Justification Exception to Fair Opportunity FAR Part 16.5 30Sep24_Redacted.pdf

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Control Number:

Class Justification Review Document for Other than Full and Open Competition - FAR Part 6

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Contractor will host the candidate information such as names, contact information, and resumes, and it shall be accessible via the web (cloud).

Virtual Job Fair with ability to utilize with Microsoft Teams for hosting virtual hiring events and webinar-style info sessions.

Video and Text chat with retention capability. This provides the ability for candidates to chat directly with staff members during virtual events.

Multiple channels/Rooms with video conference capabilities to host live discussions to interact with candidates.

Ability for End-User to make “Free Text” changes in real time to adjust information in the channels, start times, and descriptions of events.

Able to handle load for 500+ people (scalable). This includes resume inputting and video conferencing capabilities to handle large audiences dialing into conferencing function.

Upload capacity for graphics, videos, and documents to provide the ability for candidates to upload those items on their candidate profile.

Software accessibility by both Department of Defense (DoD) and non- DoD users.

Compatible and compliant with the American Disability Act (ADA) to allow access for all participants. Software must provide capability to allow all parties to interact via hearing and/or sight.

Capture of resumes with smart document scanning that searches for specific keywords to find potential candidates and rate resumes.

Advanced Candidate Sort and Search – Resume keyword & Boolean search for recruiters to search, filter, and find candidates using filters or keywords.

Backup of data collected from candidate information, contact information, and resume documents.

Email distribution for candidates to receive email communication from command representatives.

Ability to demonstrate capabilities to include workflow prior to commitment.

Ability to create custom forms easily. This includes customized hiring workflow included to better understand visibility into hiring process.

New employee hiring software that tracks all phases of hiring process from initial recruitment to onboarding.

Class Justification Review Document for Other than Full and Open Competition - FAR Part 6

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ability to procure additional licenses, the Government will lose support to include:

the ability to securely maintain previously obtained PII, security patch releases, product upgrades and technical break/fix support. This would detrimentally impact recruitment and talent management requirements and quickly degrade the security posture of the system.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: In accordance with FAR 5.201, Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) 205.205-71, DFARS 206.302-1(d), and DFARS Procedures, Guidance and Information (PGI) 206.302-1(d), the Government posted a Request for Information (RFI) / sources sought announcement to the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) website on 20 August 2024,and with a more detailed amendment of the Special Notice Sources Sought. Any bids or proposals received shall be considered by the Contracting Officer. The posted Special Notice Responses from the following vendors were received expressing interest: on 25 August 2024 from

, and two miscellaneous non-specific business affiliated sources; on 3 September 2024 from .

a. Effective competition. is the only software provider that meets the Government requirements, effective competition is not feasible. This is a Brand Name requirement with being the original software developer and proprietary owner. Competition is limited to and its authorized resellers for the procurement of software licenses / subscriptions.

b. Subcontracting competition. The Government possesses only a commercial purchase description for the software. Technical data for the licenses is proprietary to . The commercial purchase description does not provide enough technical information to allow other vendors to create the functionality of this product. chooses to keep the work in house to protect its intellectual property. Since the intellectual property is maintained in-house, subcontractors would not be able to provide the same product. However, as part of any contract awarded as the result of this J&A, the Contracting Officer(s) will ensure that any clauses that may be required (e.g. FAR 52.244-5, Competition in Subcontracting, 52.219-7, Small Business Subcontracting Plan) are included in the resulting contract awards.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: is the owner, distributor, and entity that provides the licenses, maintenance, engineering, fielding, and logistical support for all products. authorizes its authorized resellers to sell licenses/subscriptions only. To secure the fleet of products and services, the Government would need to obtain a direct contract with , its authorized resellers, direct prime-to-subcontractor procurement of products and services, and/or acquire through contract/business relations with other Government entities. Commercial software publishers such as are encouraged to increase the number of authorized resellers. Additionally, upon receipt of this requirement, an authorized list of distributors was immediately requested

Class Justification Review Document for Other than Full and Open Competition - FAR Part 6

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from . The Government encourages all software publishers to pursue distribution and support services of their COTS software product lines through Small Business, Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB), Economically Disadvantaged Women Owned Small Business (EDWOSB), Minority Owned Small Business (MOSB), certified 8(a), and Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) small businesses.

Market research will be conducted annually to verify who owns the licenses and software support rights; who can supply the product(s) to the Government; and if there are any alternate sources of supply or other COTS products that can meet all Government requirements. Market research will continue to be conducted to determine if changes occurred in the marketplace, which would enable greater competition.

8. Market Research: Market research was performed by the Software License Acquisition Branch during the month of March 2024 for the CECOM G1 FY25 requirement need for Talent Management software license and annual support maintenance renewals. as only authorized reseller, provided a CHESS ITES-SW2 contract vehicle quote and the same quote for the NASA SEWP contract vehicle for the CECOM G1 FY25 requirement. Additionally, ACC-APG notified SEC of its receipt of at least two more Army requirements containing similar market research, one from a local APG command and one from an AMC subordinate command.

On 20 August 2024, the Government posted a Request for Information (RFI) / sources sought announcement to the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) website, and the day after posted a more detailed amendment specifying Brand Name software as the product being requested by the Special Notice Sources Sought. All responses to the posted Special Notice for Sources Sought were acknowledged timely by ACC-APG.

The posted Special Notice garnered the following responses expressing interest: On 20 August 2024, emailed a request for a call to ask questions and the Contracting Officer obliged the request for a call; on 21 August 2024 and another on 3 September 2024 from ; on 25 August 2024 from

, and two miscellaneous non-specific business affiliated sources.

