SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- CVENT Online Event Registration
- Notice Date
- 9/24/2019
- Notice Type
- Justification and Approval (J&A)
- NAICS
- 511120
— Periodical Publishers
- Contracting Office
- Department of Education, Federal Student Aid, FSA Acquisitions, Union Center Plaza, RM 91F1, 830 First Street, NE, Washington, District of Columbia, 20202-5405
- ZIP Code
- 20202-5405
- Archive Date
- 10/8/2019
- Point of Contact
- Raissa Figueiredo, Phone: 2023774666
- E-Mail Address
-
Raissa.Figueiredo@ed.gov
(Raissa.Figueiredo@ed.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Award Number
- 91003118F0039
- Award Date
- 8/15/2019
- Description
- JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION 1.Identification of the agency and contracting activity: a.Federal agency and contracting activity: US Department ofEducation, Federal Student Aid (FS A) b.Sponsoring organization: Communications and Outreach Office 2.Nature and/or description of the action being approved: a.Acquisition purpose and objectives: The U.S. Department of Education conductsseveral events each year, including conferences (small and large), trainingworkshops, webinars, hearings, meetings, and training sessions. The Departmentneeds a flexible and easy-to-use online registration service with support services thatcan facilitate handling the diverse event needs of multiple conferences, webinars andmeetings, and will allow attendees and trainees to register online for any of theseevents. Multiple events could be scheduled at the same time; therefore, theregistration service needs the flexibility to allow for this. b.Project background: On June 19, 2019, the Online Event Registration solicitationwas posted and competed amongst GSA Schedule 70 holders (SIN 132-32).Subsequently, the decision was made to award a Firm-Fixed Price task order underCVENT INC.'s (CVENT's) GSA contract (GS-35F-0517T). The task order,91003118F0039, consisted of a base year of twelve (12) months with four (4) one- year option periods. The current base period ends September 29, 2019. On August 8, 2018, the FSA Acquisitions sent a notice of intent to exercise optionperiod 1 to CVENT. After email acknowledgment from CVENT, a modification wasexecuted to exercise option period 1: September 30, 2019 - September 29, 2020. Thefully executed modification was sent to CVENT on August 15, 2019. On August 16,2019, CVENT notified the Department that the CVENT GSA schedule contract hadbeen cancelled; the effective date of cancellation was July 19, 2019. The decision tocancel the GSA contract initiated from CVENT. After a thorough evaluation,CVENT determined that, from a business perspective, it was in its best interest to endits GSA Schedule contract. CVENT's online event registration service continues tobe available under other GWACs. The program office confirmed that there is a continuing need for uninterruptedonline web-based registration services and customer support to allow staff andinternal and external customers to register for training workshops, breakoutsessions, webinars, events, and conferences. 3.Description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency'sneeds (including the estimated value). a.Project title: Online Registration Service 2 b.Project description: The vendor shall provide an online web-based registration service, and customer support to allow staff, internal and external customers to register for training workshops, breakout sessions, webinars, events and conferences. The contractor will need to provide ongoing customer support and have the ability to build registration services and provide detailed custom reports upon request.The registration service shall reside on the contractor's server and be accessible to our customers through several Departmental websites, including but not limited to, the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP), Training for Financial Aid Professionals (TFAP), e-Training site (Learning Management platform), the Federal Student Aid Training Conference website, StudentAid.gov, andFinancialToolkit.ed.gov and the general Department of Education website.c.Total estimated dollar value and performance/delivery period.Total estimated dollar value is $redacted and the performance/delivery period is for a 12- month period: September 30, 2019 - September 29, 2020.d.The authority and supporting rationale and demonstration of the proposed contractor's unique qualifications to provide the required supply or service. Authority: FAR 13.106-1(b), "Soliciting from a Single Source."Reason for Authority Cited: This requirement will be restricted to CVENT Inc. as they are the only vendor that provides this software. There are no authorized resellers.CVENT is currently being utilized and a lack of continuity would negatively impact several program offices, including: Business Operations, Office of the Chief Operating Officer, Customer Experience and ED Office of Communications and Outreach. The most significant impacts are to the events that are currently in the registration process, such as the FSA Training Conference for Financial Aid Professionals (FSATC), FSA's largest training event. Registration is currently at over 3,100 participants and an additional 3,000 or more registrations are expected. Registration will be open through November 2019 and the conference will be held on December 3-6, 2019. The registration service, provided by CVENT, allows FSA's attendees to register; the information is also used for required reporting, attendee communications, and to check-in attendees at events and provide them with badges and other registration materials. Similar impacts are expected for the "wrapper" events surrounding the FSATC, including:Dec. 2-3, 2019 The Presidential Leadership Summit for Minority Serving Institutions (registration opening September 4)Dec. 2. 2019 The FSA Partner Summit (open registration)Dec. 2, 2019 The New FAA Training (open registration)Dec. 2, 2019 The Foreign Schools Conference (open registration)Additionally, FSA utilizes Inquisium and the "Mobile App" options provided by CVENT. Inquisium is the survey tool used for feedback on events and the Mobile App is the main communication and information tool for conference attendees to use onsite at the conferences. 3 Given the abrupt cancellation of CVENT's GSA Schedule contract and the registration service currently in place for the upcoming conferences, CVENT is the only responsible source that will satisfy agency requirements. 4.Determination by the ordering activity contracting officer that theorder represents the bestvalue This order represents the best value to the Government given that it is no longer possibleto exercise option period one on the current contract under CVENT's GSA Schedule. The decision to negotiate directly with CVENT for a Firm-Fixed Price contract isdetermined to be the best value for the government. This determination is based, in part,on the fact that the previous contract was competitively awarded through GSASchedule. In addition, the CVENT registration service is currently in progress for FSA's TrainingConference, scheduled for December 3-6, 2019. Based on the above information and insight, awarding directly to CVENT for aone-year period of performance offers the best value to the Government andensures compatibility with the existing online event registration service. 5.Description of the market research conducted among scheduleholders and the results Market research was conducted by the FSA acquisitions last year to identify availablesources and to evaluate the availability of the marketplace to meet the requirement asfollows: June 19, 2018, the RFQ was posted on GSA eBuy to Schedule 70 holders (SIN 132-32). June 28, 2018, responses to vendor questions were posted on GSA eBuy througha modification to the RFQ. July 6, 2018, received one quote from CVENT. Based on the market research conducted last year and in order to not have a break inservices, it was determined by the Contracting Officer that CVENT is the onlyresponsible source that will satisfy agency requirements. 6.Statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove orovercome any barriers to competition before any subsequentacquisition for the required supplies or services. FSA will continue to conduct thorough market research to gauge the marketplacecapabilities for future requirements. The current award will be placed for only 12-months in order to give the organization time to properly re-compete this requirement.FSA will seek competition of future acquisitions for these services. 7.Program office certification: 4 This is to certify that the portions of this justification that have been developed by the undersigned program office personnel, including supporting information and/or data verifying the Government's minimum needs, schedule requirements and other rationale which form the basis for this justification, are accurate and complete. Official Name & Title Signature Date Program Office redacted 8.Contracting Officer certification: This is to certify that the justification for the proposed acquisition has beenreviewed and that to the best of my knowledge and belief the information and/ordata provided to support the rationale and recommendation for approval isaccurate and complete. Official Name & Title Signature Date Contracting Officer redacted
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