JA MacKinney FAR Part 6 FY23 CO signed.pdf

VA-23-00000523

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

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 sole source action is for a firm-fixed price (FFP) contract with MacKinney Systems, Inc. for MacKinney software maintenance and update support

3. Description of Supplies or Services: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Office of Information and Technology, Service Delivery and Engineering (SDE), Infrastructure Operations (IO) has a requirement for software maintenance and update support for previously purchased MacKinney Customer Information Control System (CICS) software licenses which includes 1 CICS/Mapr II which is a screen map CICS design tool, 1 CICS/Morning News which sends messages and news to users at CICS logon, and 1 CICS/Forward Recovery system (FRS) which reapplies all updates processed by CICS to rebuild a lost or corrupted file. The software maintenance will provide for telephone support services available for 24 hours per day, seven days per week, 4 hours response time (24X7X4 coverage). The update support will consist of software upgrades and updates to include major releases, point releases, service releases and security releases of applicable software on a quarterly basis, and/or within 48 hours in cases in which a high-risk vulnerability fix becomes. The maintenance and update support are required for SDE IO to be able to operate successfully and ensure the software remains operational. The period of performanceis a 12-month base period (10/1/2022 – 9/30/2023) with four 12- month option periods. The total estimated price of the proposed action is $15,479.51, inclusive of the options.

4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1 entitled, “Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.”

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: The proposed source for this action is MacKinney Systems, Inc. MacKinney Systems, Inc. is the only source capable of satisfying IO's requirement for continued software maintenance and update support for the MacKinney CICS software. The current mainframe infrastructure is based on existing MacKinney software and VA requires support compatible with the existing infrastructure protocols and functionality for continued operational availability. Only MacKinney can provide the necessary software updates because of the proprietary source code required to develop and implement software updates. This code is required to ensure the services provided are properly configured. No other software manufacturer can provide maintenance that is compatible with or interoperable with the

MacKinney Systems Control Number VA-23-00000523 existing MacKinney CICS licenses due to MacKinney proprietary database structures, protocols, and software application programming interfaces. Only MacKinney can provide the required CICS software maintenance and update support to meet the Government's requirements.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in the market research section of this document. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government’s requirements. There is no competition anticipated for this acquisition. Additionally, the proposed action will be synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities Page in accordance with FAR 5.201. Any proposals that are received shall be evaluated.

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

8. Market Research: Technical subject matter experts conducted extensive market research in March 2022 which considered similar software offerings from IBM and BMC, as well as catalog reviews and internet research. This research determined that only MacKinney can provide functions for Forward Recovery, Mapping Support and a NEWS messaging package for VA’s applications; and only MacKinney can provide maintenance of its software for proprietary reasons. Furthermore, this research determined that MacKinney is the only supplier of this product. It is not resold through another vendor. These statements were re-confirmed on September 12, 2022 upon receipt of a letter from MacKinney, which certified that MacKinney is the only supplier of the required software maintenance.

Market research on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Solutions for Enterprise-wide Procurement V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (NASA SEWP V GWAC) and General Services Administration (GSA) platforms yielded no suppliers or resellers of MacKinney Systems software products. Search screenshots have been uploaded to the contract file. As such, the required MacKinney Systems software maintenance cannot be solicited under the NASA SEWP V GWAC or GSA platforms.

The Market Research Worksheet provided by the requiring activity indicates that this software support has been purchased previously by VA under contracts VA118-18-C- 2411 (2018) and VA118-16-C-0573 (2016). On both occasions this software support was acquired directly from MacKinney Systems.

Market research confirms that MacKinney Systems is the only provider capable of meeting the Government’s requirements. Therefore, this requirement cannot be set-aside for SDVOSBs, VOSBs, or any other socioeconomic group. Accordingly, VA will pursue a sole source contract with MacKinney Systems.

9. Other Facts: MacKinney Systems, Inc. is a small business under North American Industry Classification System code 511210.

MacKinney Systems Control Number VA-23-00000523

10. Technical and Requirements Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in this justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Dawn Sturtz

Service Line Manager Signature: ____________________________

11. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated price to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable based on comparison to previous contracts for the same support as well as comparison to the Independent Government Cost Estimate.

Robert C. Kately

Procuring Contracting Officer Signature: ____________________________

12. Procuring Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. As this contract action does not exceed $750,000, the certification below required by FAR 6.304(a)(1) serves as approval.

Robert C. Kately

Procuring Contracting Officer Signature: ____________________________