IHS Subscription JA (002).pdf

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of the Chief Procurement Officer

Justification and Approval for Other Than Full and Open Competition Version 3.1

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J&A No: FY20-00210

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN

COMPETITION

Pursuant to the requirements of the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 6.3 and in accordance with the requirements of FAR 6.303-1, the justification for the use of the statutory authority under FAR Subpart 6.3 is justified by the following facts and rationale required under FAR 6.303-2 as follows:

1. Agency and Contracting Activity.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), Office of Science and Engineering Systems and Standards Division (SES) and Office of Procurement Operations (OPO), Science and Technology Acquisition Division (STAD) proposes to enter into a contract on a basis other than full and open competition.

2. Nature and/or Description of the Action being Approved.

a. S&T/SES and OPO/STAD propose to establish a Purchase Order without further competition. This Justification and Approval covers all requirements under this proposed action. This action is proposed after performing market research analysis. The analysis concluded that the proposed contractor can meet all needed requirements.

b. Name and address of the contractor.

IHS Global Inc.

15 Inverness Way East Englewood, CO 80112-5710

c. Contract type: Firm Fixed Price

d. Estimated total value (including options). Provide breakdown as shown below.

These estimates are derived from the Independent Government Cost Estimate and previous historical pricing data for this requirement.

Period Unit Price Total

Base Year

12 mo.

Option Year 1 12 mo. $ $ Option Year 2 12 mo. $ $ Option Year 3 12 mo. $ $ Option Year 4 12 mo. $ $

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U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of the Chief Procurement Officer

Justification and Approval for Other Than Full and Open Competition Version 3.1

Total $

e. Type of funding. Operations and Support Funds

f. Year of funding. Fiscal Year 2020- 2024

g. Solicitation number. TBD

h. Background information about the requirement.

Previous Contract: 70RSAT19P00000038 Period of Performance – August 30, 2019 to August 29, 2020

S&T/SES has identified a need to track the development, usage, and integration of consensus standards, as well as make them available to those in the Homeland Security Enterprise (HSE).

Thousands of homeland security-related standards documents exist, spanning numerous technical, functional, and managerial areas. It is critical that DHS have the capability to identify what standards documents are relevant to creating a project’s statement of work (SOW), arguably one of a Project Manager’s (PM) most critical tasks. A well- thought out and comprehensive set of standards assists project managers in creating a more holistic and complete SOW and provides DHS and its customers with the confidence that technologies and systems will perform as required. Additionally, the use of and compliance with recognized standards gives greater confidence in the performance of the product and supports its transition and use throughout the HSE.

To address this challenge, S&T/SES requires an online subscription of all the standards that DHS and its components have mandated or adopted, plus all the Homeland Security related standards which may be adopted in the future. This requires the access to a collection of standards developed by more than a dozen Standards Development Organizations (SDO).

Furthermore, since standards are periodically revised and updated, users need to be informed of any changes that may affect the safety and/or security of their operations. An annual analytic report is also required to track and promote mandated and adopted standards for DHS and HSE use through periodic mirroring or uploading of adopted standards and DHS endorsed standards.

3. Description of Supplies/Services.

DHS needs a centralized location to obtain standards, as well as the capability to identify related standards and historical versions and provide analytical capabilities for standards searches. The required services under this proposed action includes the following for DHS:

• Intelligent Search: Single search field automatically distinguishes between document number and keywords, with type-ahead and popular document suggestions

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U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of the Chief Procurement Officer

• Advanced Search/Research Tools: Query builder with Boolean operators, grouping of terms, and order operations logic; optional Research Assistant discovers knowledge through textual or graphical exploration

• Personalization Tools: Create annotations; bookmark documents, pages, and passages for quick access; and create and manage project folders

• Watch Lists & Automatic Monitoring: Create shared lists to track project-specific documents, add items with a single click, and set alerts to be notified of standards changes

Additionally, in order to expedite the addition of needed standards to the collection, DHS will be receiving a service under this agreement for needed as is standards documents at no additional cost. This feature allows for obtaining documents on demand, and outside a subscription and is a service that is unique to IHS and the marketplace. This service is being offered to DHS at no additional cost and will allow for any standards requested and needed by multiple members of the Department to be added to the license quickly and easily.

