Consolidation DF_COMPASS_SAM.gov_Redacted.pdf

resources to allow faster response to emerging needs, and enable competitive pricing on call orders. Support is required in a myriad of technical competencies, including the design, development, and implementation of new projects, upgrades or technical refreshes on both modernized and legacy systems, and interface work on existing systems with newer cloud-based systems, as well as mitigating security concerns. It is anticipated that multiple orders will be placed for these services at various geographic locations and for varying periods of performance. The specific scope and duration of performance for each call will be unknown at the time of award, which necessitates the use of a BPA.

Existing strategic sourcing vehicles do not allow for the establishment of BPAs, necessitating the use of GSA's (MAS).

b. 14 December 2023: The Government issued the COMPASS draft RFQ to twenty-four

(24) verified GSA MAS 8(a) vendors and received eighty-one (81) questions in response.

The questions, and the Government’s responses to these questions, prompted the COMPASS IPT to make minor changes to the COMPASS RFQ, as well as providing clarifying language within the Government’s requirements. Following the release of the draft RFQ, an additional seventeen (17) verified GSA MAS 8(a) vendors contacted the Contracting Officer and requested a copy of the draft RFQ, which was sent to each one.

Therefore, a total of forty-one (41) verified GSA MAS 8(a) vendors received the COMPASS draft RFQ. In addition, the draft RFQ also provided notification to industry that the Government would be holding a virtual (TEAMS) Pre-Proposal Conference in January 2024. The Government received twenty-nine (29) RSVPs.

c. 12 January 2024: The Government conducted the COMPASS Pre-Proposal Conference.

d. April 2024: The C5ISC made the decision to consolidate five (5) expiring contracts, with similar requirements to COMPASS, into the COMPASS BPA scope. The changes to the USCG’s requirements were the result of a comprehensive multi-phased business and technical assessment of the USCG’s current landscape in comparison to commercial best practices, such as modernizing the C5ISC’s operation framework and foundational concepts to an agile-based process and methodology. This assessment included a thorough analysis of the C5ISC’s operations, structure and project management processes, which resulted in the radical transformation of contracting structures, operating models, and internal capabilities to achieve efficiencies and cost savings across the C5ISC infrastructure, application development, and application maintenance landscape.

e. 30 September 2024: Limited market research was conducted from 25 September 2024 through 30 September 2024. Due to the consolidation, the Government determined it was necessary to conduct limited market research with the forty-one (41) verified GSA MAS 8(a) vendors who received the COMPASS draft RFQ to determine if the Government’s consolidation activities would require vendors to establish a new teaming arrangement to support this consolidated effort based on any of the below factors or combination of factors:

i. Diversity, Size, Performance Elements: The consolidation of the five contracts will add a total of six (6) Coast Guard systems to COMPASS, resulting in which possess this specific concentration in order to support the COMPASS consolidation activities.

3. Contracting Alternatives

The C5ISC explored acquisition strategies and concluded to gain more small business participation for similar services for the five (5) separate contracts is to award a multiple-award Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) consisting of three (3) to five (5) individual BPAs to three (3) to five (5) 8(a) small business contractors for the full scope of this requirement.

Currently, four (4) of the five (5) contractors listed in the Consolidated Actions table are large businesses. The COMPASS consolidation will transition this support to 8(a) small business.

a. Alternate 1: Status Quo

One alternative to a consolidated contract approach is to continue procuring sustainment and enhancement support for the C5ISC as separate contract actions. This is not recommended.

There is a higher cost to the Government to plan for and administer five (5) separate contracts compared to the effort entailed in conducting streamlined competition at the individual call level. This alternative does not allow USCG to meet Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) objectives for improving the agency's IT investments or enhancing performance management. There is no adverse impact to the incumbents given it is the status quo, however, the method used creates a barrier for other small businesses to compete and be considered for an award at the base BPA and individual call level. This alternative approach would result in redundant service capabilities;

duplication of vendor overhead, program management, and backend support; and unnecessary complexity and duplication of Government administration. As such, this alternative is not a viable solution.

b. Alternate 2: Separation of Scope

Another alternative to a consolidated contract approach, like Alternate 1 above, is to divide portions of the scope into multiple contracts. Specially, each supported system would be one contract resulting in five (5) smaller contracts and/or orders. This approach would increase opportunities for small business vendors to make an offer. However, it is not recommended because there is no added technical benefit compared to the status quo approach and there is a higher cost to the Government to plan, acquire, and administer services for five (5) competitively awarded contracts. This alternative does not allow USCG to meet FITARA objectives for improving the agency's IT investments or enhancing performance management and would result in an indefinable number of hours to develop a minimum of five (5) requirements, solicit and award, and would also result in redundant program management and backend support, and unnecessary complexity and duplication of Government administration. As such, this alternative is also not a viable solution.

