ID02190005_LSJ_Army_Middleware_Spt__12.4.2018_(1).pdf

ID02190005

General Services Administration

Federal Acquisition Service Northeast and Caribbean Region

Limited-Sources Justification November 29, 2018

I. Agency and Contracting Activity

Requesting Activity Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC)

Contracting Activity General Services Administration Assisted Acquisition Services Division One World Trade Center New York, NY 10007-0089

II. Description of Action:

An approval is requested for a limited-sources award of ITSS Task Order, No. ID02190005 to Perspecta Enterprise Services, LLC (formerly Enterprise Services, LLC), under BPA ID02160005001, awarded under GSA Federal Supply Schedule (FSS), Contract No GS-35F- 146DA, on behalf of the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) for procurement of Middleware Support for ActivClient Middleware licenses. The order will be placed on a Firm- Fixed Price basis. The effort is to be funded with Operations and Maintenance, Army funds.

III. Description of Supplies or Services:

DMDC requested that GSA’s Assisted Acquisition Services (AAS) Division procure and award an order for Middleware Support Services for ActivClient middleware. The support will be provided to the U.S. Army, for its 800,000 seat licenses of ActivClient middleware, from the day after award for a period of one year. The target award date is no later than December 21, 2018, and would provide for support from December 22, 2018 through December 21, 2019.

Estimated Costs: $1,072,000.00

IV. Authority Cited:

The acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple-Award Schedule Program.

Specifically, 8.405-6(b)(1)-Brand name specifications shall not be used unless the particular brand name, product, or feature is essential to the Government’s requirements, and market research indicates other companies’ similar products, or products lacking the particular feature, do not meet, or cannot be modified to meet, the agency’s needs.

V. Reason for Authority Cited:

As reported by the U.S. Army: The U.S. Army currently has the ActivIdentity smart card middleware product ActivClient fielded across the Army and it has been in place for a number of years. To support continuous vendor support of the product, the Army is requesting purchase of support for these licenses to fulfill its annual maintenance requirement. Since the ActivIdentity product is already fielded and operational, no other vendor product can fulfill this requirement.

No company other than the middleware manufacturer/developer is in a position to provide the services required to maintain and support these licenses. The software source code is owned and modifiable only by ActivIdentity, the company that manufactures ActivClient middleware. A support agreement for another brand of middleware, such as Charismathics, Safenet, or

AuthentXware, would not result in the successful support of ActivClient licenses. A support agreement for ActivClient middleware, similarly, would not result in the successful support of Charismathics, Safenet, nor AuthentXware middleware. Each of these middleware products is uniquely constructed and the data rights to the construction are owned by the manufacturer. Only the manufacturer of a particular middleware product is in a position to render support services for its particular product. In the case of this acquisition, the Government has already fielded 800,000 seat licenses of ActivClient, which have been in use successfully for many years, for which only support services provided by ActivIdentity will suffice.

Under the DMDC Multiple-Award BPA’s (issued as a result of quotes received in response to RFQ No. ID02160005) through which DMDC, the U.S. Army, and other authorized agencies may acquire middleware support for ActivClient and other middleware platforms, as required, only one of the two BPA holders provided a quote for ActivClient support. Enterprise Services ( formerly HPES), under BPA ID02160005001, formed a Contractor Teaming Arrangement with Envoy Data Corporation to support the Government’s stated requirement for ActivClient support services.

VI. Efforts to Obtain Competition

Government agencies are allowed to choose their middleware platforms, which are required to be FIPS 201 certified. Once selected, the support of those products must be obtained from the manufacturer of the middleware. The other option the Government may pursue is to forego maintenance services, but this approach inherently entails a high level of risk, in terms of maintaining security and interoperability between systems.

The U.S. Army, the intended consumer of the required support services, has successfully relied on ActivClient as its middleware since at least 2008. There is no known plan to change from ActivClient to some other platform.

There is no known effort to increase competition for the support services for the particular middleware product, as the middleware manufacturer is in the best position to provide these services.

