JA.pdf

3. Description of Services or Supplies:

Basis for Approval (FAR 6.303-1(d)): ✔Individual Basis Class Basis

The total estimated value of the proposed action, including all options is

As applicable, briefly describe the services or supplies required to meet the agency's needs, including make & model number where appropriate. Include quantities of supplies or period of performance for services. Provide information for any options included. If the action is a modification to an existing contract, distinguish clearly between the work covered by the original contract and the work to be obtained by the proposed modification.

The HHS Coordination Operations and Response Element (HCORE) Contracting, Office of the Head of Contracting Activity (OHCA) on behalf of the Operational Data Analytics Division of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has a requirement for Technical and Operational Support Services for the Health Partner Ordering Portal (HPOP). The HPOP provides the ASPR capability to allow electronic ordering and inventory/administration reporting for Medical Countermeasures (MCMs) by jurisdictions, federal partners, and pharmacy partners. HPOP is an adaptable product with capability to continue to drive authentic and secure event-agnostic Medical Countermeasure (MCM) ordering and distribution in a Public Health Emergency. The primary objective of this requirement is to maintain the web-based ordering and distribution application deployed within the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). OCI, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)/Platform as a Service (PaaS) for managing, monitoring, and reporting key metrics associated with the ordering and distribution of MCMs and public health resources such as vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics to address public health threats. It is anticipated that these products and services will be needed with a base period of performance from 9/30/2024 through 9/29/2025. Option period one will be from 9/30/2025 through 9/29/2026, Option period two will be from 9/30/2026 through 9/29/2027. Option period three will be from 9/30/2027 through 9/29/2028. This requirement is for OCI products and the required maintenance and development specific to these Oracle products, to continue the HPOP platform that has been part of the HHS Information Technology Infrastructure since 2020 when it was implemented in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The OCI products and maintenance/development purchase will facilitate continued support of the HPOP system, for ASPR.

Additionally, the ordering portal will be flexible and scalable to accommodate the ordering and distribution of any product the US Government (USG) deems critical to a national emergency or national security threat.

The attached tables provide a list of Oracle applications that are used for this system.

4. Authority and Rationale: Identify the statutory authority, FAR title and FAR citation permitting other than full and open competition. It may be one of the following most commonly used citations by the operating divisions of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), but other exceptions may apply per FAR Subpart 6.3.

Actions other than simplified acquisition procedures (select only one and provide an explanation):

✔ FAR 6.302-1: Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements, 41

U.S.C.

3304(a)(1) Explain why the intended contractor is the only responsible source who can provide the required supplies or s ervices. Discuss the unique capabilities, expertise, etc. that support the lack of competition/why no other type of supplies or servic es will satisfy agency requirements. Explain factors/unique qualifications such as proprietary data or exclusive licensing rights, if applicable. When competition is limited to items particular to one manufacturer, this justification must explain why the particular brand name, product, or feature is essential to the Government's requirements, and that market research indicate s other companies' similar products, or products lacking the particular feature, do not meet, or cannot be modified to meet the agency's needs in accordance with FAR 11.105. If in connection with a follow-on contract for continued development or production of highly specialized equipment, detail the substantial duplication of cost or unacceptable Delays.

This procurement is a “Brand Name Only” requirement, set aside for small businesses that are authorized resellers of Oracle products. Investing in development of an alternate cloud infrastructure and software suite and obtaining the necessary support services of an alternate vendor would delay deployment by a minimum of 180 days (if a Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) system could be modified) or more. The ongoing MCM ordering for COVID-19, Influenza, Monkey Pox (Mpox) and others would abruptly discontinue and revert to a manual system of ordering and reporting by the jurisdictions, federal partners, and pharmacy partners and providers (roughly 80,000 users). The ASPR mission to quickly provide MCMs to those who need them would be greatly degraded, and delay distribution of needed vaccines and therapeutics by weeks or months, further endangering the afflicted population, increasing morbidity, and exasperating the spread into epidemic or possibly pandemic proportions. Further no other ordering system currently has an Authority to Operate on Government IT Infrastructure. Obtaining an ATO takes approximately 12 months, so the combined delay for development and obtaining an ATO would result in up to two years delay in HHS/ASPR obtaining a replacement application and using an inefficient and cumbersome manual system in the meantime.

Oracle owns the tenancy and therefore the underlying code is only shared with Oracle authorized vendors or Value Added Resellers for rapid development. Additionally, HPOP is still actively distributing products to providers across the country; any severing of the current system and attempt to hand off responsibility to another vendor would create catastrophic life and death consequences. This is one of the reasons that HPOP is a High Value Asset (HVA) for ASPR where any interruption in service, particularly during a national emergency, could cause catastrophic loss of life.

