A16_JOFOC_40631218_NVDeptOfCorrections_WHBHolding_Redacted_1.pdf

United States Department of the Interior

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

https://www.blm.gov

S N R U T ON RO

FO Q S ONS E THE S F E Q S T OCE U ES

This document sets forth the justification and approval as required by 13.106-1(b)(1) & (2).

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The Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Nevada State Office Wild Horse and Burro (WH&B) Program requests the BLM Nevada State Contracting Office, to contract on a sole source basis for the continuation of services, to serve as a bridge contract, for the holding, care, feeding, and training of horses and burros in NV.

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The BLM WH&B Program in Nevada has a requirement for a holding facility for wild horses and burros that are gathered from public lands administered by the BLM. The facility needs to be capable of maintaining, sorting, training, preparing animals for adoption, and holding adoption events. Continuation of services for feed & care of the animals is critical for the safety and well-being of the animals until a new contract is established.

The NV BLM proposes a firm fixed price sole source award with the Nevada Department of Corrections (Northern Nevada Correctional Center (NNCC)), located in Carson City Nevada.

The BLM Headquarters Acquisitions Office (HQ) is currently working on a new Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract, so this requirement is for a short-term contract to be issued for one year, to serve as a from the current Task Order that expires in September 2023 until a new IDIQ can be solicited and awarded. Awarding a Purchase Order (PO) for a one-year period of performance (POP), through September of 2024, is based on the current proposed schedule for award of the new IDIQ.

The full 1-year POP will not be required if the incumbent contractor is selected for award under the new IDIQ opportunity. If this is the case the bridge contract will be cancelled for any remaining balance once a new contract is established. If award is made to other than the incumbent, the full 1-year may be needed for a transition.

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The objective of this contract is to provide for the continuation of services to provide a wild horse and burro holding and training facility capable of maintaining a minimum of 500 to a maximum of 2,000 wild horses and burros, until a new IDIQ contract can be solicited and awarded by BLM HQ. The facility must have the capability to provide adequate holding pens and working areas for preparing of excess wild horses and burros from the BLM wide gather operation or from the western preparation facilities, receive/ship, maintain, sort, provide veterinary care, training and adopt trained and untrained wild horses and burros. The contractor shall also be responsible for distributing feed/water daily and conducting regular on-the-ground observation of the wild horses and burros to ascertain their wellbeing and safety.

The contractor will provide the facility, equipment, and qualified personnel to meet all the requirements of the Performance Work Statement, including maintaining/sorting/training animals, providing adequate feed to meet nutritional needs, maintain health & training records of each horse/burro at the facility, provide regular observation of all animals to ascertain their wellbeing and safety, provide all veterinary and farrier care to maintain proper animal health, and hosting and assisting with adoption events including providing personnel and software needed to photograph animals for online corral for online adoption platform.

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_X___41 U.S.C. 1901 Simplified acquisition procedures (use when the simplified procedures for purchases of property and services for amounts (1) not greater than the simplified acquisition threshold

N E IGE exceeds SAT but will be issued IAW FAR Part 13 and documented IAW Part 13.5 (which allows for Simplified Acquisition Procedures to be used when IGE is over SAT). The IGE does not exceed the $7.5M limited by this authority.

____41 U.S.C 1903 Special emergency procurement authority (applies when in support of a contingency operation as defined in section 101(a) of title 10 or to facilitate the defense against or recovery from nuclear, biological, chemical, or radiological attack against the United States).

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The BLM HQ office is currently working with the NV WH&B program to solicit and award a new IDIQ contract (anticipated to be awarded in spring/summer of 2024). The incumbent contractor, Nevada Department of Corrections NNCC, was issued an IDIQ in 2018 that expired in 2023. The current & final task order expires 09/30/2023, however it is critical the services continue without any lapse, until a new contract can be issued. The POP of the IDIQ has expired so no new task orders can be issued. Furthermore, the max limit/threshold of the IDIQ has been reached so no modification can be issued to the current task order.

NNCC has an established facility to hold up to 2,000 animals, trained and experienced staff, and equipment to effectively continue to care for the animals until the new contract can be solicited and awarded. Market research has determined there are no other facilities within reasonable proximity that can hold the number of animals currently being held and anticipated to rotate through the facility through the next year. Moving the animals to other locations (such as other BLM holding facilities currently under contract in other states), only to move them to yet another location when a new contract is awarded would cause undue hardship on the animals as well as a potential for injuries. It would also cost the Government a significant amount to move all of the animals, instead of just allowing them to stay at the NNCC until a new contract is awarded.

NNCC not only has a training program in place that will allow for training of animals this year, to be available for upcoming adoption events but allows the BLM to transfer these working animals to other federal, state, and government organizations to accomplish the BLM mandate under law to manage wild horses and burros on public lands in a thriving natural ecological balance and adopt or sale excess wild horses and burros to private parties. As part of the training service, the NNCC uses inmates to train animals which reduces overall costs to the BLM. Their training program also offers training, rehabilitation, and positive work experience opportunities for inmates at the NNCC. Additionally, the incumbent contractor has the facilities available to host the adoption events and allow the public to attend.

This is a short-term continuation of services to serve as a bridge contract between the current qualifications, established facility, established training personnel and program, established adoption program, and the undue hardship it would cause on the animals to move them for a short-term contract it is justified to award a sole source contract to NNCC to continue services until the new IDIQ award is issued. Additionally, the current location of the animals (NNCC) will allow NV BLM WH&B personnel access to the animals to continue conducting inspections, overseeing contract operations, and provide access to the public for adoptions or other events.

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The estimated cost to relocate the animals to another facility (IF one could be located that could house the number of animals currently held at NNCC) would be approximately $350,000. This estimate includes shipping costs, Coggins testing (required before transporting animals), brand inspections (required before transporting animals), and shipping health records. Additional costs, not included in the estimate, would be incurred with government personnel overseeing the transportation activities and costs to transport government furnished equipment.

Additionally, moving animals to another off-range corral facility would only transfer the cost to another facility, potentially at a higher rate, not remove the daily care costs. BLM personnel in other states/locations would also have to assume additional monitoring, inspection, and oversite duties.