14. JA_SIM_ICF_Final 25.03.21 jb_Redacted.pdf

the General Services Administration (GSA) One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS) contract. It contained a contract base period of one (1) year, and nine (9) successive options of one-year periods for each option, totaling 10 years. The contract also included a six (6) month option to extend services, in accordance with FAR 52.217-8.

Full contract performance began on April 21, 2016, with an original contract expiration of April 20, 2026, not including the six (6) month option to extend services. Due to higher than anticipated expenditures of effort, option years were continually exercised early which was attributed to activities supporting preparation and peer review of National Toxicology Program (NTP) Technical Reports.

This is the first time this contract has been in place, so the effort was underestimated. It was not easily foreseen how much effort would be needed and as workload needs ramped up, effort was exhausted quickly causing option years to be exercised early.

Since there is a critical need for this work to continue under this contract without interruption, the Government determined that all subsequent option years should be exercised earlier than scheduled. As a result, this contract is expected to have depleted all of the available effort, including the six (6) month option to extend services, by March 2025.

This bridge contract must begin in March 2025 to avoid a lapse in service and disruption of mission-critical research while NIEHS finalizes the planning, re-soliciting, and award of the new contract.

Currently, the contract is in its final option year. However, this option year will not last the full term and all effort is expected to be exhausted by December 2024. To date, the six (6) month extension (in accordance with 52.217-8, Option to Extend Services) has not been exercised, but is expected to be exercised early in December 2024. It is estimated that the six (6) month extension will only provide enough effort to cover 3 months’ worth of services. Thus, the current contract will end in March 2025.

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

a. Project title. Scientific Information Management (SIM) and Literature-based Evaluations for the National Toxicology Program

(NTP).

b. Project description. Under the current contract, the contractor, ICF, provides scientific and technical expertise and support for evaluating and reporting the effects of environmental substances and other issues that may impact public health. The activities carried out by this contract address eight requirement areas for scientific information management, including 1) environmental health literature searching and management; 2) literature screening to identify relevant scientific information; 3) scientific data extraction, management, and visualization; 4) study quality assessment, data interpretation, and scientific evidence integration;

5) document preparation and publication; 6) logistical management for meetings and events; 7) provision of scientific and technical consultants with expertise in relevant scientific disciplines; and 8) implementation of new methods and approaches for scientific information management. Thus, the work performed under the current contract is vital for NIEHS day-to-day operations.

Since it is estimated that the current contract will be fully exhausted by March 2025 and the follow-on contract is scheduled to be put in place by September 2026, a lapse in services from March 2025 to September 2026 would result without this proposed bridge contract.

Multiple factors have contributed to the delay in procuring the follow-on contract. As part of acquisition planning for the recompete of the current SIM contract, a milestones schedule was prepared to ensure a timely award. The original acquisition milestone schedule reflected a planned award of April 2026 to align with the expiration of the current contract. In addition to the current contract being exhausted prematurely, various factors contributed to unforeseen milestone delays which has put the required follow-on award at risk.

These unforeseen delays included programmatic changes to the Statement of Work’s requirements resulting from events that occurred on the current contract, and a change in the current acquisition strategy resulting from market research.

Based on market research, consideration was given for using Category Management, the HHS Smarter Buying program, and any existing internal and Government-wide contracts. Acquisition alternatives, including General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Schedules (FSS), OASIS, and other NIH Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contracts (IDIQs), were considered, as the existing contract utilizes OASIS. Even though the current contract utilized GSA’s OASIS contract, it was determined that continuing the use of OASIS for this contract would not be most advantageous to the Government since the current GSA OASIS MAC expired in September 2024 and the follow-on MAC, OASIS+, is on hold due to protest. Thus, waiting for the new OASIS+ contract to be awarded will delay this re-compete. At this point in time, the SIM re-compete’s acquisition strategy has changed from utilizing OASIS to going full and open, causing re-work in many of the planning documents and significant internal coordination.

Thus, a follow-on bridge contract utilizing sole source procedures is determined to be the best method for ensuring a continuation of critical services between the time the current contract ends (March 2025) and when the follow-on can be awarded (September 2026).

Due to the aforementioned unanticipated delays and the shift in acquisition strategy to no longer use OASIS+ for the follow-on contract, this bridge is being requested in order to prevent a lapse in service.

