Website_Design_and_Maintenance - SSJ 09_27_26_redacted.pdf

3. Description of Supplies and/or Services:

OWH seeks contractor support to sustain, enhance, and continuously improve its public-facing digital presence through ongoing website operations, user-experience design, content management, digital product development, and implementation of an AI-driven chatbot experience.

Expected Deliverables:

1. Website content management, operations, maintenance, and infrastructure support

2. Web product development and Drupal CMS modernization support

3. Audience research, usability testing, and related findings and recommendations

4. Communications, publications, annual observance, campaign, conference, and outreach support

5. AI chatbot operations, sustainment, analytics, enhancement recommendations, testing, and compliance documentation

6. Integrated project management and transition plans, including Transition-In and

Transition-Out Plans

7. Contract kickoff and recurring status meeting documentation, including agendas, meeting minutes, action items, and follow-up documentation

8. Monthly progress, analytics, performance, and status reporting

9. Accessibility testing, remediation, security, vulnerability, and compliance documentation

10. Final contract report and applicable transition documentation

Expected Outcomes:

• Increased stakeholder engagement

• Improved communication and collaboration across HHS and other Federal agencies

• Compliance with HHS requirements to assess and update health information at required intervals

• Compliance with Section 508 accessibility requirements

• Continuity of AI-powered chatbot operations

• Improved accessibility scores

• Improved user engagement, as measured through applicable metrics such as bounce rate, average session duration, pages per session, views, and visitors

• Improved content accuracy and relevance

• Improved search engine performance

• Stakeholder feedback and user-experience improvements

4. Authority Cited and Rationale: This acquisition is conducted under the Federal Supply Schedule

(FSS) ordering procedures at GSAM/R Subpart 538.71. Pursuant to GSAM/R 538.7104-3(b)(1)(ii), an order exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold may be placed on a sole-source basis when only one source is capable of providing the products, services, or solution required at the level of quality required because the products, services, or solutions are unique or highly specialized.

The Government’s determination is not based solely on RIVA Solutions, Inc.’s incumbent status, familiarity with the requirement, or the administrative convenience of avoiding transition. It is based on the present technical and operational state of the complete chatbot-inclusive requirement, mandatory security/governance prerequisites, and the Government’s required performance timeframe.

The requirement is an integrated operational requirement encompassing continuous

WomensHealth.gov operations and maintenance, Drupal CMS support and modernization, cybersecurity and vulnerability remediation, Section 508 compliance, digital-product development, analytics, and implementation and sustainment of the OWH AI-powered chatbot within the HHS Unified Web Platform (UWP) Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated environment.

Security and UWP governance prerequisites are gating conditions to production performance.

Operations must conform to applicable HHS Moderate-impact security controls and UWP/OCIO governance, including authorized system access, configuration/release controls, and applicable encryption, routing, continuous-monitoring, vulnerability-management, privacy, and access requirements. RIVA is already operating within these established workflows and security boundaries. A successor would have to obtain the required role grants, access, governance approvals, toolchain alignment, and validated security interfaces before assuming production responsibility.

The chatbot effort adds additional mandatory operational prerequisites that are presently in flight.

Program and technical personnel report that the work includes cross-site content ingestion and crawl engineering; knowledge-base management; conversational design; testing and quality assurance; analytics; and coordination with OCIO, Cybersecurity, Identity Management, UWP, and site owners. Current prerequisites include crawler whitelisting, bot-protection exemptions, sitemap inventories, rate-limit settings, content-scope agreements, security architecture review, and deployment-environment coordination. Until the applicable approvals and access conditions are established, a replacement contractor cannot perform the corresponding production ingestion or chatbot operations.

A successor contractor therefore could not assume the complete requirement merely by possessing generally comparable website-development or AI experience. Successor personnel would have to complete required onboarding and HSPD-12/background-investigation processes; obtain authorized access to Government systems, repositories, tools, and environments; establish UWP technical and security interfaces; receive and validate knowledge transfer; align with current

CMS/release processes; and assume active website, security, vulnerability-remediation, chatbot, testing, deployment, and stakeholder-coordination responsibilities. The SOW establishes a seven-week lead before personnel may obtain access to Government-sensitive information, and technical/governance prerequisites may extend beyond personnel onboarding.

These prerequisites are not treated as transition inconvenience alone. They are conditions precedent to lawful and technically authorized production performance in the current environment.

Because daily website operations, security monitoring, vulnerability remediation, publishing, releases, and chatbot implementation must continue while those prerequisites would be established for a successor, the Government’s current minimum requirement is for a source capable of assuming and performing the complete integrated requirement at the required start date without a gap in authorized production capability.

