Consolidated Business Reports D&B for VHA, EAS, and OSDBU LSJ included below

D&B Reports Limited Source Justification

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LIMITED-SOURCES JUSTIFICATION UNDER FEDERAL SUPPLY SCHEDULES



AGENCY AND CONTRACTING ACTIVITY:



The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

Office of Acquisition Operations (OAO)

Strategic Acquisition Center (SAC) Frederick

321 Ballenger Center Drive, Suite 125 Frederick, MD 21703



NATURE AND/OR DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTION BEING APPROVED:



In accordance with (IAW) Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 8.405-6(c)(2)(ii), a justification is required when limiting sources because only one source is capable of providing the services required at the level of quality required because the services are unique. The award is anticipated to be of a firm-fixed price type and conducted IAW the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) program under The Professional Services Schedule (PSS) schedule 00CORP and special item number (SIN) 520-16.



DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES OR SERVICES REQUIRED (INCLUDING THE ESTIMATED VALUE):



The proposed action is for a twelve (12) month firm-fixed price (FFP) task order with two (2) 12 month option periods and one (1) 6 month option period to acquire business information services as a consolidated requirement in support of the Office of Acquisition and Logistics (OAL), Enterprise Acquisition Systems Service (EAS), Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Supply Chain Data & Informatics Office (SCDIO), VHA Procurement and Logistics Office (PLO), and the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) Center for Verification and Evaluation (CVE);



The proposed action is to provide consolidated business information services for Integrated Funds Distribution, Control Point Activity, Accounting and Procurement (IFCAP) file #440 (vendor file) cleansing, FAR 9.105-1(b)(3) prospective contractors financial responsibility determination, and OSDBU s Center for Verification Evaluation (CVE) title 38 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 74 Veteran eligibility determinations. The contractor will ensure that the business information provides the requisite content and is available in the quantities required to support all requirements. The Contractor will also ensure that all business information is identified by, linked with, and searchable using a Data Universal Numbering System (D-U-N-S®) number.



The total estimated value of the proposed action is $6,665,642.47 (inclusive of options).

STATUTORY AUTHORITY AND RATIONALE SUPPORTING USE OF THE AUTHORITY CITED



IAW statutory authority 40 U.S.C. § 501(b)(2)(A) Services for Executive Agencies , which grants direct acquisition authority under the MAS Program and as prescribed in FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(B), [o]nly one source is capable of providing the services required at the level of quality required because the services are unique, the requested actions are legally authorized and permissible.



The proposed source is Dun & Bradstreet Inc, 11710 Plaza America Dr Suite 900, Reston, Virginia 20190-4768 under Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) Contract GS-00F-022DA. IAW FAR 2.101, the D-U-N-S® number is a 9-digit number assigned by Dun & Bradstreet Inc, to identify unique business entities, which is used as the identification number for Federal contractors. Unlike the various errors prone to occur using a business s name, no two businesses ever receive the same D-U-N-S® number, no D-U-N-S® number is ever recycled, the D-U-N-S® number is not assigned until multiple data sources confirm a business s existence and the D-U-N-S® number is retained for the life of the business including whenever a company moves anywhere within the same country. IAW FAR Subpart 4.6 CONTRACT REPORTING , the D-U-N-S® number is recommended for business identification and is a prerequisite for receiving Federal contract awards. Various procurement systems rely on the D-U-N-S® number to facilitate business identification, to include IFCAP, the Electronic Contract Management System (eCMS), Medical/Surgical Prime Vendor (MSPV), National Item File (NIF), System for Award Management (SAM), and Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS).



Specifically, VHA SCDIO requires a scalable, customizable enterprise entity matching software capability as a vital component of its vendor cleansing initiative, that allows for D-U-N-S® number matching to VHA s source data, cross matched to the Dun & Bradstreet Inc global data base. This enables consistent detection of similarities in source data and more accurately combines it into a single business entity match, for identifying and cleansing systems data duplication. The IFCAP vendor file cleansing mandate is an ongoing effort, requiring the continued availability of D-U-N-S® number entity matching software capability. For example, cleansing efforts to obtain one vendor file for the company named Cardinal Health revealed some 411 vendor file records with names starting with Cardinal. Using entity matching linked to D-U-N-S® number allowed for these records to be quickly narrowed to 30 parent company names. Additionally, of the original 411 files, 347 of those were successfully matched and consolidated into a single vendor file accordingly. VHA PLO and OSDBU also require the D-U-N-S® number for business identification. VHA PLO requires the D-U-N-S® number for responsibility determinations as a prerequisite for contract award. OSDBU requires the D-U-N-S® number in the execution of Veteran-Owned (VO) and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned (SDVO) business ownership verification and evaluation determinations, when processing applications for inclusion in the Vendor Information Pages (VIP). Consistent and reliable business identification, continuous status monitoring, fraud reduction, and risk mitigation is a requisite of the statutory obligation to verify VO and SDVO status and maintain a database of verified firms.



