FY18-0406_Redacted.pdf

Justification for Exception to Fair Opportunity

Exceeding the SAT pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)

JEFO No.: FY18-0406 - 1 -

JEFO No.: FY18-0406

Date: 7/30/2018 PR Number: ICS1800041

1. Agency and Contracting Activity.

The Department of Homeland Security, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), External Affairs Directorate (EXA) and Office of Contracting (OCON), prepared this justification for an exception to fair opportunity.

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

USCIS intends to noncompetitively issue a modification to task order 70SBUR18F00000281, under the General Services Administration (GSA) USA Contact Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to Enterprise Services LLC (DBA DXC) (GS00V08PDD0072) pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B). The GSA USA Contact vehicle is not a GSA Schedule, rather a multi-award IDIQ contract. This sole source action with DXC will allow for continued Customer Engagement Center (CEC) support and to extend the period of performance from 8/16/2018 through 10/15/2018 for a transition out under FAR 52.237-3, “Continuity of Services.” This action is required for the successful performance of the new CEC task order, 70SBUR18F00000028 with CSRA (formally Computer Services Corporation), awarded on 10/19/2017. Initially the start of performance for 70SBUR18F00000028 was intended to be 2/18/2018; however, because of government delays in obtaining and configuring the Government Furnished Property (GFP), performance cannot start until 8/15/2018. Two sole source bridge task orders, one with CSRA (70SBUR18F00000280) and one with DXC (70SBUR18F00000281), were awarded on 4/30/18 with a period of performance of 5/1/2018 – 8/15/2018. Transition out is necessary to prevent a lapse in service.

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

EXA has a continuing requirement for contract support to provide Tier 1 call center customer assistance under the National Call Service Center (NCSC) task order 70SBUR18F00000281. Applicants and U.S. citizens contact the NCSC seeking general information, to inquire about the status of their case(s), to report suspected fraud, to change their address, and discuss other areas of general inquiry by telephone and web-chat. The Tier 1 call center serves as the first line of customer support in USCIS;

annually answering over 7.2 million customer inquiries, creating over 500,000 service requests, and transferring calls to Tier 2. Tier 2 is a government operated call center, which deals with inquiries outside the scope of the task order.

The intent is to modify the current task order with DXC to allow for 60 day transition out under FAR 52.237-3. Task order 70SBUR18F00000281currently provides Tier 1 call

JEFO No.: FY18-0406 - 2 -center support. A transition out is required to ensure a stable transition to new CEC task order, 70SBUR18F00000028 with CSRA, thus lowering program risk. The proposed transition out action will decrease DXC’s Tier 1 call center support in the last 30 days from 50 percent to 25 percent. The total estimated proposed action is – see table below for breakdown of performance period and pricing.

Period of Performance 1-30 Day Transition

(8/16/2018 – 9/15/2018) 31-60 Day Transition

(9/16/2018 – 10/15/2018) CLIN 0001 – Support Staff CLIN 0002 – Telephone Inquiries CLIN 0003 – Live Chat

CLIN 0004 – GSA CAF

Total

4. Identify the exception to fair opportunity and supporting rationale, including a demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the exception cited.

16.505(b)(2)(i)(B): Only one awardee is capable of providing the services required at the level of quality required because the services ordered are unique or highly specialized.

The below chart provides a timeline of events from the award of the CEC task order 70SBUR18F00000028 to the award of the sole source bridge task orders. A more detailed description of the events is broken down below the chart.

Date Event 10/19/2017 Award of CEC – 70SBUR18F00000028 to CSRA. Period of

Performance: 2/1/2018 – 1/31/2020 January 2018 Informed GFP would not be ready for use until July 2018 2/1/2018 Issued Modification P00001 to 70SBUR18F00000028 to change the start of CEC to August 2018 4/17/2018 JEFO Approved for bridge task order 70SBUR18F00000280 with

CSRA

4/17/2018 JEFO Approved for bridge task order 70SBUR18F00000281 with

DXC

4/30/2018 Task Orders HSSCCG-12-J-00113 (CSRA) and HSSCCG-12-J-

00114 (DXC) expired 4/30/2018 Award of NCSC Bridge – 70SBUR18F00000280 to CSRA. Period of Performance: 5/1/2018 – 8/15/2018 4/30/2018 Award of NCSC Bridge – 70SBUR18F00000281 to DXC. Period of

Performance: 5/1/2018 – 8/15/2018

JEFO No.: FY18-0406 - 3 -

Rationale:

For historical reference, on 5/17/2012 USCIS competitively awarded two task orders under the GSA USA Contact IDIQ contract; HSSCCG-12-J-00113 to CSRA and HSSCCG-12-J-00114 to DXC.

