2025 PSS JA - Sole Source - Final.pdf

United States Department of Agriculture Limited Sources Justification

For an Order/BPA Exceeding the Simplified Acquisition Threshold

FAR 8.405 Federal Supply Schedules (FSS) Multiple Award Schedule Program

Control No. (if applicable) ______________________

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity.

1a. Requesting Activity Agency: USDA, FS, WO - Human Resources Management 1b. Contracting Activity: USDA, FS, WO – PPS – National Procurement Office, National Contracts Branch

2. The nature and/or description of the action being approved.

• The action being approved is for a 12-month BPA call order to provide Personnel Security Support Services. This order will be a Firm Fixed Price Order, awarded to GovStrive, LLC under Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) 12318721A0008, awarded against a GSA Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract.

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

• Services received for this award will include initiation procedures and applicant follow up for background investigations related to new and existing Forest Service employees enabling compliance with the mandatory requirement Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12) – “Policy for a Common Identification Standard for Federal Employees and Contractors”, dated August 27, 2004. Contractors will initiate, follow up, monitor progress, review investigative packages, manage and process all levels of background investigations in e- APP, prepare and work with Defense Counterintelligence Security Agency (DCSA) Special Agency Checks (SAC), and ensure timeline compliance.

• This order is for a 12-month period of performance of September 1, 2025 to August 31, 2026.

The estimated value of this call order is $2,523,511.00. This action will be an incrementally funded firm fixed priced call order.

4. Identification of the authority for limiting sources.

FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(C) – In the interest of economy and efficiency, the new work is a logical follow-on to an original Federal Supply Schedule.

5. Supporting rationale demonstrating the unique qualifications of the proposed contractor or the nature of the action requiring the use of the authority.

Follow-on and use of this contractor will supplement the government’s capacity to process the aforementioned actions and remain compliant without additional delay caused by ramp-up or training time required for new contractors.

New contractor personnel will require extensive training to develop proficiency with Forest Service systems/databases and Standard Operating Procedures not utilized outside of the agency. Training of new contractor personnel would incur an additional ramp up time of four (4) weeks in addition to the initial 12–16-week onboarding. The estimated training costs for new contractor personnel is $62,016.50 and does not include the development or delivery cost of training incurred by government staff.

Loss of productivity during these 16-20 weeks will sustain a negative impact on hiring due to the contractor involvement requirement in the background investigation process, postponing an estimated 2,000 background investigations. Compounding these issues is the Deferred Resignation Program (DRP) losses. The loss in productivity during the ramp-up phase will generate a backlog necessitating additional contractor support, or the program will be unable to meet required delivery timelines for personnel records and/or background investigations contributing to significant mission impact.

6. A determination by the ordering activity Contracting Officer (CO) that the order represents the best value consistent with FAR 8.404(d).

The anticipated labor categories were determined fair and reasonable under the base BPA. The original requirement was competed against all multiple award contract (MAC) BPA holders prior to award of the call order 12318721F0120 and GovStrive’s proposal provided the best value to the Government.

The Contracting Officer determines that the subsequent order continues to represent the best value to the Government given the constraints associated with this critical service.

7. A description of the market research conducted among schedule holders and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

Market research was originally conducted at BPA solicitation. At the time of the solicitation and award the Source Selection Authority found, based on the established evaluation criteria, that GovStrive LLC provided the most comprehensive and cost-effective best value solution to the government’s request for quote. The government did not speculate better pricing would be available in the foreseeable future.

As of August 2025, the government’s position remains unchanged and does not anticipate a better value offeror if a recompete was accomplished.

8. Any other facts supporting the justification.

The continued performance of this service is critical and necessitates the need for a sole source order in an effort to provide sufficient time to compete a long-term vehicle without a significant lapse in service. The service provided is critical to USDA’s reorganization effort and will be leaned on heavily to achieve those reorganization goals.

9. A statement of actions the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition if subsequent acquisitions are anticipated.

The Government will overcome future barriers to competition by providing fair opportunities or open competition for the next contract action.

Certifications & Approval

Supporting data which form the basis for and included in this justification are certified accurate and complete.

Michael K. Beacham, FAC-COR III Resource Management Analyst

HRM

The information contained in this Limited Sources Justification is certified accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Tracy Doud Contracting Officer USDA, Forest Service, Procurement and Property Services, National Procurement Office

Additional Reviews & Approvals

Signatures are required at each threshold up to the total estimated dollar value of the acquisition

Advocate for competition for the procuring activity (if over $750,000, but not exceeding $15 million). I have reviewed this justification and find it to be accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. Therefore, unless additional approvals are required as prescribed below, as advocate for competition for the procuring activity/MASCO, I hereby approve this justification. If required, my approval constitutes clearance for submission to the Head of the Procuring Activity.

James Beeson Chief of the Contracting Office/Forest Service Competition Advocate USDA, Forest Service, PPS, Assistant Director, Procurement Management