Sole Source Justification Final NEPA BPA Redacted.pdf

Limited Sources Justification

1. Agency, Contracting Activity and Document

The National Science Foundation proposes a Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition for environmental compliance services by Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (Jacobs). The National Science Foundation, Division of Acquisition and Cooperative Support (NSF/DACS) will accomplish this acquisition.

2. Action Being Approved

The action to be approved is the solicitation and award of a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) to Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. of Arlington, VA, to provide support for NSF’s environmental compliance obligations, including, but not limited, to requirements pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), Endangered Species Act (ESA), Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA), Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), Clean Water Act (CWA), Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Essential Fish Habitat), Executive Order 12114, and other statutory, regulatory, permitting, and licensing requirements, as well as support for NSF’s consultation responsibilities regarding federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes (Tribal Nations), Native Hawaiians, and other Indigenous communities. This BPA will set fully burdened rates for establishing Firm Fixed Price and Time and Materials BPA Call Order.

3. Description of Services

The vendor will provide services in support of NSF’s environmental compliance obligations through preparation of documentation, analyses, studies, and correspondence, assistance with public meetings, and consultation with regulators.

Specifically, under NEPA, this can include documentation preparation under the following categories: Categorical Exclusion (CATEX), Environmental Assessment (EA), Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), Supplemental NEPA documents, Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) and Record of Decision (ROD). This can also include documentation in support of NSF’s compliance with Executive Order 12114. Analyses of environmental impacts include, but are not limited to, impacts on vegetation, wildlife, endangered and threatened species and their habitats (including impacts on marine mammals from seismic research activities), wetlands, watersheds, archaeological resources, historical and/or cultural resources, soils, water resources, air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, environmental justice, geological and topographical features, socio-economics, traffic and infrastructure, and noise. Specific services include, but are not limited to, preparation of documents, analyses, studies, and correspondence in support of NSF’s compliance with the NHPA, ESA, MMPA, CZMA, CWA, Essential Fish Habitat, and in support of NSF’s consultation responsibilities with federally recognized American Indian and Alaska

Native tribes (Tribal Nations), Native Hawaiians, and other Indigenous communities as needed.

Additional services may also include feasibility studies to determine appropriate alternatives to study in environmental analyses or to determine appropriate conservation measures; preparation of draft environmental regulations and documents needed for environmental regulation rulemaking; feasibility and cost studies to support NSF’s environmental planning needs at any relevant life stage of research infrastructure; response to unanticipated environmental incidents (including procurement and management of any needed subcontractors); on-site monitoring or oversight of remediation work; preparation of programmatic documents (i.e., programmatic NEPA documents, memoranda of agreement or programmatic agreements under the NHPA, etc.); preparation of federal, state, and local permitting and licensing documentation; assessment of baseline environmental conditions, including surveys, monitoring, and testing, as well as phased environmental site assessments; hazardous and solid waste management plans; spill prevention/control and countermeasure plans; pollution prevention surveys and plans; preparation of environmental policy/procedure updates; and any environmental compliance-related training needs. Services also include providing support for and assistance with public hearings and meetings pursuant to NEPA and the NHPA, and analyzing and developing responses to public comments submitted as part of environmental compliance processes. During preparation of environmental compliance documents under NEPA, the contractor shall, to the maximum extent possible, incorporate by reference and/or adopt environmental analyses prepared previously by NSF and/or by other federal or state agencies.

The vendor will also provide, as requested and as needed by NSF, the development of programmatic approaches to environmental compliance to meet NSF’s legal obligations in a streamlined and cost-effective manner. Further technical support, such as training, verification and audit/assessment activities (i.e., monitoring and verifying implementation of mitigation measures) will also be provided as requested by NSF.

The estimated value of this five year BPA is $10,000,000.

4. Statutory Authority

The statutory authority for this action is 41 U.S.C. 152(3) as implemented by 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 BPA provided that the original BPA was placed in accordance with the applicable Federal Supply Schedule ordering procedures.

5. Rationale or Contractor’s Unique Qualifications

For the purposes of economy and efficiency, NSF intends to place a logical follow-on to an existing BPA (FAR 8.405-6). The original BPA supporting this requirement, 49100419A0001, was originally solicited in April of 2019 competitively, and was awarded to Jacobs on June 26, 2019 at a ceiling value of $7,942,251.09. NSF will place a Blanket Purchase Agreement with Jacobs to enable continued support on multiple on-going, multi-year, complex environmental reviews, including, but not limited to, the environmental review for the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT);

planning efforts for decommissioning of Sacramento Peak Observatory; and a study regarding historic preservation of the collapsed Arecibo 305-meter Telescope, which is in itself a continuation of prior environmental reviews that Jacobs contributed to.

