A02 JA 24-12 FAR Part 13.5 DFA Services_Redacted.pdf

Control Number:

Justification Review Document for Other than Full and Open Competition FAR Part 13.5 Simplified Procedures for Certain

Commercial Items

Program/Equipment: The Contractor shall provide all personnel, supervision and any items and services necessary to perform Dining Facility Attendant (DFA) services while providing quality services in support of the installation food service program that supports the Warfighter with flexible, efficient and cost-effective service. This is a non-personal services contract to provide DFA Services to the U.S. Army Garrison. The Government shall not exercise any supervision or control over the contract service providers performing the services herein. Such contract service providers shall be accountable solely to the Contractor who, in turn is responsible to the Government.

Authority: 41 United States Code (USC) 1901(e)(2) and 41 USC 3304(a)(2) as implemented in Federal Acquisition Regulation 13.501(a)(1)(ii) Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items / Unusual and compelling urgency.

Amount: Estimated at for a 12-month bridge contract.

Prepared by:

Contracting Officer:

Technical:

Requirements:

(Source Selection Information - See FAR 2.101 and 3.104-4)

AUG 2022

Justification Review Document for Other than Full and Open Competition FAR Part 13.5 Simplified Procedures for Certain

Commercial Items

1. Contracting Activity: 413th Regional Contracting Office-Hawaii

2. Description of Action: Approval for a sole source bridge contract for DFA Services on Schofield Barracks/Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii. On 29 April 2024, the follow-on contract solicitation for this requirement, W5168W-23-R-0005, received a Government Accountability Office (GAO) pre-award protest. The protest was timely filed for purposes of the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA), resulting in the Army’s inability to presently award a contract for the solicitation. The statutory 100-day period for GAO to issue a decision results in a decision period exceeding the period of performance for current DFA bridge contract W912CN-23-D-0024, task order W912CN-24-F-0245, ending on 31 May 2024. The Government is seeking to award a Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) bridge contract to the incumbent contractor to avoid a break a service in view of the GAO protest decision period.

Description of Supplies/Services: The Contractor shall provide all personnel, supervision and any items and services necessary to perform DFA services while providing quality services in support of the installation food service program that supports the Warfighter with flexible, efficient and cost effective service. The Contractor’s tasks for the Non Commissioned Officer Academy (NCOA) located at East Range, and K Quad and C Quad dining facilities located on Schofield Barracks shall include, but are not limited to, the following: cleaning dining facilities, cleaning restrooms, included in these duties are sweeping, mopping, scrubbing, trash removal, dishwashing, waxing, stripping, buffing, window washing, equipment and utensils and other sanitation related functions in the dining facilities listed within the PWS, and may be required before, during, and after normal dining facility operating hours. It is expected that a dining facility may periodically request cleaning for shut-down and/or restart of the facilities, e.g. in the event of fumigation, dining facility closures for a 4-day holiday or longer, any time a dining facility is closed due to unit deployments or exercises lasting longer than 30 days, and other occasion as required. Some of the duties involved during a shut-down/restart of the dining facility may include but are not limited to: Dish and table ware washing, sweep/mop floors, wipe tables, wrap/cover small equipment in plastic wrap, wipe/wash kitchen counters, strip/wax floors, clean windows and external cleaning of building such as walkway, back dock areas and areas around dumpsters. This is a non-personnel services contract to provide DFA Services to the U.S. Army Garrison.

Period of Performance (12 months): The period of performance including all options is 01 June 2024 – 31 May 2025.

Base: 01 June 2024 – 30 November 2024 Option 1: 01 December 2024 – 28 February 2025 Option 2: 01 March 2025 – 31 May 2025

3. Authority Cited: 41 United States Code (USC) 1901(e)(2) and 41 USC 3304(a)(2) as implemented in Federal Acquisition Regulation 13.501(a)(1)(ii) Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items / Unusual and compelling urgency.