The HPOP is an established system with more than 80,000 users that are familiar and trained in how to order receive, and track HHS provided medical countermeasures; it will not be an easy or immediate solution to move to another system. Application Program Interface (API)s currently available through HPOP are already engineered and running for public health requirements.

Commercial applications such as some manufacturers and pharmacy chains are automated and connected to HPOP via this API. These and other commercial entities will lose their capacity to provide inventory, visibility, and distribution capability to government agencies.

To procure a new application using a different operating system would result in a substantial duplication of cost in the tens of millions of dollars and a delay in operational readiness of nearly two years during which ASPR would not be able to perform their mission to which the government doesn’t anticipate recovery through competition.

Although multiple vendor products/solutions were reviewed, only one responsible source was found that could meet the Government’s requirement. Because Oracle (R) owns the tenancy and proprietary code of the current system, the Government is currently unable to transfer this to an agnostic platform. It would require a brand-new system build. Redesigning the system would cost the USG between and annually and take up to two years of lead time.

FAR 6.302-2: Unusual and compelling urgency, 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(2)

If unusual and compelling urgency is the basis for the justification, explain the chronological events leading up to the requirement and explain why time constraints cannot permit even a limited competition. Describe the detrimental effects/ serious injury to the mission of the requiring activity or to the government, financial or otherwise, that will result if this justification is not approved. Describe impact of required delivery/performance date. Describe the detrimental effects/ seriou s injury to the mission of the requiring activity or to the government, financial or otherwise, that will result if this justification is not approved and the product or service cannot be provided by the intended sole source contractor. Failure to plan for expiring funds is not a valid reason for citing this exception. May not exceed one year, including all options, unless the head of the agency determines that exceptional circumstances apply.

FAR 6.302-5: Authorized or Required by Statute, 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(5)

Provide a citation to the statutory authorization and a brief description of its content, or identify the specified source or other agency.

Other (See FAR Subpart 6.3 for additional authority)

Provide the authority and citation to the applicable section of FAR 6.3.

Provide a full explanation to justify use of the exception.

5. Agency Actions to Take or Remove Barriers That Led to Other Than Full and Open Competition (If applicable): Describe the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the restricted consideration prior to any subsequent acquisition for the supplies of services is made. If no such actions have been taken, explain why.

Oracle Apex is built upon Oracle databases. Because of the type of software, it is built to integrate and innovate more with less coding.

Development and deployment are scalable to both web and mobile devices with low-code applications within minutes. Whereas other cloud applications such as Amazon Web Services (AWS - Microsoft) and Google Cloud can run many databases like Structured

Query Language (SQL) Server, Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Cloud SQL, there is no integration automatically available in the marketplace that has the capacity to replicate what is already integrated into Apex and OCI.

This justification and approval for other than full and open competition will be posted to sam.gov with the competitive solicitation, set aside for small businesses that are authorized resellers of Oracle products and services. All responses or inquiries will be reviewed for possibility of increasing competition for this requirement.

6. Bridge Contracts:

For contract extensions or bridge contracts when a competitive follow-on is in the process of being developed, summarize history of current contract and explain the reasons for any delays in the acquisition. Include discussion of the milestones f or the follow-on action; the milestones should be as efficient as possible. Discuss why it would be neither cost effective nor realistic to expect another contractor to perform during the brief interim period; include issues such as start -up costs, phase- in, transfer of GFP, recruitment and staffing, etc. If the action is because of a protest, provide a brief discussion of the protest including the date the protest was filed and the basis of the protest.

Explain that the action will provide the minimum quant ity or performance period.

N/A. This is not a Bridge Contract.

7. Actions to Increase Competition:

Describe efforts made to compete the action, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by FAR Subpart

5.2 or which exception under FAR 5.202 applies. If a notice was publicized, discuss the number of written responses to the synopsis and the results of the assessment of the written responses. List sources, if any, that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition. Provide rationale if interested sources were rejected. If applicable, state that no other sources have expressed interest, but all offers received shall be considered.

Describe what actions will be taken to increase competition before subsequent acquisition of the supplies or services is required. You may state that an action is a one-time requirement, but if a similar requirement arises, every effort will be made to compete it to the maximum extent possible. If action is sole source because of proprietary data or licensing rights and there will be a continuing need for the requirement, there must be evidence that advanced planning has been initiated to overcome the barriers to competition, or there should be documentation to support an analysis that replacement costs/licensing purchase costs outweigh the benefits of competition. If the action is a contract extension or bridge, explain actions to compete the follow-on. If action is an urgent new requirement and a competitive follow-on is anticipated, explain that efforts are underway to facilitate a full and open competition.