EAS as well as OSDBU also require business history reporting capabilities. OSDBU s ability to determine ownership of a business requires quality and depth of data and a holistic view of a corporate entity uniquely captured in their D-U-N-S® number. Such robust company data, aside from being required by statute, also provides insights not only into a company s financial and operational stability, but the authoritativeness of data on which that data is generated. Additionally, aggregate data on federal awards; as made available through all Federal, State and Local government sources is essential. This data provides specific details about business relationships the company may have with the Federal government including Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN), contracts, grants, loans, and debts owed to the Federal Government. VA also requires assurance that the data is complete, accurate and the most current available by means of a contractor established comprehensive quality assurance process. As demonstrated above, the unreliable nature of a predominately name focused business identification approach would require additional effort to match business information obtained from another source to the appropriate D-U-N-S® number, as well as involve additional cost to acquire the requisite business history data from Dun & Bradstreet Inc, necessary for the verification and evaluation process. If another vendor is selected to fill any component of the Governments consolidated requirement, both duplicative costs as well as additional effort will be introduced into numerous Federal processes. Furthermore, by virtue of a failure to meet all the technical requirements, another source would not offer the benefits of economies of scale leveraged through strategically sourcing the Governments requirement.



DETERMINATION THAT THE ORDER REPRESENTS BEST VALUE CONSISTENT WITH FAIR & REASONABLE PRICING:



IAW FAR 8.404(d), GSA has already determined prices of services offered at fixed-prices fair and reasonable; therefore, ordering activities are not required to make a separate determination. In order to ensure that the vendor s proposed prices are fair and reasonable, the prices will be compared to the vendor s FSS schedule pricing.



DESCRIPTION OF MARKET RESEARCH CONDUCTED:



Market research efforts were supported by industry feedback received via direct email from firms that were deemed most likely to be capable of meeting the requirement. This initial determination was based on an assessment of the FPDS records for contracts awarded under the NAICS/PSC combination 561450/R611 over the previous two fiscal years. This search returned records for 9 individual firms. A review of each firm s websites revealed 4 firms who operate in the specific business sector relevant to this requirement, and therefore were deemed most likely to be capable. Additionally the VIP database of CVE verified VOSB and SDVOSB firms was searched, using the same NAICS/PSC combination and returned only one firm, whose verification status was listed as expired (on March 15, 2017). However, a follow-up search of the VIP database (on March 30, 2017) revealed that the firms status had subsequently been updated to verified . The Program Office requested confirmation responses from all five firms that were deemed most likely to be capable in order to confirm initial determinations.



Specifically, confirmation was requested regarding the business s information report content, report customization options, and D-U-N-S® number linkage capabilities. The Program Office reviewed the confirmative responses submitted by representatives from Equifax Inc (on March 30, 2017), Experian (on March 10, 2017) and Dun & Bradstreet Inc (on March 3, 2017) to determine whether competition was viable for this action. No response was received from LexisNexis or the VIP identified firm, Clearances Unlimited LLC, which were due not later than April 4, 2017. While all sources possess the general capabilities needed to perform portions of the required effort, only Dun & Bradstreet Inc provides the report quality required to support all the Governments business information needs, to include business history. Only Dun & Bradstreet Inc provides the requisite D-U-N-S® number entity matching capability in their Integration Manager (IM) software. Additionally, only Dun & Bradstreet Inc possessed the unique capability to ensure that all business information is identified by, linked with, and searchable using a D-U-N-S® number.



OTHER SUPPORTING FACTORS:



In a side-by-side report suitability comparison, Experian does not support all the required business information needs of the Government. Additionally, Experian currently does not offer the ability to customize their report content in order to fully support all the Government s business information needs. Finally, Experian does not currently provide business information that is identified by, linked with, and searchable using a D-U-N-S® number.



ACTIONS NECESSARY TO OVERCOME ANY BARRIERS TO COMPETITION:



On future acquisitions of the same or similar requirements, the Requesting Service will engage with the Contracting Activity at the earliest stages of acquisition planning IAW FAR 7.102(a)(2) to obtain competition to the maximum extent practicable and be provided the opportunity to communicate the unique requirement for inclusion in future solicitations.



TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS CERTIFICATION:



IAW FAR 8.405-6(c)(2)(x), all supporting data that is the responsibility of technical or requirements personnel (e.g., verifying the Government s minimum needs or schedule requirements or other rationale for other than full and open competition) which form a basis for the justification have been certified as complete and accurate by the technical or requirements personnel.







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ORDERING ACTIVITY CONTRACTING OFFICER CERTIFICATION:



I certify IAW FAR 8.405-6(c)(2)(ix), that the justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.





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IAW FAR 8.405-6(d)(2), in my role as Advocate for Competition, based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the acquisition of financial reporting services, pursuant to the authority cited in paragraph four (4) above, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.







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