70SBUR21F00000210 - ODOS II Interim Task Order JEFO.pdf

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

JEFO Number: PR Number:

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 USCIS Office of Information Technology (OIT), Transformation Delivery Division (TDD), 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 REI Systems, Inc., hereinafter referred to as REI, under its GSA Alliant 2 contract, contract number 47QTCK18D0032. REI is the incumbent contractor currently providing support under task order HSHQDC-14-D-E2009/70SBUR18F00000704 for Outcome-based Delivery and DevOps Services (ODOS) II.

3. Description of Supplies/Services.

The proposed task order to be awarded will continue vital ODOS II DevOps services that provide development and support in IT development, security integration, and maintenance efforts for sustaining the Electronic Immigration System (ELIS). These services provide ELIS and Non- ELIS related Outcome-Based Delivery and DevOps design, User Experience Design (UXD) and Operations and Maintenance for the delivery of solutions that adapt to the changing business needs and efficiently deliver business results. The specific tasks, as described in the Performance Work Statement, include DevOps; development; code quality, security and standards compliance;

test, integration and deployment; quality control; operations and administrative activities. These services are critical to the USCIS directorate and TDD program to continue to deliver the business value, planned roadmap to incorporate new forms and functionality into ELIS, support our USCIS/DHS/Department of State (DoS) stakeholders with accurate applicant benefits information, reduce fraud, enhance security and integrity of the application, maintain the current cadence of the requirement delivery and maintain quality of the program.

The period of performance for the proposed action consists of a two (2) month base period and one (1), four (4) month and twenty (20) day option period as follows:

Base: 09/04/2021 – 11/03/2021 Option I: 11/04/2021 – 03/24/2022

The estimated total dollar value is

JEFO No: FY21-0094

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, REI performs the required services under the ODOS II task order (HSHQDC-14-D- E2009/70SBUR18F00000704) until 09/03/2021. The ODOS II DevOps support services currently provided utilize the best DevOps practices in IT development, security integration, and maintenance efforts for sustaining the system.

This justification supports the agency’s requirement to continue ODOS II support commencing on 09/04/2021. Market research that was conducted for the competitive re-compete currently in-progress indicated that there are contractors capable of performing services required by ODOS on multiple EAGLE NextGen contracts. However, based on the research conducted for this task order, it has been concluded that only REI has the specific skills, knowledge and experience needed to provide the required specialized services at the level of quality required at this time.

The nature of the requirement is complex and requires large-scale coordination and mobilization of development teams and there is a significant learning curve associated with commencing to support these projects. The time between a potential competitive short-term award action and the need date for services (09/04/2021) would not allow sufficient time for recruiting, hiring, background checks and entry-on-duty, and most importantly, a transition period with knowledge transfer. The inability to conduct a proper in-depth transition will result in failure to deliver on key USCIS priorities. REI is currently capable to provide required staffing and the level of quality within this short timeline with all necessary teams in place as well as extensive program knowledge to continue operations to complete the projected tasks and to transition ongoing activities to the new competitive awardee.

As referenced above and for greater context, loss of the services currently provided by ODOS II would impact mission critical systems such as the Electronic Immigration System (ELIS). Any lapse in service would be unacceptable because there is a high risk of delaying the planned roadmap, functionalities, new features, and forms into ELIS so that our end users can adjudicate and complete the workflow of the application all within ELIS. As USCIS OIT and the Directorate Front office plan to fold legacy functionality into ELIS, this becomes even more critical for data integrity, security, easy to use and centralizing the applicant information in ELIS. ODOS II is strategically important for the USCIS directorate and TDD program to continue to deliver the business value, planned roadmap to incorporate new forms and functionality into ELIS, support our USCIS/DHS/DoS stakeholders with accurate applicant benefits information, reduce fraud, enhance security and integrity of the application, maintain the current cadence of the requirement delivery and maintain quality of the program.

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

The Contracting Officer anticipates the proposed price will be consistent with the GSA Alliant 2 Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWAC) contract held by REI that includes maximum/ceiling rates. In addition, historical pricing information is available for all services to be provided, which are the basis for the Independent Government Cost Estimate. Pricing will be evaluated for reasonableness in accordance with one or more analysis techniques identified in FAR Subpart 15.4. The Contracting Officer may request other than certified cost or pricing data if determined to be necessary in the assessment of fair and reasonable pricing. Prior to award, the Contracting Officer will be able to determine that issuing the proposed task order via the GSA Alliant 2 GWAC represents the best value and that the proposed price is fair and reasonable for award.

6. Any other facts supporting the justification.

As briefly discussed in Section 4, the succeeding competitive procurement was expected to be in place prior to the expiration of the current task order 70SBUR18F00000704, but this competitive procurement experienced multiple delays due to various unforeseen circumstances, chiefly revisions to the requirement imposed by the Agency’s emergent funding issues which were the result of significantly reduced revenues due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Agency was planning to transition the work from the current ODOS II task order, 70SBUR18F00000704, contractor to the contractor awarded the re-compete task order, titled ODOS III; however, the current task order 70SBUR18F00000704 ends on 09/03/2021 and it is necessary to proceed with the short-term task order with REI to continue these mission critical services while the competitive award is finalized, and to allow for an orderly transition of these services to the awardee of the ODOS III procurement.

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.

Any barrier to competition will be removed upon finalization of the source selection and a transition to a new awardee(s). No other competitive barriers are known at this time, which would lead to a future fair opportunity exception. This sole source task order is only intended to continue the current services until the award and transition-in of the in-process competitive procurement is

JEFO No: FY21-0094 completed.

8. USCIS intends to post this requirement on 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.

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.

11. APPROVAL:

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