4. Coordination with Component Small Business Specialist and Office of Small and

Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU)

The determination has been coordinated with the U.S. Coast Guard’s Small Business & Industry Engagement and the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization

(OSDBU).

5. Negative Impacts to Small Business Participation

The extensive market research conducted in support of COMPASS has demonstrated that there are no negative impacts to small business participation. COMPASS will be competed as a total 8(a) set-aside. In addition, COMPASS will be a multiple-award BPA which maximizes small business participation

6. Benefits

a. Cost savings or price reductions:

The Government’s analysis of anticipated cost for the consolidated contract identified expected savings of approximately $12,461,424.70 (30.02%) compared to five (5) stand-alone contracts. Significant cost savings are expected to accrue over the life of the contract as a result of more favorable pricing resulting from increased competition at the ordering level and increased insight among C5ISC and the CG CIO Office, the supported product lines and shared services divisions, and consolidation of contracting personnel and process improvements (these are advantages typically gained from strategic sourcing initiatives). The Government will also realize non-quantifiable benefits or opportunities to decrease acquisition lead time, optimize resources, and improve call order oversight and management.

The Government measured the cost savings on federal resources needed to execute this multiple award BPA and subsequent orders and determined that the amount of cost savings is based on civilian and contractor personnel savings from consolidating the current contracts into one requirement. Potential savings resulting from the implementation of the five-year multiple award COMPASS BPA with an aggregate estimated value of $700M include the cost of new procurements, administrative actions, Government personnel administrative functions, and consolidation of contractor key personnel.

i. Procurement Cost Savings: The Government projects a savings, over the period of

5 years of approximately 1,925 hours of technical and 2,480 hours of contracting effort for the pre-award actions required for a single consolidated procurement vice five (5) separate procurements. The cost savings associated with the reduction in procurement effort is estimated to be 4,405 hours or an estimated $495,600.00.

ii. Administrative Cost Savings: The use of a single, consolidated contract will eliminate multiple redundancies in contract administration effort including invoice processing, issuing modifications and task orders, filing, documenting contract performance, and contract closeout. The Government projects savings of approximately 4,559 hours of acquisition effort over a 5-year period as a result of consolidation. This estimate was derived from an analysis of the average number of administrative actions from the five (5) current contracts and the hours required for each action based on the size and complexity of each contract. The cost savings associated with the reduction in administrative effort is estimated to be $2,802,058.85 over the life of the contract.

iii. Government Personnel Cost Savings: The Government projects savings of approximately 21,215 hours per year of Government personnel effort for the post-award actions, including post-award conferences, reviewing deliverables, TASS/onboarding duties, monthly invoice processing, status meetings, annual CPARS processing and other miscellaneous tasks required for a single consolidated procurement vice five (5) separate procurements. The cost savings associated with the reduction in effort is estimated to be $2,314,165.85.

iv. Contractor Key Personnel Cost Savings: The Government projects a savings, over the period of 5 years of approximately 48,000 hours of contractor key personnel effort for a single consolidated procurement vice five (5) separate procurements.

The cost savings associated with the reduction in effort is estimated to be $6,849,600.00.

Over the life of this five-year multiple award BPA, the Coast Guard anticipates cost savings of approximately $12.46M, which will be immediately reinvested into achieving the acquisition’s performance objectives of implementing performance-based contracting with measurable goals to be achieved (cost and schedule). The increased spend analysis capability will allow the USCG to employ varying strategies for the call orders based on the complexity of the requirement versus the number of viable competitors, which will result in competition between highly qualified contractors with more focus on performance (i.e. past performance and/or prior experience). In addition, the terms and conditions of the BPAs and the call orders will be improved and standardized to reflect market conditions and the needs of the USCG. Finally, a reduction in the acquisition cycle times will be seen with established pricing and ordering mechanisms as well as an internal organization that is uniformly managed.

Further, increased competition for requirements encourages vendors to offer discounted pricing from previously approved rates based on volume purchases. Given the estimated value of the COMPASS multiple-award BPA, the USCG can expect minimum price reductions related to volume discounts of 5 – 7%. In addition, by empowering industry to provide a managed service delivery model, capable vendors will likely propose to leverage their shared service to support USCG programs. The shared service will reduce the number of contractor resources required to support certain operations and will move these resources out of USCG facilities. These contractor resources provided via shared services are expected to have lower inherent overhead associated with them compared to a traditional “off-site” contractor rate for labor. Given the current USCG delivery model, moving to this type of environment could result in additional savings from 3 – 5%.

b. Non-quantifiable benefits:

Non-quantifiable cost savings gained as a result of consolidation includes decreased learning curves for contractor personnel; options for the C5ISC and the CG CIO Office to order specific support using the COMPASS multiple-award BPA; streamlined communication with