The proposed bridge would consist of one (1) 12-month base period (March 2025 to March 2026), one (1) six-month option extension (March 2026 to September 2026) to account for any unforeseen delays in making award and will be exercised in accordance with FAR 52.217-9, and one (1) six-month option extension in accordance with FAR 52.217-8 which isn’t expected to be used unless for an emergency situation such as a protest on the follow on contract.

Requirement type.

Research & development (R&D) R & D support services Support services (non-R&D) Supplies/equipment Information technology (IT) Construction Architect-engineer (A & E) services Design-build Other (specify): ____________________

Type of action.

New requirement Follow-on

Other (specify): Sole Source Bridge Contract.

Proposed contract/order type.

Firm-fixed-price Other fixed-price (specify, e.g., fixed-price award-fee, fixed-price incentive-fee): __________

a. Name and address of the proposed contractor(s).

ICF INCORPORATED, LLC.

1902 RESTON METRO PLAZA

RESTON VA 20190-5231

b. Nature of the acquisition and proposed unique qualifications of the contractor(s).

As the incumbent, ICF is the only contractor that has a comprehensive understanding of current technologies used at NIEHS. Given that there are only two months before the current contract expires, the incumbent is the only contractor who will be able to keep operations continuing. A new contractor would need significant time to be trained in the application of the required DTT system requirements related to this SIM contract. Training a new contractor would take longer than two months and result in a lapse in services. The current literature evaluations would end and researchers will not be able to continue or publish their studies.

Failure to extend the contract would result in disruption of critical services being provided to the government. In accordance with FAR 6.302-1(a)(2), award to any other source would result in substantial duplication of cost of approximately $15,931,563 to the Government to get a new contractor up to speed and adjust for learning curves that is not expected to be recovered through competition or unacceptable delays in fulfilling the requirement. The costs would not only include those associated with competing a separate procurement for an extension period, but also costs and time associated with phase-in activities for a separate short-term contract, should an award be made to a new and possibly different contractor.

6. Description of the efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable. Indicate whether a SAM.gov notice was or will be publicized as required by FAR Subpart

5.2 and, if not, which exception under FAR 5.202 applies.

A notice of intent to sole source was published to the Government Point of Entry (GPE) website (sam.gov) on October 4, 2024, in accordance with FAR Subpart 5.2, under Notice ID: NIEHS_SIM_ICF. This posting informed potential sources of NIEHS’s intent to negotiate with ICF on a sole source basis in accordance with FAR 6.302-1. The results of this synopsis are summarized in Section 8 below.

7. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost/price to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The Contracting Officer expects this short-term contract will be at a fair and reasonable cost to the Government. An Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE) has been developed based on historical cost data from the current contract, taking into account the current market conditions and program expectations.

To ensure that the cost of this short-term contract will be fair and reasonable, the data from the IGCE will be compared with the proposal received from the offeror. The proposed mix of labor and the level of effort will be reviewed for reasonableness by the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) and the Contracting Officer (CO). Tradeoffs between scheduling, technical capability, and costs will be employed to address the research priorities of DTT, with schedule and technical capability being of paramount importance. An award will be made only if, during negotiations, it is shown that the anticipated cost to the government will be fair and reasonable. By following these procedures, the CO will be able to confidently conclude that this short-term contract represents the best value to the Government.

The offeror is expected to submit a price proposal for the base year and two 6-month options of the contract. Previously, cost realism was conducted for the prior contract and will be performed for this contract as well.

The Contracting Officer will request and evaluate the proposal with certified cost and pricing data in accordance with FAR 15.402(a) and FAR

15.404. The proposal analysis will include a detailed cost element analysis and overall price analysis by comparing historical actuals for the same services provided under the current contract. Additionally, the Government will prepare a Pre-negotiation Objectives memorandum prior to the initiation of negotiations in accordance with FAR 15.406. A Summary of Negotiations will be completed to document the settlement after the conclusion of negotiations.

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

A notice of NIEHS’ intent to award this sole source action was synopsized on the SAM.gov per FAR Subpart 5.2 on October 4, 2024. The purpose of the synopsis was to (1) notify industry of NIEHS’ intent to extend the contract on a sole-source basis and (2) solicit information from interested sources capable of providing the required services during the extended