A16_JOFOC_NMCRIS_FE_20230925_1.pdf

United States Department of the Interior

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

https://www.blm.gov

SOLE SOURCE (INCLUDING BRAND NAME) JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

FOR ACQUISITIONS UNDER THE SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION PROCEDURES

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

1. Contracting agency and activity.

The Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), New Mexico State

Office, Santa Fe, New Mexico, requests the Business Services Branch of the BLM New

Mexico State Office, Lands and Resources Division (Planning, Recreation, and Cultural

Resources Branch), Santa Fe, New Mexico to contract on a sole source basis.

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

This shall be a firm-fixed price (FFP), new contract with the Archaeological Resource

Management Section (ARMS) of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs

(NMDCA). This new contract is a follow contract to the same vendor for the same service.

As part of the Section 106 review process of the National Historic Preservation Act

(NHPA), a literature review to determine if previous surveys and known sites occur within proposed project areas needs to be conducted. New Mexico Department of Cultural

Affairs- Archeological Records Management Section staff will conduct this activity for

BLM and provide BLM with the results of the literature reviews. BLM Cultural Resources

Specialists will have access to the New Mexico Cultural Resource Information System

(NMCRIS) and ARMS online databases which are maintained by ARMS.

3. Description of supplies or services.

BLM’s access to and use of the New Mexico Cultural Resources Information System

(NMCRIS) database maintained by the ARMS is required by the New Mexico State

Protocol Agreement between the New Mexico BLM and the New Mexico State Historic

Preservation Office (SHPO) regarding the manner in which BLM will meet its responsibilities under the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966, as amended

(Protocol). ARMS archives and organizes paper records pertaining to cultural resources investigations and maintains a Geographic Information System (GIS) enabled database housing detailed information on archaeological sites, structures, historic districts, and investigations throughout New Mexico. ARMS manages the NMCRIS which includes an online application that provides access to basic information in the GIS database. The New https://www.blm.gov/

Mexico BLM often manages projects as a lead agency that can affect cultural resources on lands managed by other local, state, and federal entities as well as those located on private property, which requires detailed information on cultural resources statewide. This detailed information is housed in ARMS’ tabular data and is related to the geospatial data ARMS manages in its proprietary system that is not available through the online application. The

BLM seeks to procure from ARMS a geospatial and related tabular data export of all cultural resources and investigations in the state of New Mexico, stored in a file geodatabase format that can be manipulated in BLM’s enterprise GIS, to be provided on a quarterly basis.

4. Estimated dollar value.

This contract shall be for one year at an estimated cost of $50,000.

5. Statutory authority.

___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

____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).

6. Rationale supporting use of the authority stated in paragraph 5.

ARMS is the only authorized administrator for NMCRIS database. To strengthen the rational supporting the authority the Contracting Officer and Program Office reviewed

FPDS and Contracting Opportunities in SAM.GOV for historical contracts, and these databases showed that the Department of Defense, Bureau of Land Management, Natural

Resources Conservation Service, and Farm Production and Conservation Business Center, all federal, agencies, recently awarded Justification(s) for other than Full and Open

Competition (JOFOC) to New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs for the NMCRIS.

Along with the Protocol (mentioned above), BLM recently issued IM2023-042, Guidance for Implementation of national Cultural Resource Management Data (IM2023-042). This

IM creates standards for data collection and storage for a BLM-wide, interstate level database for cultural resources database. It also directs all BLM states to work with their respective SHPOs, and ARMS in the case of New Mexico, to apply the data standard to all geospatial data, and ensure that BLM data stored at the SHPO or ARMS meets this standard. IM 2023-042, while directing the BLM and all entities who create archeological data on BLM land to meet these standards, it is specific in outlining the partnership between the BLM and various SHPOs. The data will also be used to populate the National Cultural

Resources Information Management System, an agencywide tool used to house high level archeological data on BLM lands.

As the administrative descendent of the Museum of New Mexico, the ARMS maintains a repository of information collected over a ninety-year period. No other equivalent database/GIS exists, and no other database provides the multi-jurisdictional archaeological data NM BLM requires for effective and efficient Section 106 compliance.

Section 304 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) protects certain sensitive information about historic properties from disclosure to the public when such disclosure could result in a significant invasion of privacy, damage to the historic property, or impede the use of a traditional religious site by practitioners. At the state level, section 18-6-11.1 of the New Mexico Cultural Properties Act maintains the confidentiality of archaeological site locations through state statute. Accordingly, New Mexico administrative code restricts access to the records repository and the NMCRIS, defines educational and professional criteria for Qualified Users, and establishes the ARMS Program Manager as the Registrar charged with vetting the credentials of individuals and agencies seeking access. Such an archeological database managed by a third party may not have the same confidentiality requirements as those currently maintained by the ARMS. Because of the confidentiality requirements, it cannot be assumed that the ARMS or SHPO would allow for such data to be held by a third party. ARMS also only provides data on a project-by-project basis or for geographically defined areas based on requested records searches and does not allow for one entity or individual to request all archeological data throughout the state. In general, contracting directly between the BLM and ARMS will significantly reduce archaeological site data confidentiality.

