EFSR Feith Beta Installation Control Number TAC-17-41390 LIMITED-SOURCES JUSTIFICATION 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 4-month firm-fixed price sole source contract for technical engineering services required to design, modify, test, and deploy the Feith system/software for supporting two factor authentication (2FA) requirements in accordance with VA Memorandum: Mandate to meet Personal Identity Verification (PIV) Requirements for New and Existing Systems (VAIQ# 7712300) by April 30, 2017. The proposed effort will be awarded under the General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contract GS-35F-298CA to Feith Systems and Software, Inc., 425 Maryland Drive, Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, 19034.2501. 3. Description of Supplies or Services: The proposed action is to provide technical engineering services required to modify the Feith system/software for supporting2FA requirements as defined in the above mandate, by April 30, 2017. Currently, VA utilizes the Feith software through a perpetual software license as its document repository solution which allows the National Cemetery Administration (NCA) to process claims for VA services to include Presidential Memorial Certificates, burial in National Cemeteries, and burial headstones. Feith is used for storing images of faxed-in and mailed-in applications for Memorial Benefits. In order to access the system, users log-in to the Feith system/software using a VA username and password which has been proven to pose security vulnerabilities to VA systems & networks. Per the aforementioned mandate, VA requires all systems directly interfacing with VA systems/networks to replace current authentication mechanisms with improved security controls using the Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card and credential, which will accomplish the 2FA requirement. VA Identity & Access Management (IAM) Program Office is the enforcer and enabler of the VA enterprise service solution which will interface to Feith systems/software. Feith technical engineering services will support weekly technical interchange sessions with IAM and VA Memorials technical teams to accomplish the following: determine the applicable integration pattern; determine and submit infrastructure intake assessment needs; configure and troubleshoot Feith/2FA systems/software; design, modify, test and deploy Feith/2FA solution into VA Memorials hosting environments, including but not limited to Dev, Alpha, Beta, and Prod, and with VA personnel to verify deployed functionality in each release state; conduct integrated end-to-end testing with VA personnel to verify deployed functionality in each release state (Development, Testing, Production); provide technical documentation necessary to support deployed Feith/2FA functionality; advise Memorials technical documentation teams on required changes for sustainment, as required. Feith changes to support 2FA mandate are not anticipated to induce Memorials Legacy application code changes or deter from existing functionality. 4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority providing for a limited source award is Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(B), Only one source is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services are unique or highly specialized 5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: As previously stated, the Feith software/solution is currently the document repository solution for NCA. In order to comply with the 2FA mandate, the solution must have its current username and password authentication functionality disabled and be modified and reconfigured to interface with VA enterprise single sign on services, as well as map existing NCA end user accounts to VA network credentials. The mapping is required in order to retain the integrity of the audit ability so that each current user activity can still be audited as one account. Furthermore, the Feith Document Database (FDD) product line is comprised of a number of sub-applications, such as AuditorIQ and ReportsIQ, which must be modified by the vendor to ensure proper logging/auditing functionality. VA currently owns a perpetual software license for the solution. This license permits VA s usage of the software, but does not grant the rights or ability to modify the source code, which is required for any source to implement the required software modifications and user account mapping as described above. Feith owns the proprietary rights to the software, limiting any other vendor s ability to complete the necessary work. Due to this restriction, no other source has the capability of performing the aforementioned work to allow for 2FA. 6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in the market research section of this document. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government s requirements. There is no competition anticipated for this acquisition. Additionally, the proposed action will be synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities Page in accordance with FAR 5.201. 7. Actions to Increase Competition: All future requirements will be handled on a case-by-case basis to determine any future acquisition strategy. The Memorials Portfolio is in the process of replacing existing legacy systems with the next generation products which will leverage to the maximum extent possible, open source software. However, this cannot be implemented in time to meet the 2FA mandate. 8. Market Research: Market Research was conducted in November 2016 by VA technical personnel to ascertain if other sources, other than Feith, could meet the VA s need. The Government s technical experts found only Feith System and Software Inc. can meet the Government s requirement in performance of this task. Other sources that provide similar software products and support do not have access to Feith s proprietary technical data which is required in order to perform installation and configuration services. Additionally, a request for information was submitted via the NASA SEWP V website to all Contract Holders seeking potential additional sources. No responses were received during this timeframe. 9. Other Facts: There are no other facts that support this requirement.
