NewEra SAE-IFO JA - Redacted.pdf

Control Number: VA-22-00026252

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

Office of Procurement Acquisition and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, NJ 07724

2. Description of Action: This proposed action is for a sole-source firm-fixed price (FFP) contract for brand name NewEra perpetual software licenses and software maintenance support with NewEra Software, Inc. (NewEra) 8070 Santa Teresa Boulevard, Suite 240, Gilroy, CA 95020.

3. Description of Supplies or Services: The Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Information and Technology (OI&T), Austin Information Technology Center (AITC) has a requirement for brand name NewEra perpetual software licenses and software maintenance support. Specifically, brand name NewEra Stand Alone Edit and NewEra Image Focus Core/Subsystem software licenses and software maintenance support for the International Business Machines (IBM) z series operating system (z/OS) and IBM z15 machine for the mainframe platform at the AITC. The brand name NewEra software licenses and software maintenance support will be used to maintain and support the IBM Mainframe environment by monitoring for and testing configuration changes and improvements and a stand-alone recovery tool that can be initial program load (IPL’d) from various locations and provide an Interactive System Productivity Facility (ISPF) like interface to allow for edit or restore of datasets to correct a problem that has caused an IPL failure of a z/OS LPAR. The period of performance includes a base period of 12 months with three 12-month option periods, if exercised. The total estimated value of the proposed action is

, which is inclusive of all option periods.

4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1 entitled “Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.”

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based on extensive market research, as described in section 8 of this document, it was determined that only NewEra can provide the mainframe software licenses and maintenance support.

Specifically, the following functions are only provided by NewEra, which meets the Government’s requirements for the current IBM z/OS and IBM z15 machine for the mainframe platform at the AITC:

• Image FOCUS is the only product that allows a user to have access to MVS when Job Entry Subsystem, Virtual Telecommunications Access Method and Time-Sharing Option are not available.

• Image FOCUS is the only product that allows a user to run a virtual IPL prior to initiating an IPL to ensure the process will be successful.

• Image FOCUS is the only product that can tell its administrator who made a change to an image, the nature of the change, where and when it was made and

NewEra Software Licenses and Maintenance Control Number: VA-22-00026252 validate the change for fitness.

• Image FOCUS is the only product that can proactively isolate changes that need to be resolved when migrating from a current level of the Operating System to a newer version using the Image FOCUS New Release Analysis.

• The Stand-Alone Environment (SAE), is a unique product that initiates a system IPL and that there are no other products commercially available that offer even the basic capabilities of The Stand Alone Environment.

Without the functions listed above, The Government would be exposed to system errors, when IPL is performed on the system. This would cause the system to not be brough back up from an IPL which would result in the disaster recovery system failing. The current IBM z/OS and IBM z15 machine for the mainframe supports 60 various application which include but are limited to, the Financial Management System, MAXIMO, and Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem. If these applications were to fail, the Government would lose ability to pay submitted invoices, pay benefits to Veterans, and have a direct negative effect on Veterans.

Furthermore, the Government requires NewEra brand name software maintenance support to maintain the identified brand name NewEra Stand Alone Edit and NewEra Image Focus Core/Subsystem software licenses above.

Although there is other software that maintains and supports the mainframe environments, those products do not meet the VA’s requirements because the source code required to issue the updates is proprietary, therefore no other firm has the capability of developing and issuing software updates and fixes for NewEra software necessary to support existing VA’s requirements. Therefore, at present there is no other software maintenance available in the marketplace that can meet this requirement.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in section 8 of this justification. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government’s requirements. In accordance with FAR 5.301 and 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), this action will not be synopsized and the justification will not be made publicly available on the sam.gov website because the total estimated value of this action is less than the simplified acquisition threshold. Furthermore, in accordance with FAR 16.505(a)(4)(iii)(A)(1), this justification will be provided with the solicitation on the NASA SEWP V GWAC website for review by prospective offerors.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: The Government will continue to conduct market research to ascertain if there are changes in the marketplace that would enable future actions to be competed.

8. Market Research: The Government's technical experts conducted market research during April 2021 by reviewing similar mainframe software maintenance support services to ascertain if other brands could meet VA's mainframe software maintenance requirements. Specifically, VA subject matter experts conducted research on all major IBM z/OS websites including IBM.com, WatsonWalker.com and SHARE.org. Although there is other software that maintains and supports

NewEra Software Licenses and Maintenance Control Number: VA-22-00026252 the mainframe environments, those products do not meet the VA’s requirements because the other brand name software does not provide the capabilities listed in Section 5 and is compatible with the current IBM z/OS and IBM z15 machine for the mainframe platform at the AITC. Furthermore other brand name software maintenance does not meet VA’s requirements because only NewEra has access to the proprietary database specific to the requirement to be interoperable with the current IBM z/OS and IBM z15 machine for the mainframe platform at the AITC. Therefore, there is no other software or maintenance support available in the marketplace that can meet this requirement. In addition, VA networking Subject Matter Experts regularly review industry trade publications and conduct internet research to ascertain if any other brand name software licenses and maintenance support is available. Based on all of these market research efforts, the Government’s technical experts have determined that only the aforementioned brand name NewEra software licenses and software maintenance support can meet all of VA’s needs.

Additionally, on January 14, 2022, a Request for Information (RFI) was posted on the beta.SAM.gov website with a closing date of January 19, 2022. One response was received from CyberNik Systems (Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)). The Government's Subject Matter Expert conducted a technical evaluation of the RFI responses. The evaluation determined that the RFI response submitted by CyberNik Systems in January 2022, did not address capabilities specific to the software services required in the attached PD, per the RFI. Only a generic capability statement was submitted, and the response did not address the requirements of the PD Furthermore, the Contract Specialist contacted NewEra to determine if there were additional Government distribution channels for the required software maintenance. NewEra responded with an email dated January 13, 2022 confirming they do not work with any resellers and they are not part of the GSA schedule. Based on this market research, it was determined that there are no other vendors capable of providing the Government with the required NewEra Stand Alone Edit and NewEra Image Focus Core/Subsystem software licenses and software maintenance support. As a result, this effort will be solicited as a sole source to NewEra Software, Inc., 8070 Santa Teresa Boulevard, Suite 240, Gilroy, CA 95020.

9. Other Facts: None.