4. Reason for Authority Cited:

a. The current task order for DFA services on Oahu, Hawaii expires on 31 May

2024. The bridge contract has exercised all option periods. Mission and Installation Contracting Command (MICC) San Antonio is the food service contract center of excellence and responsible for writing and competing all full food service awards. The MICC is responsible for awarding the follow-on contract to W912CN-17-D-0021 (ACORN Services LLC), and now the current bridge W912CN-23-D-0024, to be administered by Regional Contracting Office-Hawaii (RCO-HI). MICC-San Antonio issued the request for proposals, W5168W-23-R-0005, on 05 December 2022 and closed 03 January 2023.

On 2 February 2024, the Army awarded a contract relating to solicitation W5168-23-R- 0005. filed a protest at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (COFC) that challenged the contract award. On 13 February 2024, the Army issued a notice of corrective action and described it would terminate the challenged contract award, and Acorn withdrew its protest at the COFC. On 29 April 2024, filed a GAO protest resulting in the need for a bridge contract. The protest was timely filed for purposes of the CICA, resulting in the Army’s inability to presently award a contract for the solicitation. The statutory 100-day period for GAO to issue a decision results in a decision period exceeding the period of performance for the current DFA bridge contract and its task order ending on 31 May 2024. The statutory period for GAO to resolve the protest ends on 07 August 2024. In response to the protest, the Army is seeking to award a bridge contract with the incumbent, ACORN Services LLC. Without the bridge contract, there will be a break in service which will be detrimental to the Army and to operations on Oahu, Hawaii. There will be both immediate and long-term impacts on the mission. The bridge will include a six-month base period and two three-month option periods for a total of twelve months to facilitate the phase-in of the awarded contract based on the outcome of the GAO protest (e.g. dismissal, sustainment, corrective action, etc.).

b. A break in performance of the DFA services contract poses a significant health and safety risk to four Army dining facilities on Schofield Barracks and NCO Academy on East Range, and will result in an immediate stop to food services for Soldiers who eat at the barracks, particularly those who live in the barracks and rely on the DFACs as their primary meal source. Using alternate meal sources, places an undue burden on those Soldiers’ finances, other food facilities and restaurants on post and the local area, and impedes their ability to eat around duty hours.

Supplementing the workforce with Soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division (25th ID) is not a viable option since this additional duty will degrade manpower availability, readiness, and impact scheduled training.

c. The immediate impact is the degradation of health, safety, and sanitation at the dining facilities, ultimately affecting inspection readiness that would create risk to the installation and impact meal services if the contractor were no longer involved. One potential outcome is dining facilities will be forced to temporarily close for inability to clean and sanitize dishes, cookware, and the facility to serve food and control pests.

The cook teams would also be unable to work in these conditions. 25th ID would have to reallocate military personnel to clean the facility and establish training for appropriate sanitization of a dining facility. If this can be implemented in time, closure may be prevented, however training and operational readiness are degraded as assets are reallocated. This also puts the facilities at risk of failing an inspection since soldiers are not inherently familiar with sanitization requirements for dining establishments.

d. There will also be long term impacts on Army mission readiness on Oahu.

Should the Agency be required to compete the requirement, the procurement action lead time estimate for indefinite delivery contracts between $250,000 to $10 million is four months from issuance of the solicitation. The MICC has taken over fifteen months to include three protests, and in a competitive action. If a re-compete were required, RCO-HI could be in the same environment. This could result in a four to six-month closure of four dining facilities, or four to six months of tasked cleaning details. At four facilities for three meals a day, and minimum of four Soldiers and a noncommissioned officer for each shift by location, this effort would require at least 60 Soldiers a day, seven days a week in order to maintain food services.

e. Based on the above impact, the Agency determines the incumbent, ACORN Services LLC, is the only contractor reasonably available to perform the bridge contract for the above services without an interruption. Executing a competitive acquisition to support this effort is not a possible course of action. A competitive award would take a minimum of four to six months. This schedule includes the completion of a Contract Review Board (CRB), issue a solicitation, receive offers, conduct proposal review and source selection, and make an award. A competitive follow-on contract is pending and services on the contract are unavailable until the resolution of the GAO protest. The protest and timeline constraints have created an unusual and compelling urgency for the requirement.

