A16_JOFOC_-_MesoWest_UofUtah_sro_1.pdf

Attachment 6

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN

FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

FOR AKFF CONTRACT

In accordance with the authority granted under 41 U.S.C. 253(c), this request for award under other than full and open competition is hereby submitted.

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity:

Bureau of Land Management, Alaska Fire Service/ Alaska Interagency Coordination Center.

Contract is for continued operation and enhancement of the Alaska Fire and Fuels (AKFF) website, which is utilized by multiple fire management agencies across the state of Alaska.

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

Due to the circumstances described here, request the following be acquired using other than full and open competition in support of the BLM requirement for critical fire management decision support information. The AKFF System was developed and operated by University of Utah researchers from 2014 to the present. This effort has been supported by the BLM Alaska Fire Service (contracts L14PX01779, L16PX00885 and 140L0221P0005) and that support will end on 9 Jun 2023. This web-based system provides current and forecast fuel conditions using the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (CFFDRS) and is used by the entire fire management community in Alaska via a web interface. It is the only source of this data for wildland fire managers to make decisions about readiness and response, tactical choices, public outreach and resource allocation. The proposed work will extend the life of the AKFF System through the 2026 Alaska wildland fire season, including expansion of data reach into adjacent parts of Canada and incorporating the latest NOAA-National Weather Service models and analysis datasets.

3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the estimated value):

The Alaska Fire and Fuels website is used by the entire fire management community in Alaska to determine resource movement and availability for potential and existing wildland fire activity. The website was built to help wildland fire managers make decisions about readiness and response, tactical choices, public outreach and resource allocation. It uses the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (CFFDRS), ingesting daily weather and fuels information from over 250 weather stations in Alaska, as well as analyzed and forecasted gridded data to forecast and display expected conditions for up to three days in the future. This, in turn, can be used to display potential fire spread rates and likely fire behavior. AKFF is the only source for such data in Alaska. The proposed work will extend the capabilities of the AKFF System based on feedback from users throughout the state that has been summarized by the program managers in the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center (AICC), including improvement of data collection abilities, enhancement of graphic, tabular, and map displays, and increasing its inter-software usability. With longer and hotter summers in Alaska, changing forest fuels, the expanding Wildland-Urban Interface, and fewer dollars being delegated to fire management, this tool is crucial to high quality fire management now and in the future.

Based on the needs of the Alaska fire management community, the AKFF System was developed and operated by University of Utah researchers from 2014 to the present. This effort has been supported by the BLM Alaska Fire Service (L14PX01779, L16PX00885 and 140L0221P0005) and that support will end on 9 Jun 2023. It is extremely likely that a continued working relationship will continue with University of Utah in the future, and that further contracts will be made with them upon expiration of this one, as this tool is critical to wildland fire management in Alaska.

The estimated price of this requirement is $117,302 over 4 years. This estimate is based on costs of previous contracts, anticipated time required for programmers using reasonable salaries and benefits, current and increasing data storage fees, and management costs.

4. An identification of the Statutory Authority permitting other than full and open competition:

41. U.S.C. 253(c)(1) as implemented by FAR 6.302-1(a)(2).

5. A demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited:

The University of Utah is the only agency that can perform this unique function for several reasons. The first is that they developed and refined the original web page and thus have the existing code for further development and enhancement. Also, these past nine years of development have allowed University of Utah staff to have an in-depth understanding of the technical calculations and reasoning behind the fire danger rating system that is used in Alaska. They also have gained a thorough comprehension of why this data is critical to wildland fire management as well as how to best display such data for easy digestion by users. Having any other vendor undertake this contract would require a substantial additional monetary investment just to get up to current capabilities.

6. A description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 5.2, and, if not, which exception under

5.202 applies:

Though we originally researched using other sources in 2014, we quickly concluded there was no other organization that could provide the support we required other than University of Utah. They had already developed a similar webpage for the Great Lakes States fire management community, and that webpage continues to be operated by University of Utah today. Development of features on that web page has helped keep costs for AKFF lower, since much of the initial research, display testing and programming on that sister site helps speed development and reduce costs on our end.

7. A determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable, and the basis for that determination:

The anticipated cost is determined to be fair and reasonable based on historic contract pricing with economic adjustments, IGE, and WDOL.

8. A description of the market research conducted (FAR part 10) and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted:

As described in number 6 above, there has been no extensive market research since initial investigation in 2014 as the University of Utah seems to be the only group to fill all requirements, with the experience and skills necessary to do the work, as well as having the proprietary coding and programming development of the existing AKFF webpage.

Since the AICC meteorologists work with weather and forest fuels datasets every day, their expertise makes it clear that there is no other agency in the country that can organize and quality control the data, write the program with an in-depth understanding of the CFFDRS system, and display this data as well as University of Utah.

9. Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition FAR 6.303-2(a) (9)):

The Statement of Work clarifies all the specifics of this contract. Each bullet emphasizes the uniqueness of what is required. It is attached for further support of this sole source request.

10. A listing of sources, if any, that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition:

University of Utah is the only agency that has expressed interest in this project in the nine years since its inception.

11. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required:

Though there is no clear way to change barriers for this project, we will continue to reach out to other possible vendors annually to assess interest and capability for competition for continued development, maintenance, and enhancement of this unique webpage using highly specialized programming skills and data knowledge.

CERTIFICATIONS:

I, hereby, certify that this requirement does not exceed the Government’s minimum needs or scheduled requirements, and that the basis for award under other than full and open competition is complete and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief:

Heidi Strader 12/9/2022

Requisitioner’s Signature Date

I, hereby, certify that this justification for other than full and open competition is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief:

Contracting Officer’s Signature Date