Notice of Intent to Brand Name Only: BMC Professional Services

The 10th Contracting Squadron, United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) Colorado received a Brand Name Only Justification to purchase BMC Professional Services through DoD ESI Program under the Army Computer Hardware Enterprise Software and Solutions (CHESS) contract. The resulting award will be a Firm Fixed Price Contract. The North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) number is 541512 and the business size standard is $27.5 million. The acquisition is unrestricted. This procurement is for the acquisition of brand name commercial items using procedures in accordance with FAR Part 8. Requirement: This brand name requirement is for BMC Software, Inc.'s professional services in deploying additional BMC Remedy capabilities such as software upgrades, configuration and implementation of an IT Service Management 8.1 Action Request service platform ending the fully functional service desk with no loss of integration capability. The requested professional services include: - 120 hours of Item number FPT029 - SME: Level 4 BMC Project Manager - 560 hours of Item number FPT029 - SME: Level 4 BMC Senior Consultant - Travel and Expenses (T&E) Sole Source Justification: Only one brand and no other brand will satisfy the USAFA requirement. BMC Software is the developer and provider of software licenses and maintenance (continuous support) on their propriety software packages. BMC Remedy software is the Air Force approved standard tool used by the bases for network and phone trouble tickets. USAFA Instructions 33-101, 33-115, 33-116 and 33-119 outline in ITIL framework that USAFA must comply with to make IT operations more efficient. In FY 2011, the first tool of the BMC ITIL tool set, Remedy, was purchased. We are required to use it on the .MIL network. Using Remedy for trouble tickets on the .EDU facilitates our response to user-reported outages by standardizing core services using identical software packages on both networks. The following USAFA IT processes have been standardized - email is managed through Exchanged on both networks; proxy services are managed by Bluecoat; and trouble tickets are managed by Remedy. Standardization allows 10 CS to provide timely response to customer issues, while increasing network stability and reducing man-hours spent to correct problems. The vast majority (78%) of network operations and maintenance work at USAFA, on both the .EDU and the .MIL networks, is accomplished by military personnel. Because Remedy is the Air Force standard, military network technicians who PCS to USAFA are already trained/experienced on Remedy. These technicians will often deploy to support contingency operations and will be required to use Remedy at the deployed location. As such, it is imperative that we maintain our military technicians' proficiency on Remedy on both the .MIL & .EDU networks. Also in accordance with DFARS PGI 208-74, if the required software or service is available on an Enterprise Software Agreement (ESA) within the ESI framework and represents the best value to the Government, the contracting officer or requiring official shall fulfill the requirement for software or service through ESA. In addition, the memo released by the Office of Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Acquisition) dated 15 April 2000 states "we should use ESI agreements, wherever they exist, for all software contracts - except in the most unusual cases with compelling justification". Based on these facts, BMC Professional Services will purchased through the mandatory ESI BPA. This synopsis is for notification purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation for bids or proposals. DO NOT submit a bid/quote at this time. Any offerors believing they can provide the required BMC Professional Services against the mandatory BPA through DoD ESI program under the CHESS contract that meets all of the specifications of the requirement described above may provide evidence for consideration. Evidence must support the offeror's claim. All qualified sources may submit a response, which if timely received, will be considered by this agency. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether a competitive procurement can be conducted. A determination not to compete this proposed procurement based on response to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Responses must be received NLT 1:00 pm Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) on 3 July 2015. Responses received after this will be considered late IAW FAR 52.212-1(f) and will not be evaluated. The Government does not intend to pay for any information provided under this announcement. Contractors must have a current registration within the System for Award Management (SAMS) https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/ Questions should be addressed to Grace Podoll, Contract Specialist, (719) 333-2327 or sent via e-mail to grace.podoll@us.af.mil CLAUSES INCORPORATED BY FULL TEXT: 5352.201-9101 Ombudsman (April 2014): (a) An ombudsman has been appointed to hear and facilitate the resolution of concerns from offerors, potential offerors, and others for this acquisition. When requested, the ombudsman will maintain strict confidentiality as to the source of the concern. The existence of the ombudsman does not affect the authority of the program manager, contracting officer, or source selection official. Further, the ombudsman does not participate in the evaluation of proposals, the source selection process, or the adjudication of protests or formal contract disputes. The ombudsman may refer the party to another official who can resolve the concern (b) Before consulting with an ombudsman, interested parties must first address their concerns, issues, disagreements, and/or recommendations to the contracting officer for resolution. Consulting an ombudsman does not alter or postpone the timelines for any other processes (e.g., agency level bid protests, GAO bid protests, requests for debriefings, employee-employer actions, contests of OMB Circular A-76 competition performance decisions). (c) If resolution cannot be made by the contracting officer, concerned parties may contact the USAF Academy Ombudsmen, James Anderson 8110 Industrial Drive, Ste 103 USAFA, CO 80840 Telephone number 719-333-2074 FAX 719-333-9018 email: james.anderson.72@us.af.mil Concerns, issues, disagreements, and recommendations that cannot be resolved at the MAJCOM/DRU level, may be brought by the concerned party for further consideration to the Air Force ombudsman, Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary (ADAS) (Contracting), SAF/AQC, 1060 Air Force Pentagon, Washington DC 20330-1060, phone number (703) 588-7004, facsimile number (703) 588-1067. (d) The ombudsman has no authority to render a decision that binds the agency (e) Do not contact the ombudsman to request copies of the solicitation, verify offer due date, or clarify technical requirements. Such inquiries shall be directed to the Contracting Officer (End of clause)