SAFE_JEFO_Award_Notice.pdf

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

(JEFO)

1. IDENTIFICATION OF AGENCY AND CONTRACTING ACTIVITY

Agency: Social Security Administration

Contracting Office: Office of the Deputy Commissioner for Budget, Finance, Quality, and Management

Office of Acquisition and Grants (OAG)

Office of Information Technology Acquisition

Division of IT Support Services

Contracting Officer (CO): Ursula Nkwantabisa

Program Office: Office of Budget, Finance, Quality, and Management

Office of Security and Emergency Preparedness (OSEP)

Contracting Officer’s

Technical Representative : Keith Wilt

Project Title: Security Automation Features and Enhancements System

Support Contract

Proposed Contractor: ICF International

9300 Lee Hwy

Fairfax, VA 22031

Tracking Information: DCS-16-887C0

2. NATURE AND/OR DESCRIPTION OF ACTION BEING APPROVED

We seek approval of a JEFO to obtain maintenance, operations, intersystem integration, development, and support for the Security Automation Features and Enhancements System

(SAFE) suite of physical security applications. The ICF International’s GroupAssure® software currently installed in our environment is the basis for the SAFE suite of physical security applications.

We will solicit a proposal and award a single firm-fixed-price task order to ICF International under its U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Chief Information Officer – Solutions and Partners 3 Government-wide Acquisition Contract

(GWAC), National Institutes of Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment

Center (NITAAC) CIO-SP3 GWAC # HHSN316201200028W for SAFE system support services. The period of performance will consist of a 12-month base period, and four

12-month option periods to extend the term of the contract for a total performance period of

60-months.

http://www.icfi.com/CIOSP3

3. DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES REQUIRED TO MEET AGENCY NEEDS AND

ESTIMATED VALUE

Estimated Value for five years:

This requirement is for maintenance, operations, intersystem integration, development, and support of the SAFE suite of physical security applications. The contractor must provide software support and updates to maintain the SAFE system operation, complete required integration development projects, continue system administration, and ensure continued compliance with the agency’s Office of Information Security standards as previously outlined in the Information System Security Handbook, now replaced by the Information Security

Policy effective October 15, 2015.

We built the SAFE suite of web applications on an ICF-developed product called

GroupAssure®. GroupAssure® is ICF’s compliance automation software that includes a sophisticated security model. The model provides role-based access control and workflows allowing ICF to customize and deliver focused compliance solutions to the agency. To date, ICF is the only vendor that has implemented, installed, configured, or customized

GroupAssure®. Over the last eight years, ICF has successfully integrated GroupAssure® with the agency’s internal systems, including physical access control systems, a card management system, HSPD-12 credentialing systems, human resources databases, and core services.

GroupAssure® utilizes Hypertext Preprocessor, My Structured Query Language, and Open

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol backend databases. ICF’s development expertise in these areas, combined with its ownership of the GroupAssure® software, make ICF uniquely qualified to add functionality to SAFE while continuing to support existing SAFE modules.

4. AUTHORITY AND JUSTIFICATION RATIONALE

Per Section G.7.2.c.1 Task Order Issuance of Contract Number HHSN316201200028W, the circumstances listed in this document justify the exception to fair opportunity, and where consistent with Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) 16.505(b)(1): “Fair opportunity” as follows:

___ FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(A) – The agency need for the supplies or services is so urgent that providing a fair opportunity would result in unacceptable delays.

_x_ FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B) – 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.

___ FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C) – The order must be issued on a sole-source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it is a logical follow-on to an order already issued under the contract, provided that all awardees were given a fair opportunity to be considered for the original order.

http://isp.ssahost.ba.ssa.gov/Policy/content.htm http://isp.ssahost.ba.ssa.gov/Documents/ISP%20Most%20Recent%20Version.pdf http://isp.ssahost.ba.ssa.gov/Documents/ISP%20Most%20Recent%20Version.pdf http://www.icfi.com/CIOSP3

___ FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(D) – It is necessary to place an order to satisfy a minimum guarantee.

The SAFE System is a customized module based on, and integrated into, the GroupAssure® software product purchased from ICF on April 28, 2010 under contract

GS-35F-4997G/GST0310DS6098 for $10,502,682.43. ICF is the only available software development team for the GroupAssure® product, and the agency owns its customized component modules. None of the GroupAssure® subcomponents or applications is separable from the software. Since acquiring the GroupAssure® software, OSEP has invested a total of

$6,690,729 in software development.

ICF is in a unique position because it is the sole holder of the GroupAssure® source code, and the only vendor able to implement, install, configure, or customize the code. Even though ICF has customized GroupAssure® for the agency’s specific need, the software’s source code is proprietary, which precludes other vendors from maintaining and managing the system. Therefore, only ICF is capable of maintaining and managing the SAFE web application.

