70SBUR21F00000103 redacted JEFO 13Apr21.pdf

Justification for Exception to Fair Opportunity Exceeding the SAT pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)

JEFO No: FY21-0059 Page 1 of 4

JEFO Number: FY21-0059 PR Number: OIT214048

1. Agency and Contracting Activity.

The Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Office of Contracting, proposes to award a task order on behalf of the USCIS Office of Information Technology (OIT) pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.505(b)(2), Exceptions to the fair opportunity process.

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

USCIS intends to award a task order to ManTech Advanced Systems International, Inc., hereinafter referred to as ManTech, under its General Services Administration (GSA) Alliant 2 contract, contract number 47QTCK18D0031. InfoZen is the incumbent contractor providing support1 under task order HSHQDC-14-D-E2017 / HSSCCG-16-J- 00038 for Support for Platform Engineering and DevOps Integration (SPEDI) services.

Services will be provided via the mandatory EAGLE NextGen vehicle, GSA Alliant 2 without considering other GSA Alliant 2 awardees pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B). This justification is needed to allow for the continued performance by the incumbent contractor to allow for the resolution of a protest on the Architectural Engineering Services (AES) task order and completion of any necessary transition tasks from SPEDI to AES and the Enterprise Infrastructure Operations Support Services (EIOSS) task order.

3. Description of Supplies/Services.

The services required include professional Information Technology (IT) technical and program management support services. The contractor will continue to provide services to support USCIS by providing IT infrastructure planning, engineering, design, testing, implementation, project management and operational support services for USCIS enterprise components, including DevOps and Cloud Services. The contractor will also continue to provide services to support the Applied Technology Division's Change, Configuration and Release Management (CCRM) Branch to establish governance over the processing of all changes to be deployed or to be implemented within the USCIS operating environment for both its customers and employees. These services provide a foundation in which information can be disseminated and shared across all USCIS and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) components in a secure, cost effective and efficient manner. The goal is to ensure that USCIS IT systems and services are delivered at a high level of quality and are consistent with the government's enterprise vision for architecture and practices. It includes the functions of Quality Assurance, DevOps, CCRM, Processes and Practices, Software

1 InfoZen, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of ManTech, is the named prime contractor on the current order; however, a novation agreement is pending to update from InfoZen to ManTech. USCIS is awaiting confirmation of processing of the novation agreement from DHS before it can update the current task order.

JEFO No: FY21-0059 Page 2 of 4

Asset Management, Enterprise Architecture, and Solution Architecture.

The planned period of performance of the proposed task order is five (5) months, inclusive of a two-month base period and a three-month option period. The total estimated value is $15,890,072.

4. Statutory exception and supporting rationale.

The applicable statutory FAR citation and basis for using an exception to fair opportunity process is:

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

Rationale:

Currently, ManTech, through its subsidiary InfoZen, provides the required services under the SPEDI task order, which is set to expire on April 26, 2021. SPEDI services are critical to the USCIS mission as the contractor supports all facets of the agency’s infrastructure as described above. Without contractor support, USCIS offices risk not being able to meet their mission objectives. Only the incumbent contractor has the capability to continue performance of this requirement at the level of quality required. Contractor has approximately 180 personnel in place at various sites throughout the United States, has been performing satisfactorily, and it is more cost effective to keep the current contractor in place for this short period of performance.

The SPEDI task order is being replaced by two (2) new task orders entitled AES and EIOSS. AES was competitively awarded in December 2019 and the award decisions have been protested numerous times. Currently, USCIS is awaiting the protest decision from the Government Accountability Office. EIOSS was competitively awarded in January 2021 and performance began on March 22, 2021. There is a 90-day transition period under EIOSS where both the incoming and outgoing contractors are required to work simultaneously to ensure a successful transition of duties between contractors. Accordingly, interim support is needed to continue SPEDI services until such time as the AES protest is resolved and services are able to complete transition to either AES or EIOSS.

Based upon the need for short-term continued services, part of which is transition-out services from the SPEDI task order, only ManTech has the specific skills, knowledge, and experience needed to provide the required specialized services at the level of quality required to meet the needs of this interim requirement. Due to the need to continue services with ManTech, market research for this effort was limited to a review of ManTech’s Alliant 2 contract to determine if it was available for placement of a new task order. Alliant 2 had previously been identified through market research for the competitively awarded AES and EIOSS task orders as the most suitable to meet the underlying requirements.

JEFO No: FY21-0059 Page 3 of 4

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

The Alliant 2 contract establishes maximum fully burdened labor rates for all labor categories needed for performance of this requirement thereby reducing the risk of unreasonable pricing. The contracting officer plans to use historical pricing information in consideration of the price proposed by the contractor. If needed, other than certified cost and pricing data may be requested to help determine that the price proposed is fair and responsible. Coupled with the established maximum rates in the Alliant 2 contract and using one or more analysis techniques in FAR 15.404-1, the contracting officer has determined that the anticipated price will be found fair and reasonable for award.

6. Any other facts supporting the justification.

There are no other facts supporting this justification.

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.

Successor task orders have already been competitively awarded. This non-competitive action is planned for short-term interim support until such time as the new orders can begin full performance; therefore, there are no specific actions the agency must take to remove barriers to competition on future requirements.

8. USCIS intends to post this requirement on beta.sam.gov pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D).

9. Technical/Requirements Personnel Certification.

Pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)(9), 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.

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Robert G. Williams Date Program Official USCIS Office of Information Technology

JEFO No: FY21-0059 Page 4 of 4

10. Contracting Officer Certification

Pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)(8), I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Tracey B. Harriot Date Contracting Officer USCIS Office of Contracting

APPROVAL: Pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)(10), I hereby determine the circumstance identified in Section 4 applies to the order.

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Amanda K. Duquette Date USCIS Head of Contracting Activity

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