J-and-A-Exception-to-Fair-Opportunity_for_Academy.pdf

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

Acquisition Title: The Academy for Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care

Agency: AHRQ

Acquisition Year (FY): 2019

Author: Parivash Nourjah

2. Description of Action:

Nature: New Requirement Follow-on Order

Modification to Existing Delivery/Task Order/Contract Number:

Order Against: Multiple Award ID/IQ Contract Number: HHSP233201500026I

Pricing: Firm-Fixed Price Time & Materials Cost Type

Funds: OMA Other Funds:

3. Description of Applicable Contract Provisions:

4. Description of Supplies or Services:

The estimated value of the proposed action, including all options, is: $ 2,500,000

The overarching purpose of this project is to ensure that the AHRQ Academy for Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care (The Academy) remains active as a coordinating center and national resource for primary care providers who are interested in providing care for their patients with mental and behavioral health problems including, but not limited to, substance use disorders such as Opioid Use Disorder (www.integrationacademy.ahrq.gov).

This Task order is comprised of a base year and 4 one-year options which may be exercised conditional on need and availability of funds.

The base period and the option periods each include

• some annually recurring tasks (convening of the NIAC technical expert panel and providing ongoing maintenance and support of the Academy Portal and “the Commons”),

• some tasks that will vary from year to year based on AHRQ-identified needs and priorities and on available funds.

5. Authority and Rationale:

The Contracting Officer shall give every awardee a fair opportunity to be considered for a delivery/task order exceeding the micro purchase threshold unless one of the following statutory exceptions applies. FAR 16.505(b)(2). Mark the applicable exception:

The agency need for the supplies or services is so urgent that providing a fair opportunity would result in unacceptable delays [FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(A)];

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

The order must be issued on a sole-source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it is a logical follow-on to an order already issued under the contract, provided that all awardees were given a fair opportunity to be considered for the original order [FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C)];

This would be a logical and direct follow-on to an existing contract (Master Contract Number: HHSP233201500026I Task Order Number:

HHSP23337003T) and will call for the same set of tasks that the contractor (Westat Inc) has performed under the current contract. The last time this task order was competed (i.e. 2016), the incumbent was the only bidder from among the 13 eligible contractors within the ACTION III IDIQ, under which the new work will also be procured. In September 2018, AHRQ used this exception to modify the option year 2 of the Master contract by adding two more tasks which needed to be performed on products developed by the contractor since the inception of the Academy.

Economies and efficiencies would accrue to the government from the seamless continuation of website maintenance by the incumbent that built the existing web platform and has had 8 very successful years of experience maintaining, updating and refining it, using the Drupal Content Management System, meeting the necessary IT requirements, developing and operating its key features (e.g., the playbook, Lexicon, the Atlas of integrated Behavioral Health Care Quality Measures, online community, searchable Resource and Research Repository) and updating its content. In addition, the incumbent has conducted environmental scan for topics related to Opioids, assembled experts (i.e. NIAC members) individually or in collaboration with experts, developed the contents of the Academy portal (e.g., the playbook, Lexicon, the Atlas of integrated Behavioral Health Care Quality) in collaboration with experts, and has high functioning and customer oriented relationship with AHRQ communication staff which are critical experiences for performing these tasks efficiently.

It is necessary to place the order to satisfy a minimum guarantee [FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(D)]; or

A statute expressly authorizes or requires that the purchase be made from a specified source. [FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(E)].

6. Agency Actions to Take or Remove Barriers That Led to Fair Opportunity Exception (If applicable):

Describe the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the restricted consideration prior to any subsequent acquisition for the supplies of services is made. If no such actions have been taken, explain why.

There are no future plans to acquire the same services in a way that could not be fairly competed.

7. Fair and Reasonable Price/Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated price/cost for this contract action will be fair and reasonable.

The contracting Officer will ensure that proposed rates are in accordance with the Contractor’s ACTION III IDIQ contract. In addition, certified cost or pricing data will be obtained and a cost realism analysis and cost analysis will be required.

