PEGA_EFOJ_Only_wSigs.pdf

National Acquisitions Section Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity

Government-Wide Acquisition Contract

Identification of the agency and the contracting activity

U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons

(Bureau), Central Office, Administration Division, Acquisitions Branch, National Acquisitions Section.

Nature and/or description of the action being approved This procurement is being conducted in accordance with the ordering procedures at Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 16.5 –Indefinite-Delivery Contracts. Under FAR 16.505 Ordering, Contracting Officers are required to document the circumstances when the agency’s need for the supplies and services is issued on a sole-source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it is a logical follow-on to an order already issued under the contract, which initially was given a fair opportunity in the original order.

Therefore, in accordance with FAR 16.505(b)(2)(C), justification for an exception to fair opportunity shall be in writing as specified in paragraph (b)(2)(ii)(B) of this section. U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons (Bureau), Central Office, Administration Division, Acquisitions Branch, National Acquisitions Section.

A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs including estimated value The Office of Information Technology (OIT) has a requirement for continuing development and support of multiple Business Process Management (BPM) applications using PEGA specific software. The BPM applications will automate the and financial authorization tracking for IT acquisition requests. These BPM applications are for the display, entry and operational use of non-inmate data and processes.

The estimated value of this procurement is $1,704,933.00.

Identification of the exception to fair opportunity and the supporting rationale The statutory authority permitting an exception to fair opportunity is Section 41 U.S.C. 4106(c)(2) as implemented by FAR 16.505(b)(2)(C), “The order must be issued on a sole-

07-20-0076, NAS, PEGA, Exception to Fair Opportunity source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it is a logical follow-on to an order already issued under the contract, provided that all awardees were given a fair opportunity to be considered for the original order.”

The Bureau is required by law to implement Federal Information Technology (IT) Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA). One of the requirements is to implement an acquisitions plan which provides an agency Chief Information Officer (CIO) full oversight over IT projects. This requirement is currently implemented as a manual process, which is a slow process, lacks transparency from a requestor's point of view, and causes serious delays, not only in reviewing and approving requests, but ultimately in transacting business needed to carry out agency operations. The Bureau’s IT Acquisitions System (BARS) software application automates the FITARA and financial authorization tracking for IT acquisition requests.

The primary benefit of this automated system is to reduce the time to review requests by reducing back and forth between participants as well as to provide a centralized means to tracking review status along the review pipeline.

The Bureau receives several IT requests for purchase daily from 122 institutions. In order to process the requests in a timely manner, the Bureau must complete the development of the BPM application and establish it by July 2021. If the development is not complete by July 2021, the Bureau’s business programs will not be able to make the necessary acquisitions to execute their operations on time because of the non-automated process.

In order to complete the development of the BPM application software by July 2021, the Bureau needs to procure these services to Fedstore Corporation, who has performed the contract for the previous phase, has the knowledge and experience with the project that no other company possesses and which accrues to the benefits of the agency. The Fedstore Corporation resources have the subject-matter expertise, prior experience, and critical understanding of the Bureau’s database, systems and programming interface to modify and maintain the projects using PEGA software rapidly, thus avoiding continued operational disruptions for Bureau staff.

Due to the customization provided by the engineers, no other vendor has the expertise or knowledge to fully support these applications. As issues arise with the current code base, only the architect of these solutions would be a viable candidate for meeting the requirements of this acquisition.

The services requested are unique to Bureau subject matter experts.

This is a follow on contract for the continued development of the Bureau’s BPM application. If the Bureau makes an award to a source other than the original source, this would result in unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency’s needs. The reason for the delays are:

Contractor resources must go through an onboarding process/background screening. This is a multiple month process, up to three to six months.

A different contractor would have to acclimate themselves in order to perform the follow-on contract, which would cost time, money, and delay schedule.

An increased risk of not meeting the time expectations for project completion and release of the BPM application deployment will likely cause a failed project timeline and/or an additional cost to the Bureau.

5. A determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable

A task order will be established in accordance with the terms and conditions of the NASA SEWP V contract. The SEWP V Contracting Officer has already determined the price to be fair and reasonable pursuant to FAR 15.305(a)(1).

6. Any other facts supporting the justification –

N/A

7. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the brand name justification before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made –

For the reasons prior made, no actions are available which could remove competition barriers for the required services at this time. In addition, the Contracting Officer will publish the Justification within 14 days on the BETA Systems for Award Management website, https://beta.sam.gov/.

8. Contracting Officer Certification: I hereby certify this justification is accurate and complete to the best of the Contracting Officer’s knowledge and belief.

Paul Brown Date Contracting Officer, National Acquisitions Section

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

Aaron Rodriguez, Chief Date Advanced System Development Branch

10. Concurrence: I certify the above justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and believe.

Robert Bland, Chief Date National Acquisitions Section

Catherine S. Scott Date Chief, Acquisitions Branch/Procurement Executive

Approved By:

Loneryl Burns Date Senior Deputy Assistant Director for Administration/Competition Advocate

07-20-0076, NAS, PEGA, Exception to Fair Opportunity

LONERYL BURNS Digitally signed by LONERYL BURNS Date: 2020.07.29 15:04:23 -04'00'

CATHERINE SCOTT Digitally signed by CATHERINE SCOTT Date: 2020.07.07 14:57:17 -04'00'