JustificationforOtherthanFullandOpenCompetition final.pdf

Template for Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition, February 2019

Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition United States Department of Agriculture

Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 6.3

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity.

Requesting Agency: _____APHIS____________________

Contracting Activity:

USDA APHIS WS NWRC

4101 Laporte Ave Fort Collins CO 80521

2. The nature and/or description of the action being approved.

The National Wildlife Research Center Information Services Unit (ISU) requests that EOS.Web Integrated Library System (ILS) (parent company SirsiDynix) software be acquired using a noncompetitive procurement in support of ISU mission requirements (i.e.: management and maintenance of item records for physical and digital items held by NWRC, item circulation tracking, catalog search interface, and report generation).

3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the estimated value).

Integrated Library System requirements:

1) FedRAMP authorized

2) 508 compliant public-facing interface

3) Manage the NWRC Information Services Unit’s approximately 7,700 bibliographic records and 15,400+ collection of unique digital content including historical images and documents

4) Online public access interface with faceted search to enable users to filter and focus results

5) Circulation and delivery interface

6) Collection and analytics platform to assess performance, track statistics, and conduct collection inventories

7) Customization of staff-side features, including data entry screens, and report creation

8) Easy configuration of the public-facing interface to allow the information services unit to showcase specialized content

9) Ability to create separate collections of unique Wildlife Services- and NWRC-generated digital or digitized content within the larger collection

10) Accommodates growth with options for extension, ability to add searching of other databases

11) Provide technical support as needed

12) Provide staff trainings and customer service as needed

4. The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1, titled "Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements."

5. A statement demonstrating the unique qualifications of the proposed contractor or the nature of the action requiring the use of the authority.

EOS.Web is FedRAMP authorized.

See: | FedRAMP Marketplace (SirsiDynix is the parent company of EOS Web) and FedRAMP Compliant CloudPlus | FedRAMP Marketplace (data center authorization) FedRAMP authorization is not typical among collection management software vendors.

EOS.Web can handle the collection management needs of small to medium sized special libraries. The software includes features common to a collection management software system such as a customizable interface to add digital and hard-copy content, public-facing search interface, standard collection management functionality, and reporting. EOS Web offers a 508-compliant user interface, which is not typical from vendors focused on the specialized library market.

EOS.Web search result pages allow users to filter and narrow results using fields that are relevant to the public and Wildlife Services employees and NWRC researchers. Users can refine results by author, publisher, subject, and date. In contrast, other vendors filtering fields are centered around genre, age group, or item location, which are not useful to our users.

EOS Web is set apart from other systems for several reasons. It is a flexible system that provides a high degree of configurability and customization in both the staff side and in the online public access catalog. In the staff interface, the software supports the creation of distinct data entry forms. These data entry forms can be modified to include only those fields relevant to the material type being cataloged (i.e. book, book chapter, eBook, journal article, image, etc.).

The flexibility and configurability of EOS enables ISU to staff to increase efficiency while operating at a reduced staffing level. ISU staff has been reduced by 1 FTE due to an employee electing to participate in the Deferred Resignation Program. However customizable data-entry and data management features support greater efficiency by allowing some fields to be pre-populated with standard information, thus not requiring re-entry of the data for every record. In addition, features that allow end users to refine search results based on their own interests reduces the staff time necessary to create custom collections on the staff side that may or may not satisfy user requirements.

https://marketplace.fedramp.gov/products/FR1818459251 https://marketplace.fedramp.gov/products/F1404304159 https://marketplace.fedramp.gov/products/F1404304159

On the public-facing side, EOS.Web supports the creation of special collections to showcase the unique content, such as the Bureau of Biological Survey Reports, or present research outputs generated by Wildlife Services and NWRC projects as separate special collections.

Modules are not bundled allowing the ISU to choose and implement those modules presently necessary for managing the Wildlife Services’ and NWRC collections. This modular structure will allow ISU to add additional features to the existing system in the future if necessary.

The other ILS vendors ISU consulted did not offer some or all these features. In some cases the software is not FedRAMP authorized and/or is not 508 compliant and/or did not allow for customization of either the staff or pubic side. The configurability to create separate collections of materials was also limited. While some vendors may allow users to group results based on facets such as author, subject or genre, EOS.Web allows ISU staff to create pre-determined sets of content based on NWRC projects, historical importance, or material type.