There is not enough time to conduct competition for a new contract, allow for transit time for equipment, conduct contractor turnover and phase-in/out requirements (which take a minimum of 30 days, with potentially more time needed), and allow for the new contractor to compile their personnel. Even sole-sourcing a contract to another vendor would mean an interruption of services, based on time required to observe operations of the current contractor, obtain the necessary equipment and materials and mobilize, time required to arrange access to facilities, equipment, assets, systems etc., acquisition time, and time necessary to hire a fully qualified workforce, and integrate and review the collective bargaining agreement.

Given the imminent expiration of the incumbent contract, the gap in services associated with transitioning to a contractor other than the incumbent, and the GAO resolution period, the Army has decided to award this bridge contract to the incumbent, ACORN Services, LLC., so that it can continue to perform the critical services on an uninterrupted basis. Under these circumstances, ACORN Services, LLC. Is the only source that can provide the required services without delay or interruption.

5. Efforts to Obtain Competition:

a. Effective competition. Due to the unusual and compelling urgency of this requirement, this DFA services requirement will not be competed. 413th CSB, RCO-HI will issue a sole-source firm-fixed price (FFP) contract to the incumbent contractor, ACORN Services LLC. In accordance with FAR 5.202(a)(2), the Contracting Office needs not submit the notice required by 5.201 to synopsize this action as the Contracting Officer has determined that the proposed contract action is made under the conditions described in FAR 13.501 as unusual and compelling urgency, and the Government would be seriously injured if the agency complies with the time periods specified in 5.203. This contract will serve as a twelve (12) month bridge contract between the current contract W912CN-23-D-0024 and the follow-on contract.

b. Subcontracting competition. The current contract shall be awarded to a small business and subcontractors will not be utilized.

6. Actions to Increase Competition: Ample competition is available and is prevalent in the protested action. MICC-San Antonio is in the process of awarding a competitive follow-on contract for this requirement. The contract was competed as a small business set-aside subject to the Randolph Sheppard Act. The solicitation for this contract received competitive proposals from eight offerors.

7. Market Research: Market research was conducted by MICC San-Antonio in December 2022, and from 08 to 13 May 2024 by RCO-HI. Market research indicates that the service meets the definition of commercial services, as it is an installation service with the source of service providing similar services contemporaneously to the general public under terms and conditions similar to those offered to the Federal government and is offered and sold competitively in the commercial marketplace.

Analysis of NAICS code 722310 (Food Service Contractors) across the SBA Quick Market Search listing shows a large vendor pool. Within Honolulu County, Hawaii, 26 small-businesses use this NAICS. A query of all federal contracts using this NAICS from 2016 to 2024, rendered 96 results, primarily supports Department of Defense Agencies, with top vendors ACORN Services LLC and Opportunities and Resources Inc. There are no potential contract vehicles in place that may be employed to satisfy this requirement. The Government has limited leverage with this acquisition because of the geographic area, limited work force and labor bargaining units. Attempting to competitively award a contract to any vendor other than ACORN Services LLC would result in an unacceptable break in service. In circumstances of unusual and compelling urgency, the contracting officer may limit a procurement to only the firms the contracting officer reasonably believes can properly satisfy the requirement. In this case, ACORN Services LLC is the only firm the contracting officer reasonably believes can properly satisfy the requirement. ACORN Services LLC is the incumbent contractor and they currently have the infrastructure to continue services on the current contract.

