5.9.4 REDACTED JA FY21-00131 for FBO posting_210609.pdf

Justification and Approval for Other Than Full and Open Competition Operation Blue Bridge

PSO Services for Long Beach Convention Center and Pomona Sportsplex

New Total Contract Value:

(e) Type of Funding: Reimbursable via Security Work Authorization (SWA) (Fund Code: SO)

(f) Year of Funding: 2021

(g) Solicitation Number: There is no solicitation number. A Task Order, , under an existing IDIQ Contract, , for Protective Security Officers (PSOs) will be used for this requirement.

(h) Background information about the requirement: In recent weeks the number of unaccompanied children entering the United States from Mexico has dramatically increased thereby straining detention facilities at the border crossing. Operation Blue Bridge / Brave Crossing has been established to secure the facilities sheltering unaccompanied children crossing the border into the United States. The Long Beach Convention Center, located at 302 East Ocean Boulevard, Long Beach, California was leased for services to begin on 04/22/2021 by HHS and FEMA to temporarily shelter unaccompanied migrant children crossing the border into the United States until reunification details can be arranged. An additional site, the Pomona Sportsplex located at 1101 West McKinley Avenue, Pomona, California, was leased for the same services to begin on 04/29/2021. The Federal Protective Service’s (FPS’) mission is to secure and protect federally owned and leased facilities and as such is charged with securing the Long Beach Convention Center and Pomona Sportsplex for this humanitarian effort. As with all other federal facilities, FPS will secure the Convention Center and Sportsplex through contract guards as FPS does not have sufficient Law Enforcement personnel to accomplish this without contract support. Federal Air Marshalls (FAMs) and FPS Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) were initially tasked with securing these facilities while FPS worked to place contract guards to replace them. The use of FAMs and FPS LEOs is not sustainable as a long-term solution as it severely weakens the security posture of those agencies and is not cost effective.

3. Description of Supplies/Services.

The requirement is to immediately provide PSO services for 7 posts, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for a duration of at least 103 days, at the Long Beach Convention Center, 301 East Ocean Boulevard, Long Beach, CA and 11 posts, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for a duration of at least 154 days at the Pomona Sportsplex, 1101 West McKinley Avenue, Pomona, California, in support of HHS/FEMA and Operation Blue Bridge/Brave Crossing, to secure the facilities sheltering unaccompanied children crossing the border into the United States. At this time, the current known requirement to support this effort is a total of 57,960 hours to support both the Long Beach and Pomona Unaccompanied Children (UAC) sites. It is possible that this requirement may change in the future; however, those changes are conjecture at this point and will be dependent upon the needs of HHS and FEMA in relation to the number of children arriving.

Armed Protective Services Officers (PSOs) needed to secure these sites require extensive training, background screening, health and fitness screening, licenses (firearms and state issued armed guard licenses) and permits prior to standing post under the FPS PSO Statement of Work. Providing the training, background screenings and licensing to a sufficient number of guards to fill all the required posts would take several months.

FPS has an existing Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract, with fixed price provisions, for Protective Security Officer Services in Los Angeles, California, , with , is performing in Option Year 2 of the IDIQ contract, which is from October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021. Option Year 2 was awarded with 770,000 hours for basic PSO services and 1,000 for Emergency Security Services, for a total of 771,000 hours. The proposed action is to modify contract

, for Protective Security Officer Services in the Los Angeles Area of Operations, for an increase to contract hours available for Option Year 2 through the establishment of a new Contract Line Item PSO services at the Long Beach Convention Center and Pomona Sportsplex. The addition of these hours to contract will allow FPS to immediately fill critical security posts with fully trained, screened, and qualified Protective Security Officers to secure and protect the facility and its occupants. There are currently not enough hours remaining on contract to support Operation Blue Bridge’s present known requirement of 57,960 hours. Without increasing the hours available for Option Year 2, supporting Operation Blue Bridge would be out of the current scope of the contract. These hours will be ordered and funded on task order number after the IDIQ contract has been modified.

Identification of 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)(2) implemented by the FAR Subpart FAR 6.302-2, Unusual and Compelling Urgency.

The requirement facilitates HHS/FEMA’s humanitarian effort to safely shelter the overwhelming number unaccompanied children crossing the border into the United States while arrangements are made for their placement into more permanent status.

