Redacted J_A.pdf

Control Number VA-21-00064165

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Procurement, Acquisition and Logistics

Technology Acquisition Center (TAC) 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, New Jersey 07724

2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for a firm-fixed-price delivery order issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solution for Enterprise- Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC), for brand name “Bucher+Suter Connects Adapter for Salesforce” software-as-a-service (SaaS) subscriptions and virtual professional services.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has a requirement for 225 brand name Bucher+Suter Connects Adapter for Salesforce SaaS subscriptions. This would provide VHA with cloud-based access to the Bucher+Suter Connects Adapter SaaS solution, a Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) capability allowing call data and metrics to be imported from the Cisco telephony system to Salesforce. This solution is a key component of VHA’s Clinical Contact Center Modernization (CCCM) initiative and allows VA to comply with VHA Directive 2007-033 for 24/7 access to medical advice. The Office of Information Technology (OIT), Project Special Forces (PSF), Digital Transformation Center (DTC) team is building the Salesforce Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution for the overall CCCM initiative by leveraging the VA’s Salesforce CRM Platform. The VA nurse or triage lead uses the VA Health Connect CRM Salesforce solution to access a veteran medical record in VistA. The CRM solution records the encounter in the VA medical record where it becomes immediately viewable by the provider. Bucher+Suter Connects Adapter supports the call center representative. Upon an incoming call, a screen pop would appear on the agent’s screen and the caller's Automatic Number Identification (ANI) would be automatically matched against existing Veteran records to accelerate the location or creation of Veteran profile information. Additionally, VHA requires brand name Bucher+Suter Virtual professional services which include project management, installation, configuration, testing and administrator training during deployment.

The professional services shall not exceed a period of performance of two months.

The total estimated price of this proposed action is . The period of performance shall be August 30, 2021 to August 29, 2022 with two 12-month option periods.

Additionally, included is an optional task that can be exercised at any point during the period of performance for up to an additional total 4,750 Bucher+Suter Connects Adapter for Salesforce subscriptions to support expansion to additional VA call centers.

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.”

Bucher+Suter Connects Adapter for Salesforce Control Number VA-21-00064165

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based upon continued market research, as described in section 8 of this document, it was determined that limited competition is viable among resellers for brand name Bucher+Suter subscriptions and virtual professional services. The required Bucher+Suter subscription licenses and associated virtual professional services are proprietary to Bucher+Suter. Therefore, the only available sources for these subscriptions and professional services are from Bucher+Suter, or their resellers, due to this proprietary restriction. Only Bucher+Suter’ s Connects Adapter offers an out of the box integration between VA’s Cisco Contact Center telephony system, Cisco Finesse, and the existing Salesforce CRM platform that will allow agents to handle multichannel interactions and manage their state within an application embedded in the Salesforce graphic user interface (GUI). This unique critical functionality places interaction control inside of Salesforce where client data resides gives agents a 360° customer view and which meets security requirements. It also streamlines contact handling, provides quick access to agent tools, improves efficiency, and means that agents won’t constantly have to take time to tab back and forth between applications when searching for information which impacts customer call time significantly.

Additionally, Bucher+Suter Connects Adapter for Salesforce software is the only software that enables Cisco to provide true Universal Queue routing and reporting of phone calls and the CRM’s omnichannel interaction types (e.g., email and chat). This is possible via Bucher+Suter’ s access to Cisco Contact Center Enterprise’s (CCE) proprietary Media Routing Interface (MRI). In this deployment model the Bucher+Suter Connects Adapter enables Cisco to be the unified routing and reporting engine for all media channels including the CRM’s email, and chat, which is a critical requirement for Clinical Contact Center Modernization. No other telephony adapter can meet this requirement. Offering omnichannel services to Veterans while also utilizing integrated contact center tools will enhance the Veteran journey and decrease operating costs.

The solution will improve contact center efficiency by enabling the contact center to act as the single routing engine for all interaction types (voice, email, case, chat, etc.). It will also allow Cisco contact centers to track agent availability and multichannel interactions for Unified Queuing and reporting. This approach will ensure that all interactions, regardless of type, are queued to the most appropriate agent. This increase in efficiency translates into savings and customer satisfaction.

Use of any other brand software would result in critical interoperability and compatibility issues with the current Salesforce CRM infrastructure due to the relationship between CRM and the Bucher+Suter subscriptions. Further, use of any other brand name item would require a complete replacement of the existing CRM solution, resulting in delays of one year and duplication costs of approximately $17M that would not be recovered through competition. These estimates are based on previous acquisition history. Only Bucher+Suter Connects Adapter for Salesforce software is interoperable and compatible out of the box with the VAHC CRM Salesforce solution as the adapter is native to Salesforce and operated through Bucher+Suter proprietary code. Without having the telephony data and Veteran data in one solution, VA Clinical Contact Centers will not have the ability to ensure care provided by the Clinical Contact Centers is scheduled, accessed, and completed in a timely manner.

