DF - Paving Consolidation_Redacted.pdf

CUI

SOURCE SELECTION INFORMATION – SEE FAR 2.101 & 3.104

Department of the Air Force

AFSC OL:H/PZIEB

Determinations and Findings

Consolidation of Requirements Paving Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ)

F I N D I N G S

In accordance with the definition provided at FAR 2.101, “Consolidation or consolidated requirement” means a solicitation for a single contract, a multiple-award contract, a task order, or a delivery order to satisfy—

(ii) Requirements of the Federal agency for construction projects to be performed at two or more discrete sites.

While FAR 7.107-2(a) recognizes that consolidating requirements may provide substantial benefits to the Government, further account is given to the potential negative impact upon small business participation. Accordingly, before actions are taken by an agency to consolidate requirements under a subsequent solicitation and/or contract award, accompanied by an estimated total dollar value exceeding $2 million, a written determination is required. IAW AFFARS 5307.107-2(a), the Senior Contracting Official (SCO) is the authority to make the consolidation determination for actions exceeding $2 million.

Requirements: The organization below proposes to solicit a consolidation of the following listed requirements:

1. Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) Paving Construction services at Hill AFB and its geographically separated units (GSUs). Project locations may include remote sites such as Boulder Seismic Station Pinedale, Wyoming; Little Mountain, Utah; Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR); and Carter Creek, Utah.

2. Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) Paving Construction services at Utah Air National Guard facilities

Background: The planned consolidated “D” contract will have an estimated dollar value of $93 million and will consist of multiple disciplines in paving construction such as flexible and rigid pavement excavation and replacement, road and parking lot construction (both asphalt and concrete), curb and gutter construction, slab-on-grade and sidewalk construction, aggregate based road construction, airfield pavement surface construction, drainage systems, water/storm drain and sewer utility installation, exterior parking lot lighting installation, airfield rubber removal, and pavement striping for Hill AFB, its GSUs, and Utah Air National Guard (UTANG). Although the construction services for Hill AFB and its GSUs are currently being accomplished under a Paving IDIQ contract, the new Paving IDIQ contract vehicle will expand its scope to provide construction services for the UTANG, which does not currently have its own Paving IDIQ contract to utilize. Construction services at Hill AFB, its GSUs, and UTANG facilities have previously been accomplished through small businesses and the new Paving IDIQ contract will continue this trend as it is a 100% small business set aside.

Discussion of Findings:

1. Describe the market research conducted.

A Sources Sought notice was posted to SAM.GOV on October 14, 2021. The notice contained a copy of the Draft Statement of Work (SOW) for the Paving IDIQ requirement that included all performance locations, to include UTANG. There were 11 responses from small business. An Industry Day was held on December 1, 2021 where 6 small business attended. During the Industry Day and in response to the Sources Sought notice, no concerns were raised by the vendors regarding any of the various project locations.

2. Explain any alternative contracting approaches that would involve a lesser degree of consolidation have been identified.

An alternative to consolidation is to have Hill AFB and the UTANG procure construction projects using separate paving task orders and purchase orders for individual projects. It is not advantageous to the Government to consider procuring all paving construction projects individually since this is the most cost intensive and administratively demanding solution. Another alternative is to have the UTANG create its own Paving IDIQ while Hill AFB also creates its own Paving IDIQ. The UTANG and 75 CEG procuring virtually identical paving construction requirements, using the same pool of small business vendors, on two separate Paving IDIQ contracts is not as beneficial, as it would require twice the effort for the same result. Creating a Paving IDIQ vehicle that both organizations can utilize will reduce duplicative efforts, save time and money, and protect the Government’s best interest.

3. Evidence the determination has or will be coordinated with the agency's Office of Small Business Programs.

This Determination and Findings will be coordinated with , the Director of the Office of Small Business Programs at Hill Air Force Base, as evidenced by the signature block on the last page of this document.

4. Address any negative impact by the acquisition strategy on contracting with small business concerns that has been identified.

No negative impacts on small business have been identified since this is a 100% small business set aside.

5. Describe steps taken to include small business concerns in the acquisition strategy

To ensure all small business concerns were sufficiently addressed, we determined that a 100% small business set aside was the best acquisition strategy for this effort; the Government determined that there are over 20 small businesses currently conducting similar type requirements both on Government installations and the commercial sector. Additionally, the contracting team has remained in close contact with the small business office to ensure there were no concerns or surprises with regards to the decision to add the Utah Air National Guard facilities to the Paving IDIQ effort.

Benefits.

(1) In order to be determined necessary and justified, the benefits of the consolidated acquisition must substantially exceed the benefits that would be derived from alternative contracting approaches that involve a lesser degree of consolidation. Such benefits may include quantifiable cost savings or price reductions as well as other benefits, regardless of whether quantifiable in dollar amounts, to include quality improvements that will save time and/or improve performance or efficiency, reduction in acquisition cycle time, better terms or conditions, or any other supportable benefit. The expected benefits of the consolidated acquisition will be discussed in Paragraphs (2) and (3) below.

