SAS ELA - JA Limited Source Justification.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 7111 Security Boulevard, Mail Stop B3-30-03 Baltimore, Maryland 21244-1850

OFFICE OF ACQUISITION AND GRANTS MANAGEMENT

FEDERAL SUPPLY SCHEDULE LIMITED-SOURCES JUSTIFICATION

Acquisition Title: SAS Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) Agency: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Acquisition Year: 2025 Author: John Kuebel

1. Description of Action:

Nature

☐ New Requirement ☐ Follow-On Order ☒ Modification of Existing Purchase Order / Contract Number: 47QTCA18D0081 /

75FCMC22F0017

Contract Type ☒ Firm-Fixed Price ☒ Time and Materials ☐ Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF)

☐ Term ☐ Completion

☐ Cost Plus Award Fee (CPAF) ☐ Other:

Total Projected Cost / Price:

The estimated value of the proposed sole source action, being justified within this J&A is:

Estimated Option Year 3: $22,281,686.71 Estimated Option Year 4: $22,950,137.31

Total Estimated Cost: $45,231,824.02

Funding Source (s): Pending FY25 Funds

Name of Proposed Contractor(s): Executive Information Systems (EIS), LLC Street Address: 6901 Rockledge Drive Ste 600 City, State, Zip: Bethesda, MD 20817

2. Description of Supplies or Services:

The SAS Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) provides SAS-brand software licensing, professional services, training and software maintenance to support critical CMS business functions. SAS is a business intelligence and analytics tool. There are currently more than 500 CMS Desktop SAS users across several components, in addition to approximately 2,011 GRID users and 2,793 CMS contractor users. The software licensing required by CMS from SAS includes a mix of foundation and enhanced software. Foundation Software includes approximately 30 discrete products and 35 ACCESS engines that process popular databases in native mode. Foundation Software can be installed on desktops, servers, grid implementations, and mainframe systems. Enterprise Solution Software products include newer, more sophisticated, and designed for superior analytical and visualization capabilities. The server-based products have no processing capacity limitation. The SAS ELA also provides related software maintenance, which is essentially an extended warranty for software products providing access to updates and upgrades developed over the course of time by the original publisher of the software product.

The current SAS task order was competed on General Services Administration (GSA) Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) with a Brand Name Only justification. CMS received one quote from Executive Information Systems, LLC (EIS), a small business. The task order is Firm-Fixed Priced (FFP) for all software and Time and Materials (T&M) for the Professional Services for the software. EIS bundles SAS-brand software licensing, professional services, training and software maintenance into a comprehensive multiple-year agreements referred to as an “Enterprise License Agreement (ELA)”.

The current contract includes a total of three, twelve-month periods for a total of three years (See below).

Base Period: 12/31/2021 – 12/30/2022 $15,947,497 Option Period One: 12/31/2022 – 12/30/2023 $18,366,061 Option Period Two: 12/31/2023 – 12/30/2024 $21,220,654 Current Total: $55,534,212

This request is to add two additional Option Periods, extending the contract/task order to five (5) total years.

Option Period Three: 12/31/2024 – 12/30/2025 $22,281,687 Option Period Four: 12/31/2025 – 12/30/2026 $22,950,138 Anticipated Total of additional two years: $45,231,825

3. Authority:

☒:ORDER AGAINST FSS: Authority of the Multiple Award Schedule Program, Title III of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (41 U.S.C. 251, et seq.); Title 40 U.S.C. 501, Services for Executive Agencies; and Section 803 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2002 (PL 107-107) and implemented by FAR 8.405-6. Mark the applicable exception and for each discuss how the cited authority applies in accordance with FAR 8.405-6(c)(2)(iv).

☐ An urgent and compelling need exists, and following the procedures would result in unacceptable delays (FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(A));

☒ Only one source is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level or quality required because the supplies or services are unique or highly specialized (FAR 8.405-6(a)(i)(B)); or

EIS is the sole authorized government reseller for Version 8 and later of SAS Software and subsequent maintenance. A two (2) year extension to the task order is required to support annual software (foundational and enterprise) renewals and maintenance for SAS brand software products already operated under the current ELA. CMS plans to migrate the enterprise to SAS Viya 4 or another data analysis tool during that time. Migration to other products will reduce costs and allow CMS to not be beholden to one software vender where cost continues to increase and there is no competition for the reseller. If CMS decides to continue to use SAS, Health and Human Services (HHS) plans to award a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) for these services in 2025 which will provide cost savings to the government.

