A.02.06 J&A for Other than Full Open Oysters Redacted.pdf

Control No: NAB-21-004 Contractor: BlueForge, LLC

Program: Tred Avon River Oyster Bed Creation in Talbot County, MD

FAR Part 6 Justification and Approval for Other than Full and Open Competition

1. Contracting Activity: Department of the Army Baltimore District, Corps of Engineers P.O. Box 1715 Baltimore, MD 21203-1715

2. Description of Action: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Baltimore District requests a firm-fixed price contract with BlueForge, LLC (146 2nd St N, Suite 310 Saint Petersburg, FL 33701-3361). BlueForge is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB). The Government projects award for March 2021 and fiscal year 2021, civil funds will be used.

3. Description of Supplies/Services: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Baltimore District is seeking to award a construction project titled, Tred Avon River Oyster Bed Creation - Talbot County, MD as a sole source to a SDVOSB. The scope includes the creation of 34 acres of oyster bars which will be performed mechanically to allow placement to occur close to the bottom of the river. Placement will be with rock, obtained and delivered to the Tred Avon River by barge. Material will be placed into designated sites and constructed to identified designs with heights approximately 6 to 9 feet mean lower low water.

Period of Performance: 400 calendar days after Notice to Proceed (NTP) Total Value: $ 2,700,000

4. Authority Cited: 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(5) as implemented by FAR Part 6.302-5 -- Authorized or Required by Statute.

5. Reason for Authority Cited:

a. Background: As a result of the market research detailed in Section 8, a justification is being sought to award this requirement to a small business concern at a fair and reasonable price instead of competing on an unrestricted basis.

b. Justification: As described in FAR 6.302-5, full and open competition need not be provided for when a statute expressly authorizes or requires that the acquisition is for a brand name commercial item for authorized resale. FAR 6.302-5(a)(2)(i) authorizes award to a SDVOSB via the Veterans Benefits Act of 2003 (FAR 6.302-5(b)(6)).

According to FAR 19.1406 - Sole source awards to service-disabled veteran-owned small business concerns, a contracting officer shall consider a contract award to a SDVOSB concern on a sole source bases provided none of the exclusions in FAR 19.1404 apply and they can satisfy the five (5) criteria. Per these criteria, the contracting officer does not have reasonable expectation that

Program: Tred Avon River Oyster Bed Creation in Talbot County, MD offers would be received from two (2) or more SDVOSB and the contract would not exceed $4 million. The requirement is not currently being performed by an 8(a) participant, the identified SDVOSB has been determined to be a responsible contractor and an award can be made at a fair and reasonable price. None of the exclusions in FAR 19.1406 apply to this requirement and all five (5) criteria are satisfied.

c. Alternatives: Results of market research show that the alternative to a sole source contract to BlueForge LLC would be an unrestricted acquisition. Market research showed the only large business interested in the requirement was the Joint Venture of BlueForge LLC / ARGO Systems which is detailed in Section 8.

d. Impact: This requirement for oyster bed creation in Talbot County, MD is part of an overall Chesapeake Bay Agreement goal to restore ten (10) tributaries in the bay by 2025. The state of Maryland is committed to meeting that goal. The work in this requirement completes half of the required tributaries. Any delay in restoring tributaries could affect future State restoration efforts. The annual environmental window to complete work in Tred Avon River extends from has granted a waiver for this requirement on 04 February 2021 to allow work to continue until 31 May 2021. After this deadline, no work can be completed until 01 December 2021. Completion of this requirement will resume at that time.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: A sources sought was posted to beta.SAM.gov on 30 June 2020 for 15 days. Additionally, at the suggestion of the Deputy for Small Business, a Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS) was conducted on the Small Business Administration website (SBA.gov) to identify potentially interested and capable contractors. These efforts to obtain competition resulted in responses from only two (2) small businesses. One (1) was determined to be capable of completing the requirement and the other was not. A full breakdown of the market research is detailed in Section 8.

Upon completion of market research, a Notice of Intent to Sole Source was advertised on beta.SAM.gov on 15 January 2021 and closed on 30 January 2021 at 15:00 EST. At closing, no other sources have written to express interest in the acquisition.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: Market research was conducted to identify capable and interested contractors that could execute the work in accordance with the specifications of the requirement. At the present time, there are only a small number of interested and capable contractors. If this requirement is needed in the future, the Baltimore district will conduct extensive market research in an attempt to increase competition before attempting to award on a sole source basis. Market research will include widespread outreach to industry to announce the requirement and hopefully entice interested and capable contractors to propose on a competitive acquisition.