- The tasks orders are for the operation of the CSPED Tier 1 telephone call center support.

- Under these two task orders the government owns and maintains the voice and data circuits in to the contractor’s facilities; while the contractor owns all the equipment and software past the demarcation point of the circuits to operate the centers.

USCIS solicited the recompete of the NSCS task order, combining the call center efforts on to one, giving fair opportunity to all USA Contact IDIQ holders. The result was the award to CSRA, LLC of the CEC task order, 70SBUR18F00000028, on 10/19/2017.

In addition to transitioning from two contractors to one, performance on the CEC contract, unlike the NCSC contract, will rely on the use of USCIS GFP and USCIS infrastructure, which requires both a change in technology and significant training for all contractor personnel. Prior to award, it was understood from the Office of Information Technology (OIT) that it would take 90 to 120 days to have the new required circuits installed and configured for CEC. When award was made in October 2017, the beginning of performance for CEC was initially scheduled for 2/1/2018. However, once the award notice was relayed to OIT, OIT informed the Program Office that it could take approximately 6 to 8 months to install and configure the new technology. The GFP and circuits were placed on order through the GSA Verizon Network contract at the end of November 2017.

When the new technology was not installed by April 2018, two sole source bridge task orders, one with CSRA and one with DXC, were awarded on 4/30/2018 with a period of performance of 5/1/2018 – 8/15/2018. USCIS was only recently able to advise CSRA that it expected network to go “live” and call volumes would be increased as of August 2018. As a result, at this time, additional transition out time is necessary to prevent a lapse in service. The NCSC receives approximately 499,000 calls per month, which are currently split between CSRA and DXC. The additional two months of transition will allow CSRA the time to recruit contract employees and submit security packages; as well as allow the Office of Security and Integrity (OSI) time to process the background investigations and issue Enter on Duty dates, which can take approximately two months to complete. Each contractor employee will then need to complete Call Center training prior to working on the task order. During the first month of transition out support, DXC will split the calls 50/50 with CSRA. During the second month of transition out support DXC will take 25% of the calls and CSRA will take 75% of the calls.

Failure to award an exception to fair opportunity modification to DXC will result in major degradation to the USCIS primary mission. Since DXC handles nearly 50% of the

JEFO No.: FY18-0406 - 4 -call volume for Tier 1, that call center capacity would be lost until the new CEC task order is at full performance; which will be 10/16/2018.

5. Determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the government will be fair and reasonable.

The task order was awarded against the GSA USA Contact IDIQ contract; which has an ordering period currently set to expire on 9/10/2018. The current IDIQ includes negotiated pricing tables already determined by the GSA contracting officer to be fair and reasonable, which covers task orders issued against the IDIQ prior to the end of the ordering period for performance periods through 9/10/2023. The contracting officer will perform a price analysis comparing negotiated GSA pricing tables against the DXC price proposal. The contracting officer determines that the anticipated price to the government will be fair and reasonable based upon price analysis performed in accordance with FAR 15.4, comparing the proposed pricing to historical prices paid for the same or similar items, other than cost or pricing data provided by DXC, and technical analysis.

Therefore, it is determined that the contracting officer will have an adequate basis upon which to determine the anticipated cost to the government to be fair and reasonable.

6. Any other facts supporting the justification.

Market research performed for 70SBUR18F00000028 indicated that GSA’s USA Contact vehicles were prequalified contact center companies with the relevant capability to provide live assistance and all services available as self-serve and in addition process service request and address changes under Tier 1. While the seven pre-qualified companies have similar capabilities, none could offer a seamless transition. Only DXC can immediately provide CEC transition support beginning 8/15/2018, without an adverse impact to the immigration system – therefore, no market research (outside of that done for the above contract) was conducted for this requirement. In addition, only DXC has personnel in place with the required clearances, extensive knowledge and experience with the on-going effort. Only DXC can meet the government’s requirements at this time.

7. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the exception to fair opportunity before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made.

The subject requirement is a temporary, short-term solution to fill the gap until the CEC task order, which was competitively awarded, is in full performance on 10/16/2018.

Closer coordination will take place with the financial office and OIT for the newly awarded task order for CEC. Once successful transition to the newly competed task order is accomplished, there will no longer be a barrier that would lead to the exception to fair opportunity.

JEFO No.: FY18-0406 - 5 -

8. USCIS Office of Contracting intends to post this requirement on FedBizOpps, pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D).