While other contractors certainly have environmental compliance expertise, to develop the expertise and knowledge on ongoing, critical NSF environmental reviews would take a new contractor substantially longer to complete and most likely result in a degradation of the quality of the reviews. The current contractor has developed specific expertise in NSF specific projects and requirements and is currently working on many ongoing, sensitive NSF environmental reviews. NSF seeks to avoid significant impacts to continued activities, and seeks to leverage the efficiencies gain through preserving existing support capabilities. Selecting a different contractor would result in substantial degradation in the quality and efficiency of the required work.

Also, issuing this BPA will avoid duplication of costs already spent on literature reviews; for example, Jacobs prepared the National Register of Historic Places updated nomination form for Arecibo Observatory, and is therefore well-poised to efficiently assist with near-term compliance and training needs under the National Historic Preservation Act as NSF transitions to a new operating model. It will also help to avoid duplication of costs already spent on community engagement and public comment analyses; for example, Jacobs facilitated public scoping for the proposed TMT, processing over 5,000 comments and developing a comment database that will aid in future phases of the environmental review. And finally, it will help to avoid duplication of costs already spent on technical knowledge and methods; for example, Jacobs has visited the Sacremento Peak Observatory to test soil and evaluate structures, and this in-depth knowledge will inform future planning phases during decommissioning.

A transition to a different contractor team would result in substantial increased costs, both from the loss of institutional knowledge and skillsets related to specific projects.

A transition to a different contractor would also result in a loss of quality and efficiency as the current contractor has developed specialized knowledge and expertise in NSF specific requirements, many of which are ongoing. The potential gains from competitive offerings likely will not effectively offset the loss in efficiency, and at the current juncture the most economical course is to proceed under the cited authorities.

6. Best Value Determination

The resulting BPA will achieve the best value for the Government consistent with the requirements of FAR 8.404. The rates proposed will be considered against historical and market pricing and discounts will be requested from the schedule rates.

Substantive additional value will not be achieved by issuing this requirement as a competitive action rather than limited source.

Market Research As described in item 5, continuity of ongoing, multi-year, complex project reviews is of significant importance. While there are other competitors in the environmental compliance space (Bluestone Environmental Group, AECOM, Atmos Solutions, Environmental Research Group (ERG), LLC, EA Engineering, Science, and Technology, and AGEISS Inc). NSF exchanged information with the vendors. The extent of these exchanges was to answer additional questions regarding submitted capabilities in response to RFI 49100424K0011. The capabilities and responses were reviewed by key stakeholders to determine the feasibility of conducting a competition for to transition current support activities. Of particular focus was determining the capabilities of small businesses. The result of this review is that NSF does not believe it can acquire enough benefit from a competition at this time to offset the costs to economy and efficiency that come with transitioning operations.

Other Facts Supporting the Justification

None.

Removing Barriers to Competition As soon as is practicable, NSF intends to conduc a competition to place a BPA for similarly situated services. Although the BPA placed by the action covers at a maximum 5 years, it is not expected that many of the activities that require logical follow-on performance will last for the full 5-year period. It is expected that, in order to gain the benefits of competition, NSF will issue a full solicitation to invite offers for new activities going forward that do not directly tie to the gained efficiencies under this action.

NSF will continue to survey the market and evaluate whether competing products become available. In the event additional avenues for acquiring similar products arise, NSF will evaluate conducting competitive acquisitions for this requirement to utilize those avenues.

10. Certifications/Coordinations/Approval

REQUESTING OFFICE CERTIFICATION

Environmental Compliance Officer:

I hereby certify that the facts presented in this Justification are current, completed and accurate.

Date

PROCURING OFFICE CERTIFICATION

Contracting Officer: I assure that a detailed analysis will be performed on all proposed prices to assure that they are fair and reasonable. I also certify that this Justification is current, complete and accurate.

Name Date

Competition Advocate: In accordance with FAR 8.405-6(d)(2), I approve this Justification.

Name Date

11/08/24

JONATHAN P SCHMEELK Digitally signed by JONATHAN P SCHMEELK Date: 2024.11.08 13:39:36 -05'00'

11/8/24

11/8/24