Exception_to_Fair_Opportunity_-_NEP_TO_Extension_-_Redacted.pdf

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JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

Orders under Multiple Award Contracts / Fair Opportunity – FAR 16.505

Requisition Number:

Contract/Order Number: SECHQ1-13-D-0045/0001 Procurement Title: National Examination Program Systems Contracting Office: Office of Acquisitions Estimated Value of Increase: $ Authority: FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C)

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

Number: 2018-

Upon the basis of the following justification, I, as the Competition Advocate, hereby approve this exception to fair opportunity pursuant to the authority of FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C).

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Office of Acquisitions 100 F Street, NE Washington, DC 20549

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

This task order provides SEC with application development, enhancements, and system integration support for the National Examination Program (NEP) Systems which are comprised of systems such as: (1) Tracking Reporting Examination National Documentation System (TRENDS), which manages the NEP processes to include tracking and reporting of examination data and management of electronic documents, (2) Exam Feedback System (EFS), which is a Microsoft SharePoint application that integrates with TRENDS to retrieve Exam Information, (3) Registrant Tracking System (RTS) for pre-exam and examination processes, and (4) Rule 19D1 Filing Tracking System, which automates the collection of Rule 19d-1 filings from self-regulatory organizations and maintains the information.

This justification is to extend the task order as an exception to fair opportunity. The task order will be extended through 14 August 2020. This extension is required to allow for sufficient time to determine the long-term path forward for the Oracle Fusion Middleware (OFMW) application platform, ensure the application has the proper coverage for the short-term, and allow for a successful transition.

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3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the estimated value).

The SEC requires continuing services for the development, enhancements, modernization, and operations and maintenance efforts for the NEP Systems.

PoP 1/1/2019 – 12/31/2019 POP 1/1/2020 – 8/14/2020

Enhancements to existing NEP Systems

DataMart and Reporting

Pilot (RTS/Trends) – Implementation of migration to another platform

Planning of OFMW Migration ---

Exam Scheduling Tool Design and Development

Operations and Maintenance

3-month Transition Period

Total

Total increase if all options are exercised

4. Identification of the exception to fair opportunity (see 16.505(b)(2)) and the supporting rationale, including a demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the exception cited. If the contracting officer uses the logical follow-on exception, the rationale shall describe why the relationship between the initial order and the follow-on is logical (e.g., in terms of scope, period of performance, or value:

(a) Exception to Fair Opportunity:

This order will be extended 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 pursuant to the authority of FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C).

(b) Supporting Rationale:

The Oracle software development platform was procured in 2013 as an enterprise scale technology refresh with the objective to establish a single software development platform to reduce the cost of development and maintenance. Since then, it has become apparent that the platform is very complex and difficult to use, and the development costs of applications are higher than anticipated, the platform is not mature enough and has been problematic in terms of requiring bugs and patches and thus costly to keep running. Additionally, the platform has at times been unreliable with unacceptable levels of outages. The Office of Information Technology therefore has been working on a solution to replace the Oracle platform with a more mature, widely-used and less costly technology platform. It is currently anticipated that a new http://farsite.hill.af.mil/reghtml/regs/far2afmcfars/fardfars/far/16.htm#P464_78717

Page 3 of 7 Pages procurement action for a replacement can be conducted in time for award in August 2020, which is the end of the bridge period provided for under this justification.

While the solution and road map is being finalized, the current applications continue to require support until they can be transitioned off the platform. Bringing a new contractor on board at this time presents undue risks and cost. The new contractor would need sufficient time to transition and obtain the knowledge the current contractor already has only to transition the application to a new platform. It is more cost effective, efficient and reduces risk to continue to use the current contractor until the application can be transitioned to a new platform. During this time of uncertainties, it is imperative that a contractor experienced with the application continues the support. The subsequent requirement will be competitively awarded to a new contractor. The use of the incumbent vendor for this bridge period is a logical follow on because the incumbent vendor, whoever they were, would be the logical source to bridge the time between the recent decision to move to a more mature, widely-used, less costly platform and the time for a new procurement, currently projected to be August 2020, that will evolve as a result of implementation of this recent decision.

5. A determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The Contracting Officer has determined that the anticipated price will be fair and reasonable.

6. Any other facts supporting the justification.

This extension is an interim solution until such time when the issues with the OFMW platform have been resolved and the path forward to transition the OFMW applications to a different platform, or a longer term solution has been fully developed. The application requires contractors with the right skill set to continue to support the system. The SEC employees are not equipped to handle the workload, even on a temporary basis. A break in service would cause significant impact on the SEC’s mission.

7. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the exception to fair opportunity before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made.

(a) Procurement History:

SECHQ113D0045/0001 was competitively awarded to Pyramid Systems on 9 June 2014 for a period of performance of one year with four (4) one-year option periods through 8 June 2019.

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b) Subsequent Acquisitions:

The SEC intends to use competitive procedures for any future support needed at the completion of this task order given that there will be more certainty regarding the new platform.

//ORIGINAL SIGNED//