Alation Licenses
Awarded Limited / Sole Source Justification Posted
- Solicitation number
- 91003125Q0020
- Agency
-
Contracts and Acquisition Management
Department of Education
- Set-aside
- No set-aside
Opportunity facts
- Contract number
- 91003125F0029 Federal contract award
- Awardee
- Merlin International, Inc.
- NAICS code
- 334111 Electronic Computer Manufacturing
- Place of performance
- District of Columbia 20202, United States
- Points of contact
Notice details come from SAM.gov. Updated .
About this opportunity
The Department of Education's Contracts and Acquisition Management division published this Limited/Sole Source Justification Notice for the procurement of Alation software licenses to support Federal Student Aid (FSA) data analytics and reporting activities. The acquisition includes 175 Alation User Licenses (Creator User), 1 Alation Enterprise Edition Server License, and 1 Alation Enterprise Edition Connector License, which will be used across multiple FSA divisions for budget planning, College Scorecard development, portfolio reporting, and responding to Congressional requests and court judgments. The sole source justification is based on independent research conducted by NSLDS and EDWA teams that identified Alation as the preferred solution, with Enterprise Architecture confirming it meets more functional requirements than alternative products and serves as the approved FSA Target Standard since September 2020. The contract was awarded to an unknown vendor on July 1, 2025, for an unknown amount, structured as a firm-fixed-price delivery order under NASA SEWP with a base year running from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026, and three additional one-year option periods extending through June 30, 2029. The justification emphasizes that only Alation can satisfy the agency's specific requirements for data governance, quality, and consistency, making it the sole viable solution for FSA's enterprise data management needs.
Notice text
FSA users require direct data access for production activities. Queries are used in a wide variety of FSA activities, including budget planning, the College Scorecard, routine portfolio reporting, and responding to mandates such as the Congressional requests, CARES act and court judgements. NSLDS and EDWA conducted independent research, and both identified Alation as one of the preferred options. The following teams collaborated on the enterprise requirements; Enterprise Architecture (EA), Next Gen Program Office (NGPO), NSLDS and EDWA collaborated on enterprise requirements. EA compared research findings and provided results in a Verification Market Research Report and conducted supplemental research to close identified gaps. This research confirmed that Alation meets more functional requirements than other possible solutions. The Alation tool offers FSA new capabilities for data and query standardization. An existing FSA Standard (Oracle SQL Developer) is available to NSLDS analysts for basic querying capabilities at a lower cost, however the Enterprise Review Board (ERB) approved Alation as an FSA Target Standard in September 2020.
Awarded contract 91003125F0029 to unknown vendor for unknown amount on 2025-07-01.
Files
| File | Type | Posted |
|---|---|---|
| Brand Name Justification Alation Software_V1_FK.15JUL25.pdf |
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