1F - FAR 6.103 J&A_USDA Voice Services.pdf

United States Department of Agriculture Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition

Identification Number:

Rev. 10/29/25

Pursuant to the requirements of the Competition in Contracting Act as implemented by Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Overhaul (RFO) FAR Part 6 and in accordance with the requirements of RFO FAR 6.104-1, the justification for the use of the statutory authority cited herein is supported by the following facts and rationale:

(1) Mission Area and Contracting Activity.

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), Digital Infrastructure Services Center (DISC), Enterprise Network Services (ENS) USDA, Office of Contracting and Procurement (OCP), Procurement Operation Division (POD)

(2) Nature and/or description of the action being approved:

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) intends to award a sole source Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contract to Verizon, the incumbent vendor providing telecommunication services under the General Services Administration (GSA) Networx contract. Selected services will migrate from the Networx contract, expiring 31 May 2026, to a commercial contract to prevent the interruption of critical services.

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

Project Name: USDA Voice Services Project Description: This transitional contract requires that Verizon maintain Contact Center and Enhanced Toll-Free solutions provided under the USDA Networx contract; minimize service disruption while migrating services to this contract and throughout the duration of the contract performance; and support the transition of these services to a solution with a low-risk transition plan that meets USDA needs.

The estimated total for the base year plus one twelve-month option period is $711,230.00 as shown below:

Period Fiscal Year Estimated Total

BASE FY26 $ 355,000

Option 1 FY27 $ 356,230

Grand Total $711,230

(4) Identify the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 10 U.S.C. 2304(c) (1) as implemented by FAR FAR 6.103-1, Only One Responsible Source.

(5) Demonstrate that the proposed contractor's unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires using the authority cited.

To accommodate timely transitions and foster continuation of services, USDA competitively awarded the USDANet task order under GSA’s replacement Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract vehicle on 16 December 2021 to Lumen Technologies Government Solutions, Inc.

(Lumen) with a period of performance through 31 Jul 2032. At contract award, Lumen presented the best value and the task order timeline allowed for the transition of the existing telecommunication services by the expiration of Networx with minimal to no disruption of USDA’s daily operations.

Since the award of the EIS task order, there have been multiple issues that have delayed the original transition schedule included in the task order requirements and agreed to by Lumen. These include supply chain delays impacting equipment deliveries, Lumen’s Business Support System (BSS) being found non-compliant by GSA, and the lack of an agreed upon transition plan for the migration of services from Networx to EIS. USDA assessed Lumen’s EIS Contact Center solution and timeline and determined that it was not suitable to replace the current complex Networx Contact Center solution. Coupled with the delayed transition schedule, it is not possible to meet the transition deadline of 31 May 2026 to transition Verizon Networx Contact Center and Toll-Free solution to the Lumen EIS task order.

The Networx Contact Center solution provided by Verizon over the past decade has enabled USDA’s National Finance Center (NFC) to support federal agency financial and human resources management needs. The NFC’s HR offerings service more than 156 diverse agencies, providing payroll services to more than 661,000 federal and former federal employees. The NFC HR/Payroll capabilities provide Administrative Billings and Collections (debt collection), Retirement Processing and Tracking, Automated Manual Payments and Unemployment Compensation processing, Health Insurance administration and W-2 Processing. The NFC provides service support through its Operations and Security Center providing 24X7 systems monitoring, incident management, and Level 1 Help Desk support. The Center serves as the primary point-of-contact for service center technical support and maintenance assistance, as well as frontline support for all incoming requests, questions, issues and problems. NFC’s Verizon Contact Center solution integrates with Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) capabilities to support NFC users, including those who are hearing or speech impaired.

Market research was conducted to determine the feasibility of shifting the NFC’s Contact Center and Toll-Free solution to a new vendor. A new vendor would introduce additional time to compete, evaluate and award a new contract. It was determined that the acquisition timeline, implementation and transition of new services, supplies, and equipment to a new provider could not be accomplished before the Networx contract expiration. Verizon assessed the time required to migrate the solution from Networx to a standalone contract and determined that because of the existing infrastructure, implementation could be completed prior to Networx contract expiration.

This request to award a sole-source contract to Verizon, the incumbent provider, is based on the following critical technical, operational, and financial factors that preclude the selection of another vendor without causing substantial duplication of cost, unacceptable delays, and heightened risk to mission essential services:

1. Incumbency and Institutional Knowledge: Verizon is the existing vendor with experience and knowledge of NFC’s current solution and requirements as they have evolved over a decade. Verizon's team has developed invaluable knowledge of USDA’s specific Contact Center environment, call flows, custom reports, and integration points. This knowledge is essential for maintaining the NFC’s operational continuity and efficiency. A new provider would require a prolonged discovery and implementation period, introducing unacceptable risk to mission continuity.

