TITANIUM-PERVASIVE_SOLE_SOURCE_JUSTIFICTION_12-22-16.pdf

Sole Source Justification

Department of Education - Federal Student Aid Debt Management Software Maintenance Support

This acquisition is being conducted in accordance with FAR 13.5 (Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items and justified by the following facts and rationale required under FAR 13.501(a)(2)(ii) as follows:

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity.

It is the intention of the United States Department of Education Federal Student Aid’s (FSA) Acquisitions Group to acquire Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) Debt Management Software Maintenance for its Debt Management and Collection System.

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

FSA intents award a sole source purchase order for FICO’s Debt Management Maintenance Support. The subject software is integrated into FSA’s Debt Management Collection System (DMCS). FICO has integrated Titanium Database Software and the Pervasive Data Integrator Engine into its FICO Debt Management Software. Maintenance for these two major software components will be acquired under this purchase order. This is a follow-on to EDENFS16P0003.

It is the intention of FSA to issue a one-year purchase order before December 31, 2016.

The purchase order’s estimated price is $550,000.00.

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

FSA is acquiring FICO’s Debt Management Software Maintenance, whose primary software components include Titanium Database Software and Pervasive Data Integrator Engine.

The estimated value of this procurement is $550,000.00. The period of performance is from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017.

4. FAR cite permitting other than full and open competition.

The purchase order will be issued in accordance with Part 13.501(a)(1)(ii) and 41 U.S.C 1901.

5. A demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited.

FICO’s Debt Manager software is a customized COTS product that serves as the foundation of the FSA’s Debt Management and Collection System. The software allows FSA to effectively manage its debt collection portfolio and business processes as it pertains to work flows.

Titanium Database and Pervasive Data Integrator software are major components of the FICO’s Debt Management software. Titanium provides the user interface for the various

Customer Service Agents (CSRs), FSA, and Private Collection Agencies (PCA) to validate or change payment plans information and possesses features that allow users to interact with the various borrowers within the DMCS. Pervasive Data Integrator is an extract, transform, load (ETL) tool which is used for the transformation and load of the various flat files received by DMCS

Failure to renew the Debt Management software maintenance would directly impact FSA’s ability to service its defaulted loan portfolio; now totaling over $66 billion and possess approximately 5.5 million borrowers. It is too costly at this time due to the customization and systems integration efforts involved to replace the Titanium and Pervasive products within FICO’s Debt Management Software. In addition, DMCS users would be unable to view or updated loan accounts in the system efficiently. Furthermore, without the renewal of the ETL tools, production operations would not be able to update the DMCS database or provide information from DMCS to third parties such as Credit Bureaus and Private Collection Agencies.

6. A description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by and, if not, which exception under 5.202 applies.

No market research was done. This support and maintenance is only available through FICO. Therefore, this sole sources justification will be posted on FEDBIZIOPPS 14 days after the award.

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

FICO calculates the price of maintenance as a percentage of the license fee. The Contracting Officer has found that the percentage used to calculate maintenance is within the industry average of 15-20%. In addition, fair and reasonableness will be determined through price analysis against the IGCE, which is based on historical prices.

8. A description of the market research conducted and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

No market research was done. See Section 5 of this sole source for the basis of this decision.

9. Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition.

FICO’s Debt Management software is currently meeting the FSA’s business requirements as it pertains to managing it debt portfolio. It is FSA’s intention to continue to use the FICO’s Debt Management software for the foreseeable future. At this time it would be cost prohibitive to find a replacement to FICO’s Debt Management software and integrate into the current Debt Management and Collection System. Replacement software would also introduce a high level of risk that may impact current operations. Any cost savings achieved from moving to a new debt management software program would be lost due to development and implementation costs.

https://acquisition.gov/far/current/html/Subpart%205_2.html%23wp1107990

10. A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.

This section is non-applicable because no market research was conducted.

11. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required.

Until FSA determines to replace the existing FICO’s Debt Management software, the business functions provided by this software product will continued to be required, as well as ongoing software and maintenance support. Future market research will be conducted to ascertain if other vendors can meet FSA’s new requirements in this area if it is determined to replace FICO’s Debt Management software with new debt management software.

12. Technical Requirements Personnel Certification

I certify this requirement meets the Government’s minimum need and that the support data, which forms a basis for this justification, is complete and accurate. The requiring FSA program office has provided written supporting data, which is contained in the contract file, that verifies the technical requirements and support the government ongoing need to use the aforementioned brand name commercial items.

Cynthia Freshley Contracting Officer’s Representative FSA Technology Office

13. Certification.

This justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. The requiring FSA program office has provided written supporting data, which is contained in the contract file, that verifies the technical requirements and support the government ongoing need to use the aforementioned brand name commercial items.

Andrew Jernell Contracting Officer Federal Student Aid US Department of Education