P03 JnA MicroFocus Testing Tools Suite Maint- Redacted.pdf

Control Number: VA-21-00031044

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center 1701 Directors Blvd.

Austin, TX 78744

2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for a firm-fixed-price (FFP) Delivery

Order (DO) to be issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government-wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for brand-name Micro Focus Testing Tool Suite software maintenance and technical support services for existing brand name Micro Focus perpetual licenses.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization (OEHRM) requires brand name Micro Focus Testing Tool Suite software maintenance and technical support services for existing brand name Micro Focus perpetual software licenses. The requirement is for support and updates only, as the licenses are already owned by VA. More specifically, the support includes software patch updates, support for user issues and any other maintenance deemed appropriate or needed to maintain software functionality. Micro Focus Testing Tool Suite is an existing OEHRM resource that provides a robust capability that can simulate thousands of concurrent users and uses Hewlett Packard (HP) Performance Center and Load Runner to support load testing, performance testing, and automated functional testing.

OEHRM Test and Evaluation (TE) is directly supported by Enterprise Testing Service. This procurement will support cross-organizational collaboration and improve the overall testing capability of both organizations. The period of performance will be March 9, 2021 through March 8, 2022 with three 12-month option periods. The VA anticipates the need for the requested suite of software applications for the next four years. The total estimated value of the proposed effort, inclusive of option periods, is

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: Based on market research, as described in Section 8 of this document, the Government has determined that limited competition is available for this action among resellers for the required brand

Control Number: VA-21-031044 name Micro Focus Testing Tool Suite Software maintenance and technical support services. No other source is capable of providing the required software maintenance and technical support, as only Micro Focus or its authorized resellers have access to the proprietary source code necessary to provide the required software updates, security patches, and technical support. Since the software is proprietary, a legal restriction is placed on access to the code required to develop software updates and patches. Without proprietary access, it’s not possible to modify the software code in a way that provides required patches and updates. Access to this code is also required to ensure the services provided to the software are properly configured.

Additionally, the Government’s technical experts confirmed that only Micro Focus or an authorized Micro Focus reseller can provide the needed services, maintenance support and software updates.

There are no viable alternatives to the requested software maintenance and support of existing licenses. Other options would require a duplication of cost estimated to be a minimum of and effort that would require the purchase of new licenses or the purchase of software as a service to replace existing Micro Focus Testing Tool Suite licenses. This estimate is based on previous acquisition history.

New licenses, implementation requirements, and training for end users would not only result in substantially higher costs to obtain and replace the capability that currently exists in VA, but could also halt critical EHRM testing and test support activities, and would create an unacceptable amount of risk to scheduled support requirements, with potential implementation delays of the new Electronic Health Record, resulting in a negative impact on Veterans.

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, it was determined that limited competition is available among authorized resellers for these brand name Micro Focus 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 beta.SAM.gov Contract 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: The Government’s technical experts conducted market research in October 2020. A Request for Information (RFI) for market research purposes was issued on the NASA SEWP V GWAC to determine sources that could provide the required brand-name Micro Focus Testing Tool Suite Service Software maintenance and technical support services. Market Research

Control Number: VA-21-031044 revealed authorized resellers who can meet the Government’s needs. The RFI in NASA SEWP resulted in eight market research quotes. One response was from a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), and four were HUBZone, and/or Women Owned Small Businesses (WOSB). It was determined that there are numerous NASA SEWP V GWAC holders that are authorized resellers of the required software maintenance and technical support services under North American Industry Classification System code 541519.

In March 2021, the Government’s technical experts reviewed similar products such as Microsoft Azure DevOps and IBM Rational ClearCase. While these products provide similar functionality, procuring these products would require significant duplicative new investment costs with product procurement, implementation and training for end users. Neither Microsoft nor IBM offer support for existing Micro Focus Testing Tool Suite, therefore they cannot meet the Government’s requirements. As stated in paragraph 5 above, the software code for our perpetual software licenses is proprietary and only the OEM or an authorized reseller is capable of providing the required software maintenance and technical support.

In addition, the contract specialist (CS) conducted market research in February 2021 by using the NASA SEWP V GWAC Provider Lookup Tool to determine what vendors are capable of providing the full requirement. Based on this market research, the CS identified multiple resellers within NASA SEWP able to provide the required brand name products.

9. Other Facts: None.