Sole Source Justification SOSS.docx

SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION

1. IDENTIFICATION OF AGENCY AND CONTRACTING ACTIVITY

Agency: Social Security Administration

Program Office: Systems Operations Hardware Engineering (SOHE)

Project Title: Systems Operations Support Services (SOSS) Three Month Extension

Proposed Contractor: Tuknik Government Services (Tuknik)

Tracking Information: Relevant current/previous order #: 28321325FA0010189/28321320A00040018

2. NATURE OF ACTION BEING APPROVED

Type of Action: Three-month bridge contract for SOSS

Contemplated Contract Type: Labor Hour

We seek approval for a three-month bridge contract of order 28321325FA0010189 through BPA 28321320A00040018 to provide continued systems operations support services. As a result of a timely protest submitted by Koniag IT Systems LLC (KITS) with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on 7/27/2026 against the award of order number 28321326FA0010174 through BPA 28321320A00040024, it is necessary to re-open order 28321325FA0010189 through BPA 28321320A00040018 and extend it for three months. This will allow the agency to continue to receive these critical services while the GAO protest is pending. It is anticipated that the period of performance will be from 08/19/2026-02/18/2027. The order was previously extended through FAR 52.217-8 “Option to Extend Services.” All allowable months under the three-month extension were exhausted. We intend to negotiate with Tuknik for the three-month extension.

Tuknik is the current contractor on the SOSS contract, which provides the following services:

· LAN support

· Facilities support

· Help desk/call center support

· Security support

· Storage Support

· Operational Support

Tuknik is the only contractor at this time who can perform the work while the agency works with GAO on the protest, and it is essential that work continue on SOSS without a break in service.

3. DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES AND ESTIMATED VALUE

Estimated Value: $6,439,334.40

The loss of contractor staff at our data centers would critically impact operations at the National Support Center (NSC), Second Support Center (SSC), and Evault, especially on night shift where the bulk of the equipment installs, removals, changes, and cabling of networking and IT equipment take place. Delaying contract performance would result in severely reduced staffing on all shifts at all three sites. This would critically impact our ability to support other Chief Information Officer (CIO) components with troubleshooting and cutovers of IT equipment (including mainframes, open systems, networking and telco equipment) in the data centers. Mandatory equipment upgrades could be delayed or put on hold due to limited staffing, and this could affect our security and reliability posture if these mandatory upgrades needed to occur. At the SSC on night shift, we could possibly encounter work stoppages because staffing would be reduced to two federal employees, and those two employees would have to cover 7 days of activity, which is not feasible.

SSA is a large-scale federal agency that services the public while simultaneously handling PII. Without a fully staffed 24/7/365 Security Operations Center (SOC), the agency will face potential catastrophic impacts. Details of such impacts include:

1. Increased Risk of Data Breaches: Without continuous monitoring, cyber threats may go undetected for extended periods, increasing the likelihood of successful attacks that compromise PII.

1. Delayed Incident Response: A non-operational or under-resourced SOC may not detect or respond to incidents promptly, allowing attackers more time to exploit vulnerabilities and exfiltrate sensitive data.

1. Regulatory and Legal Consequences: Federal agencies are subject to strict regulations regarding the protection of PII (e.g., FISMA, Privacy Act). Failure to adequately protect this data can result in legal penalties, loss of certifications, and increased oversight.

1. Loss of Public Trust: A breach or failure to protect sensitive information can erode public confidence in the agency’s ability to safeguard personal data, potentially impacting the agency’s mission and reputation.

1. Operational Disruption: Cyber incidents can disrupt critical services, affecting the agency’s ability to deliver essential functions to the public.

1. Financial Costs: The aftermath of a breach—investigations, remediation, legal fees, and potential compensation—can be extremely costly, especially if the breach is severe.

1. National Security Risks: For agencies handling sensitive or classified information, inadequate SOC operations can pose risks to national security.

A fully funded and operational SOC is essential for proactive threat detection, rapid incident response, and continuous protection of sensitive data. Without it, the agency faces significant risks to its operations, reputation, and the security of the public’s information.

SOHE contractors perform mission-critical technical, engineering, and operational work around the clock. A lapse in service would cause production outages, slow or stall modernization efforts, jeopardize business continuity, disrupt public-facing services, and reduce our ability to respond quickly to both internal and external stakeholders.

The SOSS contractors provide essential architecture, operations, and process support for all technical aspects of the agency’s infrastructure. These services are critical to minimizing IT outages and ensuring 24x7 operational support for enterprise applications across the agency. This includes maintaining the stability of the my.ssa.gov infrastructure and supporting the delivery of vital public services, such as SSN card and notice printing.

SOHE currently uses 159 SOSS contractors to support mission-critical activities and provide continuous, off-shift coverage. The key areas of support are outlined below. Key impacts are included as well.