DHS requires these subscription benefits to further its objective of facilitating the use and development of national and international standards in support of homeland security requirements for the United States. Additionally, this license provides the following:

• Reduces costs and risks due to noncompliance

• Improves time to transition by empowering individuals to do their job, not waste time searching for and researching standards

• Guarantees quality by ensuring consistent use of standards to meet customer requirements

• Ensures user adoption with ease of platform deployment, training and support with a worldwide network of customer care professionals

• Simplifies procurement with single-point standards management solution requiring only one relationship, one negotiation and one transaction

4. Identification of Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition.

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(l) pursuant to FAR 6.302-1, only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

5. Identification of Exception to the Buy American Statute

Not Applicable to this action.

6. Demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited.

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U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of the Chief Procurement Officer

An award will be made pursuant to FAR 6.302-1 Only one responsible source and no other supp lies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

It is necessary to limit competition for the requirements described herein based on the following rationale:

The Standards Program in S&T/SES provides technical assistance and policy guidance to DHS Components on the development of voluntary consensus standards that meets their needs. Standards supports the development of consensus-based measures from basic specifications to performance criteria that give DHS and its customers confidence that technology and systems will perform as required. DHS requires access to a single, searchable standards access system that includes standards from all Standards Development Organizations (SDO). To address this challenge, DHS S&T SES requires an online subscription of all the standards that DHS and its components have mandated or adopted, plus all the Homeland Security related standards which may be adopted in the future. This requires the access to a collection of standards developed by more than a dozen SDOs.

Furthermore, since standards are periodically revised and updated, users need to be informed of any changes that may affect the safety and/or security of their operations. An annual analytic report is also required to track and promote mandated and adopted standards for DHS and HSE use through periodic mirroring or uploading of adopted standards and DHS endorsed standards.

The marketplace of standardization services in the U.S. is decentralized and managed by industry consortia, trade associations and professional societies. These consortia, associations and societies are typically focused on specific technologies, services, or industry sectors and are non-overlapping and do not offer a centralized online subscription of all the standards that DHS and its components have mandated or adopted, plus all the Homeland Security related standards which may be adopted in the future. One (1) SDO, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) was found to be fairly comparable to the proposed sole source awardee however ANSI is unable to provide access to certain standards, nor do they have an equivalent platform to the HIS Engineering Workbench, that allows a much greater latitude in searching, reviewing, and accessing standards. HIS Global Inc. also allows for multiple users to access the system. IHS Global, Inc. also provides a toolset to help users identify and track standards which is not available from other SDOs. This analytic tool will also fulfill the reporting requirements set by the Congress.

The result of the market research which is further described in Section 9 indicate that the commercial marketplace has similar products that lack the particular feature(s) required and do not meet, cannot be modified to meet, or they are not compatible and cannot meet the needs of DHS. The services required for this proposed action can most reasonably be obtained through the contractor being recommended for this proposed action.

7. Description of Efforts Made to Ensure that Offers are Solicited from as Many

Potential Sources as is Practicable.

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U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of the Chief Procurement Officer

OPO/STAD will publicize a Notice of Intent to Sole Source on the Federal Contract Opportunities web site (beta.SAM.Go) by July, 2020.

8. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the Anticipated Cost to the

Government will be Fair and Reasonable.

The Contracting Officer (CO) determines that the anticipated prices will be fair and reasonable by utilizing one or more price analysis methods as follows. This data is either are already in hand or will be obtained during the course of contract negotiations.

- Comparison to the Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE)

- Comparison to historical prices used for the current task order;

- Comparison to Commercial Price List

The Contracting Officer will conduct price negotiation to achieve fair and reasonable pricing, as needed. Certified cost or pricing data in accordance with FAR will not be required.