Accordingly, based on the current implementation state, the mandatory technical, security, governance, access, and implementation conditions described above, and the program office's technical findings, the Government determines that RIVA Solutions, Inc. is presently the only source capable of performing the complete integrated requirement at the required level of quality, security, compliance, and schedule.

5. Market Research:

GSA Market Research as a Service (MRAS) issued RFIs RFI1802449, RFI1802450, and RFI1802451 from March 24 through March 30, 2026. GSA received 176 responses from interested sources, including 157 small businesses. The March research demonstrated substantial industry interest and potential competition for the Website Design and Maintenance requirement as it was then defined.

That scope primarily included website operations and maintenance, Drupal CMS support, content management, UX and digital-product work, audience research, and observance/campaign support.

After completion of the March MRAS, the requirement materially changed when OWH/OASH added implementation and sustainment of an AI-powered chatbot as a mandatory component of the acquisition. The expanded requirement introduced technical, security, governance, integration, and operational prerequisites that were not included in the March RFIs. These include cross-site content ingestion and crawl engineering; crawler whitelisting and bot-protection exemptions; multi-site sitemap ingestion; chatbot knowledge-base management and conversational design; integration with

HHS Unified Web Platform (UWP) governance and release processes; security architecture review;

AWS/GitHub deployment readiness; rate-limit and bot-traffic coordination; and ongoing coordination with OCIO, Cybersecurity, Identity Management, UWP technical stakeholders, site owners, and program offices.

Accordingly, the March MRAS responses, standing alone, do not establish industry capability for the complete chatbot-inclusive requirement. The respondents were not asked to demonstrate capability for

AI chatbot sustainment, conversational design and knowledge-base management, cross-site ingestion/crawl engineering, chatbot-related operation within a Moderate-impact HHS environment, UWP-aligned CMS integration, or the security and multi-system governance conditions associated with the current chatbot effort.

To assess capability against the expanded requirement, the Government conducted targeted supplemental market research using information from credible sources identified through the March

MRAS. The supplemental review compared the vendors' previously submitted technical artifacts and capability statements, applicable MAS contract information and labor categories, stated

AI/NLP/chatbot experience, evidence of work in HHS or other Moderate/FedRAMP environments, experience operating under Federal technical and security governance, and the ability demonstrated in the available information to satisfy the current UWP/chatbot integration, access, security, and implementation requirements within the Government's required operational timeframe.

The Government specifically reviewed the available Sources Sought information for

. The review compared each firm's stated website design and maintenance capabilities with the expanded chatbot-inclusive minimum requirements. Based on the information submitted, these firms did not demonstrate sufficient evidence of the combined technical capability, relevant experience, and readiness necessary to perform the complete requirement, including integration, implementation, operations, and sustainment of the AI chatbot within the existing HHS/UWP environment.

In particular, the information reviewed did not demonstrate that these alternative sources possessed the combination of capabilities necessary to assume the current requirement within the required operational timeframe, including: (1) demonstrated chatbot deployment and sustainment experience applicable to the HHS environment; (2) experience operating within a Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated environment subject to ongoing security monitoring and controlled content-ingestion processes; (3) demonstrated ability to operate within existing UWP CMS governance, access, toolchain, and release processes; and (4) demonstrated readiness to assume the in-progress chatbot work, including multi-site content ingestion, active OCIO/Cybersecurity/Identity Management coordination, and ongoing security-architecture and deployment activities.

The supplemental review therefore distinguishes general market capability from present capability to perform the complete integrated requirement. Although the March MRAS established that numerous firms expressed interest in and potential capability for the earlier website-focused requirement, the supplemental review did not identify an alternative Schedule source that demonstrated, based on the information available to the Government, the combined capability and readiness to satisfy the expanded chatbot-inclusive minimum requirements and assume authorized production responsibilities within the Government's required timeframe.

Based on the March MRAS and the subsequent targeted supplemental review, the Government concludes that RIVA Solutions, Inc. is presently the only source demonstrated to be capable of performing the complete requirement at the required level of quality, security, compliance, and schedule. This conclusion is based on the complete requirement and the mandatory technical, security, governance, access, and implementation conditions described above, rather than incumbent status or transition convenience alone.

may determine whether continued performance is required and whether the circumstances

6. Procurement history:

a. Contractor: RIVA SOLUTIONS INC 1418041

Contract or Order Number: 75N98120D00070-75P00122F80092

Award Date and Period of Performance: 05/09/2022 | 05/30/2022 to 05/29/2025 Value

(including all options): $2,602,293.07

Competitive Status: Competitive -Fair Opportunity Competition; Requirement Set Aside for

Small Business and Fair Opportunity Provided to All Eligible Small Business Awardees

Authority formerly relied upon if Not Competed: N/A – Action was competitively awarded through fair opportunity.

