1.5.1_Justification_and_Approval_for_Other_Than_Full_and_Open_Competition.pdf

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN

COMPETITION

41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(3)

Pursuant to the requirements of the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) as implemented by FAR Subpart 6.3 and in accordance with the requirements of FAR 6.303-1, the justification for the use of the statutory authority under FAR Subpart 6.3 is justified by the following facts and rational required under FAR 6.303-2 as follows:

1. Identification of Requiring Agency and Contracting Activity: Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Region IX, Mission Support Division.

2. Nature and/or Description of the Action being Approved: Repair functionality to the Region IX 12th floor conference room AV equipment, including the movement of racks, update of wireless microphones, and installation of codec into the conference AV system.

3. Description of Supplies/Services Required to Meet the Agency’s Needs: (include estimated value). This is a follow on requirement to 70FBR918P00000093 to move IT racks, update wireless microphones, and install a codec into the conference room AV system. The estimated value of this work is $54,706.00 for all parts, labor, and travel/transportation.

4. Identification of Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition. The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C.3304(a)(1) implemented by the FAR Subpart 6.302-1 entitled “Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.”

5. Demonstration that the Nature of the Acquisition Require Use of the Authority Cited. The This is a follow on requirement to 70FBR918P00000093 Costas Group installed and engineered the AV equipment in the Region IX 12th Floor Conference rooms. There is proprietary source code that needs to be accessed during the new requirement that no other vendor would be able to access. This requirement goes well beyond the knowledge of how individual components operate but how they were engineered to work in concert with each other. The only vendor/ with adequate knowledge this is the vendor who engineered the system – Costas Group. Any other vendor would have to completely reconfigure the system at a substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition

6. Description of Efforts Made to Ensure that Offers are Solicited from as Many Potential Sources as is Practicable. The solicitation was made available on FBO.gov. A copy of this Justification will be made available within 14 days of award.

7. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the Anticipated Cost to the Government will be Fair and Reasonable. The costs are determined to be fair and reasonable when compared to previous work performed by the Costas Group for FEMA Region IX and with other vendors performing similar work. Costs were compared to HSFE09-16-P-0227, HSFE09-16-J-0202, and 70FBR918P00000093. The hourly rates were in line with the previous orders FEMA has competitively awarded. The cost to the government for this requirement is found to be fair and reasonable.

8. Description of Market Research. Market research is required by FAR Part 10. There are multiple companies available that can perform the same or similar work. However, responses from companies in this field indicated that they would need to install their own equipment/solution.

9. Any Other Facts Supporting the Use of Other Than Full and Open Competition. There is proprietary source code that needs to be accessed during the new requirement that no other vendor would be able to access. This requirement goes well beyond the knowledge of how individual components operate but how they were engineered to work in concert with each other.

Costas Group is the only vendor that has the programming source code and they control the administrative passwords required to access the conference room controllers. Region IX IT has neither the access nor coding expertise to fully test, troubleshoot, and correct the identified issues and requirements in the conference room equipment.

FEMA has previously tried to use other vendors to modify the conference room AV system which resulted in additional work being required to correct the changes the new vendor made in order to make the rooms useable. These changes are still being corrected by FEMA through this requirement.

The duplicated cost is estimated to be $200,000.00 based on the labor performed previously and the additional new work of this requirement.

10. A Listing of the Sources, if Any That Expressed, in Writing, an Interest in the Acquisition.

None at this time. This justification will be posted alongside the combined synopsis/solicitation.

LIST OF RESPONSES

11. A Statement of the Actions, if Any, the Agency May Take to Remove or Overcome Any Barriers to Competition Before Any Subsequent Acquisition for Supplies or Services Required.

12. I certify this requirement meets the Government’s minimum need and that the support data, which forms a basis for this justification, is complete and accurate.

Technical Representative Date

Maurice Moore 08/01/2019

13.Contracting Officer’s Certification. I certify that the data supporting the recommended use of other than full and open competition is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Contracting Officer Date