8. Interested Sources: The requirement was recently competed and a Firm-Fixed- Price (FFP) requirements contract is set to be awarded after the GAO resolution. The contract was solicited and will be competitively awarded as a small business set-aside subject to the Randolph Sheppard Act. As previously stated, the solicitation for the follow-on contract received eight offers.

9. Other Facts: The current dining facility attendant services contract, W912CN- 23-D-0024, is in its final month of the task order W912CN-24-F-0245 and expires 31 May 2024. Failure to continue DFA services would degrade the health and safety of four Soldier dining facilities, which would result in potential closure of these facilities or impact training and operations to task Soldier details to clean the dining facilities. The bridge contract will perform critical tasks for Schofield Barracks and NCO Academy, and prevent short and long-term impacts to Army readiness on Oahu.

Procurement history.

Contract number, awarded Contractor: W912CN-23-D-0024 (ACORN Services LLC) Description of requirement: Full food dining attendants and contingency cook services.

Method of procurement: Sole source (bridge) Contract type: Single award, Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) type “D” contract Period of performance: 01 September 2023 to 31 May 2024 Total awarded amount: $1,879,055.20 Number of option periods: Base plus 2 option periods (9 months) Number of Offerors: 1 Source Selection Method: Sole source based on 41 United States Code (USC) 1901(e)(2) and 41 USC 3304(a)(2) as implemented in Federal Acquisition Regulation 13.501(a)(1)(ii) Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items / Unusual and compelling urgency Basis for fair and reasonable pricing: Comparison to previous contract plus inflation, IGCE, and price analysis

Contract number, awarded Contractor: W912CN-17-D-0021 (ACORN Services LLC) Description of requirement: Full food dining attendants and contingency cook services.

Method of procurement: 100% small business set-aside Contract type: Single award, Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) type “D” contract Period of performance: 01 September 2017 to 28 February 2023 Total awarded amount: $10,283,549.09 Number of option periods: Base plus four option years and -8 Number of Offerors: 6 Source Selection Method: Lowest price technically acceptable proposal meeting or exceeding acceptability standards and non-cost factors.

Basis for fair and reasonable pricing: Lowest price technically acceptable

Contract number, awarded Contractor: W912CN-11-D-0010 with Hawaii Department of Human Services DBA Ho’opono Rehabilitation Center for the Blind and Blackstone Consulting, Inc.

Description of requirement: Full food dining attendants and contingency cook services.

Method of procurement: Sole Source under Randolph-Sheppard Act Contract type: Single award, Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) type “D” contract Period of performance: 01 April 2011 to 31 March 2016 Total awarded amount: $18,686,595.71 Number of option periods: Base Option Period plus Five (5) Option Periods Number of Offerors: 1 Source Selection Method: Not Applicable. Requirement falls under the purview of the Randolph Sheppard Act (RSA). A sole source direct negotiation was performed through the Hawaii State Licensing Agency (SLA), which represents the blind vendor that is required under the RSA. Under AR 210-25 “Vending Facility Program for the Blind on Federal Property” this is a mandatory source for full food services. In addition, the RSA, 20 U.S.C. 107 et seq., is a federal law which mandates priority to blind persons.

Basis for fair and reasonable pricing: Award was made based on price reasonableness in accordance with FAR 15.404-1, Proposal analysis techniques. Cost or pricing data was not obtained based on FAR 15.403-1(b)(3) since the items/service being acquired are considered commercial. Government position was derived from the Requiring Activity’s revised IGE. Revised IGE is based on utilizing the existing contract unit prices, as well as analyzing dining facility usage rates and potential for decrease in service levels during deployment for the next five years with incorporation of a 5% inflation factor to cover the out years.

Approval

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement Dining Facility Attendant Services and on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority of 41 United States Code (USC) 1901(e)(2) and 41 USC 3304(a)(2) as implemented in Federal Acquisition Regulation 13.501(a)(1)(ii) Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items / Unusual and compelling urgency, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services and property herein described have otherwise been authorized for this acquisition.