JOFOC_Signed.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity

Federal Highway Administration Headquarters, Office of Acquisition and Grants

Management, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., E65-101, Washington, DC 20590.

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

Justification and approval to use other than full and open competition to add additional requirements to the Scope of Work, resulting in contract growth. This is in regards to

DTFH61-17-C-00038 (Pavement Maintenance Techniques: Best Practices) with Nichols

Consulting Engineers. The contract provides engineering research services to the Office of Infrastructure RD&T. The proposed contract modification raises the not-to-exceed contract price from $102,960.61 to $157,960.61, an increase of $55,000.00. The contract period of performance would be 09/22/2017 – 05/21/2019.

3. Description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs

(including the estimated value)

The contract was competitively awarded and includes a 1.5 year performance period.

The primary objective of this project is to develop a comprehensive best practices guide and an accompanying set of tech briefs that will provide guidance for the specified maintenance activities, techniques, and materials. The target audience for this effort is state and local highway maintenance managers and field crew leaders.

Since the award of contract, FHWA has identified a need to present the guides in an additional format besides that of a printed guide. Specifically, various

DOT stakeholders expressed the desire to have the guides developed through this project to be field-accessible an electronic format, on a mobile device like a phone or tablet. Although it will be part of the project to determine this, it is anticipated that the likely format will be in the form of an app that may be accessed for free through Apple or Android App Stores. The present proposed modification covers the work associated with developing an electronic format for the guides being developed as deliverables for this project.

The proposed contract modification has a current contract amount of $102,960.61 and needs an additional $55,000.00 to perform the additional work associated with this proposed modification. This will bring the total contract amount to $157,960.61.

4. Statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition

The statutory authority for increasing the total amount of the contract ceiling is 41

U.S.C. 3304(a)(1), as implemented by FAR Part 6.302-1( a ), which states that an executive agency may use procedures other than competitive procedures only---

(2) “When the supplies or services required by the agency are available from only one responsible source… and no other type of supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements, full and open competition need not be provided for.”

(ii) Supplies may be deemed to be available only from the original source in the case of a follow-on contract for the continued development or production of a major system or highly specialized equipment, including major components thereof, when it is likely that award to any other source would result in --

(A) Substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition.

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

FAR Part 6.302-1 provides that "when the supplies or services required by the agency are available from only one responsible source ... and no other type of supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements, full and open competition need not be provided for and continues to state that the definition includes situations where there will be substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition.”

The work in this proposed modification involves producing the project deliverables in an additional format (online app) besides that of the printed material originally specified in the contract. The contractor, selected utilizing full-and-open solicitation, was found to provide the best technical approach at the most reasonable cost. Because much of the work will be performed concurrently and because development of the guide would create changes in the app as well, it has been determined that one contractor performing managing both items at the same time is in the best interest of the Government. Running two contracts so closely linked would create duplication of procurement and contract administration costs, overlap in contract duties, cost the Government money in bringing the new contractor up to speed, and duplicate costs as the guide materials are developed and this forces change in the app and vice versa. By including the application work in the original contract, there will be synergy in design, research, and delivery. This has the advantage of leveraging the work already done to-date, and producing the electronic format deliverables concurrently along with the printed material. This would not be the outcome if the application portion were to be re-competed, and many months of schedule delay and additional cost would be expended due to the procurement process, and inefficiencies with the new contractor coming up to speed with the subject material that they did not necessarily produce, as well as reacting to changes as the guide materials are finalized.

6. 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

In accordance with FAR subpart 5.202, a notice of the Government’s intention to increase the contract and add the application requirements to the Scope of Work without further competition will be posted on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOps) website.

7. Determination that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable

The estimate was based on the contracted prices to include the direct hourly rates negotiated at the time of contract award and their provisional overhead rates. Further, the

Contracting Officer (CO) will evaluate the proposed modification and make a determination that the price is fair and reasonable, or not. It is anticipated that this portion of the project will be subcontracted, and as such the FHWA will require that

Nichols Consulting Engineers solicit pricing utilizing competition and that a minimum of three quotes will be required. Additionally, each invoice submitted by Nichols

Consulting Engineers throughout the life of the contract is also appropriately scrutinized to ensure billed costs are allowable, allocable and reasonable.

The procedures detailed above will ensure that the anticipated cost to the Government continues to be fair and reasonable.

8. Description of the market research conducted and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted

A synopsis will be posted on FBO stating the Agency’s intent to modify its contract on a sole source basis and inviting any interested organization to submit a Statement of

Qualifications to the FHWA’s Office of Acquisition and Grants Management for consideration. The scope of work will be included in this synopsis.

9. Other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition

No other facts are needed and none are known.

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

There were no inquiries or interest expressed in this acquisition.

11. 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.

The FHWA will continue to review vendors, inquire with key federal partners and with other organizations as to their activities and plans for development. Also, FHWA will review organizations that provide similar services on an ongoing basis and if/when appropriate, the FHWA will compete for this service.

12. Certification

I certify that the information provided in this justification is complete and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Based upon the preceding information, I hereby recommend approval of this Justification for

Other than Full and Open Competition to award a contract modification to WSP, Inc. for additional work under the project titled “Incorporating Emergency Response with Maintenance

Management Technology”

Morgan Kessler Date

Contracting Officers’ Representative

Office of Research, Development, and

Technology—Infrastructure HRDI-20

Jeremiah Rogers Date Contracting Officer

Office of Acquisition and Grants Management