1.1.8_LSJ_Redacted.pdf

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

OFFICE OF BUDGET, FINANCE AND AWARD MANAGEMENT

DIVISION OF ACQUISITION AND COOPERATIVE SUPPORT

LIMITED-SOURCES JUSTIFICATION

GSA ORDERS OR BPAS EXCEEDING THE SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION THRESHOLD

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple-Award Schedule Program, 41 U.S.C.

152(3), Competitive Procedures and 40 U.S.C. 501, Services for Executive Agencies.

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity, and specific identification of the document as a “Limited Source Justification.”

The National Science Foundation (NSF), Office of Information and Resource Management, on behalf of the Division of Information Systems (DIS) proposes to award an order against Blanket Purchase Agreement number 47QTCA18D0081 pursuant to FAR 8.405-6(a).

2. Nature and/or description of the item/service being procured and anticipated cost:

(a) Type of action: Firm Fixed Price

(b) Amount the current LSJ is justifying:

(c) Brief Description: Procurement for SAS Renewal Services on a sole source basis from:

Executive Information Systems, LLC 6901 Rockledge Drive, Suite 600 P.O. Box 34076 Bethesda, MD 20827-0076

3. Description of Supplies/Services.

The SAS software allows for the querying of core NSF business information systems to provide up-to-date analytics on a variety of NSF issues. SAS assists in putting data from NSF systems like Awards, eJacket, iTRAK, and MyNSF into an analytically useful XML format. Additionally, the Budget, Finance, and Award Management (BFA) office utilizes SAS to support its enterprise information system and the Budget Internet Information System as well as outward facing Research.gov.

4. The authority and supporting rationale (see 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(A)(B) or (C) and a demonstration of the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications to provide the required supply or service:

Authority:

Choose only one of the following three authorities:

☐ (A) An urgent and compelling need exists, and following the procedures would result in unacceptable delays;

☒ (B) Only one source is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services are unique or highly specialized;

☐ (C) In the interest of economy and efficiency, the new work is a logical follow-on to an original Federal Supply Schedule order provided that the original order was placed in accordance with the applicable Federal Supply Schedule ordering procedures. The original order or BPA must not have been previously issued under sole-source or limited-sources procedures.

http://uscode.house.gov/ https://www.acquisition.gov/sites/default/files/current/far/html/Subpart%208_4.html#wp1091891

Rationale:

Pursuant FAR 8.405-6(a)(I)(i)(B), NSF’s Division of Information Systems (DIS) has utilized SAS software to support its ETL (Extract/Translate/Load) function required by data analytics applications since at least fiscal year 2014. SAS has been used even longer for statistical analysis at NSF. Over that period, NSF has invested approximately $1.3M in SAS software and changing the brand of this software would significantly duplicate many of those costs. Further, competing products were evaluated in 2014 and the top competitor was informatica, however, it could cause interoperability problems as current IT architecture is built with system components dependent on other components. One of those components that other systems depend on, namely the Data Warehouse, is SAS software. Changing from SAS to another brand significantly raises the risk of compatibility issues with layered Data Analysis Systems. Market research has shown that similar products cannot be modified to meet NSF’s requirement without incurring significant interoperability risks.

5. Determination by the ordering activity contracting officer that the anticipated order represents the best value consistent with FAR 8.404(d).

The Contracting Officer has determined that the anticipated price(s) will be fair and reasonable based on market research and list of authorized resellers. In addition, the Contracting Officer will request additional discounts/price reductions before award consistent with FAR 8.405-4.

6. A description of the market research conducted among schedule holders and the results, or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

NSF conducted Market Research on the requested CLINS and the search only produced one source for the SAS Renewal services; EIS.

7. Any other facts supporting the limited-sources justification. Additional facts may be stated in this section. If there are no additional facts, you must state that here.

Not applicable.

8. A statement of actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to restricted consideration (i.e., limited-sources) before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made.

We are evaluating ETL tools for our migration to the cloud. At a high level our process includes these steps:

• Research tools that work with AWS (Amazon Web Services) our current cloud services provider

• Evaluate specifications and features, including cost

• Select the top 3 tools that fill our requirements

• Execute detailed evaluation by installing and testing the tools vs the requirements

• Select the tool

We have at least 30 evaluation criteria identified so far for review. Implementation of a new product will depend upon the test results, DIS project prioritization, availability of funds, and staffing. Note that projects of this magnitude may be implemented in phases. Our intentions will be made part of our future Advanced Acquisition Plan forecast.

9. NSF intends to post this requirement on Sam.gov pursuant to FAR 8.405-6(a)(2).

10. Technical/Requirements Personnel Certification.

Pursuant to FAR 8.405-6(c)(2)(x), I certify that this requirement meets the Government’s minimum need and that the supporting data, which form a basis for the Limited-Sources Justification, are accurate and complete.

11. Contracting Officer Certification and Approval.

I hereby determine that the circumstances described herein exist and that the information is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge:

Contracting Officer

September 7, 2023