4. Identification of Exception to the Buy American Statute: Not Applicable

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

(a) Rationale for using the authority cited in section 4 of the J&A:

An Operation Blue Bridge status report for PSO services, dated 03/31/2021, identified Pomona, CA as a future location for unaccompanied children crossing the border into the United States. Additionally, the same status report, dated 04/06/2021, identified Long Beach, CA as another site to support this effort. At the time of those notifications, Region 9 Operations Branch in conjunction with FPSAD West Consolidated Contracting Group (WCCG) began identifying capabilities and solutions to support the Operation Blue Bridge effort by examining current PSO contracts. The sudden surge of unaccompanied children crossing the United States southern border increased at a rapid pace, creating security threats within a matter of weeks. HHS, FEMA, care providers, medical staff and several hundred children will occupy the Long Beach Convention Center and Pomona Sportsplex beginning on April 22, 2021 and April 29, 2021, respectively. Without the use of FPS contract guards, the facilities will have to be secured by FAMs and FPS LEOs. To ensure federal law enforcement personnel are available to accomplish their day-to-day missions, FPS requires immediate contract guard support to fulfill this requirement. Issuance of a competitive solicitation for PSO services of this complexity and magnitude would take time that this requirement does not allow for. The typical solicitation process for awarding a new FPS PSO

United States until reunification details can be arranged. Armed PSO services are necessary to secure these facilities and protect the occupants. FPS has the capacity to do this with the use of an existing contract, with for these services. Due to the complex nature of the services, competitive procedures to award to any new PSO service firm would severely delay securing the Convention Center and Sportsplex and the federal government personnel, children and any visitors would be in jeopardy. Due to the extensive screening, health, training, licenses and permits to be obtained, another PSO service firm cannot immediately step in and provide these services.

The FPS PSO services Statement of Work (SOW) for armed guards is highly prescriptive and would not allow for the sharing of responsibilities by additional security firms within this requirement. The immediate need is for post-ready PSOs and supervisors. No portion of these PSO services could be segregated out for further competition. If more than one security firm were standing post within the same facilities, this may cause confusion among PSO’s and tenants/visitors regarding security authority, and it significantly complicates FPS’ ability to conduct inspections and provide proper oversight. On typical FPS PSO contracts a portion of the contract may be sub-contracted to small business, at the firm’s discretion; however, the duties typically outsourced to these small business partners are administrative in nature.

Separating duties to allow for further competition would not be feasible under the requirements of this project.

(c) Summarize alternatives considered and why they will not work:

Without taking into account relief, vacations, and sick leave, staffing 18 posts, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week requires approximately 47 individuals. Use of Federal Air Marshals (FAMs) and FPS Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) could be used to secure these facilities, however, would incur significant costs for transportation, per diem and lodging for law enforcement officers from outside of the Los Angeles metro area. The 2021 GSA Per Diem rates equate to $248.00 per day for each individual; $182.00 for lodging expenses and $66.00 for meals and incidentals (M&IE)1. The use of 47 government FAMs and FPS LEOs, from out of the area, to cover the requirement would cost the government approximately $11,656.00 per day. has fully qualified PSOs ready to stand post within the Los Angeles area and would require minimal staffing support from their neighboring San Diego, CA contract. It should be further be noted, one of the Collective Bargaining Agreements currently on contract , CBA-2017-10831, covers not only Riverside and San Bernardino, but also extends to the San Diego PSO contract covering the counties of San Diego and Imperial. would not incur additional travel costs if they were able to re-assign those PSOs to the UAC sites; as a result, reduced travel costs will be passed along to the Government.

In addition, pulling these LEOs from their regular missions severely weakens the security posture for both the Federal Air Marshals (FAMs) and Federal Protective Service.

Issuance of a new request for proposal for a competitive contract would cause severe delays due to the processing time required to solicit, evaluate, and award the contract as well as to provide time for completion of transition activities. As previously mentioned, the solicitation and award process would take approximately 400 days. Since there are extensive screening, 1 Reference: Per Diem Rates | GSA

PSO Services for Long Beach Convention Center and Pomona Sportsplex

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

Date

Contracting Officer West Consolidated Contracting Group

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

Date

Contracting Officer’s Representative

APPROVAL:

Date

Procuring Activity Advocate for Competition