Redacted JA.pdf

J&A No. MCINCR-RCO-22003

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL (J&A)

FOR A FAR PART 13.5 ACQUISITION USING SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION PROCEDURES

TO INCLUDE BRAND NAME OR EQUAL DESCRIPTIONS OR PROPRIETARY

SPECIFICATIONS AND STANDARDS

1. Contracting Activity.

Contracting Activity: Marine Corps Installations National Capital Region - Regional Contracting Office (MCINCR-RCO), 2010 Henderson Road, MCB Quantico, VA 22134-5000

2. Description of the Action Being Approved.

Inclusion of brand name specifications or standards peculiar to one manufacturer in RFQ M00264-22-Q- XXX for Quorum software subscription with one (1) one-year base period and four (4) one-year option periods. This requirement includes the following Quorum software applications on one platform: Quorum Federal, Quorum Global News, Quorum Monitoring, Quorum Custom Data, and Quorum Customer Work (contract tracking).

3. Description of the Supplies/Services.

Quorum software provides the ability to track Congressional engagements, improve legislative analysis, and increase efficiency. Quorum software allows users to identify relationship pathways that increase Congressional primary/secondary/tertiary support while also tracking engagements and associated after action reports (AAR), storing related documents, extracting posts from multiple social media platforms, and grouping the material in a synergistic manner. Quorum software provides the ability to build custom briefing documents/one-pagers for Senior Leader’s to utilize during their planning for congressional engagements and provides a simple and user friendly note-engagement functionality to log calls, meetings, relationships, and engagements. Quorum’s auto-updating tracking boards, sheets, and dashboards (reports) allow insights are actionable and these reports can be shared externally to assist Senior Leaders with their engagement plans and execution. Quorum software has been approved by the Secretary of the Air Forces’ Office of Legislative Liaison and the Army’s Office of the Chief Legislative Liaison.

The Government intends to issue a single Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contract with FFP CLINS. This requirement is for one base year and four (4) one-year option periods. The required base delivery/performance start date is 1 April 2022.

Estimated Dollar Value by Year

Base Year Manufacturer Description Quantity Estimated Unit

Price Estimated Extended Price

Quorum Analytics, Inc.

Quorum Federal, Global News Monitoring, Custom Data, and Custom Work

Option Year 1

Price

Estimated Extended Price

Quorum Analytics, Inc.

Quorum Federal, Global News Monitoring, Custom

Option Year 2

Price

Estimated Extended Price

Quorum Analytics, Inc.

Quorum Federal, Global News Monitoring, Custom

Option Year 3

Price

Estimated Extended Price

Quorum Analytics, Inc.

Quorum Federal, Global News Monitoring, Custom

Option Year 4

Price

Estimated Extended Price

Quorum Analytics, Inc.

Quorum Federal, Global News Monitoring, Custom

4. Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition.

This document meets the regulatory requirement at DFARS 213.501(a)(ii) to execute the justification and approval addressed at FAR 13.501(a) in order to use proprietary specification or standard peculiar to one manufacturer. FAR Subpart 13.5 procedures are being utilized for this acquisition in accordance with 41 U.S.C. 1901.

5. Rationale Justifying Use of Cited Authority.

When considering all the features and characteristics of Quorum software, this particular brand name is essential to the Government's requirements. Specific characteristics of Quorum software that limit the availability to a Brand Name are:

• Quorum software offers the ability to create a single repository for key documents/trackers and offers a level of customization not available from other services, which reduces reliance on the number of disparate applications. Due to the volume of legislator posts, OLA lacks the personnel capacity to routinely scrub multiple Social Media Platforms (SMPs), let alone analyze the data to produce value judgments that impact Senior Leader decisions. A singular platform that separates the wheat from the chaff enables OLA to identify perceptions of Marine Corps interests and act accordingly in a dynamic political environment.

• Quorum software is the only software identified that has the ability to track press releases and public notices issued by elected officials through all social media platforms. Legislators maintain a heavy presence on multiple SMP and aggressively use them to communicate their policy positions or legislative developments, which enables OLA to rapidly track support for key issues of interest. According to the JUL 2020 Pew Research study, "In the first five months of 2020, members of Congress have collectively produced an average of 73,924 tweets and 33,493 Facebook posts each month, generating a total of over 476 million reactions and favorites and over 112 million shares and retweets in the year to date." While many legislators use Twitter, a large number also use Facebook. Gaining access to multiple SMP feeds enables OLA to 1) identify trends; and 2) evaluate enterprise effectiveness by correlating Senior Leaders' engagements with legislators' volume and tenor of SMP posts related to Marine Corps interests.

• Provides a custom link to track all US Marine Corps contracts, awards, spending year over year based on mutually agreed upon search terms and filters. This data will be utilized to show the dollar amount impact to a member’s specific congressional district to support Marine Corps legislative priorities.

In the event this requirement is not fulfilled, OLA would spend additional resources on tracking engagements, managing after action reviews, and performing data analytics instead of focusing on the Commandant’s legislative priorities and requirements in order to maintain the Marine Corps unique role within the Joint Force as the Nation’s premier force in readiness. Without Quorum Analytics, OLA’s ability to monitor federal legislation, identify opportunities for engagements, and the Marine Corps’ legislative mission would suffer. Quorum’s return on investment (ROI) will allow OLA to reduce total man-hours and increase efficiency for preparing SL’s for congressional engagements and allow OLA to quantify efforts in a matter of minutes rather than hours.