8. Market Research: A sources sought was posted to beta.SAM.gov on 30 June 2020 for 15 days. The sources sought required interested contractors to submit a narrative demonstrating their qualifications which would include elements such as past performance, bonding limits, types/number of equipment available, etc. The sources

Program: Tred Avon River Oyster Bed Creation in Talbot County, MD sought notice was open to all businesses, regardless of size. The main goal of the notice was to identify interested and capable contractors in order to determine how the requirement would be competed (set-aside, unrestricted, sole source, etc).

At time of closing, the result of the sources sought notice was a submission from one (1) contractor: MDJ Contracting, Inc. (10925 Estate Ln, Dallas, TX 75238). Per M Capabilities Statement, their socioeconomic status is a minority owned, HUBZone and an Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business (EDWOSB).

capabilities were not immediately evaluated because more submissions were desired from interested contractors. In an effort to obtain more interested contractors, the Project Manager was asked to provide the names of any company that they believed could complete the work so that we could reach out to them and gauge their interest in the requirement to increase competition. The Project Manager, Danielle Szimanski, provided the names of the contractors that had completed the requirement in the past.

BlueForge LLC and ARGO Systems were provided and contacted via email. BlueForge confirmed that they were interested and sent in their submission per the guidance in the sources sought notice on 07 August 2020. They also informed USACE that they could submit as a joint venture with ARGO Systems. In this relationship, BlueForge is the small business and ARGO Systems is the large business. Along with previously awarded contractors, contractors that had submitted bids for the prior two (2) acquisitions were considered. An award was made in fiscal year 2014 to ARGO Systems. Puente Consolidated JV II, LLC and Gaines Construction, LLC submitted bids in addition to ARGO. According to SAM.gov, Puente is no longer an active business.

Gaines Construction is a self-described general contractor that specializes in underground utility construction for sewers, pump stations and water lines. It was determined that neither Puente nor Gaines Construction could currently complete the work required for this project. The most recent award was made in fiscal year 2016 to BlueForge. They were the sole bidder and submitted an acceptable price to the Government. More detail regarding these previously awarded contracts can be found in Section 10.

Submissions received as a result of the sources sought were not proposals, but were instead documents that should demonstrate complete the requirement. The submissions received from MDJ Contracting and BlueForge were evaluated by the Project Manager and it was determined that submission was acceptable. Through their package and past performance working on oyster bed creation in Tred Avon River, the Project Manager determined they could complete the requirement in accordance with the specifications. While MDJ Contracting was interested as a small business, the Project Manager determined that they were not capable of completing the requirement in accordance with the specifications. They did not supply all of the required information listed in the sources sought and the past performance provided did not indicate their ability to complete the work required. Their submission showed work predominantly on HVAC systems, janitorial services and vegetation removal.

A discussion was held with , Deputy for Small Business-Baltimore District, about the joint venture between BlueForge and ARGO. It was determined that the Joint Venture (JV) should be considered as an interested contractor. Furthermore, the Deputy

Program: Tred Avon River Oyster Bed Creation in Talbot County, MD for Small Business encouraged additional market research to identify capable contractors so we could justify a small business set-aside before attempting to go unrestricted.

At the suggestion of the Deputy for Small Business, a Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS) was conducted on the Small Business Administration website (SBA.gov).

Parameters used in the search included NAICS, location, bonding level and keywords in order to accurately capture potentially capable contractors. The result of the DSBS was that contractors identified could not seemingly complete the work required by USACE.

The capabilities narratives that accompany the search results did not detail oyster bed creation. There was nothing indicated in the search results that led the Project Manager or Contracting Officer to believe that the identified contractors could execute the work in accordance with the specifications of this requirement. Furthermore, these contractors had the opportunity to respond to the previously discussed sources sought, but no interest was expressed.

The results were communicated to the Deputy for Small Business. At her direction, we were able to proceed with pursuing an unrestricted acquisition and she sought the approval of the Small Business Administration Procurement Center Representative (SBA PCR), . Upon his review, since we could only identify BlueForge and the joint venture of BlueForge/ARGO, the SBA PCR suggested pursuing a sole source acquisition to BlueForge on the basis of their SDVOSB status per FAR 19.1406 - Sole source awards to service-disabled veteran-owned small business concerns. According to FAR 19.1406, a contracting officer shall consider a contract award to a SDVOSB concern on a sole source bases provided none of the exclusions in FAR 19.1404 apply and they can satisfy the five (5) criteria. Per these criteria, the contracting officer does not have reasonable expectation that offers would be received from two (2) or more SDVOSB and the contract would not exceed $4 million. The requirement is not currently being performed by an 8(a) participant, the identified SDVOSB has been determined to be a responsible contractor and an award can be made at a fair and reasonable price.