National Network Services and Operations (NNSO) NNSO maintains contractor teams responsible for service desk operations, network and application monitoring, assistive technology support, as well as operational problem support. A work stoppage by SSA’s technical support and systems monitoring workforce would cause immediate and widespread operational disruption across the agency. The service desk is the front line for resolving technical issues that affect field offices, program centers, teleservice centers, regional components, and headquarters. The services provided by these teams is foundational to the availability, security, and responsiveness of SSA’s IT environment. Without this support, incidents would quickly accumulate, leading to service delays, increased customer wait times, prolonged outages, and reduced availability of mission-critical systems used for claims processing, identity verification, appointment scheduling, and other public facing services. Additionally, these teams also staff 24x7 Network Operations Center, supporting critical KTLO (keep the lights on) operations, directly responding to Severity 1, ( SEV1) outages in the field, enhancing communications, and providing monitoring support.

Systems User Services (SUSF) Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM):

Data Center contractors provide infrastructure and ITOM support, ensuring 24x7 operations for SOHE. They also support the Asset Management Portal and deliver AMP training.

Systems User Services (SUSF) – Storage Management: Mainframe Storage Engineers and support staff are essential for maintaining operations during night, midnight, and weekend shifts. They configure, manage, and maintain the agency’s Mainframe Storage, Backup/Recovery, and Data Replication infrastructures across three geographically dispersed data centers. Continuous monitoring of open systems backup, storage infrastructure, and data recovery is critical. Without off-shift support, critical customer data recoveries would be delayed.

Batch Operations and Production Control (BOPC): Batch Production Operations These contractors support the agency’s mission-critical batch production operations, providing monitoring and technical support for workloads that update production databases used by field offices to serve the public. This includes data processing for Title II, Title XVI, Supplemental Security Income, Medicare, SSN card and notice generation, and data exchanges with external partners (e.g., Department of Treasury, IRS, State Data Exchange) on a 24x7x365 basis.

Key Impacts:

Immediate Operational Disruption

Loss of Tier 1 & Tier 2 Technical Support:

SSA relies on service desk agents to triage incidents, resolve user issues, and escalate cases to specialized teams. Without these functions, incidents accumulate unchecked, leading to outages persisting far longer and escalating into major disruptions.

Stoppage of Call Handling and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) based Support:

Service desk agents operate the agency’s internal 800 support number, responding to inquiries related to (but not limited to) applications, security, and assistive technology support. Calls from field offices, teleservice centers, program offices, regional support teams, and headquarters would backlog instantly, leaving thousands of employees without technical support.

Impact on Public-Facing Operations

Inability to Support Field Office Staff Serving the Public:

SSA field offices depend heavily on IT support to maintain systems used for benefit applications, claims processing, appointment scheduling, identity verification, and workload management. Work stoppage would delay or halt critical public services and increase wait times for beneficiaries.

Risk to Key Citizen-Facing Applications:

Systems critical to serving the public and fulfilling SSA’s statutory mission, such as mySSA, National Appointment Scheduling Calendar (NASC), National Workload Management (NWLM), Electronic Disability Collect System (EDCS), Customer Communications Management (CCM), and other program systems routinely experience incidents requiring immediate response. Without support, even minor issues can cascade into outages impacting the public.

Increased Severity of Existing Issues

Growth of On Hold Incident Backlogs:

Current service desk queues already measure hundreds of incidents awaiting caller, vendor, or internal action. A stoppage would cause these queues to spike exponentially, delaying hardware deployments, software troubleshooting, mailbox/identity issues, and network problems.

Inability to Manage Work Stoppages and Major Incidents:

Service desk staff are integrated into SSA’s Major Incident Dashboard workflows, escalation pathways, Tiger Team coordination, and Chronology creation. Losing these functions weakens SSA’s ability to manage high severity events.

Security and Compliance Risks

Delayed Response to Security Incidents:

Service desk staff assist in triaging authentication failures, lockouts, malware reports, email delivery issues, and suspicious account activity. Reduced oversight increases risk exposure and slows coordinated response with Client Server Infrastructure (CSI), and Security Operations Center (SOC).

Infrastructure Degradation

Unresolved Hardware & Network Issues:

Service desk technicians support printer troubleshooting, laptop depot dispatches, phone provisioning, VoIP issues, and network path validation. Lack of support increases downtime, reducing productivity across components.

Delayed Incident Task Processing & ServiceNow Routing:

Many teams rely on accurate triage and routing performed by service desk agents. Without this function, incidents may be misassigned, unresolved, or lost in queues.

Organizational & Workforce Effects

Reduced Productivity Across SSA Components:

Every SSA component relies on IT support to work effectively. A stoppage effectively slows or halts portions of their daily workload.

Increased Pressure on Remaining Technical Teams:

Engineering, application teams, network operations, and infrastructure groups would become overloaded without frontline triage, increasing burnout and error risk.

