Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition (JOFOC) - Communique_Redacted.pdf

JOFOC-2024-003

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER (NSSC)

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

(JOFOC)

For the 80NSSC24Q0035 FY24 Communique Software/Service Renewal

1. Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.303-2(b)(1) – Identification of the agency and the contracting activity, and specific identification of the document as a “Justification for other than full and open competition.”

This document is a justification for other than full and open competition prepared by

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Shared Services Center.

The procuring agency is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the contracting activity is the NSSC Enterprise Software Purchasing (ESP).

2. FAR 6.303-2(b)(2) – The nature and/or description of the action being approved:

This justification provides the rationale for contracting by other than full and open competition to award a sole-source contract to Communique for its enterprise-grade, cloud-based, virtual conference and event platform, which allows NASA to organize virtual events in response to in-person meeting restrictions imposed by COVID-19 health and safety guidelines. The NASA Virtual Event Platform is NASA’s implementation of Communique’s virtual event platform, delivered as a Software as a Service (SaaS) model. Independent of

COVID-imposed restrictions, the Communique-based NASA Virtual Event Platform enables participation by—and facilitates outreach to--academic students and members of the science community who may not be able to attend conferences and events in- person for a variety of reasons, e.g., financial, physical disabilities/limitations, etc.

3. FAR 6.303-2(b)(3) – A description of the supplies or services required, to meet the

Agency’s needs (including the estimated value):

NASA requires the purchase of an enterprise package that includes 5 event licenses. These licenses will allow the execution of up to 5 concurrent virtual events. Each event license provides the following features:

1. Provisioning of the environment URL.

2. Up to 10 Rooms (Rooms are defined as Lobby, Auditorium, Resource Center, etc.) & up to 50 booths

3. Up to 3,000 concurrent (simultaneous) attendees*; unlimited on-demand attendees.

Rev.:1/2023

4. Ability to host unlimited content, uploaded or linked via URL; documents, PDFs, jobs, videos, webpages, etc. Client assumes responsibility for uploading and management of content items.

5. Access to Platform Features including: social collaboration and networking event chat

(public, private, moderated); broadcast messages; standard gamification with leaderboard and hidden image/Easter egg design.

6. Standard platform event registration including up to two (2) registration sets with confirmation email and calendar reminder.

7. Reporting: real-time, 24/7 access to metrics during license term.

8. Unlimited live days/live activity.

9. Booth rep-to-attendee video chat included

10. Section 508 compliance for the virtual platform

11. Dedicated live day support

12. Language implementation

13. Video chat

14. Webcast bundle (up to 10 webinars, 3 concurrent), each 90-minutes in duration, up to

1000 live attendees, 60-minute speaker training, live-day support

The estimated total value of this requirement is . The period of performance will commence on award date and end on December 31, 2024.

4. FAR 6.303-2(b)(4) – An identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition:

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition for acquisitions using the procedures in FAR subpart 13.5 is 41 U.S.C. 1901.

5. FAR 6.303-2(b)(5) – A demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited:

The rationale supporting the use of 41 U.S.C. 1901, as implemented by FAR 13.5, Simplified

Procedure for commercial items as described below.

In 2020, the SMD exhibit core team conducted extensive research on virtual conference software. Communique Virtual Events and Conferencing Solutions exceeded SMD’s selection criteria in the areas of data security, a straight-forward enterprise pricing package with minimal add-ons, customized design and flexibility, data universal numbering system

(DUNS) registration, and ISO 27001 certification. Communique uniquely guarantees U.S.-based data storage and offers Single and Enterprise licensing price structure and is an excellent, cost effective, and flexible solution to accommodate agency’s 25+ annual conferences. These are major features among other functionality that Communique offers to virtual exhibit and conference.

Substantial work has already been done with Communique on NASA ICAM Single-Sign-On

(SSO) integration. Credentialed NASA general users use PIV credentials for single sign on access to the platform to attend events via Launchpad.

Communique is uniquely qualified to provide the services required by NASA/SMD. No other vendor meets NASA’s accessibility and security requirements. To use another vendor at this time would significantly impact our conference schedule and further delay the early planning of events already in progress.

Communique meets or exceeds all selection criteria (i.e., strong federal government experience) and uniquely offers:

• U.S.-based data storage using only Amazon Web Services (AWS) East and West. This guarantees NASA information will be based solely on U.S. instances.

• Single and Enterprise licensing price structure. This is needed to use the platform for hosting different types of NASA meetings/events, as well as the need to accommodate more than one meeting/event concurrently.

