JOFOC - Gartner.pdf

JUSTIFICATION FOR EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

SECTION 1: IDENTIFICATION OF THE AGENCY AND THE CONTRACTING

ACTIVITY

Department of State Contracting Activity

Acquisition Management Foreign Service Institute Office of Foreign Missions U.S. Mission to the United Nations Overseas Post

Requiring Activity

A/SKS/PPKM/KLM

SECTION 2: NATURE AND/OR DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTION BEING

APPROVED

Approval is requested to solicit and award an order under a multiple award contract with exception to fair opportunity to Gartner, Inc., located at 56 Top Gallant Road, STAMFORD, CT, for the supplies and/or services described in Section 3 on behalf of the Requiring Activity.

The US Department of State, Ralph J. Bunche Library, seeks to place a base-plus-2-year order with Gartner Research Services subscriptions on behalf of OIG with services beginning June 1, 2026 and all option years ending on May 31, 2029. This is a Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) subscription that provides market research tools, access, and reports that rely on proprietary qualitative data analysis methods to demonstrate market trends, such as direction, maturity, and participants.

This requirement will be placed as an order under FEDLINK, which is an existing consortium of IDIQ contracts for library-related services. This action will ride the IDIQ contract from FEDLINK for Gartner Inc., FEDLINK Contract Number LCFDL24D0001.

Upon approval, the following COTS subscriptions will be purchased under the FEDLINK contract:

One (1) Executive Programs v2 Guided Team � Team Leader license

One (1) Executive Programs v2 Guided Team � Partner Member license

Two (2) Executive Programs v2 Guided Team � CISO Self-Directed Member license

One (1) Executive Programs v2 Guided Team � CDAO Guided Team Member

Two (2) Executive Programs v2 Guided Team � Advisor Member license

The request is for a Firm-Fixed-Price order.

SECTION 3: DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES REQUIRED TO MEET THE

AGENCY�S NEEDS

The following requirements must be met to fulfill the library�s needs:

� Research, insight, strategic advice, practical solutions, and guidance on the information technology landscape.

� Access to information technology industry case studies and tools.

� Access to proactive research to provide insight into the information technology landscape to support decision making needs in mission critical IT infrastructure strategic planning.

� Access to technical research documents, toolkits, and templates that provide technical planning and implementation methodologies for IT practitioners.

� Support available via telephone, email, and in-person as needed.

� Access to information technology business insights, including but not limited to reports, market guides, webinars, systems, contact information, and company roadmaps.

� Provide user guidance on web platform navigation, as needed.

� Provide technical support for troubleshooting and related questions.

This requirement will be met through the purchase of the above-listed COTS subscriptions under

FEDLINK.

SECTION 4: IDENTIFICATION OF THE EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

AND THE SUPPORTING RATIONALE

This acquisition is conducted pursuant to 41 U.S.C. 4103 and 4106 as implemented by FAR 16.507-6 and substantiated by the following:

X FAR 16.507-6(b)(2) � 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.

The requirement is to provide access to Gartner�s IT Research and Advisory Services for a base-plus-2-year subscription for a cost of $2,077,185.00. The platform and services created by Gartner can only be purchased through Gartner. Gartner provides access to a data repository that is proprietary and exclusive to their subscription licenses such as Chief Information Officer (CIO) research tools, analyst inquiries, and IT collaboration. Gartner is also the only company that provides a specialized supply chain license with insight as it relates to the IT field. Gartner also differentiates itself in the industry of research data by providing financial advisory assistance related to IT and emerging technologies to assist in decision making for end-users. This financial advisory assistance with implementation aspects is not presently provided by other companies.

These services will equip the Department of State, and specifically the employees of OIG, with specialized information regarding the information technology landscape and access to industry professionals providing guidance and support in the evolving IT landscape. Access to the services provided by Gartner, including its industry professionals, is necessary for the provision of accurate information to the OIG staff, who must then be relied upon by the Department for providing credible research and analysis to senior policymakers and decisionmakers. The services created by Gartner can only be purchased through Gartner.

SECTION 5: DETERMINATION BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER THAT THE

ANTICIPATED COST TO THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE FAIR AND

REASONABLE

The Contracting Officer has determined that the anticipated price(s) are fair and reasonable based on the fact that pricing is determined at the IDIQ level. The quoted price was compared to the pricing information provided for FEDLINK IDIQ contract number LCFDL24D0001 and the GSA Library Multi Award Schedule 47QTCA18D008L, with identical prices for each service item.

Additionally, historical pricing data from past orders for the same services was used to further support the determination of fair and reasonable prices.

SECTION 6. STATEMENT OF THE ACTIONS, IF ANY, THE AGENCY MAY TAKE

TO REMOVE OR OVERCOME ANY BARRIERS THAT LED TO THE EXCEPTION

TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY BEFORE ANY SUBSEQUENT ACQUISITION FOR THE

SUPPLIES OR SERVICES IS MADE.

The Ralph J. Bunche Library conducted market research on behalf of OIG between December 18 and December 30, 2025 to determine the best available information resource to fit the requirement of OIG; specialized information regarding the information technology landscape and access to industry professionals providing guidance and support in the evolving IT landscape.

Gartner is the only Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) license provider of its kind able to provide OIG with independent and unbiased IT decision intelligence. Other comparable providers either allow external contributors to author their published decision intelligence documents in part or in full, or they publish white papers or other documents in exchange for payment from an external party. Both of these practices create an unacceptable risk of the biases or preferences of external personnel, or the strategic business agendas of external companies, influencing the COTS license provider�s ability to be objective and vendor agnostic. This is a risk that the customer, OIG, specifically cannot accept.

Additionally, Gartner has published more than 8,000 commercially available IT decision intelligence documents and tools in the last 12 months � more than four times the total number of documents and tools published by the closest comparable COTS license provider during the same period. Because Gartner publishes substantially more resources than all other providers, Gartner is uniquely capable of providing the specialized documents and tools OIG needs within all the niche IT topics and domains that are most relevant to the organization�s strategic objectives.

Also notable is that Gartner COTS licenses will provide OIG with access to the Gartner Chief Data and Analytics Officer (CDAO) Effectiveness Diagnostic, a unique self Service diagnostic tool that evaluates the effectiveness of individuals in D&A leadership roles. The CDAO Effectiveness Diagnostic provides an objective and independent method for OIG license holders to evaluate their performance across key leadership attributes, skills, operational excellence measures and business outcomes proven to be critical to data leaders. Once completed, the diagnostic provides an overall effectiveness score and sub-scores, a prioritized matrix of D&A leadership activities and an actionable roadmap to help the individual OIG leader further strengthen their leadership and performance. No alternative COTS license provider offers an equivalent diagnostic tool measuring D&A leaders� individual effectiveness in leadership, skills, operational excellence and business outcomes and providing a tailored roadmap for ongoing professional development.

The Ralph J. Bunche Library has unique and longstanding knowledge of these vendors in the information marketplace.