JA Brand Name Datadog_ redacted.pdf

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: The proposed action is for a firm-fixed-price delivery order to be issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for a renewal of VA’s brand name Datadog, Inc. (Datadog) Application Performance Monitoring (APM) tool subscriptions and ancillary support services.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VA, Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), Architecture and Engineering Service (AES) has a requirement to renew its current footprint of brand name Datadog subscriptions licenses (quantity of 25) for its deployed Application Performance Monitoring (APM) suite of tools. These brand name tools are used to support VA programs/initiatives such as VA.gov, the Lighthouse Application Programming Interface (API) platform, Vetext, VA notify, Enterprise Precision Scanning and Indexing (EPSI), and Consult Toolbox (CTB). The renewal of these licenses will ensure that VA maintains its operations, but also receives the latest versions of the tools to support continued security and performance monitoring.

VA requires an APM toolset that will provide in-depth information about errors that occur in each of these programs/initiatives, down to the individual endpoint level. VA requires that the tools not only indicate where in the source code the system is encountering errors, but also how that error may relate to other services (such as the specific database or caching service). This information is required to ensure the applications are working as designed, securely, and if not, notification is provided in near real time to VA staff who can address and remediate the issue. The required tools also provide VA with metrics, archives, indexing, logging, auditing, and database monitoring. Additionally, VA requires a tool that is capable of integrating with the server-side web application framework of Ruby on Rails, given its wide use across VA projects.

Further, VA requires ancillary support services. Specifically, the Contractor to hold two types of meeting with VA staff- the first is a weekly monitoring tool meetings with VA technical staff on the health and usage of the tool within the Agency, and the second (on a monthly cadence) with the budget and finance (as well as representatives from each technical team) to monitor usage and provide support to VA to ensure the tool is being used efficiently and within budgets. Finally, VA requires technical support services to ensure that security requirements, such as maintenance of the Authority to Operate (ATO) and FedRAMP standards continue to be met through the life of this action.

Brand Name Datadog APM tool subscriptions Control Number: VA-26-00058566 and ancillary support services renewals

The period of performance for this effort is one, 12-month Base Period, with one subsequent 12-month Option Period, if exercised. The total estimated value of the proposed action inclusive of the option.

4. Statutory Authority: Pursuant to Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulation Overhaul (RFO) VA Deviation Subpart 16.507-7(a), 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 RFO Subpart 16.507-6(b)(2), 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 market research, as described in Section 8 of this justification, it was determined that only renewal of the brand name Datadog APM tools and support will meet the Government’s technical and functional requirements. Limited competition is available for this brand name requirement.

VA requires monitoring tools to ensure that the developed and deployed systems/programs, as noted in section 3 of this justification, meet VA’s performance and security measures. Predominantly, these systems/programs have been coded using the server-side web application framework of Ruby on Rails. Market research has indicated that there are no other brand solutions that can natively and seamlessly interoperate with this framework/coding language. The brand name Datadog tools, given its capability to integrate with this critical framework, will provide VA with the necessary level of insight, down to the individual endpoint level, of its security and performance to ensure systems/programs such as VA.gov are operational for Veterans.

The brand name Datadog tools show VA specifically where in the source code the system encounters errors, and how that error may relate to other services (such as other database(s) or caching service(s)). It provides a much higher level of detail about specific cases (server-side errors) than standard data sources (logging and metrics) which is the common default option. Datadog’s current configuration provides detailed and real-time performance information down to the individual endpoint level and has been integral to VA’s response to several technical issues encountered on VA.gov over the past year, specifically the Code Yellow effort. The Code Yellow effort is a monitoring system designed to identify and address issues affecting electronically filed claims. This initiative aims to ensure that VA employees are informed about significant IT issues within 24 hours, helping to maintain the integrity and reliability of the VA's digital services. The Code Yellow effort consolidates various automatic monitors into a unified "watchtower," allowing for a comprehensive oversight of the VA.gov website and its features. For instance, the new VA.gov Watchtower, has integrated the brand name tools in order to provide VA Leadership real time information on the performance and availability of VA.gov, allowing for resolution of issues in near real time. The brand name Datadog tools are currently being utilized as the backbone of observability and monitoring for VA.gov, Lighthouse, VA-Notify, VEText, the Health and Benefits mobile app, supporting millions of Veterans who rely on these platforms to access benefits and services. These tools support more than 1,000 federal employees and contractors directly providing critical services to Veterans. Any disruption to this service has the potential for immediate, adverse impact on Veteran access to care and benefits.

The only way for VA to deploy an alternative solution would be to custom develop or customize a COTS product beyond its native baseline to meet baseline requirements like the integration with Ruby on Rails. Even if VA were able to shift to another brand tool, VA estimates that replacing the existing brand name solution, post development, would require a minimum of two (2) years effort, at a minimum estimated cost of approximately That figure does not include the maintenance and support needed to continue to support the application proposed for renewal, during those two (2) years. That estimate is based on historical information for like solutions.

