P03 - FAR Part 6 Sole Source JA - Conflict Coaching_FINAL_Redacted.pdf

United States Department of Veterans Affairs Strategic Acquisition Center – Frederick

5202 Presidents Court, Suite 103 Frederick, MD 21703

Justification and Approval (J&A) for Other than Full and Open Competition FAR 6.302-5 - Authorized or required by statute

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity.

This Justification and Approval (J&A) for Other Than Full and Open Competition is executed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Strategic Acquisition Center – Frederick (SAC-F), on behalf of The Office of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) within the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO).

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

This activity proposed is to negotiate a Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) noncompetitive award (sole source) action with Aurelius Talent Solution LLC. (SAM UEI: EH1WWE7KUFT7) 409 3rd St, SW. Washington DC 20416 for the procurement of ADR Conflict Coaching training and certification which will be virtual-based, compatible with VA virtual platforms, course with a Virtual Instructor-led Training.

3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs.

The Contractor shall provide VA ADR staff with conflict coaching training/skills for up to 30 ADR staff. Upon successful completion of the training, the Contractor shall provide VA ADR staff with a certification.

At a minimum, the training shall include the following subject matter:

Practical skills and abilities in conflict coaching A specific model Application of the model How to integrate conflict coaching into someone’s existing ADR practice Ethical guidelines and standards for coaching someone in conflict

4. An identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C.

§ 3304(a)(5) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 6.302- 5 entitled, “Authorized or required by statute”. The applicable statute is Public Law 109- 461: “Veterans Benefits, Health Care, and Information Technology Act of 2006” specifically, the “Veterans First Contracting Program” outlined in 38 USC § 8127(c).

FAR 6.302-5 J&A | ADR OCHCO Conflict Coaching

5. A demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited.

VAAR 819.7007 states explicitly, “A determination that only one SDVOSB can meet the requirement is not required,” and that using this authority, the following must be verified:

(1) The anticipated award price of the contract will not exceed $5 million; The estimated value of this acquisition is and does not exceed $5M.

(2) The justification is prepared pursuant to FAR 6.302-5(c)(2)(ii) is posted in accordance with FAR subpart 5.301(d); This J&A will be posted to the Government Point of Entry (GPE), SAM.gov.

(3) The SDVOSB concern has been determined to be a responsible source with respect to performance; Aurelius Talent Solution LLC. is a registered SDVOSB in the Small Business Administration (SBA) VetCert. Aurelius Talent Solution LLC.

is currently performing multiple VA contracts similar in size as indicated by a query of the FPDS. The Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) was also queried and resulted in 0 reports for Aurelius Talent Solution LLC. Additionally, Aurelius Talent Solution LLC. provided a capability statement during market research that was found by the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) within the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO) to be technically proficient.

(4) In the estimation of the contracting officer, contract award can be made at a fair and reasonable price that offers best value to the Government. A fair and reasonable price determination will be made in accordance with FAR 13.1063(a)(2)(vi), where price reasonableness is based on a comparison to an Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE). The IGCE for this requirement is estimated for a total amount of .

6. A description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under 5.202 applies.

IAW VAAR § 819.7007 Sole source awards to service-disabled veteran-owned small business concerns (b), “The contracting officer’s determination whether to make a sole source award is a business decision wholly within the discretion of the contracting officer. A determination that only one SDVOSB concern is available to meet the requirement is not required.”

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

No award shall be made until the Contracting Officer determines the cost to the

Government to be fair and reasonable. This determination will be based on a comparison of an Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE). Additionally, further discounts will be sought off the overall proposed price.

8. A description of the market research conducted (see Part 10) and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

In accordance with VAAR 810.001-70, the VA conducted a NAICS code search of the SBA VetCert database and identified a potential 3,800 SDVOSB/VOSB Operating under NAICS code 611430. A survey of the first 18 businesses listed did not provide conflict coaching geared toward ADR

A Query of the GSA E-library returned 51 results. It appears some vendors may provide Conflict Coaching but unsure at this stage if training will meet the needs of ADR.

A query of the Dynamic Small Business Search was conducted and yielded a potential 19 SDVOSB sources operating under NAICS code 611430.

The System for Award Management (SAM.gov) was quired using the search terms “ ” and NAICS code “611430.” Based on the results it was determined that the requested services are commercially available. The SAM query did not identify any additional SDVOSB/VOSBs capable of performing the requested services.

A Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) query was conducted by searching for contracts under NAICS 611430 which resulted in four results, one of which indicates it provides Conflict Coaching.

Based on these results VA issued a Sources Sought Notice (SSN) to the GPE, SAM.gov. 11 responses were received which included three responses from SDVOSBs, BHPE LLC., Aurelius Talent Solution LLC and ALD AND ASSOCIATES LLC. Aurelius Talent Solution LLC. provided a capabilities statement in their SSN response which was provided to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) within the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO) to review for technical capability. Aurelius Talent Solution LLC.

was found to be a technically capable SDVOSB source that could fulfill all the requirements of the PWS.

Considering that Aurelius Talent Solution LLC. was the only SDVOSB vendor that provided the technical information and capabilities to provide Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) within the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO) exactly what they are looking for to include the certification and is technically capable of providing the services the Government determines that the best procurement strategy is to negotiate a Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) noncompetitive award (sole source) action with Aurelius Talent Solution LLC. (SAM UEI: EH1WWE7KUFT7) 8341 Governor Run Ellicott City, MD 21043.

9. Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition.

In accordance with Public Law 109-461, codified at 38 USC § 8127, in order to increase contracting opportunities for small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans and small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans with service-connected disabilities, contracting officers of the VA are given specific statutory authority to award a contract to a small business concern owned and controlled by veterans using procedures other than competitive procedures (i.e. a “sole source” contract). The contracting officer may do so in accordance with VAAR 819.7007.

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

The following sources provided a response to the Sources Sought Notice released for this requirement:

Fellows Corporate Consortium, LLC (SAM UEI: NHQCE91UMZG7) BHPE LLC's (SAM UEI: UPDJHPJUYQ71) Conflict Coaching Matters LLC (SAM UEI: RN71M1HJ5AA6)

AURELIUS TALENT SOLUTION LLC (SAME UEI: EH1WWE7KUFT7)

Simplified Solutions Systems LLC (SAM UEI: MAWNXK7BLR38)

ALD AND ASSOCIATES LLC (SAM UEI: MZN2T5H5RMR7)

Visionary Design and Development, LLC (SAM UEI: CPJ7HGA8SXN1) Exousia Marketing Group (SAM UEI: N7MDMV39GLU5) National Association of Certified Mediators (SAM UEI: X68CFSZPG2C7) Clean Cut & Trimmed, LLC (SAM UEI: EG9HUFSYV8P7)

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

All future requirements will be handled on a case-by-case basis. Toward the expiration of this contract, consideration will be given as to whether any future acquisition should be competitive.

12. Certifications / Signatures.

Technical Representative Certification:

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

Contracting Officer Certification:

Pursuant to (FAR 6.303-2(a)(12)), I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief