JA_18-053_NECO.docx

J&A NUMBER

J&A Number: 18-053

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY

NAVSUP FLEET LOGISTICS CENTER NORFOLK

700 ROBBINS AVE, BLDG 2B

PHILADELPHIA, PA 19111-5083

IN REPLY REFER TO

RM 280.1A

J&A #18-053

CLASS JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

FOR USE OF SOLE SOURCE

1. IDENTIFICATION OF AGENCY AND CONTRACTING ACTIVITY.

The requiring activity is the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), 425 Suitland Road, Washington, DC 20395-5720. The contracting activity is NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center, Norfolk, Contracting Department, Philadelphia Office, Philadelphia, PA 19111-5002.

2. Description of the Action Being Approved.

This is a sole source class justification for the procurement of The MathWorks, Inc. software maintenance products, components, and licenses to be awarded to The MathWorks, Inc., 3 Apple Hill Drive, Natick, MA 01760-2098. The required software maintenance products, components, and licenses will be acquired via a Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) comprised of a five-year ordering period commencing 01 October 2018 through 30 September 2023. Authority to act under this class justification expires on 30 September 2023.

3. Description of Supplies/Services.

The MathWorks, Inc. provides an extensive line of proprietary software, commonly and collectively referred to as “MATLAB” for functions as diverse as data re-formatting and complex system simulations. The ONI Farragut Technical Analysis Center (TAC) uses The MathWorks, Inc. MATLAB software to create a wide variety of technical tasks, analyses, models and simulations that fulfill mission requirements and production tasking. Software licensing enables the configuration and functionality of the software, with each license having a set of components suited to its particular use. ONI’s requirement is for annual software maintenance for existing MATLAB software components and for new MathWorks, Inc. components or licenses. The software maintenance includes contractor technical support, upgrades and revisions, and licensing support for approximately three hundred products distributed among various licenses. As the number of licenses and the component configurations are not static, the specific maintenance products, and new software products required will be ordered by issuance of delivery orders under the resultant BOA. The maximum ceiling of the BOA will be $2,500,000.00 based on the total estimate below. The type of funding authorized for this requirement is O&MN which will be obligated via the issuance of delivery orders for required supplies covered under the BOA.

Estimated Dollar Value

4. Statutory Authority Permitting SOLE SOURCE.

41 USC 1901(e)(2) - a sole source acquisition under the authority of the test program for certain commercial items, as implemented by FAR 13.501(a) and 10 USC 2301(f).

5. Rationale Justifying Use of Cited Statutory Authority.

In 1998, ONI procured MATLAB licensing modules outright from The MathWorks, Inc. and has continued to receive software maintenance support for those modules annually. ONI most recently received the aforementioned software maintenance from The MathWorks, Inc. under BOA N00189-14-G-Z005, awarded by NAVSUP FLC Norfolk Contracting Department, Philadelphia Office. BOA N00189-14-G-Z005 was awarded on a sole source basis. The ordering period under the N00189-14-G-Z005 will expire 30 September 2018.

To date, the ONI TAC currently has 71 licenses of The MathWorks, Inc. MATLAB software in use. Within and using that proprietary software TAC personnel have authored numerous models, simulations and analyses of foreign threat systems, all of which must remain operational and available in order to continue to meet intelligence production requirements. The MathWorks, Inc. is the only source that can meet the Government’s requirement due to the proprietary nature of the software. The MATLAB software is only set up for operation to process information through the use of The MathWorks, Inc. source code and The MathWorks, Inc. continues its policy of being the exclusive provider of MATLAB maintenance products and support, with the exception of eight (8) authorized resellers: CWPS, Diversified Distributors, GC Micro, Ideal Solutions, SoftChoice, Software House International (SHI), Insight Direct, and Lyme Computer Systems. According to The MathWorks, Inc., each of these authorized resellers can process new licenses and sustainment for Navy customers; however, they are not authorized to offer any discounts. The MathWorks, Inc. offers a 25% volume discount on new licenses provided to all Navy customers based on the estimated volume of new licenses required annually by the Navy overall. As this BOA will cover requirements to purchase new licenses as well as the sustainment or maintenance for new and existing licenses, it is not practical to consider any of the aforementioned resellers for future task order awards as they would not be able to offer the Navy’s 25% discount on new licenses. As such, only The MathWorks, Inc. will provide the binary software bug fixes, patches and updates; encrypted license files; license flexibility; and expert technical support required to keep the current MATLAB software and the models, simulations, and analyses developed within it, operational and available to meet mission needs.

In addition, MATLAB software maintenance, components, and licenses are essential to the Government, considering technical compatibility requirements thereby precluding consideration of a product manufactured by another company.

6. Description of Efforts Made to Solicit Offers from as Many Offerors as Practicable.

A Sources Sought synopsis was posted to the NECO and FEDBIZOPS website on 7 June 2018 and closed on 14 June 2018; only The MathWorks, Inc. expressed an interest in this requirement. No resellers expressed an interest in this requirement. No additional market research was conducted because it is not practicable, for the reasons discussed in paragraph 5 above, for any company other than The MathWorks, Inc. to provide the required supplies. Upon approval of this class J&A, this acquisition will also be synopsized and solicited on the NECO and FEDBIZOPS website as a sole source requirement. The previous class J&A #13-037 did not identify actions to remove barriers to future competition other than to state that if another potential source emerges, FLCN Philadelphia will assess whether competition for future requirements is feasible. The Sources Sought synopsis posted on 7 June 2018 demonstrated a concerted effort by FLCN Philadelphia to identify other potential sources that could support this effort, which resulted in no viable competition opportunities.

7. Determination of Fair and Reasonable Cost. The Contracting Officer has determined the anticipated cost to the Government of the supplies/services covered by this class J&A will be fair and reasonable.

8. Actions to Remove Barriers to Future Competition.

For the reasons set forth in Paragraph 5, FLCN Philadelphia Office has no plans at this time to compete future delivery orders under the BOA or other contracts for the types of supplies covered by this document. If another potential source emerges, FLCN Philadelphia Office will assess whether competition for future requirements is feasible.

9. CONTRACTING POINT OF CONTACT.

The point of contact at NAVSUP FLC Norfolk Philadelphia Office is Rachel McGinley, Code 280.2A at DSN 442-9647 or commercial (215) 697-9647 or by email at rachel.mcginley@navy.mil.

Source Selection Information – See FAR 2.101 and 3.104 2 image1.png