PYTHON_Sole_Source_J&A_Redacted.pdf

J&A Number:

Source Selection Information – See FAR 2.101 and 3.104 1

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY

NAVSUP FLEET LOGISTICS CENTER SAN DIEGO

3985 CUMMINGS ROAD

SAN DIEGO CA 92136-4000

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

TO PROCURE USING OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

Upon the basis of the following justification, I, as Competition Advocate, hereby approve use of the other than Full and Open competition for the proposed contractual action pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S.C. § 2304(c)(1), only one responsible source and no other supplier or servicing activity will satisfy agency requirements, as implemented by FAR 6.302-1.

1. Identification of Agency and Contracting Activity

Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP), Fleet Logistics Center - San Diego (FLCSD)

3985 Cummings Road

San Diego, CA 92136-4200

2. Description of the Action Being Approved

This justification covers the procurement of analytical programming support, technical support, development of software solutions, user support for and modernization of the Naval Postgraduate School student management system known as “PYTHON” on sole source basis from eDataTech. This justification for other than full and open competition will be posted at the Government wide Point of Entry.

The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) located in Monterey, California supports the U.S. Navy, other military branches, and foreign military services with postgraduate education for personnel. The Information Technology and

Communication Services (ITACS) Department at NPS provides information technology (IT) support to the entire school. NPS has developed a Student Information System for student registration and management known as

“PYTHON.” PYTHON is a set of applications that function as a system for managing student enrollment, track completion of classes and thesis requirements, produce transcripts, and perform additional functions typically needed for academic administration of a university.

The main PYTHON web application was originally developed by NPS students as part of a thesis project. It was implemented in 2001 and is currently in the process of being rewritten in a modern programming language by the incumbent contractor, eDataTech. NPS lacks the internal resources to maintain and enhance both the current and modernized applications.

ITACS requires contractor support of the PYTHON 2 web application and satellite systems as well as development support for the follow-on version PYTHON 3.

3. Description of Supplies

The contractor shall provide the following services in relation to the PYTHON web application:

Provide programming support, technical support, user support, enhancements to Account Management and

Auditing/Logging applications, and software solutions development in response to "bug" reports relating to the existing PYTHON web application and satellite systems. Satellite systems include the following:

Applicant Management System

Curriculum Information System

PhD Status Tracking

Course Analysis System

Catalog Content Systems

Source Selection Information – See FAR 2.101 and 3.104 2

The contractor shall provide developmental support for the follow-on version PYTHON 3 to enhance capabilities, workflows, data integrity, usability and interoperability with satellite systems.

4. Statutory Authority Permitting Sole Source

This Sole Source Justification and Approval is prepared according to FAR subpart 13.5 in accordance with 41

U.S.C. 1901 and under the authority of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1) and FAR 6.302-1 --- Only One Responsible Source and

No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements. This Justification and Approval demonstrates that eDataTech Inc.'s unique qualifications are essential to meeting the Government’s requirements.

5. Rationale Justifying Use of Cited Statutory Authority

The PYTHON 2 web application consists of over 700,000 lines of code – all written by eDatatech. The PYTHON backend database consists of over 420 tables, with relationships between many of the tables and approximately

3,989 database objects. eDataTech’s experience and in-depth technical knowledge of system functions/business processes as they relate to managing student enrollment, tracking completion of classes and thesis requirements, producing transcripts, student add/drop courses, reports, transfer of scheduling data to/from the Infosilem Encampus scheduling software system and additional unique interfaces makes eDataTech uniquely qualified for this effort.

eDatatech’s complete knowledge of all enhancements, the Thesis Tracking components, database tables and those associated relationships, and understanding of the current processes unique to the NPS’s graduate and military specific educational environment as it relates to the functionality of PYTHON 2, will result in significant time and labor savings in performing the support and maintenance in the initial months after the launch of PYTHON 2.

The Government is several months behind in testing PYTHON 2, and it is unlikely the Government will be able to complete all required testing by the time PYTHON 2 is launched. With any new, complex software system such as

PYTHON 2, there will be "bugs." Incomplete testing of PYTHON 2 is expected to result in a higher than normal number of bugs being present in the application after initial rollout. In order for PYTHON 2 to be accepted by the

NPS user community, the Government must be extremely responsive to bug reports.