Specifically, any source would require, at a minimum, to satisfactorily complete the following steps: 1) a gap analysis for features that aren't available in the new solution to ensure no degradation of support; 2) develop a way to send existing sources of information (logs, events from sources like Sentry, Amazon Web Service metrics, etc.)

to the new solution; 3) test the new instrumenting APM on the current VETS-API system to make sure it is stable/doesn’t increase downtime; 4) custom develop the Commercial Off the Shelf tool to ensure the new solution supports Ruby on Rails, including all current integrations with VA.gov, and ensure it is configured to provide the same level of visibility as the current Datadog solution; 5) migrate existing user access levels to a new platform, then develop a process to add existing users to the new platform; 6) update the existing Watch Officer system (the team that staffs the watchtower mentioned above) to accept data from the new system; 7) update the current periodic processes for operations based on S3 logs, a file storage solution within VA’s Amazon Web Service in the VA Enterprise cloud; 8) determine a way to replace existing Service implementation in vets-api with the new solution, then update code for the vets-api applications to support it; 9) Update the vets-website source code to support the new real user monitoring (RUM) platform; 10) trace the current API access requirements so equivalents can be configured on the new platform; document the current Shared reports (accessible via email link for VA business partners) and determine the equivalent approach for the new platform. Repeat this process for other applications using the Datadog platform today.

Further, transitioning to an alternate brand solution would require significant time and effort that could not be achieved in time for the new Datadog licenses to be needed.

Migrating to an alternative involves the complex evaluation, reconfiguration and migration of more than 1,200 dashboards, more than 2,500 monitors/alerts, more than 1400 synthetic service tests, including tests originating outside the VA network, and more than 1,000 user accounts, with over 130 authors that rely on this solution. VA would need to quickly develop an alternative solution to collect the same information which would divert a significant level of development resources to replace it at substantial cost and delay. This is because the dashboards and monitors are configured in DataDog proprietary architecture and configurations and no other brand can provide continued access of use of those dashboards other than Datadog. Any near-term replacement provided would significantly hinder VA’s visibility into the performance of VA.gov requiring numerous manual work arounds and making performance or security concerns very challenging to resolve and understand.

Moreover, in regard to organizational integration across the VA enterprise, Datadog has been adopted by ten teams (i.e., organizational teams responsible for efforts like VA.gov) within VA. This broad, cross-organizational reliance means that the service is not a single-team tool but a shared enterprise capability. Replacing it would require coordinated action across all ten organizations simultaneously, creating significant operational risk. That said, no alternate provider has been fully evaluated to confirm that it offers comparable capabilities at the scale and licensing model required to support this environment. Conducting such an evaluation, and any subsequent proof-of-concept or pilot, would itself require significant time and resources before a transition could even begin. A conservative time and cost estimate to conduct this work would include more than (included in the original noted estimate). Beyond this technical migration effort, all users and authors in particular, would require training on any replacement platform. The combined labor, risk, and downtime associated with this migration would impose costs and delays that are not in the Government's best interest and could meaningfully degrade monitoring coverage during the transition period.

Additionally, since the new system would take a minimum of two years to fully implement, assuming no unforeseen delays, the current Datadog solution will still need to remain operational until a full cutover is completed. It is essential VA maintain full visibility into the performance of its applications, specifically those that are Veteran facing like VA.gov, to ensure when any degradation of functionality is encountered VA can quickly find the cause of the incident, triage it, and resolve it as quickly as possible.

Given VA.gov is the main digital pathway for Veterans to access and manage their health and benefits, any degradation of support reduces their access to these well-earned benefits and healthcare. Thus, in addition to the work to configure a new solution, existing VA staff would need to continue to maintain the current application, ensure collaboration between the technical and business team members that consume the information from the new monitoring solution, and coordinate with the current technical and business team members to help migrate functionality to a new platform, for the duration of a migration project. This would require them to focus almost exclusively on this transition, at the expense of any other projects that they would otherwise work on during the period. This duplication of work and time constraints would lead to degradation in the quality of service that is being provided to the Veteran.

Given the above, VA must procure the required brand name subscriptions and ancillary support services as proposed. Failure to do so will result in direct crippling of VA’s ability to meet mission requirements, as critical tools and resources will not be adequately supported.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in section 8 of this justification. This effort did not yield any additional sources that could meet the Government’s requirements. However, the undersigned VA technical representative determined that limited competition is available among authorized resellers for brand name Datadog licenses and services. In accordance with RFO FAR 16.507-7(c)(1), this justification will be provided with the solicitation to all appropriate NASA SEWP V GWAC holders. Additionally, this action is exempt from synopsis in accordance with RFO FAR 5.101(b)(iv). Furthermore, in accordance with RFO FAR 16.507-6(f)(1), this justification will be made publicly available on the Contract Opportunities website within 14 days of award.

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

8. Market Research: The Government’s technical experts conducted market research from June 2026 through July 2026 on products and software similar to Datadog APM tools. Specifically, the Government conducted an internet search for available alternate brand APM solutions and reviewed offerings from Dynatrace and AppDynamics. Neither solution was determined to meet the technical requirements listed above as neither can natively support the Ruby on Rails integrations and provide monitoring down to the endpoint level within Ruby on Rails as required by VA.gov.

Additional market research was conducted by the Contract Specialist in July 2026 utilizing the NASA SEWP V Market Research Tool and it was determined that there are seven Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) resellers of the brand name Datadog solution. The NASA SEWP V GWAC has a dynamic catalog where line items can be added based on customer requests as long as the required item or service is within scope of the NASA SEWP V GWAC. Based on the above, there is a reasonable expectation that limited competition exists on the NASA SEWP V GWAC. As a result of the aforementioned market research, VA intends to issue a Request for Quotation on the NASA SEWP V GWAC.

9. Other Facts: None.