SSJ- 2024 ALTSA Articulate Renewal.doc

DES Sole Source Filing Justification

Central Purchasing Unit

(For Purchase Requests/Purchase Orders)

DES SOLE SOURCE FILING JUSTIFICATION

Purchase Requests/Purchase Orders NOTE: Every question must be answered or the Sole Source Contract Database (SSCD) will reject the filing.

Please refer to the CPU SharePoint page for Sole Source filing information.

For information on sole source contracts, please review the following Department of Enterprise Services (DES) policy: Policy #DES-140-00, Sole Source Contracts (RCW 39.26.140)

After electronically completing this form, please send to the Central Purchasing Unit.

SECTION 1 – Purchase Request/Purchase Order Information

1.

Administration/Program and Contact Person: DSHS/ALTSA - Hans Flaatrud

2.

Proposed Purchase Date: 5/18/2024 3.

Proposed Delivery Date: 5/18/2024 4.

Vendor Name & Address: Articulate - 244 5th Avenue, Suite 2960, New York, NY 10001, USA 5.

Vendor’s TIN or SSN:

01-0742391

6.

Purchase Request (PR) Number: PR2411969 and/or Purchase Order (PO) Number (if known):

7.

Purpose of Purchase: Articulate provides a comprehensive software system for building training courses and multimedia that is used by a number of DSHS administrations and other state agencies. This purchase is the annual renewal for ALTSA's Articulate subscriptions.

8.

Funding Source:

Federal:

State:

$46694.97

Other:

Total:

$46694.97 SECTION 2 – Ethics Questions

Are any of the Vendor’s staff CURRENT state employees?

YES

FORMCHECKBOX

NO

FORMCHECKBOX

If YES, please provide the following information for EACH current state employee (use a separate sheet of paper, if necessary):

Employee’s Name: See attached

State Agency Where Employed:

Position Title:

Has employee received Ethics Board approval?

YES

FORMCHECKBOX

NO

If Board approval NOT granted, explain why:

Are any of the Vendor’s staff FORMER state employees within two (2) years of the purchase date?

YES

FORMCHECKBOX

NO

FORMCHECKBOX

If YES, please provide the following information for EACH former state employee (use a separate sheet of paper, if necessary):

Employee’s Name: See attached

State Agency Where Last Employed:

Position Title:

Termination Date:

SECTION 3 – Purchase Order Justification Questions

What is the business need or problem that requires this purchase?

ALTSA has a large varietey of systems, processes, policies, and other information that needs to be learned by a large number of staff, and our environment is ever-changing technologically and legally. There is a great need for a comprehensive and easy to use suite of tools to be able to rapidly deploy new training courses and multimedia. This ensures that training material is timely, accurate, and prevents risk to DSHS and the state of Washington as well as the clients for whom we provide vital services that are affected if employees do not have effective training. Articulate is also used to

Describe the unique features, qualifications, abilities or expertise of the vendor proposed for this sole source purchase.

Articulate 360 provides a number of features that are not individually unique but provide a unique set of tools and competencies for DSHS employees building training materials including:

-The ability to create content with automated ADA compliant close captioning -Cloud storage for created materials -An extensive library of templates and graphic designs that can be used in modules -The ability to seamlessly transfer licenses and content as staffing changes, collaborate between teams and team members, and share draft content with users even if they don't have a license -Multiple apps and device type support including mobile devices -24/7 support and regular automatic software updates 3.

What kind of market research did the agency conduct to conclude that alternative sources were inappropriate or unavailable? Provide a narrative description of the agency’s due diligence in determining the basis for the sole source contract, including methods used by the agency to conduct a review of available sources such as researching trade publications, industry newsletters and the internet; contacting similar service providers; and reviewing statewide pricing trends and/or agreements. Include a list of businesses contacted (if you state that no other businesses were contacted, explain why not), date of contact, method of contact (telephone, mail, e-mail, other), and documentation demonstrating an explanation of why those businesses could not or would not, under any circumstances, perform the contract; or an explanation of why the agency has determined that no businesses other than the prospective contractor can perform the contract.

We have reviewed statewide pricing trends for this category of software. While there are software that provide resources for training, there was no other suite of software that provides the comprehensive and integrated set of tools that Articulate offers. We have researched the suite of tools offered in other products like Canva, but other software did not fulfill all of the tools and resources and ease and effectiveness of use that Articulate offers, as well as the structure of all of these tools being integrated and interoperating as one suite of tools.

4.

Provide a detailed and compelling description of the costs and risks mitigated by purchasing from this vendor (i.e. learning curve, follow-up nature).

DSHS and ALTSA have a long-standing relationship with Articulate using the software, and a number of teams rely on their suite of products to create accurate and effective training material and multimedia. Continuing to utilize the Articulate suite will prevent the cost of re-training a significant number of staff to utilize a new set of tools for their core job duties. Articulate is also utilized by every administration in DSHS as well as other state agencies due to the effectiveness of the tool's core competencies and having a standardization of tools within DSHS improves the standardization and standards of training. Even if we utilized a different software, we would still have business need for Articulate's tools which would lead to additional cost.

5.

Is the agency proposing this sole source vendor because of special circumstances, such as confidential investigations, copyright restrictions, etc.? Yes FORMCHECKBOX

No FORMCHECKBOX

If YES, please describe:

6.

Is the agency proposing this sole source vendor because of unavoidable, critical time delays or issues that prevented the agency from completing this acquisition using a competitive process?

Yes FORMCHECKBOX

If YES, please describe. (For example, if time constraints are applicable, identify when the agency was on notice of the need for the goods and/or service, the entity that imposed the constraints, explain the authority of that entity to impose them, and provide the timelines which work must be accomplished.)

7.

Is the agency proposing this sole source vendor because of a geographic limitation?

Yes FORMCHECKBOX

If YES, state the basis for this conclusion and the rationale for limiting the size of the geographical area selected.

8.

What are the consequences of not having this sole source filing approved? (Describe in detail the impact to the agency and to services it provides if this sole source filing is not approved.)

Not having the sole source filing approved will affect the workflow of several dozen ALTSA employees. Some of these employees in training and policy units use this as their core job duties due to the comprehensive nature of the Articulate 360 software. Some of our training units will be unable to work to continue producing necessary training material.

9.

What considerations were given to providing opportunities to this vendor or other small business (e.g., unbundling the goods and/or services acquired)?

We spoke to the vendor about the use of resellers and the possible redistribution of their software. Currently, there are no other providers of Articulate's software, either on the NASPO contract or otherwise. We cannot unbundle their software and DSHS and other state agencies use this as their standard.

10.

Since competition was not used as the means for procurement, how did the agency conclude that the costs, fees, or rates negotiated are fair and reasonable? (Please make comparison with comparable vendors, use the results of a market survey, or employ other appropriate means calculated to make such a determination.)

The costs are not higher than any other years that we and other administrations and agencies have procured this software. The price per subscription has not changed from 2023 to 2024.

SECTION 4 – Processing (to be completed by the Central Purchasing Unit)

1. Is this purchase exempt from Sole Source Filing?

Yes

The following exemption applies: ___________________________ This purchase order does not need to be filed as a sole source.

Completed by:

Date:

No This purchase order must be filed as a sole source purchase.

Completed by:

Date:

WEBS Notice:

Posted on _______________________ DSHS CCLS Website:

Posted on _______________________ SSCD Filing:

Filed on _________________________

Last Updated: 03/2022