Limited Source Justification_ Oracle Software Maintenance Redacted.pdf

CUI | Source Selection Information – See FAR 2.101 and 3.104

3. A DESCRIPTION OF THE SUPPLIES OR SERVICES REQUIRED TO MEET THE

AGENCY’S NEEDS/ESTIMATED DOLLAR AMOUNT:

DLA has a requirement to procure brand-name Market Direct StoreFront software maintenance, Print FF software maintenance, and support services for its existing, previously purchased eProductivity Software Market Direct StoreFront Software license and Print FF software license currently in use by the Agency.

DLA’s DSO application supports the DLA Document Services Operations’ role as the single source of print broker services to the Armed Forces and federal agencies. The DSO application offers web-to-print services and provides a portal for order fulfillment, outsourcing interface, and billing for all print service offerings. The application is the primary tool that supports the DLA Document Services mission. U.S.

Department of Defense (DoD) Instruction 5330.03 establishes DLA Document Services as the preferred provider for document automation services for the DoD. DLA Document Services is also designated as the single manager for printing and high-speed, high-volume duplicating in the DoD. Executive Branch federal agency document service requirements can also be supported under authorities assigned to DLA Document Services.

At the foundation of DLA’s DSO application is eProductivity Software’s commercial software products, MDSF and Print FF. MDSF is used for managing ready-to-print orders, while the Print FF module manages warehoused orders. In order to ensure MDSF and Print FF software licenses remain in active status, DLA must obtain the required maintenance agreement and support services. Currently, DLA holds a MDSF software maintenance agreement and Print FF software maintenance agreement with support services that ensure: the Government receives eProductivity Software’s software updates as they are released, that updates are installed properly, and that the configuration is optimal. DLA is requesting minimal technical support services – 300 hours per contract period – to further ensure the Government receives software updates as they are released, that the updates are installed properly, and that the configuration is optimal. Under this agreement, DLA is also requesting support hours for varying technical issues that may arise in the installation and operation of the MDSF and Print FF software.

Technical support resource labor requires expertise in the MDSF application, categorized professionally as a “Market Direct StoreFront Application Specialist/Analyst.”

The renewal of the MDSF software maintenance will provide the DLA J62K with all the necessary access rights and privileges to use the license in accordance with its intended purpose. In addition, during the maintenance term, J62K personnel will have access to any OEM Web-based support or knowledge database regarding this product and any software updates, patches, or upgrades that the vendor issues for this license. Moreover, DLA will have access to telephone support and the ability to submit trouble tickets or general inquiry questions to a support site. The vendor will provide a website for the Government to submit troubleshooting tickets and change requests. Any cybersecurity finds will require a response within 36 hours.

The renewal of the Print FF software maintenance will provide the DLA J62K with all the necessary access rights and privileges to use the Print FF module in conjunction with the base MDSF license. In addition, during the maintenance term, J62K personnel will have access to any vendor Web-based support or knowledge database regarding this product and any software updates, patches, or upgrades that the vendor issues for these licenses.

The 300 hours of vendor support services will be used by the DSO application program office to engage the vendor for any required installation or configuration assistance outside the normal licensing support.

The vendor shall provide an acknowledgement of the needed support within 24 hours via email and provide the support within 3 days. Assistance may include troubleshooting, configuration assistance, In accordance with FAR 6.302-1(c)(1)(ii)(B), brand name eProductivity Software Market Direct StoreFront software maintenance, Print FF software maintenance, and support service are essential to the Government’s requirement and no other type of software maintenance or support services will satisfy the Agency’s needs. The brand-name software maintenance and support services required by the Government are only available from one responsible source, eProductivity Software, and there are no authorized resellers/dealers of eProductivity Software products and services. Notably, a brand-name item, whether available on one or more contracts, is an item or service peculiar to one manufacturer and may be procured by the Government if essential to the Government’s requirements. As discussed in detail below, because the eProductivity Software MDSF software license maintenance, and Print FF software maintenance, and support services brand-name specification is essential to the Government’s requirements, the Government is precluded from consideration of products or services provided by an alternative source.

The DLA site requires support for over 200 print sites, two interfaces, and five unique integration requirements, which makes the support, configuration, and patching of the DLA installation highly complex. eProductivity Software is the only provider that can support the size and complexity of the required software maintenance and support services for DLA’s MDSF software. Furthermore, eProductivity Software holds the single proprietary rights to MDSF and Print FF software. Only an eProductivity Software Analyst can provide the needed support required with access to the proprietary software code to meet the needs of the Government. No other sources have the experience, skills, or access to compatible code to support the DLA MDSF or Print FF installations, updates, configurations, customizations, software troubleshooting, and software patches to support DLA. No other company’s software license maintenance and support services can meet, or be modified to meet, the Agency’s requirement.

DLA requires the renewal of MDSF software license maintenance, Print FF software maintenance, and support services to ensure the success of DLA Data Services’ Document Services mission and role of being the single source of print broker services to the Armed Forces and federal agencies. The brand-name software maintenance and support services are essential to ensuring DLA’s DSO application continues to operate as a web tool for order fulfillment, outsourcing interface, and billing for any and all print service offerings.

MDSF software is eProductivity Software’s web-to-print software solution for DLA’s DSO application.

MDSF is the software that provides all order submission and print queue management functionality.

Without the MDSF software maintenance, virtual order fulfillment capability available to support DLA Data Services would stop. DLA Data Services would be unable to fulfill DSO customer orders in over 200 military locations where brick and mortar print facilities do not exist, including those of the United States Armed Forces, who use the DSO application tool for print order submission. Consequently, the software license maintenance and support services comprising this requirement are vital to the Government’s requirement because these virtual print shops rely solely on the DSO application web-to-print tool to complete order fulfillment. Moreover, eProductivity Software is the only company that has the service professionals that are capable of providing, and in fact, authorized to provide, the services necessary to perform MDSF and Print FF updates, configuration and customization changes, software troubleshooting, and software patching. Failure to obtain eProductivity Software MDSF software maintenance, Print FF software maintenance, and support service at this juncture would put DLA Document Services at significant risk for mission failure.

6. A DESCRIPTION OF EFFORTS MADE TO ENSURE THAT OFFERS ARE SOLICITED

FROM AS MANY POTENTIAL SOURCES AS IS 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:

Based upon previous market research, it has been determined that only brand-name eProductivity Software Market Direct StoreFront Software maintenance, Print FF software maintenance, and support service can fully meet the Government’s instant requirement. The market research conducted included an informal internet search, and requests sent via email to eProductivity Software to request any and all software resellers or dealers. The results yielded from these market research efforts established that there are no other products that meet the Government’s needs.

This requirement will be posted to the Contract Opportunities webpage on beta.sam.gov and will be sole sourced to eProductivity Software.

7. A DETERMINATION BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER THAT THE ANTICIPATED

COST TO THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE FAIR AND REASONABLE:

As the Contracting Officer, I hereby determine that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable. The Government will attempt to obtain offers from as many vendors as practicable. Proposals will be analyzed in accordance with FAR 15.404-1. It is anticipated that the Government will use various price analysis techniques including, but not limited to: 1) comparison of proposed prices received in response to the solicitation (reference FAR 15.404-1(b)(2)(i)); 2) comparison with competitive published price lists (reference FAR 15.404-1(b)(2)(iv)); and 3) comparison of proposed prices within prices obtained through market research of the same or similar items (reference FAR 15.404- 1(b)(2)(vi)) in order to obtain a fair and reasonable price.

