JA_Blackboard_Redacted.pdf

UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

MARINE CORPS SYSTEMS COMMAND

2200 LESTER STREET

QUANTICO, VIRGINIA 22134-6050

Code: CT-027

J&A Number: 17,033

LIMITED SOURCES JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

1. Contracting Activity

Marine Corps Systems Command (MARCORSYSCOM)

Other Supported Systems (OSS)

2200 Lester Street

Quantico, VA 22134-6050

2. Nature and/or Description of the Action Being Approved

The acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple

Award Schedule Program under Title III of the Federal Property and Administrative Act of 1949. This justification is to seek approval of the use of limited sources under FAR Part 8.405-6.

The proposed action is to award a firm-fixed-price (FFP) delivery order under General Services Administration (GSA) contract number GS-35F-0554M with Blackboard Inc., Massachusetts

Avenue N.W. 6 th Floor, Washington, DC 20001-3796.

3. Description of Supplies/Services

The proposed contract is to procure the Blackboard Learn™

Learning Support System (LSS). Blackboard Learn™ includes:

Course Delivery for up to 15,000 users, Blackboard Community

Engagement for up to 15,000 users, Blackboard Managed Hosting

Platinum Package for up to 8,000 users, Platinum Hosting

Additional Servicing Units (Additional Users), a Hosted Test

Environment, 1 Terabyte (TB) of additional storage, a Hosted

Stage Environment, Blackboard Collaborate Web Conference for up to 5,000 users, and Mobile Learn for up to 15,000 users.

The total estimated dollar value for the proposed contract action is approximately (REDACTED). Funds to be used for this requirement are FY 17 O&M with a period of performance (PoP)

December 11, 2016 through December 10, 2017.

4. Identification of the Justification Rationale

The statutory authority permitting use of limited sources is

Federal Acquisition Regulation FAR 8.405-6(b) (1) “Limited

Sources”; Item peculiar to one manufacturer, including brand name.

5. Determination of Best Value

Pursuant to FAR 8.404(d), Supplies and services offered on the schedule are listed at fixed prices. GSA has determined the prices of supplies and fixed-price services, and rates for services offered at hourly rates, to be fair and reasonable for the purpose of establishing the schedule contract. GSA's determination does not relieve the ordering activity contracting officer from the responsibility of making a determination of fair and reasonable pricing for individual orders, BPAs, and orders under BPAs, using the proposal analysis techniques at

15.404-1. The Contracting Officer will seek additional discounts where possible. The Contracting Officer will also use historical pricing from prior contracts to determine best value via price analysis per 15.404-1(b).

6. Description of Market Research Conducted

While other brand name Learning Management Systems (LMS) are available in the commercial marketplace, additional work needs to be done for them to satisfy the Government’s requirements as far as interoperability with the Marine Corps’ MarineNet environment. The existing Application Programming Interface

(API) of Blackboard Learn allows for simplified integration and communication with the current MarineNet system, which mitigates the negative effects of hardware and software differences impacting system performance and maintenance. Additionally this

API reduces the possibility of data loss due to possible failure of equipment and/or databases since data is stored in two locations. Because of the learner data captured and shared between Blackboard and MarineNet, the complex and/or unknown

FY17

O&M (REDACTED)

Total (REDACTED) http://farsite.hill.af.mil/reghtml/regs/far2afmcfars/fardfars/far/15.htm#P431_79270 compatibly of other LMSs presents a high risk to adequately conducting normal operations.

The Marine Corps considered self-hosting an LMS. In a self-hosting environment, CDET would be responsible for providing all of the hardware and infrastructure to support the LMS. This would include the physical building/location, all network connectivity, and hardware refresh when necessary. CDET would also be responsible for updating the software and providing help desk support. However, at this time, the programmatic issues and infrastructure requirements associated with establishing a self-hosting capability far exceed any benefits that may be realized.

Additionally, the Marine Corps is considering hosting an LMS via

MarineNET. MarineNET was scheduled to migrate to MCEITS in FY16 but the migration has been delayed. The migration is expected to include certain upgrades and until such time as the upgrade/migration occurs, hosting an LMS via MarineNET is not feasible due to issues with the complexity of the MarineNet

Application, MCEITS architecture fluctuation and an inability for MCEITS to support core MarineNet features.

Currently, Blackboard Inc. is the sole manufacturer of

Blackboard Learn™ Academic Suite and sole provider of Blackboard

Managed Hosting Technical Support Services. Blackboard Learn is not offered by any other re-sellers.

Pursuant to FAR 5.202 and 16.505(a), a synopsis is not required, however, this justification will be posted in accordance with

FAR 16.505(a)(4)(iii).

7. Other Facts Supporting the Justification

Marine Corps University (MCU) has utilized the Blackboard LMS since 2008. The MCU includes: the Marine Corps War College

(MCWAR); Command and Staff College (CSC); the School of Advanced

Warfighting (SAW); the Expeditionary Warfare School (EWS); the

Lejeune Leadership Institute (LLI); the Center for Advanced

Operational Culture Learning (CAOCL); Enlisted Professional

Military Education Programs (EPMEP); and the College of Distance

Education and Training (CDET). This disruption of services would delay the Professional Military Education (PME) of Marines worldwide as required by MCO 1553.4B and Chairman Joints Chiefs of Staff Instruction (CJCSI) 1800.01C, causing Marines to miss promotion requirements after the convening of their selection boards. PME courses taken via distance learning are hosted by

Blackboard. Blackboard hosted items include: seminars, the students’ ability to interface with professors, homework, tests and other coursework.

8. Actions to Remove Barriers to Future Competition

CDET has continued to conduct market research with the assistance of the MITRE Corporation to evaluate open source systems, with different hosting configurations. The results of this analysis have indicated that there is risk in moving to another LMS, but other products do exist that may meet the

Government’s needs. As a result, it is the intention of Marine

Corps Systems Command (MARCORSYSCOM) to compete the follow-on effort to the contract action sought by this justification.

MARCORSYSCOM will assess, via additional market research, as to whether or not other commercially available sources may adequately support the LMS requirement of CDET. In such a case, the Government expects to obtain a technical data package or develop performance specifications that will support competition for future acquisitions of the same or similar items.

J&A 17,033 APPROVED 1 DECEMBER 2016