2. Pre-Integrated Solution and Elimination of Integration Risk: Migrating the current NFC solution to this new contract requires no integration or customization and enables continued connectivity through Verizon services, utilizing a purpose-built, pre-integrated network for contact center connectivity. This eliminates the challenges and risk of having to integrate Contact Center services with a new carrier for connectivity, a process that is technically complex and highly susceptible to failure. Furthermore, maintaining Verizon as the single point of contact for Contact Center and Toll-Free Service provides simplified management and a unified point of accountability.

3. Avoidance of Integration Gaps: The existing integration and configuration utilized by the NFC includes Application Programming Interfaces (API) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) hooks that are in-place and stress-tested. Transitioning to a new provider mandates review of all existing configurations and connections, requiring replication resulting in risks of broken workflows, technical issues, and potential dropped calls during the "go-live" phase.

4. Low-Risk and Accelerated Transition Methodology: The incumbent’s solution enables a low risk, parallel transition with a rapid migration timeline. The ability for Verizon to simply migrate the NFC’s numbers within its network avoids the need to port them to a different carrier, saving months of provider coordination and processing. This significantly reduces the schedule risk and ensures that the USDA can achieve its goal of removing service inventory from the GSA Networx contract at least 45 days prior to contract expiration.

USDA will lose the current Verizon provided solution with the expiration of the Networx contract scheduled for 31 May 2026. Based on the current solution and level of effort required, it has been determined that Verizon is the provider that can best mitigate the risk associated with Networx contract termination. Awarding a sole source standalone contract to Verizon for the Contact Center solution will maintain continuity of services. This will minimize mission impact by maintaining the current equipment, associated devices, and services currently being provided by Verizon under the Networx contract. USDA’s objective is to use the time on this sole source Verizon contract to identify a longer-term solution that includes a low-risk transition plan that meets NFC needs.

(6) Provide a description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as possible, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by Part 5 and, if not, which exception under Part 5 applies.

The Contracting Officer will be posting this requirement via the Government Point of Entry – SAM.gov utilizing Contracting Opportunities. This posting will afford all interested parties the opportunity to review the requirement.

(7) A determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The Contracting Officer has determined that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable. Due to the commercial nature of the services to be acquired, FAR 15.403-1(b)(3) prohibits the Contracting Officer from requiring certified cost and pricing data. In the absence of certified cost and pricing data or adequate price competition, the price reasonableness determination will be based on prices paid for the same or similar commercial services under comparable terms and conditions by both Government and commercial customers, including pricing information contained in published price lists and previous contracts for the same or similar services; and comparison to the Independent Government Cost Estimate.

(8) A description of the market research conducted, and the results or a statement of the reason Market Research was not conducted.

Market research was conducted for the overall telecommunications system during the acquisition of the long-term solution, the GSA EIS task order (USDANet) and it was determined that transitioning from Networx to EIS was in the best interest of the Government. At the point where it was determined that the EIS implementation was not going to meet stated milestones and current services would be interrupted, research was conducted on existing contracts and contract vehicles to develop an approach to meet the potential gaps in service created by the expiring Networx contract.

Given the need to have a contract in place prior to the Networx contract expiration, it has been determined that the only viable solution is a standalone contract to the incumbent vendor, Verizon, until the time that the solution can be transitioned to a longer term solution that includes a low-risk transition plan that meets NFC needs.

(9) Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition, such as:

Verizon currently provides USDA’s NFC Contact Center and Toll-Free solution under GSA’s Networx contract which expires 31 May 2026. Meeting the current demands of the 661,000 federal and retired federal employees using NFC services requires a strategy to ensure service continuity beyond 31 May 2026.

Verizon’s understanding of the current solution and its evolution, along with experienced support resources, enables service continuity and will aid in hitting critical timelines. Based upon the current solution and level of effort required for a full and open competition, awarding a sole source standalone contract to Verizon for the Contact Center solution mitigates the risk of Networx contract service termination.

This sole source award will minimize the impact to NFC mission areas by maintaining the current equipment, associated devices, and the services currently being provided by Verizon. USDA’s objective is to use the time on this sole source Verizon contract to identify a solution with a low-risk transition plan that meets NFC needs.

(10) A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed an interest in the acquisition in writing.

As this effort is anticipated to result in a sole source award, this is not applicable.

(11) A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition of the supplies or services required.

This contract is intended to be a temporary measure to allow time for competitive procurement.

Therefore, actions to remove or overcome barriers to competition are not applicable or necessary in this situation.

(12) Certifications & Approvals

Technical / Requirements Personnel Certification I certify this requirement meets the Government’s minimum need and that the supporting data, which forms a basis for this justification, is complete and accurate.

Dan Crosson Date Deputy Director, Enterprise Network Services

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

Corey Murzyn Date Contracting Officer