The approval authority may also determine that consolidation is necessary and justified when the benefit thresholds are not met, but the contract is critical to the agency’s mission success and the procurement strategy provides for maximum practicable participation by small business. In this case, the use of a consolidated Paving IDIQ for construction projects is critical to the mission success of Hill AFB, to include the Ogden Air Logistics Complex (OO ALC), 388th Fighter Wing and 419th Fighter Wing. Without a Paving IDIQ in place to provide streamlined project execution, increased procurement times for construction would result in delayed deadlines. These delays would jeopardize the efficacy of the maintenance and fighter wings and could ultimately result in mission failure. Therefore, we believe the Paving IDIQ vehicle is critical to the agency’s mission success.

2) According to FAR 7.107 2(c), benefits other than cost savings or price reduction may also be used to justify consolidation.

These benefits include: 1) Quality improvements that will save time or improve or enhance performance or efficiency; (2) Reduction in acquisition cycle times; (3) Better terms and conditions; or (4) Any other benefit. The consolidation of construction efforts between Hill AFB and the UTANG will clearly achieve benefits 1, 2, 3, and 4, as described in subparagraphs below. First, the quality improvements are achieved by contractors performing repeated activities for the Government. As they perform repeated activities, the contractors become more familiar with the nuances that may exist in Government requirements, thus reducing potential error and rework resulting in improved quality. Second, a benefit of providing an IDIQ is that there will be a committed group of contractors who are aware of the ongoing needs of the Government through communications inherent in the contractual relationship, therefore, contractors will likely accommodate upcoming Government requirements as a priority in their schedules.

This places the Government in a preferred status amongst contractors, whereas individual contracts are one-time efforts with no promise of future opportunities that the IDIQ provides. Additionally, the competition provided by all qualified offerors on the proposed multiple award contract vehicle will result in enhanced performance and efficiency, as well as better terms and conditions for each site. Currently, the UTANG does not have a Paving IDIQ vehicle in place to provide these same benefits. The UTANG must individually compete efforts, which does not always result in the most beneficial terms and conditions. Additionally, consolidating the UTANG construction requirements with Hill AFB will substantially reduce the acquisition cycle times for the Government.

(i) Better terms and conditions are expected to be achieved through consolidation. The purchase orders the UTANG has placed over the past five years were mostly comprised of the same vendors used by the Hill AFB Paving IDIQ. After reviewing the awards made by Hill AFB and themselves, the UTANG determined they were not receiving the same benefits as Hill AFB, especially in regards to competitive pricing. By including the UTANG in the anticipated Paving IDIQ, they will receive the more advantageous pricing benefits. Additionally, due to its size and number of requirements, Hill AFB has more of a demand on the construction economy than the UTANG. By including the UTANG in the anticipated Paving IDIQ, they will also receive the benefits of the better terms and conditions expected in the Paving IDIQ than they would otherwise receive from much smaller open market purchase orders.

Since a Paving IDIQ vehicle has been in place at Hill AFB for over a decade, we are confident that Hill AFB has received more advantageous terms and conditions as a direct result of its use of a Paving IDIQ vehicle. Under this contract type, contractors have a greater likelihood of receiving a higher quantity of work over an extended period of time. The increase in job security, paired with the higher expected volume of projects provided by a Paving IDIQ vehicle, incentivizes contractors to provide the Government more competitive pricing and better terms and conditions on both the basic contract and subsequent TOs. Once all qualified contractors have been selected for the basic contract, the Government will continue to benefit from competition at the task order level as the selected contractors compete for each construction project.

(ii) Significant reductions in acquisition cycle times are also expected to be achieved through consolidation. The AFSC cycle standard for acquisitions under $10M is 195 days. However, historical data from previous Paving IDIQ vehicles at Hill AFB show that the average time to award for task orders takes an average 60 days. As a result, we expect a 69.2% reduction in cycle time for Hill AFB from using a Paving IDIQ vehicle. In addition, similar cycle time reductions are expected for the UTANG. Currently, the UTANG acquisition cycle time takes an average of 130 days for acquisitions over $1M. The minimum reduction in cycle times is expected to be approximately 70 days. Therefore, the use of a Paving IDIQ vehicle will enable each construction project at UTANG facilities to be awarded approximately 54% faster.

(3) In addition to the benefits to the Government outlined above, consolidating these paving efforts into a multiple award contract is in alignment with the statutory preference for multiple award contract types outlined in FAR Part 16. According to FAR 16.505(c), the contracting officer must, to the maximum extent practicable, give preference to making multiple awards of indefinite quantity contracts under a single solicitation for the same or similar supplies or services to two or more sources. Furthermore, FAR 16.504(c)(ii)(D)(1) indicates that no task or delivery order contract in an amount estimated to exceed $112 million (including all options) may be awarded to a single source. For these reasons, we believe that consolidating the paving efforts between Hill AFB and the Utah Air National Guard under a multiple award IDIQ contract is not only justified, but also encouraged by federal regulation.