7_3_STAR__T3_Ltd_Source_Justification_-_final.docx

U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

LIMITED SOURCES JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

I. Contracting Activity

I certify that the data supporting the recommended use of other than full and open competition for the acquisition of these information technology resources is complete and accurate.

OAM/HPOD/

June 1, 2014

(Name)

(Office Symbol)

Date Signed

OEI/OTOP/CBSS

June 1, 2014

(Name)

(Office Symbol)

Date Signed

II. Nature and/or Description of the Action Being Processed

This is a new short-term task order to be awarded to SiloSmashers under GS-10F-0216N.

The current task order is GS-10F-0216N / EP-G11H-00133 with SiloSmashers expires on May 30, 2014.

The anticipated Period of Performance (POP) for the new short-term task order will consist of the base period of 3 (three) months (POP: 06/01/- 08/31/2014) plus an option for an additional 2 (two) months (09/01 - 10/31/2014), for a possible total of 5 (five) months.

The POP will begin on June 1, 2014. The ultimate POP end date is October 31, 2014.

This is a time-and-materials (T&M) task order.

III. Description of the Supplies/Services Required To Meet the Agency’s Needs

While the overall role of SiloSmashers is expected to be multi-dimensional, it shall encompass the following major areas:

CLIN 1.0 - STAR / T3 Support- Support of EPA'S OEI/OTOP STAR Application and T3 Tool operations operations.

(1) Business development and technical (coding) maintenance of the existing and new modules in STAR Repository and STAR Dashboard, as requested by OTOP;

(2) Development of dashboard reports supporting the more efficient methods of contract and financial management within the EPA;

(3) Maintenance of T3 (business-development only; no technical (coding) maintenance);

CLIN 2.0 - Data Analysis - Support of processes and activities that utilize the STAR and T3 tools.

(1) Fostering of sound data analysis and design of new operational reports;

(2) Furthering of the effective use STAR as an enterprise contractual and management reporting tool;

(3) Promotion of STAR as a preferred source of authoritative information with respect to the management of multiple contract vehicles in OEI/OTOP;

CLIN 3.0 - Communications and Outreach- Communications and Outreach Activities that promote STAR, T3, and their benefits, and encourage their utilization Agency-wide.

This is a time and materials contract where services are not performance based. Various labor categories are utilized at proposed labor rates.

Period of Performance: The POP will be for a minimum of three (3) months, beginning 06/01/2014, and for a maximum of five (5) months ending 10/31/2014.

Total Estimated Value of the Order: $599,365.00.

IV. Identification of the Justification/Rationale for Limiting Sources and Demonstration of the Contractor’s Unique Qualifications to Provide the Required Supply/Service The rationale for limiting sources is based on FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(B ) “Only one source is capable of responding due to the unique or specialized nature of the work”.

SiloSmashers is the only vendor with the knowledge and expertise needed to provide the specialized support and development required for the STAR and T3 applications, so there will be no disruptions in service during this critical time period, four (4) months prior to the end of the FY2014 as the EPA prepares to end FY2014 and begin FY2015.

STAR and T3 are the systems that support OTOP’s supply chain management and maintain up-to-date operational, contractual, service management, and financial information pertaining to two of OEI/OTOP's contracts: (1) ITS-EPA II, a $100+ million multi-vendor contract vehicle with 17 task orders, which serves as OEI/OTOP's primary mechanism for delivery of IT services to the Agency and, (2) MPS (Managed Print Services) a contract with one (1) task order. Gaps in support of the existing STAR processes and procedures would result in loss of timely review of the operational and financial performance of the ITS- EPA II vendors, loss of scrutiny by the CORs, thus leading to unnecessary and unanticipated costs to the government; and lack of support of the new modules that are currently in development would disrupt efficiency of OTOP’s Working Capital Fund operations in FY2015 and beyond.

