Justification for Exception to Fair Opportunity

This document is a justification for an exception to fair opportunity under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) for a sole-source award.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) seeks to renew its GovDelivery Communications Cloud Service Software as a Service (SaaS) license through a firm-fixed-price delivery order under the NASA Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC). The service includes maintenance support, Short Message Service (SMS) capability, enterprise reporting, and ancillary support services. The requirement encompasses a 12-month base period with two 12-month option periods, for a total not exceeding 36 months. The total estimated value is redacted but includes all options and optional tasks.

The justification asserts that only GovDelivery is capable of meeting VA's technical, functional, operational, security, and scalability requirements without substantial implementation risk. The VA's current enterprise communications environment relies on GovDelivery to support over 36 million subscribers, billions of annual communications, and mission-critical functions across Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), National Cemetery Administration (NCA), and Veterans Experience Office (VEO). Market research conducted via a Request for Information (RFI) on April 28, 2026, identified only three Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs) and one Small Business providing responses, with three respondents recommending GovDelivery and one proposing Salesforce Marketing Cloud. The Government determined Salesforce Marketing Cloud lacks the ability to scale to VA's operational requirements and meet interoperability needs integrated into the existing GovDelivery ecosystem. Alternative solutions would require 24 months or longer for transition and risk disruption to critical Veteran outreach operations, including emergency health alerts, benefits communications, and suicide prevention initiatives. The authority for this exception derives from FAR Deviation 16.507-6(b)(2) and Section 41 U.S.C. § 4106(c)(2), which permit sole-source awards when supplies or services are unique or highly specialized.