Access to both the geospatial and tabular data on all recorded historic properties and all archaeological surveys in New Mexico that are housed by the ARMS are vital to conducting cultural resources investigations relating to NHPA compliance. SHPO also requires all archeological data collected, regardless of affiliation or land management/ownership, within New Mexico to be submitted to the ARMS for incorporation into the NMCRIS, a requirement stated in the BLM and NMSHPO Protocol agreement. The BLM routinely conducts archaeological investigations and records searches to obtain landscape or geographic level analysis to determine the type of archaeology, which is located, or may be found, within the footprint of any given project regardless of land management or ownership status. Additionally, the New Mexico BLM is often the lead on several projects which are multi-jurisdictional (such as powerlines) or are not located on BLM managed surface land such as oil and gas wells. This makes the

NMCRIS a required tool in project review as it is the only database in New Mexico which houses archeological data regardless of land status (excluding data from Tribal lands which do not utilize the NMCRIS). Using a third party to access tabular and geospatial data generated from activities on BLM land would be detrimental to the mission of the BLM as it would not eliminate the requirement of the BLM to conduct a records search for non-

BLM land, meaning that BLM archaeologists will still have to obtain data from non-BLM lands from the NMCRIS, increasing time and cost for any given project review as it would require two records searches instead of one.

In addition to all regulatory requirements, cooperation between the BLM and SHPO is required for data storage and collection per the Protocol. The Protocol states that the

SHPO will “maintain as statewide-automated cultural records database that is accessible to the cultural resource specialists from all BLM Field Offices” and that both the SHPO and the BLM will collaborate on ways to better synthesize, use, and store GIS data. The

Protocol also states that the both the BLM and the SHPO will provide “financial, personnel, hardware and software resources as funding becomes available, including the contracting of services,” to complete this task.

7. Other information.

The New Mexico ARMS is the only entity in New Mexico that houses large amounts of data related to archeological investigations on a statewide level, required for BLM to perform essential functions related to the agency’s mission.

Only authorized BLM personnel shall submit data related to archeological work, including but not limited to site records, inventory reports, and GIS data, to the ARMS.

The confidentiality of the records contained within the ARMS repository and the

NMCRIS and the agency’s ninety-year head start in assembling the records collection make it unlikely that a competitive alternative will develop in the foreseeable future. The

New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs has been legally required to maintain this records inventory since the 1966 passage of the NHPA, since that time the agency has spent millions of dollars on the maintenance and expansion of this information resource.

It is highly unlikely that another entity will develop a cost-effective business model that would justify the duplication of this effort.

The Protocol mandates the BLM’s use of the NMCRIS as an essential tool for the agencies’ collaboration on Section 106 consultation. This mandate effectively precludes the use of a competitive alternative even in the unlikely event that one should emerge, as it cannot be assumed that the SHPO or the ARMS will permit a third party to house or accept archeological data on its behalf.

8. The efforts to identify additional sources including the market research conducted.

The Contracting Officer and Program Office reviewed FPDS and Contracting

Opportunities in SAM.GOV for historical contracts, and these databases showed that the

Department of Defense, Bureau of Land Management, Natural Resources Conservation

Service, and Farm Production and Conservation Business Center, all federal, agencies, recently awarded Justification(s) for other than Full and Open Competition (JOFOC) to

New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs for the NMCRIS. A Request for

Information/Sources Sought was issued September 5, 2023, on and the capability statements received were from vendors who offered up data entry, but only authorized

BLM personnel shall enter the data as per this requirement. An intent to sole source was issued on September 11, 2023, and there were zero capability statements received for the

Contracting Officer to review.

Program Office personnel conducted a search in June/July 2023 through professional archaeology community and all the information reviewed, showed that ARMS is the only authorized administrator through the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. SHPO requirements for ARMS/NMCRIS access during Section 106 consultation and for maintaining BLM NM’s state archaeology permit cannot be met by any other database.

9. Future plans to permit competition.

BLM makes every effort to remove or overcome barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required. Contracting Officers within the New Mexico State Office will continue utilizing bidding websites, Request for

Information/Sources Sought, as well as other competitive procedures to promote full and open competition to the maximum extent practicable, when required. However, the decision on who administers the NMCRIS database can only change by New Mexico State government officials.

10. The ordering activity Contracting Officer’s certification that the justification is accurate and complete to the best of the Contracting Officer’s knowledge and belief and evidence that the supporting data that form a basis for the justification have been certified as complete and accurate by technical/program personnel.

I certify that the facts and representations under my cognizance, which are included in this justification, and which form a basis for this justification, are complete and accurate.

(Signature)________________________________________ (Date)

(Type or Print Name): _Sean I Daugherty__________________________________________

Contracting Officer’s Representative

11. I certify that the justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief:

(Signature) _______________________________________ (Date) _______________________

(Type or Print Name): ___________________________________________________________

Contracting Officer

12. Reviewed/Concur/Approved by: (if applicable) (Acquisitions estimated over the simplified acquisition threshold and any proposed award of any non-competitive enterprise contract (defined here as a contract vehicle where orders or calls can be placed by or on behalf of multiple DOI bureaus, or which a mandatory source is for DOI))

(Signature) _______________________________________ (Date) _______________________

(Type or Print Name): ___________________________________________

Chief of the Contracting Office

13. Competition Advocate Review and Approval: (if applicable) (Acquisitions estimated over $750,000 and any proposed award of any non-competitive enterprise contract (defined here as a contract vehicle where orders or calls can be placed by or on behalf of multiple

DOI bureaus, or which a mandatory source is for DOI)

(Signature) _______________________________________ (Date)

(Type or Print Name): ____Melissa

Hutchison_________________________________________

Bureau of Land Management Competition Advocate