Signature: Date: Jul 31, 2019

Name: Jennifer Eskandari

Title: Contracting Officer

8. Any other facts supporting the justification:

N/A

9. Technical / Requirements Certification: By my signature below, I certify that the supporting data under my review which is included in this Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity is accurate and complete.

Program Manager

Name: Parivash Nourjah

Position Title: Epidemiologist

Digitally signed by Jennifer L. Eskandari -S DN: c=US, o=U.S. Government, ou=HHS, ou=PSC, ou=People, 0.9.2342.19200300.100.1.1=2000672350, cn=Jennifer L. Eskandari -S Date: 2019.07.31 12:18:26 -04'00'

Email address: parivash.nourjah@ahrq.hhs.gov

Phone: 301-427-1106

Program Manager Supervisor (or one level above Program Manager)

Name: Therese Miller

Position Title: Acting Director, DPI/CEPI

Email address: therese.miller@ahrq.hhs.gov

Signature:

Date: 7-31-19

10. Contracting Officer's Approval (Required for proposed contract not to exceed $700,000 (value calculated including all options)): I hereby certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge. I approve this sole source justification subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services and supplies herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

Name: Jennifer Eskandari Phone: 301-492-4528

Signature: Date: Jul 31, 2019

11. Legal Review:

12. OPDIV Competition Advocate Approval (Required for proposed contract over $700,000 but not exceeding $13.5 million value calculated including all options)):

I have reviewed this justification and find that it adequately supports an exception to fair opportunity.

Name: Melissa McAbee Phone: 301-492-4710

Signature: Date: 08/09/2019

13. Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization:

I have reviewed this justification and find that it adequately supports an exception to fair opportunity.

Name: Phone:

Signature: Date:

14. OPDIV HCA Approval (Required for proposed contract over $13.5 million but not exceeding $68 million value calculated including all options)):

Name: Phone:

Signature: Date:

15. Department Competition Advocate:

Concur: Non-Concur:

Therese L. Miller -S Digitally signed by Therese L. Miller -S DN: c=US, o=U.S. Government, ou=HHS, ou=AHRQ, ou=People, 0.9.2342.19200300.100.1.1=2000009460, cn=Therese L. Miller -S Date: 2019.07.31 11:11:46 -04'00'

Digitally signed by Jennifer L. Eskandari -S DN: c=US, o=U.S. Government, ou=HHS, ou=PSC, ou=People, 0.9.2342.19200300.100.1.1=2000672350, cn=Jennifer L. Eskandari -S Date: 2019.07.31 12:20:16 -04'00'

Melissa M. Mcabee -S Digitally signed by Melissa M. Mcabee -S DN: c=US, o=U.S. Government, ou=HHS, ou=PSC, ou=People, 0.9.2342.19200300.100.1.1=2001847089, cn=Melissa M.

Mcabee -S Date: 2019.08.09 10:23:22 -04'00'

Name: Phone:

Signature: Date:

(The below approval paragraph is required if the cumulative contract value, including all options, exceeds $68 million.)

16. HHS Senior Procurement Executive (SPE) Approval:

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of stated supplies/services being procured on the exception to the fair opportunity basis pursuant to the authority of paragraph 5, 41 U.S.C. 4101, as implemented by FAR 16.501-2.

State supplies/services being procured:

The overarching purpose of this project is to ensure that the AHRQ Academy for Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care (The Academy) remains active as a coordinating center and national resource for primary care providers who are interested in providing care for their patients with mental and behavioral health problems including, but not limited to, substance use disorders such as Opioid Use Disorder (www.integrationacademy.ahrq.gov).

This Task order is comprised of a base year and 4 one-year options which may be exercised conditional on need and availability of funds.

The base period and the option periods each include

• some annually recurring tasks (convening of the NIAC technical expert panel and providing ongoing maintenance and support of the Academy Portal and “the Commons”),

• some tasks that will vary from year to year based on AHRQ-identified needs and priorities and on available funds.

State the full statutory authority and FAR cite and title, consistent with paragraph 4, e.g. 41 U.S.C. 3304:

Name: Phone:

Signature: Date: