LSJ Storyline360 redacted.pdf

LIMITED-SOURCES JUSTIFICATION

FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION (FAR) PART 8 ACQUISITIONS

BRAND NAME

FAR 8.405-6(b)(1)

Multiple Award Schedule (MAS)/Multiple Award Contract Orders under MAS/General Services Administration (GSA) Schedules /Federal Supply Schedules (FSS)

1. Identification of the Agency and Contracting Activity.

Agency:

Center for the Development of Security Excellence (CDSE) Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency 938 Elkridge Landing Rd Linthicum, MD 21090

Contracting Activity:

Acquisition and Contracting Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency 27130 Telegraph Road Quantico, VA 22134

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

The purpose of this document is to obtain the necessary approvals for a limited source acquisition in accordance with FAR 8.405-6(b)(1) – Items peculiar to one manufacturer. FAR 8.405-6(b)(1) states the following, “Brand name specifications shall not be used unless the particular brand name, product, or feature is essential to the Government’s requirements, and market research indicates other companies’ similar products, or products lacking the particular feature, do not meet, or cannot be modified to meet, the agency’s needs”.

This particular acquisition requires the use of the brand name “Articulate”. Extensive research has proven that only one provider, Interactive Communications Solutions Group, Inc. dba ICS Learning Group, Inc. is an authorized reseller of the required product, Articulate Storyline 360. Furthermore, ICS Learning Group, Inc. is a GSA MAS Small Business Contractor under contract GS-35F-0207P. As such, the requiring activity has a need that can only be met through the brand name product, Articulate Storyline 360, procured from ICS Learning Group, Inc.

The Articulate Storyline 360 Software Licenses are in support of the development and maintenance of eLearning products for the Center for the Development of Security Excellence (CDSE). The CDSE currently has a one year subscription of Storyline 360 and exclusively utilizes the software for the development of eLearning courses and other eLearning products that has been purchased via Government Purchase Card. The CDSE now requires a contract to avoid disruption of service to ensure the CDSE continues its development and maintenance efforts of eLearning courses and products.

Not continuing with the services provided by these licenses will put current user missions at operational risk.

DCSA currently provides training and education to DoD security professionals and industry under the National Industrial Security Program (NISP) not having the Storyline 360 software with severely hamper DCSA‘s ability to keep eLearning courses and products current and up-to-date. DCSA has a requirement to update eLearning courses and products within 90 days of policy changes. Without Storyline licenses DCSA would be severely handicapped in its ability to perform those changes within the allotted timeframe.

Per FAR 8.401, this acquisition is being conducted under the authority of the Multiple Award Schedule Program 41 U.S.C. 152(3), Competitive Procures and 40 U.S.C. 501, Services for Executive Agencies. Based on the information technology (IT) nature of this procurement, the defined specifications and the market research conducted, it is appropriate that a solicitation be extended specifically to current and sole Federal authorized reseller, GSA FSS holder, ICS Learning Group. A MAS FSS was awarded to ICS Learning Group on 8 January 2019 under agreement GS-35F-0207P.

Per Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) 208.7402(1), departments and agencies shall fulfill requirements for commercial software and related services in accordance with the Department of Defense (DoD) Enterprise Software Initiative (ESI) and is considered a mandatory source of supply. Articulate Storyline brand is not listed as having a software agreement on DoD ESI.

3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the Agency’s needs.

The purpose of this request is to procure software licenses and related product suites as follows:

Item Description Part Number

Articulate Storyline 360 SL-360-T

The CDSE has a need for these licenses to continue development and maintenance efforts of eLearning courses and products in support of multiply courses including Insider Threat Awareness, OPSEC Awareness for Military Members, DoD Employees and Contractors, DoD Annual Security Awareness Refresher, DoD Initial Orientation and Awareness Training, Counterintelligence Awareness and Reporting for DoD Employees, Counterintelligence Awareness and Reporting for DoD Employees and DoD Mandatory Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) Training. Currently, there are over 60 products developed in Storyline. Each of the listed courses are used by DOD for annual training and DCSA has over million completions per year on their training. Each component of software is installed on a computer and used to develop and maintain eLearning courses and products. To meet this need, the Government must acquire the Articulate licenses. The services to be provided under the contemplated contract are for supporting DCSA activities critical to the DCSA mission.

This requirement will be awarded as a Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) order against ICS Learning Group’s established GSA FSS, GS-35F-0207P, as ICS Learning Group is the only authorized GSA resellers of Articulate Storyline

360. The period of performance is one twelve-month base period and four twelve month option periods from the time of award. The independent Government cost estimated is $352,082.40.

4. The statutory authority and supporting rationale.

This acquisition is conducted under the statutory authority of FAR 8.405-6(b)(1) only one source is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality and specification based on existing hardware and software. Under the circumstances, Articulate is that one source, as products/services from other vendors cannot meet those specific requirements. Market research was conducted in accordance with (IAW), FAR part 10.

As a result, this requirement will be procured via a brand-name limited source justification (LSJ) IAW FAR subpart 8.405-6(b)(1) - Items Peculiar to One Manufacturer (brand name). DoD Class Deviation 2014-O0011 – “Determination of Fair and Reasonable Prices When Using Federal Supply Schedule Contracts,” dated March 13, 2014, and DFARS 208 mandates that DoD first check this resource (DoD ESI) to ensure the requirement cannot be procured through this initiative before moving to other procurement methods. This initiative benefits the Government by utilizing economies of scale to negotiate the pricing down for several commonly procured Information Technology software and hardware. Instead of each agency buying as a standalone entity, the DoD is lumped together as one large customer receiving mass quantity discounts. This specific DCSA requirement cannot be met through this DoD ESI initiative; therefore, the Government will utilize GSA MAS resource for the critically needed services/support.

DCSA requires the proprietary Articulate Storyline 360 software licenses to ensure compatibility with existing developed courses and source files. The primary salient characteristic of Storyline Software is its ability to rapidly develop eLearning content. In addition, CDSE has over 60 hours of eLearning content developed in the software.

After determining that the brand name Articulate is the only solution that will meet DCSA’s requirements, the CDSE searched the DoD ESI resource portfolio, via https://www.esi.mil, to determine the pool of vendors that would be available to compete for this requirement. The search results indicated zero results and confirmation was received via Articulate that ICS Learning Group is the only sole GSA reseller of this license. As such, and pending the approval of this limited sources brand name justification (LSJ), the product specifications sheet will be provided directly to ICS Learning Group for review and requested response. Additionally, the brand name justification will be posted to e-Buy via http://www.ebuy.gsa.gov with a statement of DCSA’s intent to directly solicit from ICS Learning Group, IAW FAR 8.405-6(a)(2).

5. A determination by the Contracting Officer that the order represents the best value.

GSA has determined the prices of supplies to be fair and reasonable for the purpose of establishing the overall Storyline 360 contract. However, GSA’s determination does not relieve the ordering activity Contracting Officer from the responsibility of making a determination of fair and reasonable pricing for an individual order.

As such, the Contracting Officer will request additional price discounts and conduct a price analysis to determine if the proposed pricing is fair and reasonable.

Based on the justification to continue with its current need for Articulate products and services, the market research conducted, and implementation of the streamlined procedures under FAR Part 8, DCSA has determined that issuing a single award contract to GSA MAS holder, ICS Learning Group, Inc. represents the best value to the Government at the lowest potential cost.

6. A description of the market research conducted and the results.

Market research was conducted to seek as many potential sources and solutions as possible. In the market research that was conducted, DCSA compared features required for additional software to address the need for rapid eLearning products. Additional software from three (3) companies were reviewed: Adobe Captivate, Elucidat, and Lectora.

Adobe Captivate: This software is a desktop application that can develop eLearning content, but it cannot update or maintain current DCSA eLearning products. CDSE currently has over 60 hours of eLearning products. Each hour would take approximately 200 hours programing and testing to convert to a new format.

Elucidat: This software license requires that the courses be developed on servers outside of DCSA control which would create security issues.

Lectora: This software is a desktop application that can develop eLearning content, but it cannot update or maintain current DCSA eLearning products. CDSE currently has over 60 hours of eLearning products. Each hour would take approximately 200 hours programing and testing to convert to a new format.

All similar software products were reviewed by technical representatives and determined to be not compatible with the current DCSA/CDSE source files. As such, while this is a brand name requirement for Articulate, with only one authorized reseller, the requirement is also sole source. The product specifications sheet provided directly to ICS Learning Group, Inc. will require a confirmation statement that ICS Learning Group, Inc. is able to provide the required software, maintenance, support, and cybersecurity required through Articulate.

Based on initial market research conducted in November and December of 2021, I have determined that only the aforementioned brand-name product and product support, Articulate, can fully support the Government’s need. No competitor functional replacement products exist in the market at this time to meet the Government's need. The Government will continue to conduct market research to determine if there are changes in the market place that would enable future competitive actions, e.g., there are similar products and/or product support in the marketplace that provides the same functionality, the original equipment manufacturer releases ownership rights of product, or it is economically feasible to procure a new system.

http://www.esi.mil/ http://www.ebuy.gsa.gov/

7. Any other facts supporting the justification.

There are no other supporting facts.

8. A statement of the actions, if any, the Agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the restricted considerations before any subsequent acquisition for the services is made.

Efforts will be made when conducting market research for future competitive contracts to seek out competition among small businesses. DCSA/CDSE will re-evaluate the infrastructure as it approaches the end of life of existing hardware and software. DCSA/CDSE will consider to test other brands of software and assess current needs at the time and document the best solution that be suitable for the Government.

The Government will continue to search the marketplace. If the Government determines that Articulate Storyline 360 software are no longer required; the Government will seek competition for the required functionality.

Certification

Program Official:

I certify that the facts and representations under my cognizance, which are included in this justification and which form a basis for this justification, are complete and accurate.

Contracting Officer:

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