• An (already implemented) 508-compliant environment for all components/pages, with optional language translation (e.g, Spanish).

• Able to be integrated with NASA’s Launchpad/ICAM Single Sign on (SSO) for security purposes and integrates with the NASA Box platform for the secure storage of documents.

• An available, cost effective, flexible solution to accommodate SMD’s 25+ annual conferences.

• Authorization-To-Operate (ATO) within NASA’s parameters. Other vendors could not guarantee supporting NASA events/conferences in-house and indicated they would possibly sub-contract that component to non-U.S. partners.

• Proprietary secured webinar platform (i.e., that does not require using outside webinar vendors)

• Data security:

• ISO 27001: International Standards Organization (ISO) provides documented standard for Information Security Management System (ISMS), it is the highest data security standards requirement for technology, systems, processes and controls. It also requires 3rd party audits annually. Communique has an active ISO 27001:13 certificate issued by A-Lign.

• GDPR: The General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy in the European Union and the European Economic

Area.

• CCPA, California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) gives consumers more control over the personal information that businesses collect about them. This landmark law secures new privacy rights for California consumers.

• Capability to track activity and ROI (return on investment) with 24/7 real-time reports.

• Mobile and tablet friendly (HTML5)

• "Follow-the-sun" (24 hour) tech support

• Design templates or custom design options

• Social media integration

• Audience engagement tools including: chat, video, webinars, networking, booth rep interaction, gamification (participation points and prizes), surveys, polls, broadcast messaging, etc.

• Detailed analytics and reporting (attendee reporting, activity metrics, interest metrics)

• Many awards and recognitions

• Customized design and flexibility

• DUNS registered (identifying company in the U.S., used for business credit reporting purpose)

NASA (SMD, WSO, OCIO) has already invested substantial time, effort, and resources to evaluate and select an enterprise solution that meets NASA’s virtual conference and event requirements. Switching to an alternate virtual event platform at this time would require considerable duplication of effort and additional expenditure of resources already invested in learning the Communique platform and configuring it to accommodate NASA’s needs. We have already invested time learning how to operate the back-end components of the

Communique platform; developing an in-house “Train the Trainer” user guide to teach other

NASA users how to use the program and exploit its many capabilities for providing an immersive virtual event experience for meeting attendees; and creating numerous virtual exhibit environment graphics for NASA-specific conferences and events.

NASA has invested approximately in FY21 and in FY22 for a total investment of . If an alternate product was selected, this investment would be lost.

6. FAR 6.303-2(b)(6) – A description of the efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under 5.202 applies:

A notice to the Government Point of Entry (GPE) website (Sam.gov) was published on

January 30, 2024, in accordance with FAR Subpart 5.2. This posting informed potential sources of NASA’s intent to award this sole-source contract to Communique Conferencing.

The results of this synopsis are summarized in Section 10 below.

7. FAR 6.303-2(b)(7) – A determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable:

The Contracting Officer’s signature on this document indicates that the Contracting Officer has determined that the anticipated cost to the government will be fair and reasonable. The

Contractor shall be required to submit a proposal to be evaluated and negotiated by the

Government. Prior to execution of the contractual instrument, a proposal analysis will be performed. The proposal analysis will ensure that the final agreed-to price for the contract action is fair and reasonable.

The Government anticipates a fair and reasonable-priced offer from Communique

Conferencing since this software is offered commercially and NASA has pricing history on the items being renewed. The contracting officer will compare the price offer to prices found reasonable on previous purchases, the commercial list price, and the IGE. The contract file will include a statement of price reasonableness based on the comparisons.

8. FAR 6.303-2(b)(8) – Description of the market research conducted, and the results, or a statement of the reasons market research was not conducted:

Market research determined that the requirement is a commercial item. A distribution network for the software does not exist, and the software is available only through a direct sell from the publisher, Communique Conferencing. Communique confirmed via a sole-source letter to indicate Communique is the sole provider of this requirement.

9. FAR 6.303-2(b)(9) – Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition:

Other facts are not applicable to this justification.

10. FAR 6.303-2(b)(10) – A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed an interest in writing in the acquisition:

A notice of NASA’s intent to award this sole-source action was synopsized on the GPE website (Sam.gov) per FAR Subpart 5.2 (See Section 6 above). One firm expressed interest but did not demonstrate the technical capabilities to meet this requirement.

11. FAR 6.303-2(b)(11) – A statement of actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required:

The Agency will continue to examine the market in the future for alternative solutions or new sources before executing any subsequent acquisitions for the same requirements.