There are critical STAR development activities currently underway for four new operational modules (Service Level Agreement, Service Request, Contract Management and Purchase Request Dashboard) with a deployment schedule requiring two releases over the next 4 months and SiloSmashers is the vendor with the necessary in-depth knowledge and experience necessary to continue and complete these development activities. Further, at this point in the development cycle, with the business development and application coding for these modules being well underway, another vendor would not be able to step in and immediately continue the work, thus derailing the development of these key operational modules, which are needed for the OTOP Working Capital Fund (WCF)’s new fiscal year that will begin on October 1st. In addition, in preparations for fiscal year FY 2015, STAR and T3 need to be re-coded and aligned with the WCF catalog of services that changes on annual basis. That work needs to begin no later than August 2014 and requires a thorough understanding of the WCF structure and processes, which only SiloSmashers possesses.

Additionally, gaps in support of the existing STAR processes, procedures, and data analyses would result in loss of timely review of the operational and financial performance of the ITS-EPA II vendors, and in the loss of scrutiny of the vendors' performance by the CORs, thus leading to unnecessary and unanticipated costs to the government. Lack of vendor support for STAR would result in the need for OTOP’s COR to return to their previous – decentralized and unstructured – ways of receiving and reviewing the vendor deliverables and monthly financial reports. Based on the historical data, that would mean an increase in the number of deliverables that are submitted late by the vendor by 20-30%, and delays in approval of deliverables increasing from the current 1-2 days to 18-30 days. In addition, the loss of STAR-based mechanism for review and analysis of vendors’ monthly invoices would result in the increased level of effort by the CORs that would result in extra costs of $150 dollars per month per COR (or $13,500 over the life of the proposed bridge extension.) Additionally, the loss of STAR-based Daily Service Review (DSR) functionality, the primary consumers of which are the Agency’s CIO and CTO and their staff, would result in the increase in the daily vendor costs of $1,500-2,000 (or $30,000-40,000 over the life of the proposed bridge extension).

Finally, in FY 2012, the financial trend analysis that the STAR Support Team of the feds and the SiloSmashers staff conducts on the ongoing basis, led to forestalling of $5 million in contract cost overruns. Lack of knowledgeable vendor support would make it more difficult and time consuming to conduct the same analysis during the current fiscal year, and overall would deprive hundreds of the Working Capital Fund (WCF) service managers, accountants, service delivery managers, and WCF vendors, of the operational tools which they have come to rely on, and which brought centralization, synchronization, standardization, transparency to the contract management operations in OEI/OTOP.

V. Determination by the Ordering Activity Contracting Officer that the Order Represents the Best Value Consistent with FAR 8.404(d)

This order for services requires a statement of work, and will be awarded under GSA contract, GS-10F-0216N. It represents the Best Value to the Government. The pricing is based on the pricing from the last option period pricing of the current task order for the same services, which was competed GSA schedule holders qualified to perform the work. A price reasonableness determination was performed before the original award, and before the last option period was exercised.

VI. Description of the Market Research Conducted Among Schedule Holders and the Results Or a Statement of the Reason Market Research Was Not Conducted

Researched FAR regarding FSS order procedures, limited source justification regarding sole source awards and follow on contracts.

VII. Other Facts Supporting the Justification N/A

VIII. Actions the Agency May Take to Remove or Overcome Any Barriers that Led to the Restricted Consideration Before Any Subsequent Acquisition For the Supplies or Services There is currently an ongoing effort to secure a new contract to support the agency’s STAR/T3 applications. It will be competed as a small business set aside among all qualified vendors with GSA contracts under GSA’s MOBIS SIN 874. The solicitation process is being conducted with all due diligence and propriety warranted for a contract of this scope. Unfortunately, the new task order cannot be put in place in time to prevent the gaps in vendor support of the aforementioned applications. Therefore, this new task order is with a short POP is being awarded to SiloSmashers, the incumbent, in order to address the agency’s STAR/T3 requirements in the interim.

IX. Contracting Officer’s Certification Signed

X. Technical/Requirements Personnel’s Certification Signed