9. Description of Market Research.

The results of the market research indicate that the commercial marketplace has various similar products, but that they lack the particular feature(s) required by DHS such as analytical functions. Thus, these products do not meet, cannot be modified to meet, or are incompatible with the needs of DHS. While interviewing federal agencies, it was also noted that these agencies use the proposed awardee for standards access. The result of the market research indicate that the commercial marketplace has similar standardization services capabilities however ANSI and other SDOs only provide access to standards from a limited number of organizations, whereas the proposed awardee for this action offers the most comprehensive system of standards that is available to the market and provides analytical functionality, as well, and fully meet the needs of DHS. Results of the market research also indicated that the proposed contractor does not have any resellers for these services and a subscription must be purchased from them directly. During market research, SES surveyed the DHS components and other Federal agencies such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Department of Defense (DoD), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). A comprehensive report was created to describe the needs and gaps of the current technology. It is concluded that no other vendors have the complete access to the entire set of standards that DHS has mandated, endorsed, or adopted.

Finally, a Request for Information was issued on June 17, 2020 via betaSam.gov for purposes of determining if there are other potential sources that can satisfy this requirement. Responses were due June 26, 2020. One (1) source, IHS Global Inc., provided a response to the RFI.

No other inquiries or responses were received. The submitted response from this source clearly answered all five questions that were contained in the RFI and was determined capable of meeting all technical requirements. IHS Global Inc. proposed its research tool, Engineering

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U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of the Chief Procurement Officer

Workbench (EWB), along with its collection of :

o More than 400 worldwide standards organizations o 1.7 million+ standards, codes and specifications o 30+ technical publishers o 75 million+ vetted technical publications o 36,000+ technical e-books

Based upon the results of this market research and the RFI, it is recommended that this requirement be awarded as a sole source action in accordance with FAR 6.302-1, only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. patents, copyrights, and/or intellectual property are not applicable to the acquisition.

10. Any Other Facts Supporting the Use of Other Than Full and Open Competition.

S&T/SES requires the continuance of the online subscription services that are to be provided under this proposed action in order to keep the connection of the world’s largest collection of top standards developing organizations and publishers available to DHS components. Without continued coverage of these services, DHS will to stay informed of standards if/when they are periodically revised and updated. Under Federal policy, agencies are required to provide access to their employees to the standards and be kept aware of which standards are being used. Access to these standards is vital to the operational and procurement missions of DHS. It is essential that DHS enters into these agreements when they align with and enable the Department’s activities, initiatives and mission. S&T/SES fulfills the role as the primary coordinator for standards-related activities within DHS and providing access to relevant technical standards which is of utmost importance to DHS Components operations and ability to accomplish critical mission needs and objectives.

11. A Listing of the Sources, if Any That Expressed, in Writing, an Interest in the Acquisition.

As indicated in Section 9, an RFI for this requirement was posted on beta.SAM.gov. . The source recommended for this proposed action provided the only response received after the RFI was issued. No other inquiries or responses were received. The submitted response from this source clearly answered all five questions that were contained in the RFI and was determined capable of meeting all technical requirements.

12. A Statement of the Actions, if Any, the Agency May Take to Remove or Overcome

Any Barriers to Competition Before Any Subsequent Acquisition for Supplies or Services Required.

Upon completion of the award of this proposed action, OPO/STAD and S&T/SES will document outcomes and use this information to assist in the formulation of the new

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U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of the Chief Procurement Officer requirement.

Contracting Officer’s Certification. I certify that the data supporting the recommended use of other than full and open competition is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Date Contracting Officer

13. Technical/Requirements Personnel Certification. I certify this requirement meets the Government’s minimum need and that the supporting data, which forms a basis for this justification, is complete and accurate.

Date Technical Representative

14. Legal Counsel Review. I reviewed this Justification and Approval for Other Than Full and Open Competition in accordance with HSAM 3006.304-70 and find it legally sufficient.

Legal Counsel Date

APPROVAL:

Contracting Officer Date

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U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of the Chief Procurement Officer

Procuring Activity Advocate for Competition Date