49100422C0008 JA (signed).pdf

Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition

The Urban Institute

Building a Validation Server for Administrative Tax Data

(1) Identification of Agency and Contracting Activity: This “Justification for other than full and open competition” is written by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Division of Acquisition and

Cooperative Support (DACS). The division requesting the justification is the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES).

(2) Nature and/or description of the action being approved: This sole source action is to issue a contract to the Urban Institute for the unsolicited proposal titled, “Building a Validation Server for Administrative

Tax Data.” The overall objective of this project is to create a fully synthetic public tax data and launch a validation server system that can produce a broad range of statistical analyses.

(3) Description of the services required: NSF received this proposal on an unsolicited basis. Therefore, to protect offeror’s proprietary approach, details regarding the description of services are withheld.

(4) Identification of statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition: The statutory authority for this non-competitive action is derived from 41 U.S.C. § 3304(b)(1), as implemented by

Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1 “Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.”

(5) Proposed contractor’s unique qualification and nature of the action requires use of authority cited:

The Urban Institute submitted an unsolicited proposal that received a favorable comprehensive evaluation in accordance with FAR 15.606-2. The Urban Institute has unique access to data and has for years been working to expand research access to administrative tax data in conjunction with the

Statistics of Income Division of the Internal Revenue Service. The work contained in their unsolicited proposal builds on this history. This data is rarely available for use outside of the Federal Government.

Thus, expertise and experience in utilizing this data is uncommon. NSF does not presently have any active contracts that are capable of supporting this kind of endeavor. At this time, there are no solicitations either active or in the planning stages for similar work at NSF. Therefore, this research project may be considered available from only one source in accordance with 6.302(a)(2)(i).

(6) Descriptions of efforts made to solicit sources from as many offerors as practicable: NSF did not post a solicitation in accordance with FAR 5.2 because the Urban Institute’s proposal was received on an unsolicited basis and received a favorable comprehensive review. That said, a synopsis of the proposed award was synopsized in accordance with FAR 5.2 on the System for Award Management. Following the synopsis of the proposed contract action, no entities contacted NSF to indicate their interest or capability to perform this or similar work.

(7) Determination of fair and reasonable cost: The contracting officer has determined that the cost to the

NSF will be fair and reasonable. The estimated cost of this effort is $1,500,000.

(8) Description of market research conducted: Market research was not conducted because this research project was received and processed under the unsolicited proposal procedures in FAR 15.6. The

Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition proposed contract action was synopsized, but no companies inquired about the requirement or indicated their interest or capability of performing comparable work.

(9) Other facts: None.

(10) Sources expressing interest in writing. None.

(11) Actions to remove barriers to competition. Access to the IRS data which is necessary for the performance of this work is severely limited. NSF has no authority or influence on the IRS to expand the number of organizations they provide with access to this data. As such, it is not possible for NSF to remove these barriers to competition.

(12) Certifications/Coordination/Approval:

REQUESTING OFFICE CERTIFICATION

I hereby certify that the facts presented in this Justification are current, complete, and accurate. This action falls within the statutory mission of NCSES.

Vipin Arora Date

PROCURING OFFICER CERTIFICATION

I certify that this Justification is current, complete, and accurate. I assure that a detailed analysis was performed on all proposed prices to assure that they are fair and reasonable.

Ben Patterson Date

Contracting Officer

PROCURING OFFICE APPROVAL

I hereby approve this Justification

Keith Boyea Date

Head of Contracting Activity

4/1/2022

4/1/2022

04/01/2022