R--Veterans Relationship Management (VRM)IDIQ

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY 1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Acquisition Operations Technology Acquisition Center 260 Industrial Way West Eatontown, NJ 07724 2. Description of Action: The proposed sole source action is for a one month, firm-fixed price (FFP) extension in support of Member Integrations Services with Systems Research and Applications (SRA) Corporation under Contract VA118-11-D-0053, Task Order VA118-11-F-0001. 3. Description of Supplies or Services: The proposed action is to provide data services, messaging, and Department of Defense (DoD) interoperability to Veterans Relationship Management (VRM). The services enable authorized users and/or application to search records and retrieve profile data, military history and information on compensation and benefits, disabilities, and dependents. The task order was awarded in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.219-19, Order Limitation, to satisfy the minimum guarantee. The one month extension will prevent a break in contract coverage providing software engineering and testing support for the production VRS (Veterans Identity Eligibility Reporting System (VIERS)) environment. Avoiding a break in contract coverage is required to mitigate impact to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and VDC (VONAPP Direct Connect) testing and production releases until the new task order is awarded. The total estimated value of the proposed action is $214,546.64. 4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting an exception to fair opportunity is Section 41 U.S.C.253J(b) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 16.505(b)(2) entitled, "Exceptions to the fair opportunity process," 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: The proposed source is Systems Research and Applications Corporation (SRA), 4300 Fair Lakes Court, Fairfax, Virigina 22033. SRA is the incumbent vendor responsible for all VIERS development, testing, and production operations. The VIERS team has recently developed enterprise web service software releases that are in process of testing for production consumption by VRM CRM and Vonapp Direct Connect applications. SRA has the knowledge of the VIERS environement, including sub-system interconnection and web service application source code, required to support CRM and VDC testing and integration of the VIERs web services into their production environments. Despite the environment being well documented, transition to another vendor at this critical time would result in unnecessary delays to CRM and VDC testing and integration efforts, with a delay in meeting customer and PMAS milestones. The one month extension will prevent a break in contract coverage providing software engineering and testing support for the production VIERS environment. Avoiding a break in service is required to mitigate impact to CRM and VDC VONAPP Direct Connect testing and production releases until the new task order is awarded. 6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: There is no competition anticipated for this action. The proposed action will not be synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities Page in accordance with FAR 5.202(a)(11), Exceptions - the proposed contract action is made under the terms of an exisiting contract that was previously synopsized in sufficient detail to comply with the requirements of 5.207 with respect to the current proposed contract action. In accordance with FAR 16.505(b)(2) and FAR 5.2, this Justification and Approval (J&A) will be made publicly available at www.fedbizopps.gov. 7. Actions to Increase Competition: The Government is currently competing the a new task order for this requirement under the VRM Information Technology Solutions and Support Services (ITSS) Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. The anticipated award date was June 25, 2012; however, due to revisions to the Performance Work Statement and delays during the evaluation period, the future order will not be awarded prior to the completition date of the current order. The forecasted award date for the new order is July 20, 2012. 8. Market Research: Market research efforts were not conducted for this effort. While other sources may have the general capabilities needed to perform the type of work associated with this effort, only SRA, as the incumbent contractor, possesses the technical expertise and expertise specific to Member Integrations Services which is necessary to continue the critical support without a lengthy break in service. 9. Other Facts: None.