It is in the best interest of the government to extend the current task order for the SAS ELA. A competition for these services is not efficient and will result in award to the same vendor for the same GSA MAS commercial pricing.

☐ In the interest of economy and efficiency, the new work is a logical follow-on to an original Federal Supply Schedule order provided that the original order was placed in accordance with the applicable Federal Supply Schedule ordering procedures. The original order or BPA must not have been previously issued under sole-source or limited sources procedures (FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(C)); or

N/A ☐ An item peculiar to one manufacturer can be a particular brand name, product, or a feature of a product, peculiar to one manufacturer). A brand name item, whether available on one or more schedule contracts, is an item peculiar to one manufacturer. (FAR 8.405-6(b);

N/A

4. Market Research:

Market research was conducted by the sponsoring program office, the CMS Office of Information Technology, IT Capital Planning Group (OIT/ICPG), in conjunction with the Office of Acquisition and Grants Management (OAGM). In its market research and discussions with SAS during the acquisition planning phase, SAS certified to CMS on multiple occasions that EIS is currently the sole authorized federal reseller of SAS products which is offered under GSA MAS. SAS software and maintenance are commercial items.

CMS has procured SAS software in the past through an intra-agency agreement, with EIS, a small business, as the authorized reseller.

While leveraging the SAS products associated with the ELA, CMS will perform market research prior to adding new software products to the IT Infrastructure and will conduct periodic follow up analysis to stay abreast of the new features and functionalities of both existing CMS software products as well as software competing products that may provide CMS additional benefits if implemented.

5. Actions to Increase Competition:

Currently, there is no way to increase the competition for SAS products since there is only one authorized Federal reseller for SAS.

Only one source is capable to ensure continuity of service while CMS decides the direction to take with migrating to SAS Viya 4 or to another Data Analysis tool over the next 24 months.

https://www.acquisition.gov/sites/default/files/current/far/html/Subpart%208_4.html https://www.acquisition.gov/sites/default/files/current/far/html/Subpart%208_4.html

6. Any other facts supporting the justification:

None

Approvals:

1. Program Office Certification: This is to certify that portions of this justification have been developed by the undersigned program office personnel, including supporting information and/or data verifying the Government’s minimum needs, schedule requirements and other rationale, which form the basis for this Limited Source Justification.

Contracting Officer Representative (COR) / Date

Program/Project Manager (P/PM) / Date

2. Contracting Officer Certification and Best Value Determination:

This is to certify that the justification for the proposed acquisition has been reviewed and that to the best of my knowledge and belief, the information and/or data provided to support the rationale and recommendation for approval, is accurate and complete.

By my signature below, after review of the relevant documents, I have determined that the order subject to this Limited-Sources Justification represents the best value for the Government as set forth in FAR 8.404(d), and constitutes a fair and reasonable price. The basis for my determination is as follows:

GSA has already determined the prices of the licenses under a schedule contract to be fair and reasonable.

This effort will be a modification under the GSA - SAS Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) contract with Executive Information Systems (EIS). In total, the CO is confident that there are sufficient resources and information to negotiate a fair and reasonable price, on a sole source basis, with Executive Information Systems (EIS).

Contracting Officer / Date

3. CMS Competition Advocate Approval

I hereby confirm the circumstances described above apply and approve the Limited Source Justification.

Name / Date

4. Head of Contracting Activity (HCA) Approval *If the cumulative total (including option years) is greater than $15M but less than or equal to $75M, the HCA is an approving official. All other approval signatures below should be marked as N/A.* I hereby confirm the circumstances described above apply and approve the Limited Source Justification.

5. Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization *If the contract is greater than $75M, OSDBU review and concurrence is required. This does not preclude the authority of the OSDBU to review all transactions at any threshold.*

6. OGC Legal Review *If the cumulative total (including option years) is greater than $75M the requirement must have a legal review from the General Law Division of the Office of the General Counsel prior to routing to the Department for review.*

7. HHS Competition Advocate Approval *If the cumulative total (including option years) is greater than $75M, HHS CA review and concurrence is required.*

8. Senior Procurement Executive (SPE) Approval

*If the cumulative total (including option years) is greater than $75M, the SPE is the approving official.* Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby confirm the circumstances described above apply and approve the Limited Source Justification.