Re: Solicitation Number: 36C10B19Q0743
The VA Office of Information and Technology (OIT), Demand Management Division, Architecture and Engineering Service (AES), has a requirement to renew Unicom software maintenance, updates, and manufacturer telephone and web-based technical support services for six (6) Unicom products and two (2) add-on’s (i.e. System Architect Client, System Architect XT Read, System Architect XT Read/Write, System Architect Publisher, Focal Point, Focal Point Stakeholder, System Architect FEA Add on, and System Architect – Publisher Add on) in use throughout AES and VA. The maintenance and support services shall include resolution to problem tickets via the Unicom Support Web Portal, resolution to phone calls via the Unicom Support Help Desk, release of software hotfixes and software version updates, electronic distribution of maintenance updates or new releases, and authority access control methods…
Based on market research, as described in section 8 of this justification, it was determined that limited competition is available for the required Unicom brand name software maintenance and support services…
IBM sold these products to Unicom in January 2016. Since that divestiture, the number of resellers of the required maintenance renewal has been small, but Unicom is expected to increase the number of resellers of these services to include the resellers of all their other proprietary software products. OIT and AES researched Sparx Systems, Signavio and Trisotech to determine if these brands could potentially add capability to AES’s Enterprise Architecture (EA) tools environment. These brands each offer fragments of EA capabilities but, do not meet the breadth and depth of requisite Unicom product capabilities (e.g. modelling, relational database and solution design)…
OIT and AES researched vendors providing similar services, including Insignia, Prosphere, and Booz Allen Hamilton. Although these vendors possess similar maintenance and support capabilities, only Unicom has access to the proprietary source code specific to the maintenance for this particular software…
Based on this prior market research, the TAC issued Request for Quotation (RFQ) 36C10B19Q0666 to the NASA SEWP V GWAC on August 27, 2019. An Amendment was issued on September 4, 2019 to provide an account number for the acquisition to resellers and to extend the RFQ to allow additional time for vendor responses. On September 6, 2019, the RFQ closed and no quotes were received. The Contract Specialist contacted Unicom to ascertain if any additional information was needed so that resellers would be able to provide a quote. After receiving requests for extension from multiple vendors, the RFQ was reopened on September 9, 2019 to allow additional time for vendor responses. On September 10, 2019, the Contract Specialist asked Unicom to provide a list of resellers for Unicom products, but did not receive a response. On September 11, 2019, the RFQ closed again and still no responses were received. The Contract Specialist received feedback from multiple vendors who had been unable to obtain pricing from Unicom due to the six (6)-month POP for the Base Period. The Contract Specialist also received email confirmation from Unicom that the POP for the Base Period needed to be changed or pricing information would not be provided to resellers. Another Amendment was issued on September 11, 2019 to reopen the RFQ and change the POP for the Base Period. On September 12, 2019 multiple resellers of Unicom products provided feedback to the Contract Specialist stating that Unicom would still not provide pricing information despite the change to the Base Period POP. On September 12, 2019, the Contract Specialist again contacted Unicom to ascertain if any additional information was needed so that resellers would be able to provide a quote and again requested a list of resellers for Unicom products…
On September 13, 2019, Unicom provided written confirmation that Unicom does not have a small business authorized partner nor an SDVOSB authorized reseller of System Architect and Focal Point. Accordingly, the required maintenance can only be provided by either Unicom Global, or a separate subsidiary Unicom Government, its only reseller, both Large Businesses, and therefore, there is no reasonable expectation of competition among small businesses of any kind. Accordingly, this effort will be solicited under full and open competition on the open market as a combined synopsis/solicitation.
Due to current market conditions, soliciting under NASA SEWP is not viable. Therefore, the new strategy will be to utilize FBO to award a stand-alone contract on an open market basis.
