Loren Data's SAM Daily™

FBO DAILY - FEDBIZOPPS ISSUE OF JULY 17, 2016 FBO #5350
DOCUMENT

D -- GovDelivery Web-based Application Subscription Renewal - Attachment

Notice Date

7/15/2016
 

Notice Type

Attachment
 

NAICS

541519 — Other Computer Related Services
 

Contracting Office

Department of Veterans Affairs;Technology Acquisition Center;23 Christopher Way;Eatontown NJ 07724
 

ZIP Code

07724
 

Solicitation Number

VA11816Q1310
 

Archive Date

10/22/2016
 

Point of Contact

Amy Schmalzigan
 

Small Business Set-Aside

N/A
 

Award Number

NNG15SD26B VA118-16-F-1198
 

Award Date

7/15/2016
 

Awardee

THUNDERCAT TECHNOLOGY, LLC;1925 ISAAC NEWTON SQ STE 180;RESTON;VA;20190
 

Award Amount

$1,502,017.97
 

Description

On July 15, 2016, the Technology Acquisition Center awarded Delivery Order VA118-16-F-1198 under the terms and conditions of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V contract NNG15SD26B with ThunderCat Technology, located at 1925 Isaac newton Square, Suite 180, Reston, VA 20190. ThunderCat will be providing GovDelivery Communications Cloud Service enterprise software license agreement, technical services, maintenance support and GovDelivery Drupal Knowledge Archive Network software for use throughout VA. The period of performance shall be from July 18, 2016 through July 17, 2017, plus two option years, the total order value of $4,798,434.17. ? JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY 1. Contracting Activity:Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Acquisition Operations Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, NJ 07724 2. Description of Action: This proposed action is for a firm-fixed-price delivery order issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for the renewal of a GovDelivery Communications Cloud Service enterprise license agreement, technical services, maintenance support, and GovDelivery Drupal Knowledge Archive Network (DKAN) software. 3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VA Office of Public Affairs (OPA) has a requirement for renewal of its brand name GovDelivery Communications Cloud Service enterprise license agreement, technical services, maintenance support and GovDelivery DKAN software for use throughout VA. The GovDelivery Communications Cloud Service enterprise license agreement provides enhanced web site and e-mail communication tools for public organizations by allowing users to create customizable profiles and to subscribe to information from across VA web sites. The software allows users to create customizable profiles and to subscribe to information from across VA web sites. Maintenance support is required and includes 24 hours system monitoring, application only security scans, application support from 7:00AM - 7:00PM Central Time via telephone and e-mail as well as 4-hour response time for support after business hours. In addition there is a requirement for a quantity of one GovDelivery DKAN software. DKAN software is a code based software for a content management system that shall be provided as Software as a Service (SaaS) for use throughout VA and includes maintenance support. This SaaS will enable VA to easily communicate harvested data from across the Department's enterprise business lines in a manner that is easily consumable by the public. The DKAN software allows users to create customizable profiles and to subscribe to information from across VA web sites via a configurable signup form. The DKAN software shall also assist VA's Open Data project and OPA in centralizing their data collection methods in a manner that will be highly efficient and federated through the use of a content management system (CMS). The Government also requires the same level of maintenance for DKAN software. The Contractor shall provide web hosting that shall support DKAN to include patches to resolve high impact defects and security issues. The Contractor shall also be responsible for the technical services of the DKAN software and technical training of designated VA staff in the use of this data-enabled CMS, including best practices for leveraging DKAN software's integration with the Communications Cloud Service. The period of performance shall be July 17, 2016 through July 18, 2017, plus two 12-month options for continued use of the GovDelivery Communications Cloud Service enterprise license agreement, technical services, maintenance support and GovDelivery DKAN software. 4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting this exception to fair opportunity is 41 U.S.C. 4106(c)(2) as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B), entitled "Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized." 5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based on market research, as described in section eight of this document, the Government has determined that limited competition is available for the required brand name items and services from authorized resellers that hold current NASA SEWP V GWACs. No other software, other than the GovDelivery Communications Cloud Service software, can meet all of VA's functional requirements. Specifically, VA has a functional requirement for software to integrate with multiple websites or web pages and content management processes without back-end database or content management server integration. This integration is accomplished by monitoring website content changes and using a unique automated process to send change notifications to subscribers by email when changes occur. The GovDelivery Communications Cloud Service software is the only software that performs this VA required function. Additionally, VA has a functional requirement for software to provide profile management features/templates from any client web page through placement of a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) link on the web page without any other programming or installation of any software or hardware. The GovDelivery Communications Cloud Service software is the only software that performs this VA required function. Furthermore, VA has a functional requirement for software to enable rapid sign-up for specific subscriptions, categories, subcategories, or entire lists of available subscription topics by placement of HTML links in appropriate locations on websites. These subscription features are presented in a manner that is consistent with the look and feel of the VA.gov website and does not require any subscription features to be hosted on client servers. Most importantly, the subscription service prompts users to view lists of all available subscription topics from other related partner agencies, which is unavailable in any other product. The GovDelivery Communications Cloud Service software is the only software that performs these VA required functions. In addition, no other code based software for a content management system can meet all of VA's functional requirements other than DKAN software. Specifically, VA requires a product that offers the functionality and workflow to upload, store, categorize, search, publicize, and federate a vast array of data, including spreadsheets, text documents and maps, as well as managing metadata. The