6. A description of efforts made to ensure offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable.

ISU staff conducted our own research to identify potential ILS vendors A FedBizOpps announcement was not made since ISU is interested in small to medium sized vendors and were not interested in the large, conglomerated vendors used by large public library systems, universities, and library consortia. Some specialized, smaller ILS vendors are not aware of vehicles such as FedBizOps and ISU believed response would be dominated by the large vendors in the market and fail to surface those vendors of primary interest to ISU.

To conduct research, ISU staff browsed vendor lists for library conferences such as the American Library Association conference, consulted seminal library journals such as Library Journal, and sponsor lists for library training courses. From these sources, we created a list of potential vendors and visited websites or sent emails to vendors, comparing our list of desired features to the features advertised by the vendors.

7. A determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

ISU is pursuing a new software system to realize a cost savings. ISU has been exercising options years on a contract with OCLC for OCLC WMS (WorldShare Management Services).

The option for the next fiscal year for the WMS ILS is approximately $43,000. OCLC WMS is a high-end ILS that includes features not necessary for managing the NWRC library collection.

Modules in OCLC WMS cannot be unbundled.

Other ILS vendors offer the functionality required by ISU at a lower cost. ISU received price quotes from other vendors to include implementation and a 3- or 5-year subscription for which the entire quote was less than the FY2025 option from OCLC.

Price comparisons of similar products indicated EOS.Web prices are fair and reasonable.

8. A description of the market research conducted and the results or a statement of the reason Market Research was not conducted.

ISU staff conducted our own research to identify potential ILS vendors A FedBizOpps announcement was not made since ISU is interested in small to medium sized vendors and were not interested in the large, conglomerated vendors used by large public library systems, universities, and library consortia. Some specialized, smaller ILS vendors are not aware of vehicles such as FedBizOps and ISU believed response would be dominated by the large vendors in the market and fail to surface those vendors of primary interest to ISU.

To conduct research, ISU staff searched SAM.gov for FedRAMP authorized content management software vendors, browsed vendor lists for library conferences such as the American Library Association conference, consulted journals such as Library Journal, and sponsor lists for library training courses. From these sources, we created a list of potential vendors and visited websites or sent emails to vendors, comparing our list of desired features to the features advertised by the vendors.

From this research, the following vendors were researched: EOS Web, BookSystems (Atriuum), Bibliovation (LibLime), Lucidea (GeniePlus), Mandarin Library Automation, LibraryWorld (WikiLibrary), Soutron, Surpass, Sutron, Alma/Discovery, and others. We narrowed the list to several vendors: BookSystems, Bibliovation, Lucidea, Sutron, Alma and EOS Web. We participated in software demonstrations of Atriuum, Bibliovation, GeniePlus, Sutron, and EOS Web and received quotes from these vendors. We further narrowed our selection to EOS Web based on factors such as FedRAMP authorization, 508 compliance, configurability and customization, and the ability to host traditional library materials as well as digital content.

The other systems ISU evaluated and reasons these systems were not considered:

GeniePlus - not FedRAMP authorized, not listed SAM.gov, NASA SEWP, or GSA Soutron Global - not FedRAMP authorized LibLime/Bibliovation – currently in FEDRAMP authorization process, lacks features/configurability Alma/Discovery - more complex & expensive system than required Book Systems (Atriuum), Mandarin Library Automation, LibraryWorld (WikiLibrary), Surpass:

not FedRAMP authorized, not 508 compliant, not listed SAM.gov, NASA SEWP, or GSA OCLC WorldShare Management Services (current system) - more complex & expensive than needed

9. Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition.

Sirsi Corporation d/b/a SirsiDynix ("SirsiDynix") is the developer and/or sole source provider for all SirsiDynix software and specialized services. The SirsiDynix EOS.web product was developed at private expense by SirsiDynix. EOS.web proprietary software is only available from SirsiDynix, and SirsiDynix retains the exclusive trademark, copyright, trade secret and/or patent rights to EOS.web. Sir,;iDynix has sole knowledge of the development of the software and certain configuration requirements that are exclusive to EOS.web. Consequently, only SirsiDynix can sell and maintain the software as well as make further enhancements to EOS.web.

10. A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed a written interest in the acquisition.

n/a

Certifications & Approvals

Supporting data that form the basis for and included in this justification are certified accurate and complete.

Mary Foley___________________ Insert Name of Program or Technical Personnel Insert Title of Program/Technical Personnel

The information contained in this Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition is certified accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Insert Name of Contracting Officer Contracting Officer