JA- Siteimprove - 3-9-2021 approved.pdf

Siteimprove Software as a Services Subscription Control Number 36C10B-20-AP-2171 VA-20-00092993

JA Template - FAR Part 16.5 _AUG_05_2019

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 brand name, firm-fixed-price (FFP) delivery order issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for Siteimprove Software as a Service (SaaS) subscription services.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Office of Digital Media (ODM) has a requirement for brand name Siteimprove SaaS subscription services to provide daily crawling of VHA .gov public facing web-pages. This software scans web-pages for broken links on web-pages and within PDF documents, checks for misspellings, 508 compliance, and benchmarks web-pages with industry standards. The VA is currently using brand name Siteimprove SaaS software subscription, including the upgraded Elite Support Plan, to perform the above requirements.The Period of Performance will be 12 months from date of award followed by four 12-month options. The total estimated value including four option years is $290,175.00.

4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting an exception to fair opportunity is Section 41 U.S.C. 4106(c)(2) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B), 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: Market research failed to identify competitive software that could perform the web-pages support services VHA requires for preventing degradation and link rot. Market Research failed to identify a competitive software package that could perform quality assurance scans of VHA’s more than 250 websites, identify broken links and misspellings, check for 508 compliance, scan PDF documents, ensure website functionality and maintain professional appearances for our customers. No other brand software scans the web-pages after the documents have been uploaded, identifies misspellings or broken links, or scans PDF documents. Siteimprove is the only software that meets all VA’s technical 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. It was determined; however, VA-20-00092993 Control Number 36C10B-20-AP-2171 that limited competition is viable among authorized resellers for this brand name item. In accordance with FAR 16.505(a)(4)(iii)(A)(1 ), this justification will be provided with the solicitation to all appropriate NASA SEWP V GWAC holders. In accordance with FAR 5.301 and 16.505(b)(2), this action will be synopsized at award on the beta.SAM.gov Page and the justification will be made publicly available.

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: Market research was conducted from November to December 2020 by the VA Technology Acquisition Center (TAC) to identify other potential suppliers. A Request for Information (RFI) was posted on beta.SAM.gov on 10/26/2020.

Responses were received from Siteimprove and Codemantra. A VA technical evaluation of the information provided by Codemantra determined that their product did not meet the requirements set forth in the RFI. Codemantra scans public-facing websites and webpages and checks the documents uploaded to the web for accessibility using 508 compliance standards; Codemantra, is a document-focused audit tool and not a web-based solutions audit tool; it does not assess and scan the content on HTML webpages and websites for 508 compliance, readability, or benchmark webpages with industry standards. The government's primary need is for a web-based solutions tool to scan the content on HTML web pages for accessibility compliance to include broken links on websites, alt text for images on websites, etc. Codemantra is scanning and checking the documents uploaded to the webpages but not the web pages themselves for insight and compliance.

The VA TAC conducted market research on the NASA SEWP platform on December 9, 2020, specifically to determine whether two or more SDVOSB contractors were able to provide the Siteimprove software. The following six SDVOSB NASA SEWP contractors, with reseller relationships with Siteimprove, were identified: KPaul, NAMTEK, V3Gate, Alvarez, Architechture and Redhawk IT. Therefore, limited competition among these vendors is anticipated. Accordingly, it was determined that the solicitation will initially be issued for consideration of quotes only from SDVOSB GWAC holders in Group B(2) under North American Industry Classification System code 541519.

9. Other Facts: N/A

VA-20-00092993 Control Number 36C10B-20-AP-2171

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.

Jennifer Heiland-Luedtke Date: ________________________________

Director, VHA Digital Media 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 anticipated competition and discounts among NASA SEWP V GWAC holders.

Addtionially, NASA SEWP determines that all catalog prices on its GWAC;s are fair and reasonable. Additonal price analysis may be performed in accordance with FAR 15.404- 1(b).

Name: Debra G. Clayton Date: ________________________________

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 exceeds the simplified acquisition threshold, but does not exceed $750,000, the certification required by FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(C)(1) serves as approval.

Name: Debra G. Clayton Date: ________________________________

Procuring Contracting Officer Signature: ____________________________