C2022367 OCO Request Special Procurement.pdf

C2022367 OCO Request Special Procurement.docx Page 1 of 3

REQUEST FOR SPECIAL PROCUREMENT No. C2022367

PART A. Requesting Agency must complete Items 1 through 13.

1. Requesting Agency Name: Oregon Business Development Department

2. Date of Request: October 31, 2022 3. Agency Number: 12300

4. Agency Contact Name: Devon Thorson 5. Phone: 971-600-4484

6. Type of Request: Class Special Procurement __X___ Contract-specific Special Procurement

7. Time Period Requested: From: __August 11 2022_ To: _30 June 2023______

8. Total Estimated Cost: $85,000_____

9. Title: Supplies and/or Services to be Acquired:

Global Opportunities Strategic Plan – Contractor will conduct research and provide a report to OBDD on global economic opportunities.

10. Request, Background, Current Need, and Proposed Contracting Procedure:

a. Request:

By Contract-specific special procurement, OBDD requests approval to raise the not-to-exceed amount to $235,000 on OBDD contract number C2022367 to OCO Consulting, LLC (OCO), and requiring OCO to complete additional work not included in the original contract statement of work and that was unanticipated at the time of the intermediate procurement solicitation.

b. Background:

As part of its economic development mission, OBDD has a Global Strategy and Recruitment Team (GSRT) that builds relationships with foreign and international businesses and governments to establish trade between them and Oregon businesses. To assist in directing this activity, OBDD decided to solicit services of consulting firms that can design Oregon’s Global Opportunity to set direction for both trade and business attraction as part of an overarching economic development strategy in Oregon. The selected contractor would identify state investments and opportunities that position Oregon as a leading state in global trade and business development as well as a state that is prepared to innovate and explore novel approaches that are responsive to the Department mission of an inclusive economy that is globally competitive and prosperous for all Oregonians.

OBDD determined the budget for hiring this consultant and set it at a maximum amount of $150,000.

Accordingly, OBDD released an intermediate procurement, which was posted to OregonBuys as Open Market Solicitation No. S-12300-00002089. The RFP was posted to OregonBuys, on February 11, 2022 and closed on March 21, 2022. In addition, OBDD directly solicited eight known international firms. (The intermediate procurement minimum is to seek three informal price quotes or competitive proposals.) At the close of the solicitation, OBDD received eight proposals and evaluated them according to the posted

C2022367 OCO Request Special Procurement.docx Page 2 of 3 criteria. OCO was selected as the winning proposer after a robust competitive evaluation. OBDD and OCO executed a personal services contract in August 2022.

c. Current Need:

Due to increased needs and observations occurring in the middle phases of the executed contract, OBDD desires to revise the scope of work originally solicited to include additional unanticipated work. This work is largely an expansion of the existing contract’s statewide scope of work to also provide more regional specific analysis and local economic development and marketing information Among other things, the revised contract would provide specific strengths within regions and regional deliverable related to sectors, subsectors and market priorities that differ from the overall state outputs for the contract.

d. Proposed Contracting Procedure:

OBDD proposes a contract-specific procurement for the purpose of amending the OCO contract on a one-time basis to make amendments. Specifically, OBDD proposes to amend the intermediate procurement-awarded contract to OCO both by increasing the scope of work and increasing the amount of the contract above $150,000 (normal intermediate procurement cap as provided by ORS 279B.070) to $235,000 to compensate for the additional work.

11. Justification for use of Special Procurement: Describe the circumstances that justify the use of a Special Procurement. Attach relevant documentation.

An intermediate procurement method was used in soliciting the RFP as the original contract was intended to be within the intermediate procurement dollar amount provided by the procurement code. However, this procurement included new services to OBDD and OBDD determined as the work advanced and stakeholders met and provided input that the scope of work should be expanded to better meet the agency’s needs. With eight applicants, the original process was clearly competitive and promoted the public interest.

Reviewers were impressed with OCO’s proposal and noted that they were “well organized,” already possessed a base level knowledge of Oregon, and demonstrated familiarity with OBDD’s Oregon Innovation Plan. OCO received the top score in the evaluation process using two calculation methods (highest average raw individual scores and a normalized scoring method). OCO achieved a winning score of 87, while the next highest firm achieved a score of 84. OBDD accordingly awarded the contract to

OCO.

OBDD was immediately impressed with the depth of expertise and insight that OCO provided for this project and that OCO continues to provide. When OBDD engaged with external stakeholders, including an intergovernmental Advisory Committee and Oregon businesses from across the state, stakeholders and business became very interested in OCO’s project. The stakeholders identified needs that were not met within the original scope of the contract and requested that OBDD change the focus of the contract to expand the focus to include more regional work. To meet this request, OBDD has discussed with OCO how to shift and expand the work focus which would involve the Demand and Market Prioritization Model(s) and defining variations on FDI and international trade priorities that include distinctions between regions throughout the state.

OCO has expressed a willingness to OBDD to provide the services for the expanded scope of work, but at an additional cost. Additional solicitation options were explored, but OBDD estimates that doing a new

C2022367 OCO Request Special Procurement.docx Page 3 of 3 procurement would take approximately 3-6 months to complete. The project is in progress, with initial preparation phases already completed and paid for, and the contract outcomes sought by OBDD are time sensitive. The additional work also will build off of the work OCO has already completed or will continue to complete under the existing contract. The tasks largely build and flow together. Accordingly, OBDD concludes that having OCO continue the work and amending their contract through a special procurement rather than reposting is the most appropriate choice in serving the agency’s interests and will ensure continuing the quality expertise and insight OCO has provided, but with a more expanded work scope.

Conducting this Special Procurement is expected to substantially promote the public interest in time and manner that could not be feasibly realized by other procurement methods.

12. Findings to Satisfy the Required Standards: This proposed special procurement:

a. will be unlikely to encourage favoritism in the awarding of public contracts or to substantially diminish competition for public contracts because:

The original solicitation was done in a competitive manner and was posted to OregonBuys for 38 days.

The need for the expanded scope of work occurred after receiving external stakeholders’ feedback. The original solicitation did allow open market proposers to make their case that they were best able to create the global strategy for OBDD, but other proposer did not achieve a score higher than OCO.

and

b. will result in substantial cost savings to the contracting agency or to the public because:

The expanded scope continues the work presently being done by OCO which has been more than satisfactory to OBDD. The only alternative to achieve the desired contract would be to re-solicit in a formal competitive procurement the additional work or cancel and resolicit for the whole project.

Either process would take 3-6 months and would cause OBDD to lose substantial time in the project.

Further, OCO has already billed OBDD for the initial preparation phases of the current contract, which may be negated/lost if OBDD must re-solicit.

13. Signature: The actual signature of the Agency Head or designee (e.g., Designated Procurement Officer) is not required on the Request if it is submitted through OregonBuys. Agency may elect to attach a signed Request.

Signature: _________________________ _________________ Type Name: Josh Hardage, Designated Procurement Officer Date:

Oregon Business Development Department