A02.14 SSJ HEC EFM Maintenance.docx

Sole Source Justification under the Simplified Acquisition Threshold ($250K) Acquisition of Professional Services for the Routine Maintenance and Updates of the Hydrologic Engineering Center’s Ecosystem Functions Model (HEC-EFM) Software

Date: 26 AUGUST 2022

1. Contracting Agency: United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Humphreys Engineer Center Support Activity (HECSA), 7701 Telegraph Road, Alexandria, Virginia 22315.

2. Description of Action: Approval is requested for a new, firm-fixed price contract using Civil Works funds in the amount of $226,069.27.

3. Description of Supplies/Services: The Hydrologic Engineering Center’s Ecosystem Functions Model (HEC-EFM) is designed to help study teams determine ecosystem responses to changes in the flow regime of a river or connected wetland. HEC-EFM is an integrated system of software, designed for interactive use in a multi-tasking environment. The system is comprised of a graphical user interface (GUI), separate analysis components, data storage and management capabilities, graphics, mapping and reporting facilities. HEC-EFM supports ecological analyses that include the following: 1) statistical analyses of relationships between hydrology and ecology, 2) hydraulic modeling, and 3) use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to display results and other relevant spatial data. HEC-EFM has been certified for use in USACE Planning Studies by USACE Headquarters (HQ memo) per the National Ecosystem Planning Center of Expertise (PCX memo) as being compliant with USACE policy.

To ensure proper and appropriate operability of the HEC-EFM software for users across the USACE enterprise, it requires routine updates and maintenance of its codebase. This contract seeks to acquire professional services for the following: (1) evaluating and classifying issues within the existing software code; (2) performing bug fixes in code; (3) providing minor modifications or enhancements to the code; (4) providing field support activities; (5) supporting HEC by attending and actively participating in meetings; and (6) providing supporting documentation. Work must be completed in accordance with generally recognized DevOps software development principles.

4. Authority Cited: The proposed action will be awarded on a sole source basis in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.106-1(b)(1), Soliciting from a single source, for purchases not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold.

5. Reasons for Authority Cited: The identified contractor, Henningson, Durham and Richardson, Inc. (HDR), has several key employees with extensive experience in software development skills with an emphasis on civil engineering, including emphasis on environmental and water resources tools and analyses. This skill set includes knowledge of water resources engineering in the context of the USACE mission requirements for hydrologic simulation, statistical analysis, and a high level of knowledge and experience with the software code utilized for this work. The firm’s professional staff of engineers, mathematicians, and computer programmers possess the hydrologic, statistical, and hydraulic modeling and programming skill set needed to support HEC-EFM, including knowledge of hydrology, statistics, ecosystems functions, river hydraulics and related numerical solution algorithms. In addition, HDR staff are uniquely qualified because they have been involved in all aspects of the development of HEC-EFM since its inception more than a decade ago, including user interface, model architecture and back-end development. Since the inception of the model, HDR staff have provided continued support that is critical to the functionality and operability of HEC-EFM.

Acquiring HDR’s professional services for this work would be exceptionally cost- and time-efficient, and optimal for the model’s continuity and consistency for the government. HDR staff manage all aspects of the HEC-EFM codebase, including user interface and computational algorithms, and not acquiring HDR’s services would result in excessive costs and significant delays while onboarding a new contractor. This would also pose a high likelihood of creating inconsistencies and errors in the critical processes of coding/programming.

6. Market Research/Actions to Increase Competition: As a means of increasing competition, HEC performed market research by considering academia as well as our IDIQ and other firms; however, due to the unique qualifications of HDR staff, especially their role in the initial development and ongoing maintenance of the HEC-EFM model, our research indicated outside firms would not be ideal for this specialized work. It would be far more expensive and lengthier to train an outside firm to become familiar with the features of the HEC-EFM software while potentially creating inconsistencies in the present coding and programming.

7. Procurement History: HEC has had two previous contracts with HDR and one previous contract with David Ford Consulting Engineers, which was acquired by HDR in 2018.

1. 2021: W91238-21-P-0018 software maintenance contract

2. 2019: W91238-17-P-0018 P00002 software maintenance contract

3. 2017: W91238-17-P-0018 software maintenance contract

8. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: The anticipated cost to the Government for this contraction action will be determined to be fair and reasonable based in accordance with the procedures found at FAR 13.106-3(a)(2)(ii), comparison of the proposed price with prices found reasonable on previous purchases and FAR 13.106-3(a)(2)(vi), comparison to an independent Government estimate. The exemption for providing Certified Cost & Price data found at FAR 15.403-1(b)(3), (Commercial Items) applies to this requirement as the contract action is below the threshold for certified cost and pricing data.

9. Based on the above and in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Part 13.106-1(b)(1), it is in the Government’s best interest to award a sole source order to HDR for the subject requirement. The POC for this MFR is Lea Adams at Lea.G.Adams@usace.army.mil.

10. Contracting Officer’s Approval: Based on the foregoing, I approve the acquisition described above on other than full and open competition basis provided funds are available and provided that the services and property herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

Shannon N. Benson Contracting Officer