SNF-FP7600-23-00222 1 SSJ FINAL1302023 _Redacted.pdf

NF-FP7600-23-00222 SSJ

SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION

FOR AN ACTION EXCEEDING THE SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION THRESHOLD

USING SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURES FOR CERTAIN COMMERCIAL ITEMS

(AUTHORITY: FAR 13.501(a), 41 U.S.C. 1901)

NF-FP7600-23-00222

1. Agency and contracting activity.

Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Acquisition and Grants Office (AGO), Western Acquisition Division (WAD) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC), Newport Research Station (NRS).

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

NOAA intends to award a new, Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contract to Oregon State University (OSU) for facilities-based services at the NRS as a sole source. This is a follow-on to contract AB-133F-17-CN-0142.

3. Description of supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the total estimated value).

The objective of this contract is to obtain services to operate, maintain, and repair the facilities at the NRS, located at 2030 and 2032 Southeast Oregon State University Drive, Newport, Oregon, on the campus of the OSU, Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC). The Station consists primarily of three (3) office/laboratory buildings with a combined area approaching 74,000 square feet plus four (4) additional support structures and seven (7) smaller storage buildings. The required services are for ongoing facilities operation, maintenance, repair, janitorial services, filtered seawater supply, and 24/7 security services. These services are vital to the continued scientific research efforts of more than six (6) additional agencies and OSU faculty and students who utilize these facilities. The period of performance commences on 01 March 2023 through 29 February 2024 at a cost of for the base contract year and up to four (4) one (1) year option years resulting in a grand total of .

4. Statutory authority permitting the sole source (including brand name) acquisition.

41 U.S.C. 1901, using SAP up to $7.5M as authorized by FAR 13.500(a) and implemented by FAR 13.501(a).

5. Demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited.

The contracting officeer has determined the following circumstances justify the use of a sole source as supported below:

Only one source – Under the Authority of 41 U.S.C. 1901, only one source is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the services are performed under a unique agreement between OSU and all occupants of facilities at the Newport location.

NOAA owns three (3) main buildings, 12 out buildings and supports over 150 persons at the NRS, which is located in the middle of the HMSC campus. NOAA owns the buildings on the HMSC campus, but no surrounding land or support facilities. NOAA's buildings were originally built on campus to take advantage of the high volume and high-quality flow-through seawater system of the HMSC, which can provide over 1,000 gallons per minute of cold sand filtered seawater to all of the agencies and Visitor Center on the campus. In addition, the original agreement with OSU and NOAA was created so that OSU would provide all building maintenance, upkeep, and security functions by contract; in return, OSU would indemnify NMFS for their work. This is a unique arrangement which recognizes the complexity of a multi-user facility that cannot be replicated through a contract outside of OSU and puts NMFS at risk. Because OSU owns the system, they are responsible for the maintenance, repair, monitoring and operation of the sea water system.

Due to the nature of collaboration on campus, OSU has numerous existing policies and agreements with the occupants related to facility use and mandatory support, including an Emergency Operations Plan for procedures and responsibilities for the planning and implementation of emergency procedures, building access and usage.

A key facet of this requirement is seawater discharge processing. Seawater is obtained from Yaquina Bay by pumps owned by OSU located on an OSU-owned dock. The seawater is stored in a reservoir owned by the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency and pumped throughout the HMSC campus, including NRS. Both components (pumps and reservoir) of the seawater system are operated and maintained by OSU. The seawater is regulated by a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit that is issued to and administered by OSU. The permit regulates discharge treated seawater into Yaquina Bay, after use at HMSC. OSU is the only known source that can provide these services. OSU operates the disinfection system using chlorine and a specialized sampling/monitoring system. Moving away from OSU is not possible as it will require NOAA to separate the discharge, negotiate with EPA for NOAA’s own NPDES permit, and comply with NPDES requirements stipulated therein. This will take an unknown amount of time and money to reconfigure the system and create the necessary infrastructure to separate all discharges.

The Facility System Operation and Security Daily Checks, Access and Key Management, Computerized Maintenance Management System, Emergency Equipment Inspection, Elevators, Fire Alarm System, and Sprinklers are currently wired through existing OSU system as these tasks require a coordinated effort in order to ensure safety and continuity of efforts on the campus. If there is a security issue or a fire, the buildings are in such close proximity to each other that the processes and alarms in one building directly impact the other. OSU is the only source that is authorized to provide these services. OSU additionally owns the access roads, the parking lots, the buildings where utility hook ups are located as well as the main circuits for IT, requiring OSU to provide access to their building which impacts Facility Operation and Maintenance (O&M), Computerized Maintenance Management System.

Lastly, because this contract requires access to the OSU sea water system and support for O&M, security and custodial for three (3) main NOAA buildings and 12 out buildings seven (7) days per week, OSU self-performs this work and provides the services to the entire facility as set forth in the occupancy agreements.

6. Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by FAR Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under FAR 5.202 applies.

A synopsis of the proposed contract action, in accordance with FAR 5.201 and 5.207(c)(15), will be posted to the Government Point of Entry (GPE) at sam.gov at least 14 days prior to solicitation release. In accordance with FAR 6.503, a copy of the redacted SSJ will be posted onto sam.gov within 14 days of contract award. Paragraph 8 below details the results of the Sources Sought Notice (SSN) which was posted onto GPE for Market Research purposes.

7. Determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The Contracting Officer determines that the anticipated prices will be fair and reasonable based on planned negotiated pricing below that of the current contract AB-133F-17-CN-0142. Service Contract Act (SCA) labor rates for the Newport, OR locality will be used to secure reasonable hourly wages for each trade. Prior to award of the proposed contract, cost information shall be obtained from the contractor and a price analysis will be performed and documented to sufficiently determine that the cost to the Government of the proposed acquisition will be fair and reasonable.

8. Description of the market research conducted (see Part 10) and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

Per request from the Small Business office, a SSN was posted on June 15, 2022 under PR NF-FP7600-22-01428 on SAM.gov resulting in three (3) responses from small-businesses. Of the three (3) businesses, two (2) were small businesses that were not classified in any socioeconomic programs and one (1) was service-disabled veteran-owned small business. As expected, due to the integrated facilities and agreements related to shared resources, the Technical Evaluation team found that none of the companies are capable of performing 100% of the requirements listed in the PWS. This information will be used to inform a subcontracting plan requirement for OSU.

9. Any other facts supporting the use of a sole source (including brand name), such as:

There are no additional facts that have not been previously stated.

10. List of the sources that expressed a written interest in the acquisition.

In addition to the three (3) vendors that submitted capabilities statements in response to the SSN and OSU, no other sources have expressed interest in this requirement.

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 the supplies or services required.

OSU is the only source with agreements in place to service and maintain all components of the seawater system. In the future, the contracting team will review warranty agreements, existing MOU’s and other factors to see if any existing barriers are able to be removed.