By not procuring Bucher+Suter Connects Adapter for Salesforce software and keeping these elements in a single solution, and instead procuring single/siloed solutions, VA Clinical Contact Centers will not have this holistic view and therefore will critically impact the ability to provide adequate pharmacy, scheduling, and clinical administrative services to Veterans in a timely and efficient manner. Procuring other solutions for telephony integration will not be interoperable with the VAHC CRM solution, and not meet the goals of the MISSION Act to empower Veterans with more healthcare options.

In addition, VA’s technical experts did not find any other sources that could provide the professional support services for product engagement and deployment without access to the proprietary source code for the Bucher+Suter Connects Adapter for Salesforce subscriptions.

Unauthorized software providers do not have access to use the proprietary source code of the Bucher+Suter software and are not able to provide troubleshooting, updates, fixes, patches, and upgrades. Given that Bucher+Suter has proprietary rights, no other source can provide the software support without voiding the subscriptions.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in the market research section of this document. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government's requirements. Furthermore, in accordance with FAR 5.301 and 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), the award notice for this action will be synopsized on the System for Award Management (SAM) Opportunities Page and this justification will be made publicly available within 14 days of award. In accordance with FAR 16.505(a)(4)(iii)(A)(2), this justification will be provided with the solicitation on the NASA

SEWP V GWAC.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: In order to remove or overcome barriers to competition in future acquisitions for this requirement, the Government will continue to perform market research to determine if there are any new products or maintenance services available that will fulfill the Government’s need.

8. Market Research: The Government’s technical experts conducted market research in April 2021 using internet searches looking for alternative software products with compatible electronic triage protocols that could be readily integrated with the Cisco contact center. VA has found that computer telephony integration (CTI) adapters from other vendors offer integrations with many underlying telephony systems (such as Avaya, Genesys, etc.), however they do not have as robust “out-of-the-box” connectivity with Cisco Finesse, requiring additional configuration and customization. The VA does not have telephony systems other than Cisco as part of the solution. In addition, no other telephony adapter companies enable Cisco to provide true Universal Queue routing and reporting of phone calls and the CRM’s omnichannel interaction types (e.g., email and chat). Only Bucher+Suter provides this capability, which is possible via Bucher+Suter’ s access to Cisco Contact Center Enterprise’s (CCE) proprietary MRI. eGain is the only other company with access to this proprietary MRI and they do not make connectors.

Additionally, in April 2021, technical experts reviewed alternate solutions including Tenfold and InGenius. Both Tenfold and InGenius cannot meet VA requirements as each of these solutions would send network traffic outside of the existing VA Salesforce boundary, which would introduce additional security concerns. In addition, they do not enable Cisco to provide true Universal Queue routing and reporting of phone calls and the CRM’s omnichannel interaction types, nor would they meet VA’s requirement for an out-of-the-box integration adapter.

On July 8, 2021, VA conducted further market research, by issuing a Request for Information/Sources Sought (RFI/SS) on the NASA SEWP V GWAC and on the Contract Opportunities website, to assess the current marketplace for an alternative solution and to identify potential resellers of the brand name Bucher+Suter products. VA received three responses from Thundercat Technology, V3Gate and B3 Group. All RFI respondents identified brand name Bucher+Suter as their proposed solution. No responses were received from any other vendor offering a different solution. B3 Group was the only vendor not on the SEWP GWAC, but they are partnered with Four Points technology who would provide a quote on their behalf through NASA SEWP. All other RFI respondents were identified as Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business NASA SEWP GWAC Prime contract holders and resellers of the required brand name Bucher+Suter products and services. As a result, there is a reasonable expectation that limited competition exists amongst SDVOSBs on the NASA SEWP V GWAC for the required Bucher+Suter products and services.

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 anticipated limited competition. Additionally, NASA SEWP V has already determined the prices on contract to be fair and reasonable and more competitive pricing may result from competition.

Finally, the successful quote will be compared with the Independent Government Cost Estimate.

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

Approval

In my role as procuring activity Advocate for Competition, based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the acquisition of brand name “Bucher+Suter Connects Adapter for Salesforce” software-as-a-service (SaaS) subscriptions and virtual professional services on an other than fair opportunity basis pursuant to the authority cited in Section 4 above, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the property and services herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

Coordination Matrix