This action will be accomplished through a small-business set-aside competition for Oracle (R) value added resellers (VARs) posted on SAM.gov.

The Government will continue to conduct thorough market research to gauge the marketplace capabilities for future requirements through continuous industry engagement. This engagement ensures the Government is consistently refreshing its market research, including but not limited to, analyzing the availability of the required skill sets, changes to market conditions and prices and the availability of an agnostic ordering platform. If it is found alternative solutions are viable and time permits, the Government will seek competition in future acquisition of these services.

8. Market Research:

Describe the extent of the market research conducted to identify all qualified sources and the results thereof.

“Market Research” is defined as those attempts you made to ascertain whether other qualified sources exist, and can include contact with knowledgeable experts regarding similar or duplicate requirements, contact with industry, results of a sources sought synopsis, or draft solicitations. Research of the marketplace may consist of written, electronic (i.e. email) telephonic, or world wide web inquiries. Lack of advanced planning is not an acceptable reason for the lack of market research, but true urgency may necessitate abbreviated market research that is limited to readily available historical and commercial information. If ac tion is a contract extension or bridge contract, describe the market research efforts underway or completed for the follow-on. See FAR 10.002(b)(2).

A Request for Information (RFI) was issued on 4 December 2023, by an ASPR Contracting Officer through the NASA SEWP search tool. The RFI was sent to the following four Oracle small business vendor companies: Affigent LLC; Strategic Communications LLC, Dynamic Systems Inc., and Mythics Inc. By the due date of 8 December 2023 there were no responses from these companies. The Contracting Officer, then extended the response date to 13 December 2023, which again did not result in any response. As a result, the United States Government (USG) determined the NASA SEWP vehicle would likely not render multiple quotes, especially since the requirement will primarily be for services rather than products.

Federal Supply Schedules such as GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS), Government- wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC), National Institutes of health (NIH) Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC), were considered, as

12. Fair and Reasonable Price/Cost Determination: As Contracting Officer, by my signature below, I hereby determine that the anticipated price/cost to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable.

Provide the basis for this determination, e.g., describe techniques to be used to determine fair and reasonable price (FAR Subpart 15.402), such as price analysis, cost analysis, cost realism. Per FAR Subpart 15.403-4(a)(1), the threshold for obtaining cost or pricing data is $750,000.

The contracting officer will perform price analysis evaluation to determine fair and reasonableness which may include one or more of the following price analysis techniques:

Comparison of proposed prices with the Independent Government Cost Estimates (IGCE)

Comparison of proposed prices received in response to the solicitation (adequate price competition)

Comparison of previously proposed prices and previous Government and commercial contract prices with current proposed prices for like items.

Comparison of proposed prices with prices obtained through market research for the same or similar items (i.e. GSA Advantage, and VA Prime vendor Program).

Name: Phone:

Signature:

Date:

13. Contracting Officer's Approval (Required for proposed contract not to exceed $700,000 (value calculated including all options)): I hereby certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge. I approve this justification subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services and supplies herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

14. Legal Review:

All J&As greater than $68 million must have a legal review from the General Law Division of the Office of the General Counsel prior to sending it to the Department.

15. OPDIV Competition Advocate Approval (Required for proposed contract over $700,000 but not exceeding $13.5 million (value calculated including all options)):

I have reviewed this justification and find that it adequately supports other than full and open competition.

Name:

Phone:

All J&As greater than $68 million must have a review from the Office of Small & Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) prior to sending it to the Department. The OSDBU at their discretion may review any J&A.

16. Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization Review: (Required for contracts exceeding $68 million (value calculated including all options)):

Concur:

Non-Concur:

17. OPDIV HCA Approval (Required for proposed contract over $13.5 million but not exceeding $68 million (value calculated including all options)):

18. Department Competition Advocate (Required for contracts exceeding $68 million (value calculated including all options)):

Concur:

Non-Concur:

(The below approval paragraph is required if the cumulative contract value, including all options, exceeds $68 million.)

19. HHS Senior Procurement Executive (SPE) Approval:

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve other than full and open competition for the above stated procurement, subject to the availability of funds, and provided that the services herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

State supplies/services being procured:

State the full statutory authority and FAR cite and title, consistent with paragraph 4, e.g. 41 U.S.C. 3304: