925-926 Bridge LSJ_04MAR21 Redacted.pdf

Limited-Sources Justification

Pursuant to the authority of Section 201 of the Multiple-Award Schedule Program 41 U.S.C.

251, this justification is prepared in accordance with the requirements of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 8.405-6(c) for the use of sources limited to fewer than those required in FAR 8.405-1, FAR 8.405-2, and FAR 8.405-3. The circumstance justifying restriction is FAR 8.405- 6(a)(1)(i)(C) through the following facts and rationale:

(1) Agency and Contracting Activity.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), United States Coast Guard (USCG), Office of Contract Operations (CG-912) proposes to enter into an order on the basis of a limited-sources justification.

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

(a) Nature of action: The USCG Assistant Commandant for Acquisition (CG-9), Office of Strategic Planning and Communication (CG-925) has a requirement for program management and administrative support services in support of all USCG’s acquisitions, including coordination of internal and external communications, outside inquiries, and both strategic and organizational planning. USCG’s Office of Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E), (CG-926) has a requirement for program management and administrative support which encompasses the USCG’s Innovation Program.

The USCG proposes to award a firm, fixed-price task order on a limited-sources basis for contractor program management and administrative support services to support CG-925 and CG-926. This task order will support the existing level of effort provided under General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) Contract No. GS10F0132V/HSCG23-16-F-ADW019 that expires 22 March 2021. The place of performance for this requirement is the USCG Headquarters (HQ). The period of performance of this task order is three (3) months (March 23, 2021 through June 22, 2021). The services provided under this task order are required until the USCG awards a new contract.

(b) Name and address of the contractor:

Java Productions, Inc.

2270 Kraft Drive, STE 1850 Blacksburg, VA 24060

(c) Contract type: Firm, Fixed-Price

(d) Estimated total value (including options):

Period Unit Price Total

Base Period

3 mo.

$444,776.80

$444,776.80

Total $444,776.80

(e) Type of funding: Operations and support funds

(f) Year of funding: Fiscal Year 2021

(g) Solicitation number: 70Z02321QPGA02000

(3) Description of Supplies/Services.

The purpose of this task order is to obtain project management and technical support for projects within CG-925 and the CG-926. The support requirements fall within two categories:

1. Program Management / Policy

2. Administration / Information Sharing

CG-925 has a requirement for program management and administrative support for the Coast Guard’s Office of Office of Strategic Planning and Communication who supports all of the Coast Guard’s acquisitions, including coordination of internal and external communications, outside inquiries, and both strategic and organizational planning.

CG-926 has a requirement for program management and administrative support for the Coast Guard’s Office of Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E), which encompasses the Coast Guard’s Innovation Program. The contractor shall deliver professional support to CG- 926 in conducting project management responsibilities, administrative support, information management (to include management assistance to CG Ideas@Work, the Coast Guard’s research and innovation idea crowd sourcing platform), strategic planning implementation, support to innovation and RDT&E executive steering groups/councils, and support to major acquisition programs.

(4) Identification of the justification and the rationale.

This acquisition is being conducted under the authority of FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(C) – In the interest of economy and efficiency, the new work is a logical follow-on to an original Federal Supply Schedule order provided that the original order was placed in accordance with the applicable Federal Supply Schedule ordering procedures.

The proposed support services are a logical follow-on to the previously competed support services being provided under GSA FSS Contract No. GS10F0132V/HSCG23-16-F-ADW019 as both requirements are similar in scope, schedule, and value. The scope of the requirements for the three month task order is unchanged from GSA FSS Contract No. GS10F0132V/HSCG23-

16-F-ADW019, as is the level of effort required. In addition, the value of the three month period is proportional to the value of the current task order. The nature of the acquisition that requires the use of the same contractor as part of a logical follow-on is that the follow-on requirement uses the knowledge gained by the current contractor and continues to build upon previously completed deliverables. The incumbent contractor has the requisite knowledge and experience to support these requirements, and has already begun completing these deliverables for the USCG.

The mandatory deliverables which are required within the next three (3) months, as well as the impact of incumbent contractor support not being provided include:

Deliverable: Fiscal year (FY) 2021 Innovation Awards Planning, Execution, and Improvement Support for Innovation awards preparation in progress, to be held 30 April 2021. The Innovation awards is an annual recognition of the men and women in the USCG who’ve identified and developed solutions to challenging problems. Attendees of the Innovation awards will be at the 3 and 2 Star level.

o Impact: The Innovation Awards would be un-executable in April, and no follow on support for lessons learned or stakeholder engagement with innovation council (SES + Flag Level) would be provided.

Deliverable: FY 2021 Idea Frenzy Event Planning, Execution, and Improvement Support in progress with a target completion date of June 2021. The Idea Frenzy is the pinnacle annual event that aims to give an opportunity to Coast Guard men and women to present their innovation ideas to solve challenges.

o Impact: This event will not be adequately planned and executed, and most likely would be canceled due to high level of effort in event coordination/support. No communications support to coordinate with stakeholders for event planning, coordination of schedules of senior flag officers, no weekly Rigor meetings to review project plan and risk, which could negatively impact the success of the event.

Deliverable: Strategic Initiatives Summary to reflect changes made to the 2021 Action

Plan content and Mission Support Work Plan (MSWP) initiative actions due 3 May 2021.

o Impact: Senior Leadership Group (SES and Flag Level) initiatives will not be built into the current fiscal year action plan and will be lacking in consolidated updated information. This will negatively affect the ability for CG-925 to message top Acquisition Initiatives to the USCG enterprise.

Deliverable: FY2022-2023 Idea Submission Review (ISR) Planning, Execution, and

Improvement Support. The ISR is the annual event by which the RDT&E program builds the current year’s research portfolio, and plans then following years research portfolio development. The planning and execution of these events is year round.

o Impact: Incumbent contractor maintains the list of key lessons learned from ISR events in prior year and facilitates meetings amongst CG-926 to improve future events and portfolio development processes. Without a contractor familiar with the effort, the ability to lead these quality improvement initiatives is severely hindered by lack of understanding/knowledge.

The vast scope of the work that CG-925/926 is tasked to execute has been more than CG-925/926 staff can adequately support on their own. If the USCG is unable to acquire subject matter expertise quickly, tasking will not be accomplished, or will be accomplished much more inefficiently using less experienced staff resources. A gap of service will have a negative effect on cost, schedule and/or performance of the USCG’s Strategic Communications and Research and Development, and Innovation Programs by delaying the acceptance of deliverables and overcoming significant learning curves. These services are unique and highly specialized in that they require significant knowledge of USCG programs and information gained throughout the period of performance in order to meet the required deliverable due dates. The incumbent contractor has performed this requirement for five (5) years and has the requisite knowledge and experience necessary to support both Strategic Communications and Research and Development, and Innovation Programs. The incumbent contractor is the only company able to meet USCG requirements in such a short time, as they have been deeply interwoven in the ongoing FY22 and FY23 Research and Development Portfolio build process by actively assisting with the project management, stakeholder engagement, and Research and Development Domain lead support.

In addition, the incumbent contractor is continually engaged with the management of CG_Ideas@Work, which is the only crowdsourcing platform used within the USCG to drive innovation initiatives. No other contractor has experience with this crowdsourcing platform as it was brought online during the incumbent contractor’s period of performance. The incumbent contractor is also heavily engaged in helping CG-925 align priorities of the Strategic Leadership Group to help drive enterprise priorities for all major and non-major acquisitions in the CG-9 directorate. By awarding to a new contractor at this time, the USCG would not be able to retain the progress made on these important deliverables, and USCG senior leadership would not have accurate data and assessments to use for high-level decision making.