4. IDENTIFICATION OF STATUTORY AUTHORITY PERMITTING OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

The regulatory authorities permitting other than full and open competition is Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulation Overhaul (RFO) 8.401 and GSA’s FSS procedures at GSA FAR Supplement Subpart 538.71. Although orders placed or BPAs established under FSS are exempt from the requirements in FAR part 6, the ordering activity must justify its action when awarding on a sole source basis. The agency is awarding on a sole source basis pursuant to GSA FAR Supplement 538.7104-3(b)(iii) which states “The order should be issued on a sole source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it is a logical follow-on to an FSS order already issued on a competitive basis”. BPA 28321320A00040018 was awarded on a competitive basis. Since the work is still ongoing under call order 28321325FA0010189, this extension is a logical follow to the work already being completed by Tuknik.

5. DEMONSTRATION OF CONTRACTOR'S UNIQUE QUALIFICATIONS

On July 17, 2026 call order 28321326FA00010174 through BPA 28321320A00040024 was awarded to IT Concepts. After receipt of the protest, the Contract Officer (CO) sent a stop work order to IT Concepts on 07/29/2026 in accordance with the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA), 31 U.S.C. § 3553(d)(3)(A)(i). The Contract Specialist (CS) has confirmed with the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) that IT Concepts began the process of hiring employees currently working on the current call order (28321325FA0010189) but by the date the stop work order was issued, one offer letter had been sent. As noted above it is critical that the SOSS program continue without interruption.

Tuknik has the unique ability to continue to perform SOSS since it currently provides these services and has all staff onboarded to prevent any interruption in service.

6. DESCRIPTION OF EFFORTS MADE TO SOLICIT FROM AS MANY POTENTIAL SOURCES AS IS PRACTICABLE

The BPA for this three-month extension was competitively awarded.

7. DETERMINATION BY THE CO THAT THE ANTICIPATED COST TO THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE FAIR AND REASONABLE

As provided in GSA RFO Subpart 538.7102-2(d), ordering activities are not required to make a fair and reasonable price determination for FSS products, services, or solutions at the order level or BPA level as FSS contract pricing has been determined fair and reasonable.

By placing an order against a schedule contract using the procedures in GSA RFO subpart 538.7102-2, the CO has concluded that the order represents the best value and results in the lowest overall cost to meet the Government’s needs. In addition, the CO will seek a price reduction for prices offered by any authorized reseller in accordance with GSA RFO subpart 538.7102-2. Additionally, before making any award, the CO will verify that all items proposed are currently available on the GSA schedule and offered at or below the current approved GSA prices.

8. DESCRIPTION OF MARKET RESEARCH

This action is needed as a result of protest of a competitive acquisition. Market research is not necessary because, due to the competitive nature of the acquisition, data about the market is already available to the CO. Based on the market data obtained through the competitive process, the CO has concluded that there are no other sources with the infrastructure in place to support this immediate and urgent need.

9. ANY OTHER SUPPORTING FACTS

In accordance with RFO 4.203-2(a)(1) and 9.103, the CO will examine the System for Award Management in order to make an affirmative determination of the contractor’s responsibility.

10. LIST OF SOURCES EXPRESSING INTEREST IN THE ACQUISITION IN WRITING

N/A – This justification will be made publicly available within 14 days after award.

11. ACTIONS AGENCY MAY TAKE TO REMOVE OR OVERCOME BARRIERS TO COMPETITION BEFORE ANY SUBSEQUENT ACQUISITION IS REQUIRED

SSA plans to follow the recommendations provided by GAO.

CONTRACTING OFFICER’S TECHNICAL REPRESENTATIVE (COTR) AND PROGRAM OFFICIALS’ RECOMMENDATION AND CERTIFICATION

The COTR and other program officials hereby certify that the information provided in support of the justification for other than full and open competition, and which forms the basis for this justification, is accurate and complete.

RECOMMEND:

CONCUR: __/s/Mukesh Patel______________________ August 13, 2026__ Mukesh Patel, Branch Chief Date

12. 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 other than full and open competition is accurate and complete to the best of their knowledge and belief.

Competition Advocate Review Board (CARB)

Project Title: Systems Operations Support Services (SOSS) Three Month Extension

Estimated Amount: $6,439,334.40

Review and discussion occurred: Electronically

For a

___ Limited Source Justification (LSJ)

___ Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition (JOFOC)

___ Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity (JEFO)

_X__ Sole Source Justification (SSJ)

CARB Panel Members

CIO, Office of the Chief Information Officer (or designee)

/s/Wayne Lemon (obo) Mike Russo Date: 8/17/26

X I recommend signature by the approving official

_____I do not recommend signature by the approving official

General Counsel (or designee)

/s/ Russell Cohen Date: August 18, 2026

X I concur that the justification is legally sufficient

_____I do not concur that the justification is legally sufficient image1.jpg image2.png