ACS Limited Sources Justification_Redacted.pdf

LIMITED-SOURCES JUSTIFICATION

WHEN RESTRICTING CONSIDERATION OF GSA FEDERAL SUPPLY SCHEDULE VENDORS

In Accordance With FAR 8.405-6 & CAM 1306.70

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity, The United States Census Bureau, Acquisition Division proposes to procure without using full and open competition for ACS Website Support services.

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

This is a sole-source procurement to an Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business (EDWOSB) in accordance with FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(C), In the interest of economy and efficiency, the new work is a logical follow-on to an original Federal Supply Schedule orders for continued technical and programming support services from Achieva Partners Inc., located at 1140 3rd Street NE 2nd Floor, Washington, DC 20002. The proposed fixed price task order will be awarded off General Service Administration (GSA) Information Technology (IT) Schedule 70

GS-35-183BA.

3. Description of the Supplies/Services Required

The objective of this task order is to maintain the American Community Survey (ACS) Website, transform its content to a responsive design, and fully integrate with the look and feel of the main Census Bureau Website. The web pages developed and maintained on the ACS Website must conform to industry standards, federal government policies, and agency policies on Website development. Tools and templates will also be developed to assist in the maintenance of the Website.

The purpose of this task order is to obtain technical assistance in the maintenance and integration of ACS dynamic content maintained by the Government on a local Content Management System (CMS) as well as to develop innovative data product offerings on the ACS Website to fill gaps presented by the newest enterprise data dissemination system of the Census Bureau.

The period of performance of this fixed price task order includes a one -year base period from September 23, 2020 through September 22, 2021, with one one-year option period, and will include FAR 52.217-8.

The estimated overall value of this procurement is $672,000.00; inclusive of the base and option period.

4. Authority and Supporting Rationale -

In accordance with FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(c), In the interest of economy and efficiency, it is in the Governments best interest to award an EDWOSB GSA IT-70 task order to the incumbent, Achieva Partners.

ACSO has mandated deadlines to disseminate applications, data tools, and route content updates to support ACS data releases and without this web support, ACS 1-Year and 5-Year data releases will be in jeopardy and at risk of being late or not being of the highest quality due to the ACS website not being available.

The contractor, Achieva Partners, provides services to assist the U.S. Census Bureau ACSO with technical and programming support for its website and official data releases. Without this support the 2019 and 2020 ACS data releases and ACS Website being able to support these releases will be in jeopardy of being late.

The Government staff from the ACSO Data Products Coordination Branch, the branch that coordinates all of the ACSO Website work lost staff members who worked on the Website and due to the Decennial policy of only allowing staff to be hired in a term or temp bases, staff available to work on ACSO Website support is extremely limited. Currently all of the work needed to support the ACSO Website is now being done by the contractor and there is very little time for the contractor to train staff or for transition activities to begin.

It is a major concern of the Government’s that a disruption of the current ACS Website work to re-compete these requirements and to bring a new Contractor up to speed with the current highly complex and sophisticated ACS website system would create a duplication of costs, transition delays, and, subsequently, increased costs, so the incumbent is needed to continue work, until this contract is re-competed and a vendor selected, so a logical extension of the current contracted is needed.

Market research was performed to see if any vendors for the STARS II list of vendors could be used as a contract vehicle for ACSO Web support after the end of Achieva Partners 6-month extension. No other source has these qualifications and time does not permit going to other sources, since we exhausted the list of STARS II vendors, and no other sources were found on this list. Achieva Partners has been a high-performing incumbent contractor, providing the highest quality of Website programming, support, and consulting, but since the contract is nearing the end of its lifecycle, another contract vehicle or vendor needs to be found in order to facilitate the continuation of this vital work.

5. Contracting Officer Determination of Fair and Reasonable Price

A comparison will be made to determine if the proposed price aligns with the rates on Achieva Partner’s GSA IT Schedule 70. Although GSA has already negotiated fair and reasonable pricing, the Contracting Officer will seek additional discounts before placing this task order. In accordance with FAR 8.405-2(d), the Contracting Officer will determine that the final proposed value of the task order is fair and reasonable. A comparative analysis will be done between the Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE) and the Achieva’s proposal to assist in the determination of fair and reasonableness.

6. Market Research

The Market Research team conducted a review of multiple GWACs such as GSA IT Schedule 70, and GSA 8(a) Stars II. Two RFI’s were issued to identify capable companies that are available under GSA 8(a) Stars II. The first RFI was issued on January 16, 2020. A second RFI was issued to GSA 8(a) Stars II vendors on March 27, 2020.

The Market Research Team reviewed over 100 8(a) STARS II companies, but none of the companies offer the website programming and consulting as a primary focus or had the technical capabilities needed to successfully perform the current work.

Additionally, it is a major concern of the Government that bringing a new Contractor up to speed to carry out the tasks that are already underway will negatively impact its mission.

Therefore, the requirements will be obtained as a sole source EDWOSB award to Achieva Partners in accordance with the authority stated above.

7. Other Facts Supporting the Justification

It would be a major risk for ACSO to change support in preparation of the annual data product releases. The current contract extension will expire on September 30, 2020.The ACS website work being sought is technical work - 80% of the work is dependent expert programming and coding. The incumbent vendor has expertise in User Experience/Usability, Web strategy and Project Management, as well that brings a lot of added skill sets and Website expertise. The ACS Website work depends on Movable Type Content Management System to maintain and update web content materials. ACSO disseminates Quality Measure (QM) Data Tables on ACS website using JavaScript plug-ins. In addition, HighCharts is used as a component for supporting Narrative Profiles for ACS website. The ACS Website uses Ajax for complex calls to API, JavaScript with JQuery to support specific components needed for Narrative Profiles. The ACS Website is highly reliant on Ajax, API being used together and how JavaScript Plug-ins and

Data Tables being programmed to work together. The incumbent has extensive knowledge and experience in these technical areas and due to their expert knowledge and expertise, a sole source EDWOSB aware to Achieva Partners, Inc is appropriate.

8. Actions to Remove or Overcome Barriers to Competition

Efforts by the Census Bureau to identify and solicit alternative sources have been made as indicated above. However due to the critical nature of this requirement and the understanding of the current environment, Achieva Partners, Inc., must continue work on the aforementioned systems and services. The time, effort, and cost involved in bringing on another source at this point in the current project is not rational nor cost efficient. The introduction of a new source will likely require the Census Bureau to stop work on the critical work and jeopardize delivery of secure and necessary data dissemination services.

This award will allow critical ACS website operations to continue, and will ensure ACSO and ACQ are able gauge options for future competition opportunities.

9. Technical Certification

I certify that the data and information forming the basis for this justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Technical/Program/Project Manager Date

10. Contracting Officer Certification

I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. I hereby approve award of the subject task order action due to FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(A).

Contracting Officer Date