Furthermore, the incumbent contractor has developed, as well as obtained the requisite knowledge and experience with, the Coast Guard’s Strategic Communications and Research and Development, and Innovation Programs initiatives. to include: FY22 and FY23 Research and Development Portfolio development, management of CG_Ideas@Work and support to CG Innovation Program to the Innovation Council, DHS Science and Technology Research and Development Initiatives, CG-9 Portal support, “Hack the Future” Innovation campaign, and CG- 9 FY2021 Action Plan.

Bringing in a new contractor would create substantial delays, likely requiring three months to become productive in order to overcome a learning curve. This would significantly impair the USCG’s ability to support Strategic Communications and Research and Development, and Innovation Programs and require a considerable amount of Government oversight for the three-month performance period, increasing cost and performance risk.

(5) Determination by the ordering activity Contracting Officer that the anticipated order represents the best value consistent with 8.404(d).

The Contracting Officer has determined that issuing the proposed task order to Java Productions, Inc. represents the best value and will result in the lowest overall cost alternative, considering price and administrative costs, to meet the Government’s needs. In accordance with FAR

8.404(d), GSA has already determined the prices of supplies and fixed-price services, and rates for services offered at hourly rates, under schedule contracts to be fair and reasonable. Therefore, ordering activities are not required to make a separate determination of fair and reasonable pricing, except for a price evaluation as required by FAR 8.405-2(d). In accordance with FAR 8.405-2(d), the ordering activity will consider if the level of effort and the mix of labor proposed to perform the tasks is reasonable by comparing the level of effort and the mix of labor proposed to that which was previously proposed for Contract No. GS10F0132V/HSCG23-16-F-ADW019 for a three (3) month period. The Contracting Officer will also determine that the total price is reasonable and confirm that the rates proposed do not exceed the rates previously determined to be fair and reasonable under GSA FSS Contract No. GS10F0132V.

(6) A description of the market research conducted among schedule holders and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

Market research was conducted in support of competition for a new contract action. It was determined there is sufficient competition for these requirements amongst GSA FSS HUBZone Small Business contract holders, which will support increased participation in the HUBZone Small Business socioeconomic category. However, in order to complete the new competition, a three (3) month task order issued on a limited sources basis to Java Productions, Inc. is necessary to avoid a break in services and allow adequate time to accommodate a competition and transition period, as required, for the new contract action.

(7) Any other facts supporting the justification.

The original task order was solicited competitively amongst GSA FSS HUBZone Small Business contract holders and awarded to Java Productions, Inc. on 10 June 2016 in accordance with applicable FSS ordering procedures. Award to another source is likely to result in substantial duplication of costs to the Government not expected to be recovered through competition of this three (3) month period, as well as a disruption of support services to CG-925 and CG-926 due to the approximately 45 day period required for a new contractor to complete the USCG on-boarding process. In addition, a two-week transition period to a new contractor will be required to mitigate the negative impacts of loss of corporate knowledge as programs develop their annual research portfolios and communications initiatives.

(8) A statement of actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that preclude the agency from meeting the requirements of 8.405-1 and 8.405-2 before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made.

CG-9123 will be processing a competition for a new contract action. CG-9123 intends to solicit competition in accordance with FAR 8.405-2 by requesting a quotation from GSA Multiple Award Schedule Professional Services – Business Administrative Services under SIN 541611 HUBZone Small Business contract holders. The new solicitation will be released during the month of March 2021 and should be awarded no later than the June 2021.

(9) Contracting Officer’s Certification.

I certify that the data supporting the recommended use of other than full and open competition is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Ryan Shaughnessy Date Contracting Officer

(10) Technical/Requirements Personnel Certification.

I certify that this requirement meets the Government’s minimum need and that the supporting data, which forms a basis for the justification, is accurate and complete.

Date Technical Representative/COR

APPROVAL:

Ryan Shaughnessy Date Contracting Officer

3/4/21