GSA is supportive of BPA holders’ efforts to add products and services to their BPA’s would be willing to add ActivClient products and support to the BPA award of the other BPA holder, but has not received a request that it do so. The other BPA holder, XTEC, Inc indicated several years ago that it was pursuing the addition of ActivClient support to its previous, now expired BPA award, but no definitive request had been made to the Government to do so. XTEC has its own middleware product XWARE, which is perceived by the Government to be an impediment to them establishing a business relationship for the reselling of ActivClient products.

Given the looming deadline for renewal prior to the expiration of the current support interval, with an attendant upshot in the cost of support, if support is not renewed by that date, and the availability of at least one responsible vendor who can provide the service, at a fair and reasonable price, the Government will pursue an order with the available vendor.

The Government remains hopeful that the other BPA holder, besides Enterprise Services LLC which is the holder of BPA ID02160005001, is successful in its earlier stated intent to position themselves to supply the Government with ActivClient middleware support. However, it has not received a request from any BPA holder except for Perspecta Enterprise Services LLC. Perspecta Enterprise Services LLC therefore is the only BPA holder qualified to support ActivClient products.

The Government has considered conducting a new acquisition, as an alternative to issuing a BPA call to Perspecta Enterprise Services for the support required; however, it is unlikely that the Government will receive quotes that are as competitive in pricing as is the Perspecta Enterprise Services quote, which was based on providing middleware support for multiple agencies over a five year time span.

VII. Market Research

GSA conducted Market Research to confirm that Perspecta Enterprise Services is capable of providing a quote to meet this requirement. Perspecta Enterprises Services was the re-seller of ActivClient middleware support services under a preceding order, ITSS task number 02FL9780604, used by GSA Region 2, from 2008 to 2011, to award support services for ActivClient middleware services for DMDC and its customers. HPES was the re-seller of ActivClient middleware support services under the current support agreement, awarded as ITSS task numbers ID02140004 (FY14 support), ID02150003 (FY15 support), ID02160003 (FY16 support), ID02170010 (FY17) and ID02180009 (FY18). Enterprise Services was responsive in all cases then and as the only offeror on the BPA to respond to the Government’s stated requirement for ActivClient middleware support, remains responsive.

GSA also confirmed via market research conducted on GSA Advantage, that there were resellers of ActivClient middleware support with which other BPA holders could team, should they desire to offer ActivClient support to the Government to meet future requirements. Contractors having the specified ActivClient part on their Federal Supply Schedules (FSS) include:

• SOFTWARE INFORMATION RESOURCE CORP. GS-35F-0149N

• ENVOY DATA CORPORATION GS-35F-0332S

Additional contractors have more generically-nomenclatured ActivClient goods and services on their FSS. It is clear that a BPA-holder that desired to compete for this requirement has a path forward to add the required goods and service to their BPA, either through their own FSS contracts, or through teaming arrangements with firms that offer ActivClient goods and services.

VIII. Determination of Fair and Reasonable Pricing

The proposal is expected to match, or be better than, the rates currently quoted for support under P e rs p e c t a Enterprise Services existing BPA vehicle, ID02160005001, which have been determined to be priced fairly and reasonably. The Government will review, and use for the basis of any negotiations, previously established pricing under similar contracts for the goods proposed.

Additionally, price reasonableness will be been determined based on the requirements and techniques as set forth in FAR 15.404-1.

The order represents the best value consistent with 8.404(d). It results in the lowest overall cost alternative (considering price, special features, administrative costs, etc.) to meet the Government’s needs.

IX. Interested Source

See paragraph 5, Efforts to Obtain Competition and paragraph 6, Market Research.

X. Other Facts ActivIdentity was acquired by HID Global. ActivClient is now an HID Global product. The Army’s current support agreement expires after 12/21/2018.

XI. Requirements Certification

I certify that the requirement outlined in this justification is a Bona Fide Need of the U.S.

Army and that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in the justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Date: _11/3/18_____ Signature: ______________________ Michael L. Perry Contracting Officer Representative (DMDC)

XII. Contracting Officer Certification

I certify that the above information is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Date: ______ Signature: ______________________ Charles Ade Contracting Officer (2QFAC)

Date: ______ Signature: ______________________ Joe Urbanik (2QFA) Acting Director

Date: ______ Signature: ______________________ Theresa Ramos (2Q0B) Competition Advocate