Contract or Order Number: 75N98120D00070/75P00122F80092

Award Date and Period of Performance: 7/10/2025 | 05/30/2025 to 09/30/2025 Value

(including all options): $148,064.06

Competitive Status: Noncompetitive-Extension of Existing Order

Authority formerly relied upon if Not Competed: 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions-

Commercial Products and Commercial Services

Contract or Order Number: 47QRAA19D0024-75P00125F80146

Award Date and Period of Performance: 09/29/2025 | 09/30/2025 to 09/29/2026 Value

(including all options): $514,676.08

Competitive Status: Noncompetitive -Limited Sources Federal Supply Schedule Order

Authority formerly relied upon if Not Competed: FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(A) An urgent and compelling need exists, and following the procedures would result in unacceptable delays.

7. Actions to Foster Competition for Future, Similar Requirements:

The contemplated base period and one-year option period reflect the recurring nature of the

Government's requirement for website operations and maintenance, cybersecurity and vulnerability remediation, accessibility, digital-product support, content management, analytics, and chatbot operations and sustainment. Specifically, a base plus one year option period of performance is necessary to support implementation and integration of the AI-powered chatbot, which is a phased effort anticipated to extend for the duration of the base period with a one-year option to collect data on usage, evaluate initial operating capability, and make refinements to optimize performance if required. The base period plus one-year option structure does not constitute a determination that sole-source conditions will necessarily continue for the entire potential period of performance. Rather, the base period addresses the Government's present requirement under the circumstances described in this justification, while the option provides a discrete decision point at which the Government supporting the sole-source determination continue to exist.

Before exercising the option, the Contracting Officer, in coordination with the program office, will reassess the factual circumstances supporting this justification, including then-current market capability, chatbot maturity and implementation status, UWP/security/governance conditions, availability of technical and transition documentation, transition feasibility, and whether competition has become practicable. If the circumstances supporting the only-one-source determination no longer exist, the Government will not rely on this justification as a basis for avoiding otherwise applicable competition requirements.

8. Additional Information or Other Facts: A lapse in required support could affect continuous website monitoring, content publishing, incident response, deployments, security monitoring, vulnerability remediation, accessibility compliance, chatbot implementation/sustainment, testing, analytics, privacy/security compliance, and coordination with Federal technical stakeholders.

9. Technical or Requirements Program Management Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which are included in the justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Adrienne Smith

Dir., Div. of Policy and Signature & Date:

Performance Management; Acting

Dir., Div. of Strategic Communications

10. Best Value Determination: Based on the pricing information presently available, the

Contracting Officer anticipates that the order contemplated can represent the best value to the

Government. The Government will evaluate the contractor's proposed labor categories, labor rates, level of effort, and other applicable pricing against the contractor's GSA Schedule rates, the Independent Government Cost Estimate, historical pricing, and other available pricing information to determine whether the contemplated order represents the best value to the

Government and to identify opportunities for additional price discounts or other concessions.

Where applicable, the Government will seek discounts from established GSA Schedule pricing and document any discounts obtained through negotiations.

The determination will also consider the Government’s procurement history for substantially similar services. The incumbent contractor, RIVA Solutions, Inc., has provided website operations and related support under prior and current contract actions, including the current bridge contract awarded September 29, 2025, with a value of $514,676.08. This historical pricing provides an additional reference point for evaluating the proposed pricing, taking into consideration differences in scope, level of effort, labor mix, and the expanded requirements of the contemplated acquisition. The Government's Independent Government Cost Estimate was developed using historical pricing from contracts for similar work and available GSA pricing

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In addition to price, the Government will consider the operational value associated with continuity of services. The incumbent currently supports website operations, maintenance, security and vulnerability remediation, federal compliance requirements, and implementation of the AI-powered chatbot. Transitioning these activities at this stage could require additional onboarding, access provisioning, knowledge transfer, and coordination with HHS technical and cybersecurity stakeholders. Following completion of the applicable price evaluation and any negotiations conducted prior to award, the Contracting Officer will document the final determination that the contemplated order represents the best value to the Government.

11. Contracting Officer (CO) Certification and Approval: I hereby certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge.

Cynthia Gray Contracting Officer Signature & Date:

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