(S02) Justification and Approval_Redacted.pdf

Nuance Software Maintenance Control Number VA-21-00042922 the currently fielded Nuance software. Any other vendor’s software maintenance cannot meet VA’s requirements as no other vendor has access to the proprietary source code necessary to provide software maintenance of the Nuance software nor be interoperable with the Nuance ASR or TTS server. If any other vendor’s software maintenance was procured, the entirety of the brand name Nuance infrastructure, to include the Nuance ASR and TTS servers and existing software inventory would need to be replaced. The software inventory includes ownership of 2,486 Nuance software licenses that support the entire Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) National Call Center environment, for which maintenance support is being sought. Therefore, VA is seeking to maintain rather than replace these licenses, as the costs for replacement are estimated to be approximately $4,000,000.00. These duplicative costs for implementation, testing, training and change to the environment for any alternative solution would not be recouped through competition. The existing environment has been in production for eight (8) years and has been meticulously tested to meet TRM compliance, Penetration test, Web Application Security Assessment scans, Nessus scans and VA 6500 directive.

Furthermore, it was determined that limited competition is available among authorized resellers for this requirement. While more than one vendor is capable of providing the software maintenance required, competition is restricted as a result of a brand name requirement. The VA’s VAM Enterprise IVR ECC environment is currently operating using brand name Nuance software licenses and utilizes a proprietary database structure specific only to brand name Nuance software. This brand name Nuance software must be maintained by Nuance or a Nuance reseller because this ensures maintenance services from a qualified, certified Nuance representative and guarantees they are approved to work on brand name Nuance software. If someone non-Nuance certified works on the system and disrupts the operations of VA’s VAM Enterprise IVR ECC environment, the warranty could be lost for the software being used. In addition, the only provider who can support, troubleshoot, and resolve Nuance software issues is Nuance or a Nuance reseller.

If the required brand name Nuance software maintenance is not procured, that would result in loss of speech recognition services which currently enhance the Veteran experience and enable more human, personalized Veteran interactions for the IVR self-service applications. Without this required maintenance conversion of text into spoken voice output to aid the visually impaired could not occur with the current infrastructure negatively impacting the ability for VA to provide care and services to the visually impaired.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in the market research section of this document. It was determined that limited competition is viable among resellers for the required brand name Nuance software licenses and maintenance 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 Contracting

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 marketplace that would enable future actions to be competed.

8. Market Research: The Government's technical experts conducted market research in March 2021 by reviewing other similar ASR and TTS software products to ascertain if these items could meet VA's requirements. Specifically, the Government’s technical experts conducted web based research and discovered that while other ASR and TTS software from alternative manufacturers such as iSpeech, TrueVoice and LumenVox exist, the products do not meet VA’s requirements because only Nuance or a reseller has access to the proprietary database specific to the requirement to be interoperable with the current VAM Enterprise IVR ECC environment. Therefore, there is no other software or maintenance support available in the marketplace that can meet this requirement. In addition, VA networking Subject Matter Experts regularly review industry trade publications and conduct internet research to ascertain if any other brand name software licenses and maintenance support is available. Based on all of these market research efforts, the Government’s technical experts have determined that only the aforementioned brand name Nuance software maintenance support can meet all of VA’s needs.

The Contract Specialist conducted additional market research, in May 2021, by identifying 57 contract holders that are resellers of brand name Nuance software maintenance support by utilizing the NASA SEWP Market Research Tool. Of these 57 resellers, 20 are verified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses, two (2) are Veteran-Owned Small Businesses, 11 are HUBzone Small Businesses, seven are

(7) Woman-Owned Small Businesses, six (6) are Small Businesses, and 12 are Large Businesses. Furthermore, NASA SEWP has a dynamic catalog where line items can be added based on customer requests provided that the required item or service is within the scope of the NASA SEWP V contract suite and therefore additional competition may be achieved.

Based on the results of the review set forth above, there is reasonable expectation that two or more SDVOSBs will be able to provide the required support. Therefore, given that there is a reasonable expectation of competition between at least two capable SDVOSBs, it has been determined by the Contracting Officer that the subject RFQ will be released as a SDVOSB set-aside under the existing NASA SEWP V contract vehicle, under the Value-Added Reseller NAICS code 541519.

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 anticipation of competition and discounts among NASA SEWP V GWAC resellers of the required brand name Nuance software maintenance support services. Additionally, catalog pricing for SEWP V GWAC holders has already been determined by NASA to be fair and reasonable. Finally, price analysis shall be conducted by comparing the successful quote 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 for the renewal of brand name Nuance annual software maintenance 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 services herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.