5. DETERMINATION BY THE CO THAT THE ANTICIPATED COST TO THE

GOVERNMENT WILL BE FAIR AND REASONABLE

Our task order procurement is against the existing NITAAC CIO-SP3 GWAC. A price analysis performed at the time of the CIO-SP3 contract award, in accordance with FAR

15.305(a)(1), determined that the contract price(s) was fair and reasonable. However, consistent with Section G.7.2.d of the NITAAC CIO-SP3 GWAC, the CO will determine fair and reasonable pricing following FAR 15.4, “Contract Pricing,” and request an additional price discount as part of this procurement.

Additionally, before making any award, the CO will verify that all items proposed are currently available on the NITAAC CIO-SP3 GWAC and offered to the agency at or below the current approved GWAC prices.

6. MARKET RESEARCH CONDUCTED

Prior to awarding the current task order for support and maintenance of the SAFE system

(SS00-15-30371), the program office and contract specialist conducted market research to locate potential vendors who are able to maintain and manage the system. Market research consisted of searching GSA Advantage and a general Internet search for authorized vendors capable of maintaining and managing the GroupAssure® software platform. Neither the market research nor general Internet searches identified alternate providers.

In addition, the contract specialist issued a sources sought notice under SSA-RFI-15-0029 on http://www.fedconnect.net to widen the market research pool. However, no vendors responded to the Request for Information as being capable of or interested in supporting the

GroupAssure® software.

https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=c8f987eb3137b3c5b7f2bd38fc3bca14&tab=core&_cview=0 http://www.fedconnect.net/

The program office, along with the contract specialist, confirmed through the above market research that ICF is the only source provider of GroupAssure® software. Therefore, it is the only source able to support its SAFE subsystems. At the time of soliciting a Limited Sources

Justification to award SS00-15-30371, the program office and OAG planned to continue to explore means of promoting competition for this requirement. We confirmed that ICF is the only vendor able to support the requirement. It is impossible to seek any form of competition for this requirement. Competition may be possible if the program office was interested in replacing the GroupAssure® software. However, this effort would be prohibitively expensive considering the amount invested to date, coupled with re-procurement costs.

Nonetheless, the contract specialist recommended market research to obtain information on functionalities and pricing for replacement of the GroupAssure software. With this information, the program office could make a comparison between the cost of replacing the

GroupAssure® software with commercially available, if any, or other software, and maintaining the GroupAssure® software. All efforts to obtain detailed pricing information from vendors proved futile. OAG received one draft estimate based on approximations and assumptions. Software for the SAFE requirement is restrictive in nature and vendors are aware that entities other than the source code holders and their affiliates are unable to support

SAFE systems. Where there is no interest in replacing base software, market research indicates vendors do not appear interested in wasting resources to participate in research.

7. STATEMENT OF ACTIONS, IF ANY, THE AGENCY MAY TAKE TO REMOVE

OR OVERCOME BARRIERS THAT LED TO RESTRICTED COMPETITION

BEFORE SUBSEQUENT ACQUISITION IS MADE

As indicated in section 6 above, additional market research focused on functionality of any available options, as well as costs associated with any such options. Results have led OSEP and OAG to make a determination that the best acquisition strategy for fulfilling this requirement, so long as GroupAssure® software is the basis of the SAFE system, is a sole source award to ICF.

OAG and OSEP will continue to survey the market by reviewing product literature and capability statements submitted by the vendor community to obtain information about functionality, features, and associated costs of replacement software. This information will be very useful should there be a need to replace the current software.

CERTIFICATION BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER AND OTHER

CONTRACTING OFFICIALS

The contracting officer and other contracting officials hereby certify that the information provided in support of this Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity is accurate and complete to the best of their knowledge and belief.

RECOMMEND: September 15, 2015

Ursula Nkwantabisa, Contract Specialist Date

Division of IT Support Services (DITSS)

Office of Information Technology Acquisition (OITA)

Office of Acquisition and Grants (OAG)

CONCUR: _______________________________ November 4, 2015_

Kevin P. Muñiz, Contracting Officer Date

DITSS, OITA, OAG

CONCUR: November 30, 2015____

Syreeta Gay, Date

Division Director

DITSS, OITA, OAG

CONCUR: December 1, 2015

Christian Hellie Date

Director, OITA, OAG

CONCUR: Cathy A. Bella 12/14/2015

Cathy A. Bella Date

Deputy Associate Commissioner, OAG

12/14/15

CONCUR:

Seth Binstock Date

Associate Commissioner, OAG

12/17/15

APPROVE:

Sean Brune Date

SSA Competition Advocate

Competition Advocate Review Board (CARB)

Project Title: Security Automation Features and Enhancements System Support Contract

Estimated Amount:

Review and discussion occurred: Electronically

For a

____Limited Source Justification (LSJ)

____Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition (JOFOC)

_X_ Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity (JEFO)

CARB Panel Members

Associate Commissioner, Office of Security & Emergency Preparedness (or designee)

_Jonas M. Garland /s/___________Date_12/16/15_________

__X__I recommend signature by the approving official

_____I do not recommend signature by the approving official

General Counsel (or designee)

Date_December 15, 2015

__X_ I concur that the justification is legally sufficient

_____I do not concur that the justification is legally sufficient