JA for Other Than Full Open_Redacted.pdf

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

CONTRACTING SERVICES OFFICE

6090 STRATHMORE ROAD

RICHMOND, VA 23297

Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition DCSO-R2-26-12

(1) Identification of the agency and contracting activity:

Requiring Activity: Defense Logistics Agency - Technical Programs Branch (J344)

Contracting Activity: DLA Contracting Services Office – Richmond (DCSO-R2)

(2) Nature and/or description of the action being approved:

Approval to solicit under the authority of FAR 13.501(a), sole source acquisitions for commercial items.

(3) Description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the estimated value):

The Government intends to award a firm-fixed-price, sole-source purchase order to American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM), 100 Barr Harbor Drive, West Conshohocken, PA 19428 (CAGE 81346), for continued access to ASTM standards and related digital services. Historically, the Government procured these services through Accuris (via Allium US Holding, LLC). ASTM International has since notified its customer base that it will no longer authorize third-party distributors to resell certain ASTM products, including access to the ASTM Compass® platform. The associated North America Industry Classification System (NAlCS) Code is 513120 Periodical Publishers, and the Small Business Size Standard is 1000.

The resulting purchase order will be for approximately one-month base with four one-year option periods for an estimated total of .

DLA Enterprise provided funding in the amount of for the base year.

(4) Identification of statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition:

10 USC 3204(a)(1), one source or limited sources.

(5) Demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited:

Only ASTM International distributes these publications. This source is essential to the requirement and market research indicates similar products do not meet or cannot be modified to meet agency needs.

ASTM Compass® is the only standards development organization platform that provides required online publications (I.E. ASTM, IEC, and ISO) without the use of artificial intelligence (AI) or generative artificial intelligence (GENAI) in the architecture of the system, and provides ASTM publication collections, and contains the ability to integrate into government owned document specifications. Market research was performed checking the various standards development organization platforms, such as Accuris Tech (HTTPS://ACCURISTECH.COM/), Intertek Inform

(HTTPS://WWW.INTERTEKINFORM.COM/EN-US/), NIMONIK (HTTPS://NIMONIK.COM/),

IEEE/ANSI WEBSTORE HTTPS://WEBSTORE.ANSI.ORG/), ETC. All used AI/GENAI or lacked features to integrate into document specifications. It has also been confirmed that ASTM International has no authorized partners or resellers who can provide these publications.

(6) Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under 5.202 applies:

This procurement will be conducted under the authority of FAR 13.5, Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Products and Commercial Services, and the contracting officer intends to post a combined synopsis and solicitation on SAM.gov following the procedures in FAR 12.6, Streamlined Procedures for Evaluation and Solicitation for Commercial Products and Commercial Services.

This redacted justification and approval will be posted with the solicitation.

As there are no other sources that can supply the required software, and no other software solutions that meet DLA’s requirements, the contracting officer intends to procure the required ASTM software platform as a sole source award to American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM).

(7) A determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable:

The contracting officer anticipates the cost to the government will be fair and reasonable, and the resulting delivery order will represent the best value to the government by comparing the proposed prices to historical prices paid for the same or similar supplies/services and comparison to the independent government cost estimate

(8) Description of market research conducted and results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted:

In accordance with DFARS PGI 206.302-1, the contracting officer verified a sources sought notice to SAM.gov was posted on February 24, 2026 which closed on March 11, 2026.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) acquisitions and grants office published an intent to sole-source pre-solicitation notice for ASTM Compass® platform on February 24, 2026 with responses due March 11, 2026. They concluded that ASTM was the only vendor that distributes these publications.

(9) Other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition:

The contract specialist conducted market research by discussing the requirement with the subject matter expert (SME) in March 2026. The SME provided the contract specialist with insight as to what makes the ASTM Compass® platform unique from other providers (as documented in paragraph 4 above). The contract specialist searched SAM.gov and found a notice of intent to sole source closing March 09, 2026 published by the US Army Contracting Command - Aberdeen Proving Ground (ACC-APG) Installation & Technology, 6867 Colleran Rd Bldg. 324, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005 for the licenses being procured under DLA’s requirement. The market research performed by the contract specialist on SAM.gov and with the SME supports the sole source procurement of ASTM Compass® platform subscriptions.

(10) Listing of sources that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition:

American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM), 100 Barr Harbor Drive, West Conshohocken, PA

19428 (CAGE 81346)