NNG15SD22B-218.pdf

Control Number VA-20-00034386

JUSTIFICATION

FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

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

Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center 1701 Directors Blvd, Suite 600 Austin, TX 78744

2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for limited competition for the award of a firm-fixed-price delivery order to be issued under the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for the procurement of brand name ActivIdentity software maintenance and support for software utilized on the ActivIdentity ActivID Card Management System (CMS).

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: The proposed action is to procure annual software maintenance and support services for 450,000 currently fielded brand name ActivIdentity software clients utilized on the ActivIdentity ActivID CMS. This brand name software allows the Government to issue and manage the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12) Personal Identity Verification (PIV) smart cards. The ActivIdentity software is installed on each computer within VA to allow local workstations or laptops to successfully read information stored on the PIV smart card. The software maintenance and support services areprovided on a 24/7/365 basis and will provide troubleshooting, updates, fixes and patches, and upgrades to the ActivIdentity software, which will ensure that the existing software remains operational. The current DO for software maintenance and support for the ActivIdentity software is set to expire on June 30, 2020. VA requires these services to ensure that the software remains operational with no break in support. This proposed action is for software maintenance only, no new software or hardware will be procured or renewed. The base period of performance shall be for 12 months beginning July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021, with two 12-month option periods. The total estimated price of the proposed action is which is inclusive of all options.

4. Statutory Authority: Pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.505(a)(4), the following brand name requirement is being justified and approved as an exception to fair opportunity under the statutory authority of Section 41 U.S.C.

4106(c)(2) as implemented by FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B), entitled “Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized.”

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Continuing the use of ActivIdentity software will be in direct support of the HSPD-12 Program Office mandate by the Office of Management and Budget and the Secretary of the VA to issue smart cards to the entire VA workforce. VA currently owns perpetual ActivIdentity ActivID software licenses which permit the Government the ability to

ActivIdentity Maintenance & Support Control Number VA-20-00034386 utilize the software, however, the software, including the source code and its technical data, are proprietary to ActivIdentity. While VA has the perpetual right to utilize the software, it must be maintained in order to remain operational and address any security vulnerabilities. Since ActivIdentity holds the proprietary rights to the source code, it is the only vendor that can provide troubleshooting, minor updates, fixes, patches and upgrades. No other brand name software, other than brand name ActivIdentity software, can be used on the ActivIdentity ActivID CMS. Purchasing an alternative brand name would require all new software rather than the renewal of the current software maintenance and support. Additionally, other brand name software would cause interoperability and compatibility issues with the ActivIdentity ActivID CMS. The replacement of ActiveIdentity software with any other alternative software would be a very costly, time consuming and high-risk alternative, as this will require total redesign, development and integration of the entire PIV system, whichcould cost approximately $20 million and take more than 2 years to develop and replace.

The cost estimate and time was calculated based on next generation PIV System Architecture developed by PIV team. The PIV system solution, with any alternative subsystem, will also require VA to procure Software Maintenance support same as current ActiveIdentity subsystem. Based on the above, if an alternative solution was deployed, substantial delays would be incurred that would delay the utilization of these critical services. The current software maintenance and support is set to expire on June 30, 2020. Failure to obtain these services would result in a failure to meet the requirements, interrupt issuance of HSPD-12 PIV smart cards, and prevent VA personnel from the ability to utilize the PIV smart card. Furthermore, the Government does not possess the proprietary technical data for the ActivIdentity software. Without this technical data, no other source has the ability to provide the aforementioned software maintenance and support services other than ActivIdentity or its authorized resellers.

Based on market research, as described in paragraph 8 of this document, it was determined that limited competition is available among authorized resellers for this brand name software maintenance and support.

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. However, the undersigned VA technical representative determined that limited competition is available among authorized resellers for brand name ActivIdentity licenses, as well as software maintenance and support. In accordance with FAR 16.505(a)(4)(iii)(A)(1), this justification will be provided with the solicitation to all appropriate NASA SEWP V GWAC holders. Furthermore, in accordance with FAR 5.301, 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), and 16.505(a)(4)(iii), the award notice for this action will be synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities website and this justification will be made publicly available within 14 days of award.

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

8. Market Research: Market research was conducted in December 2019 to ascertain the ability of any other source other than an authorized ActivIdentity reseller to provide the aforementioned software maintenance and support. The research consisted of reviewing service plans offered by and on the NASA SEWP V GWAC. Based on these reviews, VA’s technical experts could not find any other sources that could provide the aforementioned software maintenance and support without access to the proprietary technical data for the ActivIdentity software. Unauthorized software providers do not have access to the proprietary data of the software to be able to provide troubleshooting, updates, fixes and patches, and upgrades. Failure to acquire this software maintenance and support for the ActivIdentity software would compromise the continuity of the ActivIdentity ActivID CMS and disrupt the Government's ability to issue and manage the HSPD-12 PIV smart cards. The Government’s technical experts also conducted market research in March 2020, which reviewed similar software products to include software maintenance and support to ascertain if they could meet VA’s requirements. Specifically, the Government’s technical experts conducted internet research on websites and reviewed similar software from and . Neither software brand mentioned above can meet all of VA’s requirements. As a result of the market research, the technical experts determined that the source code required to issue updates is proprietary. ActiveIdentity or an authorized reseller is the only source capable of providing the required maintenance and upgrades for ActiveIdentity software. No other company has the capability of developing an issuing software updates and fixes for ActiveIdentity software necessary to support existing PIV requirements. All the products researched were unable to meet the current PIV system functional requirements as the PIV solution is very tightly coupled with customized proprietary code with several software subsystems including ActiveIdentity. Additionally, other brand name software would cause interoperability and compatibility issues with the ActivIdentity ActivID CMS.

The replacement of ActiveIdentity software with any other alternative software would be a very costly, time consuming and high-risk alternative, as this will require total redesign, development and integration of the entire PIV system. No product other than ActiveIdentity software can meet VA PIV system requirements due to the performance functional requirements and integration with existing installed other subsystem software within PIV system. Based on the above, only ActiveIdentity software maintenance meet all the Government’s requirements for current PIV system.

The Contract Specialist (CS) conducted market research in March 2020 by using the NASA SEWP V GWAC market research tools to determine what vendors are capable of meeting the requirement. Based on this market research, the CS found multiple service-disabled Veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) authorized resellers capable of meeting this requirement.

9. Other Facts: None.

10.Technical and Requirements Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in this justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

11.Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated price to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable based on a comparison of the successful quote to the Independent Government Cost Estimate. Pricing of products awarded under NASA SEWP V GWAC have already been determined to be fair and reasonable and more competitive pricing may result from competition.

12.Procuring Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

13.Legal Sufficiency Certification: I have reviewed this justification and find it adequate to support an exception to fair opportunity and deem it legally sufficient.

Approval

In my role as Advocate for Competition, based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the acquisition for the procurement of annual software maintenance and support for ActivIdentity brand name software, on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the statutory authority cited in paragraph 4 above, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

Date: ____________ Signature

Advocate for Competition Technology Acquisition Center

Office of Acquisition Operations