JA Redacted Unicom.pdf

Unicom System Architect and Focal Point Maintenance

Control Number: VA-24-00014946

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 (FFP) Delivery Order (DO) issued on a sole-source basis under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for the renewal of software maintenance and support services for Unicom brand name System Architect (SA) products to Unicom Government, Inc. (Unicom Government) NASA SEWP Contract

NNG15SD56B.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Information and Technology (OIT), Demand Management Division, Architecture and Engineering Service, has a requirement to renew Unicom brand name software maintenance, updates, and manufacturer telephone and web-based technical support services for a broad range of Unicom SA and Focal Point products. The maintenance and support services shall include resolution to problem tickets via the Unicom Support Web Portal, resolution to phone calls via the Unicom Support Help Desk, release of software hotfixes and software version updates, security patches, electronic distribution of maintenance updates or new releases, and authority access control methods. Product support services will enable VA to continue its mission by providing maintenance on the standard manufacturer user license agreement for existing VA Unicom product perpet by providing software for use via the web, on desktop workstations, laptop computers, and servers. VA will obtain or make use of support provided upon usage of the Unicom customer support website, and through a toll-free customer support phone number.

Access to Unicom support services will be controlled by the VA Customer Representative who will be assigned the role as named Unicom Primary Customer Account designee for services provided by this delivery order. Through a Unicom maintenance agreement, all perpetual Unicom licenses, which VA already owns, are serviceable through access to the Unicom online services.

The period of performance shall be for one 12-month base period , with four (4) 12-month option periods. The total estimated value of the proposed action is

4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting an exception to fair opportunity is Section 41 U.S.C. 4106I(2) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B) supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or hig

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based on market research, as described in Section 8 of this justification, it was determined that Unicom Government, as a partner company to Unicom, merged under Unicom Global, and is the only source available for the required Unicom brand name software maintenance and support services.

VA Enterprise Architecture infrastructure is based on existing Unicom System Architect and Focal Point products for which VA currently owns perpetual licenses. These products reside in the VA Enterprise Architecture Modeling Suite (VEAMS) system, and redundancy, and operations in the event of failure. Implementing new products into the system will not properly utilize the current datastores or processes since data will not be compatible with a new software stack, presenting a severe interoperability issue. Implementing new products into VEAMS would also create gaps in functionality, preventing Enterprise Architects from providing the necessary levels of support to Enterprise Architecture customers.

Only through itself, or Unicom Government, can Unicom troubleshoot configuration, put software and system solution delivery process. This is achieved by requirements management through design, modeling, change and configuration management, and test and quality management that requires access to the proprietary codes. Additionally, access to these maintenance and support services allows OIT implementation teams to obtain hotfixes and patches needed to identify security vulnerabilities, defect resolutions, and infrastructure compatibility reengineering releases, allowing the tools to be Section 508, Security, and Enterprise Architecture compliant. Without the necessary software maintenance and support, OIT project and program requirements will not successfully integrate project designs, changes, issues, risks, requirements, and testing data, with project scheduling data into another data collection system. Additionally, it would prevent project and program managers from managing full software development methodologies, ensuring complete traceability of stated business requirements and reference models into functional requirements, change orders for software, and test cases and evidence.

It is common in the marketplace that each source maintains its own proprietary source interoperate. Only Unicom Government, can provide the software maintenance and support because of the proprietary source code required to develop and implement requirement for the software to be maintained at the same source code levels, no vendors other than Unicom Government, can perform the services.

Accordingly, Unicom Government, can provide the Unicom brand name software maintenance and support services interoperability, compatibility, and continuity of operations.

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 competition anticipated for this acquisition. In accordance with FAR 5.301 and 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), the award notice for this action will be synopsized on the Contract Opportunities Page and the justification will be made publicly available 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 future actions to be competed.

8. Market Research: technical experts have conducted market research by reviewing similar software maintenance and support services such as ServiceNow and experts determined that none of these products or associated services can meet the and compatibility requirements previously discussed in Section 5 of this justification. Further, no other vendor can access Unicom tools in order to provide required software maintenance and support services. Based on this market research, it was determined that only Unicom brand name software maintenance and support services of this justification.

Additional market research was conducted by the Contract Specialist in February 2024 by utilizing the NASA SEWP Market Research Tool to determine if brand name Unicom SA and Focal Point products were available from NASA SEWP V GWAC holders. The search resulted in Unicom Government being the sole-provider of Unicom SA and Focal Point products.

Furthermore, Unicom Government was contacted on January 17, 2024 to inquire whether Unicom SA can be acquired through another reseller. A letter was provided by Unicom Global confirming that Unicom Government was the sole provider of licensing, technical support, and maintenance for Unicom brand name SA products.

9. Other Facts: None.

Technical/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.

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 the fact that contracts awarded on NASA SEWP V GWAC have already been determined to be fair and reasonable. Finally, the successful quote will be compared to the Independent Government Cost Estimate.

Contracting Officer Certification/Approval I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Advocate for Competition Approval

In my role as procuring activity Advocate for Competition, based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the renewal of software maintenance and support services for Unicom System Architect and Focal Point Maintenance products on an other than fair opportunity basis pursuant to the authority cited in Section 4 above, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the property and services herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.