8. A DESCRIPTION OF THE MARKET RESEARCH CONDUCTED AND THE RESULTS OR A

STATEMENT OF THE REASONS MARKET RESEARCH WAS NOT CONDUCTED:

The DSO Program Manager conducted market research and found that eProductivity Software is the only authorized seller of the Market Direct StoreFront and Print FF software. Market research information was gathered by conversations with the eProductivity Software vendor and researching other existing Government print software contracts. eProductivity Software was found to be the only company that could support the DLA configuration of MDSF and Print FF. The DLA configuration consists of multiple servers, multiple print sites and thousands of customers, and several government unique customization modules that mean the software maintenance services can only be provided by one source – Eproductivity Software. MDSF and Print FF software can be configured for a single print shop and sources are available to offer maintenance for this simple configuration. However, when the site environment is as large and complex as the DLA Document Services configuration, which requires over 140 print shops, thousands of customers, unique modules and configurations to accommodate government unique interfaces such as the Enterprise Business System (EBS) and the Air Force Enhanced Technical Management System (ETMS) for technical manual print ordering, the maintenance support for this type of configuration can only be provided by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), eProductivity Software.

In October 2023, the DSO Project Manager performed a wider market research through attending the Printing United Expo held in Atlanta. Printing United is one of the largest gatherings of various businesses from the print industry including web to print software vendors. After receiving demonstrations and holding discussions with the web to print software vendors there was not a single product available that could accommodate the DLA requirements in size (140 Print shops) and complexity (interfaces to other DLA applications). EProductivity Software’s MDSF and Print FF remain the only software that meets the Government’s needs.

9. ANY OTHER FACTS SUPPORTING THE USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN

COMPETITION:

Replacing the existing commercial software would require additional integration and conversion tasks that would need to be included in the cost comparison. Functionality that is unique to the Government and therefore required by all vendors to be integrated into the commercial software include Billing Module to incorporate the DLA Document Services’ unique pricing model, Funding Management to accept Government lines of accounting as method of payment, Enterprise Business System (EBS) interface to enable the DSO application to send sales orders and funding information to the DLA financial system, interface to permit outsourcing of print orders, and the conversion of the data from the existing COTS application to the new COTS applications.

10. A LISTING OF SOURCES, IF ANY, THAT EXPRESSED, IN WRITING, AN INTEREST IN

THE ACQUISITION:

N/A.

11. A STATEMENT OF THE 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:

eProductivity Software Market Direct StoreFront software and Print FF software is so embedded within DLA’s DSO application that eliminating this brand name requirement to remove a barrier to competition would require an overhaul of the eProductivity Software MDSF software and Print FF software currently in use at DLA. In accordance with DLA policy and DLA’s IT Solutions document, whenever substantial improvement over presently identified solutions is demonstrated, the existing IT Solutions document will be updated to ensure DLA continues to use the best products and services for its mission requirements. At this time, eProductivity Software MDSF software maintenance, Print FF maintenance and support services are the best products and services to meet DLA mission requirements and are the only products and services that will satisfy the Government’s needs.

DLA has exercised, and continues to exercise, competition as often as possible and is required to conduct ongoing reviews of IT solutions to keep abreast of new technology within the Government and private sectors. DLA uses a variety of vendors, manufacturers, and contracts/orders to fulfill its requirements and will continue its practice of surveying the market to ensure full and open competition to the maximum extent practicable.

12. CONTRACTING OFFICER CERTIFICATION THAT THE JUSTIFICATION IS

ACCURATE AND COMPLETE TO THE BEST OF THE CONTRACTING OFFICER’S

KNOWLEDGE AND BELIEF:

Requirements/Technical Certifications:

I hereby certify that the support data provided for which I am responsible, and which form a basis for this justification are completed and accurate:

DATE

IT Project Manager • Info Operations J62KA Program Manager

Contracting Certification:

I hereby certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief:

Contracting Officer DATE DLA Contracting Services Office Philadelphia

I have reviewed and concur with this justification:

Supervisory Contract Specialist DATE DLA Contracting Services Office Philadelphia

I have reviewed and approve this justification:

Competition Advocate DATE DLA Contracting Services Office