- On 20 August 2024, emailed a request for a call. The Contracting Officer responded with a call to the phone number provided in the email. Return call was answered by the owner of a small business. reported was a Human Resources Consultant, by trade, and an entrepreneur that was asking questions on what the Special Notice was seeking and offered assistance to work with the Army assisting them with the use of software publisher and to participate with the Army recruiting events. was trying to be awarded first Government contract. KO answered the questions posed, and additionally suggested contact with the Atlanta area Small Business Administration office to enlist the assistance of the

Class Justification Review Document for Other than Full and Open Competition - FAR Part 6

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SBA professionals with responses to opportunities posted on

SAM.GOV.

- 1st response was from the US Army and Combatant Command Account Executive which provided a request to demonstrate cloud native Talent Management solution and requested additional information including the current product being used, scope/scale of current TM project, and functional requirement owner points of contact. The response ended with opinion that potential exists to align and meet scalability required for the Army.

2nd response received on 3 September 2024 contained a White Paper submitted as a response to a Request for Information (RFI). ACC-APG provided the White Paper to the mission partner for consideration for Army requirements to which would not provide an acceptable solution.

- requested the acquisition be set-aside for Small Business Administration (SBA) for Competitive 8(a) or Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) or Economically Disadvantaged WOSB (EDWOSB) or Total Small Business set-aside.

The response provided a solution to work for the Government with to providing human capital management solutions, specializing in innovative workforce solutions that meet the diverse needs of government and private sector clients. The Government contacted for concurrence that is an authorized reseller or authorized user of the Talent Management products.

provided a negative response stating they do not work with any reseller except

Through ACC-APG dialogue with the OEM, , it has been identified the Authorized Reseller performs no functions with regards to this software.

This software was created and is currently maintained by exclusively. does not subcontract software maintenance. is only a pass through to the Government and they provide administrative support to . SEC reached out directly to asking for historical procurement data, existing and prospective customers, and catalog pricing information. The following data were provided, along with supporting documents that are part of the IGE workbook.

has been in business for 15+ years. Currently, work with more than 300 customers (more than 30% of Fortune 500 companies and more than 65 federal agencies). Of their private sector customers, most of them have direct contracts with

Of their federal customers, 85% of them purchase via federal acquisition vehicles (i.e. Army Computer Hardware, Enterprise Software and Solutions (CHESS), National Aeronautics and Space Administration Solutions for Enterprise-Wide

Class Justification Review Document for Other than Full and Open Competition - FAR Part 6

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Procurement (NASA SEWP), and General Services Administration (GSA), etc.). In the case of these contract vehicles, nearly all of their contracts are through their preferred authorized reseller, . does have Department of Defense (DoD) customers who prefer a direct contract with , but it is highly uncommon since CHESS and DoD Enterprise Software Initiative (ESI) are mandatory sources of procurement.

9. Interested Sources: As a result of the multiple market research efforts conducted, the Government received responses from the following interested vendors:

10. Other Facts:

a. Procurement history

Contract Number Vendor Award Date

Subscription Period Extent Competed / Authority

W52P1J-20-D-0053

/ W56JSR22F0072

FOUR

INC

27 JUL

CHESS IDIQ

Base Period:

31 Aug 2020 – 30 Aug 2025

Option Period: 31 Aug 2025 – 30 Aug

Delivery Order Base Period: 30 Aug 2022

– 29 Aug 2023

Option Year 1: 30 Aug 2023 – 29 Aug

Authority: Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.505(a)(4) – Restricting consideration to an item peculiar to one manufacturer (e.g., a particular brand-name, product, or a feature of a product that is peculiar to one manufacturer).

W52P1J-15-D-0006

/ W56JSR20F0115

FOUR

INC

28 AUG

CHESS IDIQ

Base Period: 11 Feb 2015 – 10 Feb 2020

FAR 13.106-

1(b)(1): For purchases not exceeding the simplified

Class Justification Review Document for Other than Full and Open Competition - FAR Part 6

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Delivery Order Base Period: 31 Aug 2020

– 30 Aug 2021

Option Period: 28 Aug 2021 – 27 Aug acquisition threshold (SAT).

W52P1J-15-D-0006

/ W56JSR20F0115

FOUR

INC

28 AUG

CHESS IDIQ

Base Period: 11 Feb 2015 – 10 Feb 2020

Delivery Order Base Period: 31 Aug 2020

– 30 Aug 2021

Option Period: 28 Aug 2021 – 27 Aug

FAR 13.106-

1(b)(1): For purchases not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold (SAT).

b. Preceding J&A: Preceding contract files contained the following:

i. Justification and Approval, under authority Simplified Procedures for Certain

Commercial Items, 41 U.S.C. 1901 (or 41 U.S.C. 1903 for Special Emergency Procurement) as implemented by FAR Part 13.5, approved 7 May 2021 with estimated value of for a three-year (3-yr, base and two (2) options) contract, in support of U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) to , to purchase a digitized, cloud-based talent acquisition software to be deployed on Amazon Web Services (AWS) GovCloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) environment with virtual hosting of information sessions/webinars and interviews within the application to support the ability to hire and recruit civilian and /or military personnel. The requirement did not contain an Acquisition Plan as it did not meet the threshold defined in DFARS 207.103(d)(i)(B). The purpose of this requirement was to: 1) provide an in-person and virtual recruitment event service offering to continue to boost the number of successful candidate engagements while enhancing the overall user experience, 2) to deliver a candidate relationship management (CRM) platform to customize, organize, and automate a robust talent acquisition pipeline to enable federal government agencies to achieve/exceed the 80 day hiring goals established by OPM and 3) to capture key metrics and visualize data analytics on applicants with our application management service offering real-time progress updates so agencies can determine return on investment. Market Research reported ACC-APG posted the DEVCOM Request for Information (RFI) on SAM.GOV for 14 days in April 2021. The responses to RFI numbered