GovDelivery DKAN software is the only software that performs this VA required function. VA has a functional requirement for software that has the capability to build on DKAN's CMS and offer capabilities that will enable the VA staff to upload, maintain and create datasets with corresponding web based mobile friendly 508 compliant visualization pages. These web pages will be integrated with the GovDelivery email capture fields so that VA can capture the email address of people interested in a particular data set or VA data in general. The GovDelivery DKAN software is the only software that performs this VA required function. VA has a functional requirement for software to combined analytics of both the GovDelivery software and the DKAN software which are critical capabilities to conducting outreach and more aggressive public affairs engagements. Fundamentally, data on visitors to VA web sites will lead to better outreach with the OPA audience, with the ultimate goal of controlling the communications to maintain existing and attract new subscribers. The GovDelivery and DKAN will offer access to Application Programming Interface advanced visualization functionality, enabling seamless integration of 708 existing VA web site data sets. This required integration capability must include a graphical user interface (GUI) that provides access to powerful storytelling and insight functionalities relative to VA web site data. This tool also provides Site Content and Design Quality Assurance and the contractor shall provide the GovDelivery Site Deployment Site Manager Training United States Project Open Data Federal Extras Module. The GovDelivery software is the only software that performs these VA required functions. Finally, VA has a functional requirement for software to customize and manipulate the visual framework of the application, which allows users to style their data visualizations according to enterprise standards or user preferences. The Government requires the flexibility for creation and customization of dashboards to provide content look-and-feel per enterprise standards or user group preferences. The GovDelivery software is the only software that performs this VA required function. Additionally, only GovDelivery through its authorized resellers can fulfill the Governments' requirements for the maintenance support of VA's current GovDelivery Communications Cloud Service and DKAN Data Visualization platform due to the proprietary nature of the software code used to configure the software to create a uniquely tailored suite of features that a federal agency needs when interfacing with the general public. Due to the restrictions placed upon other vendors by the proprietary nature of the software, no other software is capable of providing the necessary patches, updates, features, and support for the existing GovDelivery and DKAN software. 6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in section eight of this justification. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government's requirements. It was determined that limited competition is viable among authorized resellers for the required brand name GovDelivery Communications Cloud Service enterprise license agreement, technical services, maintenance support, and GovDelivery DKAN.. In accordance with FAR 5.301 and 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), notice of award of this action will be synopsized and this justification will be made publicly available within 14 days of award on the Federal Business Opportunities Page. In accordance with FAR 16.505(a)(4)(iii)(A), this justification will be posted with the request for quotation on the NASA SEWP V GWAC website to notify all interested parties. 7. Actions to Increase Competition: The Government will continue to conduct market research to ascertain if there are changes in the marketplace that would enable future actions to be competed. Specifically, the Government reviews performance and status of the product through recurring strategic planning and evaluation sessions; collaboration with internal organizational elements across the VA involved in open data activities; ongoing research in the performance and trends business intelligence and analytics (BI&A) vendors; ongoing research into evaluative criteria for vendor assessment; direct collaboration with higher organizational elements with respect to stakeholder information needs; and collaboration with private sector organizations with respect to the performance of their respective BI&A activities and technologies. The Government views the assessment process as a key step in increasing competition, increasing efficiencies, and improving effectiveness and uses the information management framework specified in Office of Management and Budget Circular A-130 as a means increasing competition and enhancing value of the investment. 8. Market Research: Market research was conducted by the Government's technical experts in April 2016 by reviewing other similar solutions such as Mailchimp and Constant Contact. While these products have similar functionality, none of these software products could meet all of VA's functional requirements as discussed in section five of this justification. Additionally, it was determined that none of these vendors can provide the necessary patches, updates, and support for VA's current GovDelivery Communications Cloud Service enterprise license agreement, technical services, maintenance support, and GovDelivery DKAN. While these other brands provide similar maintenance support, all are brand specific to its own proprietary software and are not compatible with other brands. Based on this market research the Government's technical experts have determined only GovDelivery brand name renewals and products can meet all of the Government's requirements. Additional market research was conducted in April 2016 by utilizing the NASA SEWP Provider Lookup tool to determine whether the brand name GovDelivery Communications Cloud Service enterprise license agreement, technical services, maintenance support, and GovDelivery DKAN is available from NASA SEWP V GWAC holders. It was determined that there are several resellers of the brand name GovDelivery Communications Cloud Service enterprise license agreement, technical services, maintenance support, and GovDelivery DKAN that hold current GWACs. Therefore, limited competition is expected among these GWAC holders. 9. Other Facts: None.
 

Web Link

FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/119d19be91141092580858de59059d70)
 

Document(s)

Attachment
 

File Name: NNG15SD26B VA118-16-F-1198 NNG15SD26B VA118-16-F-1198_1.docx (https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=2877068&FileName=NNG15SD26B-033.docx)

Link: https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=2877068&FileName=NNG15SD26B-033.docx

 

Note: If links are broken, refer to Point of Contact above or contact the FBO Help Desk at 877-472-3779.
 

Record

SN04184444-W 20160717/160715234443-119d19be91141092580858de59059d70 (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)

---

| FSG Index  |  This Issue's Index  |  Today's FBO Daily Index Page |