WRDS Sole Source Justification V1_R.pdf

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

Source Selection Selective Information – See FAR 3.104

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

CFTC intends to solicit on a sole-source basis. The following rationale is provided in accordance with the requirements of FAR 6.302-1.

1. Agency and Contracting Activity

The Financial Management Branch (FM) of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Office of Data and Technology (ODT) seek to procure Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS).

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved

The CFTC requires a finance research platform that:

Functions as a data aggregator with the ability to host data from the major finance data subscription services to include, but not limited to, S&P, Thomson Reuters, Refinitiv, NYSE Trade and Quote (TAQ) Data, Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP), COMPUSTAT, and Markit.

Delivers a reliable, fast, high-performance computing grid which that will save CFTC the cost and labor-intensive complexity of building its own environment, to deliver data and analytic access to CFTC users quickly.

Is scalable, and can accommodate New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Trade and Quote (TAQ) big data analytics Supplies CFTC data scientists a common programming interface, a standardized data format, and a single point of access that can be used across data subscription vendors, which will save both time and money as compared to loading the data internally.

Links data across different data subscription vendors enabling more insightful analysis.

Supports the research needs of both technical data scientists (programming interface) and non-technical researchers (graphical user interface, GUI, search).

Permits platform access to CFTC’s existing data subscription services (S&P, Refinitive, Markit).

Provides unique research ability for retrieving Compustat, Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP), Institutional Brokers Estimate System (IBES), and other financial, marketing, economic and account datasets in a common, standardized format.

The WRDS platform is the only platform capable of meeting all of the requirements stated above.

CFTC’s initial use of the WRDS platform will be a research project that will use the NYSE TAQ data. Using WRDS to access the data saves CFTC time and funding, as it will not have to conduct the normal data ingest activities. In addition, due to TAQ data size, loading it internally and building big data analytics to analyze it are impractical. After purchasing the WRDS platform, CFTC will investigate moving other data subscriptions to WRDS as well. Having all subscription data services accessible in WRDS in a standard format, in a centralized location, would hugely simplify data analysis activities in support of support policy making and research.

In addition, the linkage across data sets will likely provide new analytics insight that CFTC did not have previously.

3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including estimated value)

Total base year cost is $63,289. It includes the base WRDS subscription cost of $50,100 and an upcharge of $13,500 to access NYSE TAQ data, necessary to cover the additional storage and compute cost to host data of that size. Total cost for a five year contract is anticipated to be $335,489.00

4. Identification of Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition

The authority permitting the acquisition that uses a brand-name description or other purchase description to specify a particular brand-name, product, or feature of a product, peculiar to one manufacturer is 6.302-1 -- Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.

5. A demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited

After conducting extensive market research as detailed in section 8 below, the Commission is unable to identify another vendor able to meet the requirements in section 2.

6. A description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under 5.202 applies

Pursuant to the requirements of FAR 6.302-1(d) (2) and 5.201(b) (1) (i), CFTC posted a pre-solicitation notice of its intent to enter into a contract with THE TRUSTEES OF THE

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, ACTING ON BEHALF OF WHARTON RESEARCH

DATA SERVICES on a sole source basis. The notice described CFTC’s requirements, and stated that it would consider responses from all responsible sources received. The announcement was posted on July 14, 2020 with a response date of July 28, 2020. The CFTC received no responses to this pre-solicitation notification.

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

Prior to award of the contract, the Contracting Officer will determine whether the proposed price is fair and reasonable using available commercial data. The Contracting Officer will verify that the vendor is proposing commercially available pricing.

8. A description of the market research conducted (see Part 10) and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted

Market Research was conducted in accordance with FAR 10.001.

The Commission used a number of methods to identify comparable services supplied by other vendors. Work is summarized below:

Contacted other financial regulatory Federal Government agencies to identify which service they used. They recommended WRDS and were not aware of comparable services provided by other vendors.

Contacted academics to identify recommended research platforms. WRDS was recommended as the only platform capable of meeting all CFTC requirements.

Commission staff used Google and Gartner to identify other vendors in this space. CFTC was unable to find another entity, platform, or data aggregator that could host the major financial data subscription service vendors and that supports integration with SAS, R, and Python and well as online Graphical User Interface (GUI) search features.

Researched beta.sam.gov to see if and how other Federal Government Agencies procured WRDS. All procurements were sole source supporting the conclusion that no other vendor offers a comparable platform.

9. Any Other Facts Supporting the Use of Other Than Full and Open Competition

None.

10. A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition

None.

11. A Statement of the Actions, if Any, the Agency May Take to Remove or Overcome Any Barriers to Competition Before Any Subsequent Acquisition for Supplies or Services Required

Should additional competitors in the future enter into the requirements area, the requirement would be competed amongst eligible vendors.

12. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required

Should additional competitors in the future enter into the requirements area, the requirement would be competed amongst eligible vendors.

Certifications and Approvals

Technical Personnel Certification

I certify that evidence and any supporting data which form a basis for this justification are complete and accurate.

Technical Lead Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Contracting Officer’s Certification

I certify that the data supporting the recommendation to solicit and award on a brand-name only basis is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Benjamin Van Wormer Date Contracting Officer Commodity Futures Trading Commission

09/11/2020

BENJAMIN VAN

WORMER

Digitally signed by BENJAMIN

VAN WORMER

Date: 2020.09.11 16:19:09 -04'00'