Updated August 8, 2024
Another day and another win for Team Oddball, as this fast-growing service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB), dedicated to digital modernization of federal citizen-centric services, picks up a strategic SDVOSB sole source contract in support of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Contract Award Date: Aug 07, 2024
Contract Award Number: 36C10B24P0016
Contractor Awarded Unique Entity ID: MHNFNJ1J5RF5
Contractor Awarded Name: ODDBALL, INC.
Base and All Options Value (Total Contract Value): $2,250,948.44
JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION
The proposed action provides support to help VA migrate Veteran and PoA experiences from the legacy Stakeholder Enterprise Portal (SEP) product and eBenefits platform to VA.gov. The Contractor will
collaborate with other development teams, both internal and external to VA’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) as the teams implement digital solutions powered by Lighthouse Application Programming Interfaces (API) and APIs owned by the Office of Information and Technology (OIT) on behalf of the Office of the General Counsel. This work will include the research, design, implementation,
testing, security, deployment, and support of a suite of products, as well as the capability to conduct technical spikes and assessments and ensure high levels of accessibility compliance. This proposed FFP contract is for a 12-month base period, with a one-month optional task to support the potential transition to a new contractor.
The proposed source for this acquisition is Oddball. Oddball is a certified SDVOSB and is technically qualified to migrate the PoA functionality from current legacy systems to VA.gov and create/refine the suite of products assisting Veterans with appointing people with PoA, as well as assisting those granted PoA with filing Benefits claims on behalf of Veterans who have granted PoA. Oddball won a competitive task order awarded on July 20, 2023, to perform this work and has performed successfully to date. As part of this work, Oddball has led extensive research understanding the VA’s Accredited Representative program and gained expertise working with the APIs and other systems integral to this work. The knowledge gained from this research will enable Oddball to move forward more efficiently with the proposed future work.
The existing task order expires on August 6, 2024, however, the need for continued support and iteration on the transition of functionality from legacy systems to VA.gov is an ongoing need beyond this task order. Any break in service for the current contract would result in VA not completing delivery of an online method for Veterans
to submit, or representatives to accept, PoA requests via VA.gov. Additionally, the current SEP system supporting accredited representative (Accredited Rep) functions is scheduled to be shut down in March 2025, so Veterans and accredited reps would have to fall back to paper submissions and processing resulting in delayed Accredited Rep access to Veteran data in the Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS) and subsequent delays in submitting claims for Veterans benefits. Due to Oddball’s, historical, technical, and programmatic knowledge of the Accredited Representative ecosystem, award of the proposed action to Oddball is in VA’s best interest in order to migrate from the legacy system prior to the March 2025 shutdown deadline. Utilizing any firm other than Oddball substantially increases the VA’s risk of not meeting that deadline.
Added July 31, 2024
Notice ID: 36C10B24Q0612
The proposed sole source action is a firm-fixed price (FFP) contract for the creation of a suite of products to serve Veterans who wish to appoint someone with Power of Attorney (PoA), to serve the people assigned PoA with the ability to accept or reject the assignment and support the deprecation of the legacy systems currently used to take those actions. This contract will support the VA migrate Veteran and PoA experiences from the legacy Stakeholder Enterprise Portal (SEP) product and eBenefits platform to VA.gov The proposed contractor is Oddball, Inc. (Oddball), 1875 K street NW, Ste 400, Washington, D.C. 20006. The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition for this acquisition is 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(5), Authorized or Required by Statute, as implemented by FAR 6.302-5. For this action, 38 U.S.C. 8127(c), known as the Veterans First Contracting Program provides the authority to directly contract with a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) or a Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB).
Not Yet a Premium Partner/Sponsor? Learn more about the OS AI Premium Corporate and Individual Plans here. Plans start at $250 annually.