None of the exclusions in FAR 19.1406 apply to this requirement and all five (5) criteria are satisfied.

The SBA district office (South Florida) of BlueForge was contacted on 28 August 2020 to discuss the possibility of the sole source acquisition. The SBA concurred that the sole source to BlueForge was acceptable and should move forward.

It should be noted that since the closure of the sources sought notice in July 2020, no contractors have contacted USACE to inquire or express interest in the requirement.

Although the sources sought notice closed in July 2020, it remained on the beta.SAM.gov site until November 2020. This means that it was still visible to the public.

It is common for contractors to express interest after a sources sought closes, but no further responses were received for this requirement.

The original goal of the market research was to identify interested and capable contractors in order to determine how the requirement would be competed (set-aside, unrestricted, sole source, etc). As a result of market research, it was determined that the award would be made to BlueForge LLC as a SDVOSB sole source acquisition.

Program: Tred Avon River Oyster Bed Creation in Talbot County, MD

9. Interested Sources: A Notice of Intent to Sole Source was advertised on beta.SAM.gov on 15 January 2021 and closed on 30 January 2021 at 15:00 EST. At closing, no other sources have written to express interest in the acquisition.

10. Other Facts:

Procurement History

(1) Contract: W912DR-14-C-0030 Award Date: 24 July 2014 Contract: W912DR-16-C-0045 Award Date: 23 September 2016

(2) Set-Aside Information:

W912DR-14-C-0030: Set-Aside for Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses W912DR-16-C-0045: 100% Total Small Business Set-Aside

(3) Procurement method used on previous contracts was Invitation for Bid (IFB)

W912DR-14-C-0030: Three (3) bids were received. ARGO Systems submitted the lowest bid and was awarded the contract. The other bids were received from Puente Consolidated JV II, LLC and Gaines Construction, LLC.

W912DR-16-C-0045: One (1) bid was received by BlueForge LLC who submitted an acceptable bid and was awarded the contract.

(4) As detailed in Section 8, according to SAM.gov, Puente is no longer an active business.

Gaines Construction is a self-described general contractor that specializes in underground utility construction for sewers, pump stations and water lines. It was determined that neither Puente nor Gaines Construction could currently complete the work required for this project. ARGO Systems has transitioned into a large business.

(5) Although Gaines was interested in the award of W912DR-14-C-0030, they did not express interest in W912DR-16-C-0045 or the current solicitation. At the time of submission in 2014, Gaines submitted as a SDVOSB. Per their current SBA profile, their current socio-economic status is a Small Disadvantaged Business.

Program: Tred Avon River Oyster Bed Creation in Talbot County, MD

11. Technical Certification

I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which are included in the justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Name: Danielle Szimanski

Title: Program Manager

12. Requirements Certification

Date: SZIMA�SKI.OA,Nleb ..£ligilall!<�J:ijl-szIMANsK1.oANIELLE.M.14os114223

Signature: I F M 1405174223 Date: 2021.03.04 11:39:43-os·oo·

I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which are included in the justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

SZIMANSKI.DANIELLE.M. l40 Digitally signed by

SZIMANSKI.DANIELLE.M.1405174223

Name: Danielle Szimanski ______ Date: 517 4223 Date: 2021.03.04 11 :39:21 -os·oo·

Title: Program Manager ______ Signature: _____________ _

13. Fair and Reasonable Price Determination

I hereby determine that the anticipated cost or price to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable. This determination will be made using the Independent Government Estimate. Certified cost or pricing data will be required.

Name: Michael Getz

Title: Contracting Officer

14. Contracting Officer Certification

GFTZ.Ml(HAFL.JA Digitallyslgnedby

GETZ.MICHAELJAMES.1504695057

Date: MES.1504695057 Date: 2021.03.0412:53:39-05'00'

Signature: _____________ _

I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief:

Name: Michael Getz _______ Date: -£ETZ.MIEI IAELJA -91!19ito1�----Grn.MicHAELJAMEs. 1504695057 Title: Contracting Officer. ______ Signature: MES.1504695057 oa1e: 2021.03.0412,52,n-05•00·