USDA Limited Source Justification for Automation Station_Redacted.pdf

United States Department of Agriculture

Limited Sources Justification

For an Order/BPA Exceeding the Simplified Acquisition Threshold

FAR 8.405 Federal Supply Schedules (FSS)

Multiple Award Schedule Program

Control No. (if applicable)

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity.

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO), National Finance Center (NFC) and United States Department of Agriculture, Departmental

Administration, Office of Contracting and Procurement, Procurement Operations Division, 301 S.

Howes Street, Suite 321, Fort Collins, CO 80521.

2. The nature and/or description of the action being approved.

The USDA proposes to issue a sole source GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) order on a firm fixed-price basis to Lentech, Inc to procure the Lentech Automation Station software on behalf of the

US Patent Trade Office.

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

USPTO intends to implement a new time and attendance solution through partnership with NFC.

USPTO is currently on a self-hosted version of webTA™ 3.8 which has passed its end-of-life application as of December 31, 2022, and is no longer supported by the manufacturer, Ultimate Kronos

Group (UKG). GovTA is the new version currently supported by the manufacturer. This purpose of this requirement is to procure the Lentech Automation Station software, which interfaces with

GovTA™, in order to migrate the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) from webTA™ to

GovTA™. .

This proposed action is for the procurement of 13,800 single user (SU) licenses for the Lentech

Automation Station software. USPTO requires customization that is outside UKG’s GovTA commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) package. In order for USPTO to achieve existing functionality, Lentech’s Automation Station must be used as an Application Programming Interface (API). The number licenses required is equal to the number of USPTO users. As such, this proposed action will also include ten (10) separate customizations as well as annual recurring maintenance that will be required to ensure that the customization remain operational when patches and maintenance are applied to the GovTA™ software.

The total estimated value, inclusive of all options is The anticipated period of performance is a 1-year Base and four (4) 1-year Options.

will be compared to historical prices paid for similar work and the Independent Government Cost

Estimate (IGCE), to ensure the quote represents the best value to the Government.

7. A description of the market research conducted among schedule holders and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

Lentech, Inc. is identified as the only authorized Service Provider of UKG products to the Federal

Government. Market research included a search for providers of the GovTA™ integration tool and services on the GSA MAS of which Lentech was identified as the only provider of the Automation

Station. Additional market research was not conducted as the Lentech Automation Station tool is proprietary and developed in conjunction with the software manufacturer of GovTA, UKG.

8. Any other facts supporting the justification.

Automation Station works within the current GovTA™ platform and as such, is approved under the

USDA FedRAMP Cloud provided by USDA Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) and can be utilized under the currently approved system Authority-to-Operate (ATO).

9. A statement of actions the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition if subsequent acquisitions are anticipated.

Adequate competition is not readily available for the large-scale transformation that would be required, additionally, transformation at this time would cause inefficiencies to the Government. However, NFC will continue to conduct market research on tools, costs, and transition time that would allow USDA to transition away from the GovTA™ solution.

Additional Reviews & Approvals

I have reviewed this justification and find it to be accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. Therefore, unless additional approvals are required as prescribed below, as advocate for competition for the procuring activity/MASCO, I hereby approve this justification. If required, my approval constitutes clearance for submission to the Head of the Procuring Activity.

Title: Chief, Procurement Operations Division

Procuring Activity Advocate for Competition