are already determined to be fair and reasonable and that any of the DoD ESI BPA prices, including Gartner's prices, are offered at a 3% discount to GSA FSS prices already determined fair and reasonable, Gartner's DoD ESI BPA prices are also considered fair and reasonable.

The Contracting Officer for the BPA, Azariah Ellington, stated this BPA was awarded against FSS 47QTCA18D008L in accordance with FAR 8.405-3. Additionally, Mr. Ellington stated the vast majority of the DoD ESI agreements are BPAs awarded using GSA FSS or Agency Catalogs awarded using NASA SEWP Contracts.

V. Determination by the ordering activity Contracting Officer that the order represents the best value consistent with

FAR 8.404(d).

The requested Gartner subscription licenses are research and advisory services licenses. IAW FAR part 8, mandatory sources were searched for the requested licenses. Inventories from the requiring agency and excess from other agencies are not applicable to fulfill the requirement since they are subscription licenses. The Federal Prison Industries and Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind of Severely Disabled did not provide the requested licenses.

Internet searches were conducted to determine if there were authorized resellers of the licenses; however, these searches revealed that Gartner does not authorize resellers for their research subscription licenses as their licenses are proprietary in nature. As a result of the foregoing information within this document, it is recommended to award this requirement as a sole source delivery order against Gartner's DoD ESI BPA.

VI. Description of the market research conducted and the results, or explain why market research was not conducted.

IAW AFMAN 17-1203 and FAR Part 8, there were no ELA/JELA buying programs available to meet the SMC/ECPs requirements; however, DoD ESI BPAs are listed as 3rd in precedence of required buying programs to meet SMC/ECP's research and advisory service subscription license requirements. The DoD ESI Services BPA holders include Gartner Inc, Cisco, Forrester Research Inc., Yosearch Inc., FEDmine LLC, and Microsoft Enterprise Services (MES); however, Gartner, Inc is the only DoD ESI Services BPA holder that's capable of meeting SMC/ECP's requirements and there are no authorized resellers of Gartner's proprietary licenses and are the only subscription licenses available to sustain SMC/ECP operations and support the acquisition of the Range of The Future (ROTF).

VII. Other facts supporting the justification.

The DoD ESI Services BPA holders (Cisco, Forrester Research Inc., Yosearch Inc., FEDmine LLC, and Microsoft Enterprise Services (MES)) are not capable of meeting SMC/ECP's requirement as Gartner is the only IT research and advisory firm that provides subscription-based IT frameworks and tools for project implementation.

March 2018 Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) Page 4 of 4

VIII. Actions 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.

SMC/ECP, along with 21 CONS, continually conducts market research for changes in the market place to identify any emerging or existing vendors that develop comparable capabilities to that of Gartner for the required levels of research and advisory services to ensure competitive opportunities are exploited at the earliest opportunity practicable. Each use of this Class Limited Source Justification and Approval will complete a separate Market Research Report to confirm that the requirement is still applicable and compliant with contracting regulations. This will also ensure that no other software products exist in the current market that can meet the requirements of SMC/ECP or that there might be a more viable option.

IX. Certification by the Contracting Officer.

As evidenced by my signature above, I have determined this document to be both accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

X. Certification by the technical/requirements personnel.

As evidenced by my (our) signature(s) above, I (we) certify that any supporting data contained herein, which is my (our) responsibility, is both accurate and complete.