Open Text Maintenance & Support Agreement

In accordance with FAR 13.106-1(b), the U.S. Department of Education intends to solicit a single source to meet its requirement for Open Text Maintenance & Support. The Contracting Officer has determined that the circumstances of the contract action deem only one source reasonably available. The U.S. Department of Education, Office of the General Counsel (OGC), is under the supervision of the General Counsel, who serves as principal adviser to the Secretary on all legal matters affecting Departmental programs and activities. The OGC employs a case management system that supports on-going litigation and regulatory matters. In general terms, the system centralizes documents to be orderly searched and accessible; prevents the loss of work product, manages all relevant content associated with a particular matter or case, secures confidential, privileged, deliberative and attorney-work product information; allows for searching and access to relevant information across the OGC; and, provides a content and knowledge management feature that preserves the knowledge of the OGC developed over time. The case management system uses Open Text's Document Management and Records Management software as a critical tool to manage the electronic documents related to its business. In accordance with FAR 13.106-1(b)(3), the following brand name justification is being posted: Justification for Brand-Name Procurement Annual Software Support Service of Open Text Document/Record Management System The U.S. Department of Education, Office of the General Counsel (OGC) requests a sole source award to Open Text to procure an annual maintenance agreement for the Open Text licenses it owns. The OGC utilizes a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) product, "eDOCS Document Management (DM)" software created by Open Text. OGC has invested substantial resources in customizing the DM software to meet the special requirements of its business practice, including (1) integration with OGC Case and Activity Management System (OGC-CAMS) & Microsoft Office products for tracking and managing cases related data and documents, and (2) added its Record Management (RM) function to become a fully functional electronic records management tool. The OGC maintains 120 DM licenses, 160 RM licenses, and 120 eDOCS licenses. The Government estimates the value of this requirement to be $15,500. OGC-CAMS has been using DM/RM (software) as a critical tool to manage the electronic documents related to its business. The strategy of utilizing a COTS system with appropriate customization has proven to be a cost-effective method of meeting the OGC's requirements in this area. This approach is especially advantageous to OGC as it has begun the expansion of electronic complaint files. Open Text continues enhancing the software to be compatible to modern technology. The software is proprietary and licensed under exclusive legal rights. Keeping the Maintenance & Support Agreement will ensure continued technical support and software enhancements available under upgraded versions while remaining compliant with the Departmental architecture and requirements. Award of this contract to any source other than a source capable of maintaining the Open Text licenses would cause ED to realize a substantial duplication of costs equivalent to purchasing, configuring, and installing a new document management system that would not be recovered through a competitive solicitation. Requirements Currently the OGC owns the following perpetual licensing agreements: 120 Licenses for OpenText - Document Management 160 Licenses for Open Text - Records Management 3 Licenses for Records Management Administrator Tool 120 Licenses for eDOCS Integration for Microsoft SharePoint A firm fixed price quote is requested to renew the maintenance & support agreement for these licenses. Period of Performance The Department is interested in soliciting a firm fixed price cost proposal for a base year contract as well as four additional option years. Your proposal shall include pricing schedules for each of the following periods of performance: Base Year: October 1, 2011 - September 30, 2012 Option Year #1: October 1, 2012 - September 30, 2013 Option Year #2: October 1, 2013 - September 30, 2014 Option Year #3: October 1, 2014 - September 30, 2015 Option Year #4: October 1, 2015 - September 30, 2016 Proposal Response Date Quotes are due by September 28, 2011 at 1:00pm (Eastern Standard Time). Quotes shall be submitted via email to william.doyle@ed.gov. Questions regarding the requirements of this procurement shall be directed to Terry Bashford at terry.bashford@ed.gov or 202-401-5946.