S03 JA Dino_Redacted.pdf

Control Number VA-24-00000299

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

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

Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, NJ 07724

2. Description of Action: The proposed sole source action is for a firm-fixed price (FFP) contract for the renewal of software maintenance for Dino software T-REX with Dino-Software Corporation, 1912 Earldale CT., STE 200, Alexandria, VA.

3. Description of Supplies or Services: VA, Office of Information and Technology, Infrastructure Operations (IO) requires software maintenance for Dino Software T- REX Integrated Catalog Facility (ICF) Catalog Manager Maintenance currently in use at the VA. T-REX is a mainframe utility to analyze, diagnose, reorganize, report, backup and repair clusters and ICF components in a z/OS environment. This requirement is for Original Equipment Manufacturer software maintenance support which is necessary for IO to receive software upgrades and updates to existing T- REX licenses. The support includes major releases, point releases, service releases and security releases on a quarterly basis and/or within 48 hours in cases in which a high-risk vulnerability fix becomes available. These software upgrades and updates are necessary for IO to operate successfully and are required to ensure the software remains operational. The Contractor shall provide one telephone number and/or a point of contact for VA to contact and open maintenance service calls. The Contractor shall provide secure connection capabilities for the downloading of software updates and/or the uploading of diagnostic information. The preferred protocol for transfer is Secure File Transfer Protocol. The Period of Performance shall be 12-months from date of award with two 12-month option periods. The total estimated value of the proposed action, inclusive of all option periods is .

4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.106-1(b)(1) entitled, “For purchases not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold. Contracting Officers may solicit from one source if the Contracting Officer determines that the circumstances of the contract action deem only one source reasonably available.”

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based upon market research as described in section 8 of this justification, it was determined that only Dino- Software has the capability to satisfy this requirement. The current IO infrastructure is based on existing Dino-software. VA requires support compatibility with the existing infrastructure protocols and functionality for continued operational availability. Only Dino-Software can provide the necessary software updates because of the proprietary source code required to develop and implement software updates. No other source is capable of providing the required software maintenance that meets VA's requirements because no other source has access to the proprietary

FY24 Software Maintenance for Dino Control Number VA-24-00000299 Software T-REX database, structure, protocols, and software application programming interface specific to the maintenance needed for the software in place. Dino-Software software maintenance support is imperative to maintain the software, which could cause application production processing to fail and not meet defined service license agreements.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in the market research section of this document. The market research conducted did not yield any potential sources other than Dino which could meet the Government’s requirements. There is no competition anticipated for this acquisition.

Additionally, the proposed action will be synopsized on the Contracting Opportunities Page in accordance with FAR 5.201. Any proposals that are received shall be evaluated.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: The Government will continue to conduct market research to ascertain if there are changes in the market place that would enable future actions to be competed.

8. Market Research: The Government's technical experts conducted market research in August 2023 for competitive products to T-REX. Two products, Rocket Software’s Mainstar Catalog RecoverPlus and IBM’s Advanced Catalog Management, were found to provide similar functionality. However, the competing products do not provide all of the necessary functionality required by the VA.

Specifically, the other products, among other things, do not fulfill VA requirements to compare for missing entries in user catalogs, synchronize missing entries on any catalogs, nor reorganize catalogs in-place. On August 21, 2023 Dino-Software provided a letter certifying to be the sole provider for software, technical support, maintenance services and training for the T-REX software program, and also stated there are no authorized resellers nationally. Based on these market research efforts, the Government Technical expert has deteremned that only Dino-Software Corporation can meet the Government’s needs. As such, there is not an expectation of competition even in a limited capacity.

9. Other Facts: None.

FY24 Software Maintenance for Dino Control Number VA-24-00000299 Software T-REX

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 price analysis to include comparison to the Independent Government Cost Estimate and historical pricing for the maintenance support services required.

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