Any new contractor will be required to learn both NPS business processes as well as the PYTHON 2 code when being first on boarded, a process the Government expects to take up to 90 days. During this difficult knowledge transfer period (during which the new contractor would be acquiring over 15 years' worth of system knowledge and data), the new contractor would not be able to provide the responsiveness to bug reports that's required. The incumbent contractor knows NPS business processes as well as the PYTHON 2 code and will, therefore, be in a far more advantageous position to provide the effective, rapid response needed during this "bug fix" period.

Additionally, as PYTHON 2 was going through Beta testing, it became apparent that various enhancements and new features were needed to correctly and efficiently implement various NPS business processes, as well as implement changes that occurred in the area of academic administration during the course of the current contract. As the incumbent contractor is responding to reported system bugs during the base period, their experience with and knowledge of PYTHON 2 enhancements and features will permit the implementation of PYTHON 2 bug fixes that will specifically provide a smooth transition to PYTHON 3 development. The incumbent's intimate knowledge of the PYTHON code and database will permit a far more efficient transition into PYTHON 3 development than could be achieved by another contractor. The incumbent's contractor's knowledge and experience with PYTHON code and database will save significant labor and costs, as well as provide a more effective final product, during PYTHON 3 development than could be achieved by another contractor.

eDatatech’s complete knowledge of all enhancements, the Thesis Tracking Module, database tables and those associated relationships, and understanding of the current processes unique to the NPS’s graduate and military specific educational environment as it relates to the functionality of Python, will result in significant time and labor savings in performing the requirements.

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

No efforts were made to solicit offers from any vendor. As mentioned above, it would be cost prohibitive to solicit any vendor other than eDatatech and eDataTech has the knowledge that needs to be transferred to ITACS in order for ITACS to be able to take over support upon completion of this contract.

7. Determination of Fair and Reasonable Cost

Source Selection Information – See FAR 2.101 and 3.104 3

Costs will be determined fair and reasonable at time of award by the Contracting Officer. For comparison, applicable GSA labor rates were researched. One company, , under GSA contract , had labor rates of $176/hr for a programmer/web consultant and a rate of $220/hr for a database engineer.

, under GSA contract had labor rates of $124/hr for database administrators.

, under GSA contract , has labor rates of $176/h for web architects, and a rate of $95/hr and $108/hr for web application developer I and II services, respectively. The estimated labor rates are based on prices previously paid for similar services and the GSA labor rates encountered further support the estimate.

8. Market Research

Use of a Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) student management system in lieu of PYTHON was investigated.

However, any such system would have to be customized to meet the unique requirements of NPS. The number of customizations would be significant and could potentially add millions of dollars to the overall cost of the system before the costs of ongoing maintenance and upgrades are even considered. Due to the significant level of development and customization already represented by PYTHON, the lifecycle costs of a COTS solution were determined to be unreasonably prohibitive. Other mandatory sources of service were screened such as the NHEITC

IDIQ, Seaport-e, GSA Alliant, and Oasis, however none of these vehicles contain contractors who have the unique capabilities of eDataTech.

9. Actions to Remove Barriers to Future Competition.

The development of PYTHON 3 is estimated to require two years to complete. Once the proposed contract period is completed, PYTHON development will be complete, and the system will require maintenance and support only. At that point, the Government intends to solicit the requirement for competition. The proposed competitive solicitation will include a transition period of at least 30 and no more than 90 days. No more than a 90-day transition should be required for a suitably skilled and experienced contractor, since the PYTHON 3 student information system will be fully documented.

10. Other Facts Supporting Use of Other Than Full and Open Competition

Awarding this requirement as a sole source to eDataTech would finalize the development of PYTHON 3. The

Government intends to solicit the PYTHON 3 maintenance/support requirement for competition with a period of performance beginning on or about 11/01/20. The Government intends to solicit using the Naval Higher Education

Information Technology Consortium (NHEITC) Multiple Award Contract (MAC). The NHEITC MAC is an

SDVOSB set aside, and contract awardees will be provided fair opportunity to respond to the solicitation in accordance with FAR 16.505.