EFO W912DY23F0523 P00007_Redacted PDF.pdf

CUI//SP-PROCURE//FEDCON

Control Number: CEHNC-26-0001

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HUNTSVILLE ENGINEERING AND SUPPORT CENTER REVIEWERS

Reviews: I have reviewed this justification and find it adequate to support the justification for other than full and open competition.

Program Manager/Program Executive Officer:

Contracting Officer:

Office of Counsel:

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FAR Part 16 Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity

1. Requiring Activity: Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Installations, Energy & Environment), 600 Army Pentagon, Washington, DC 20310

2. Contracting Activity: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Huntsville

Engineering and Support Center (CEHNC); located at 300 Secure Gateway SW, Redstone Arsenal, AL 35808.

3. Description of Action: This action is a request to approve an Exception to Fair Opportunity (EFO) to issue a six-month sole-source task order extension to the incumbent contractor, RMC Global Inc. under Task Order (TO) W912DY23F0523, awarded against Technical and Programmatic Support Services (TPSS) MATOC, W912DY21D0056. This extension is required to continue critical sustainment and operational support for the Army Energy and Water Reporting System (AEWRS).

Note on Clause 52.217-8: While FAR Clause 52.217-8 (Option to Extend Services) was included in the original Request for Proposals (RFP), it was not priced, not evaluated, and was not included in the actual task order award. Consequently, the Government cannot exercise 52.217-8 to extend services, necessitating this EFO to ensure continuity of operations.

4. Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE): $535,807.89

5. Description of Supplies/Services: This requirement is to provide continuous, uninterrupted sustainment for the legacy AEWRS system for an additional six (6) months, extending the current Period of Performance (PoP) from September 30, 2026, through March 31, 2027.

The contractor shall continue performing the tasks outlined in the existing Performance Work Statement (PWS), which include, but are not limited to:

a. System and Application Sustainment: Maintaining the AEWRS web-based user interface, automated routines, and source code. Performing minor enhancements, database administration, and continuous system monitoring.

b. Security and Software Compliance: Maintaining Risk Management

Framework (RMF) compatibility, applying Oracle patches quarterly, updating technical guides, and supporting Annual Security Reviews.

c. Data Management: Importing/exporting files, writing complex database extraction queries, and updating source data to maintain the highest accuracy for Army energy reporting.

d. User Support and Training: Maintaining the AEWRS user table, providing routine user support (within 2 business days), and conducting virtual training sessions for CONUS/OCONUS AEWRS and SWARWeb users.

e. Transition and Documentation Support: Maintaining System Interface

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Agreements (SIAs) and Memorandums of Agreement (MOAs), as well as updating AEWRS system documentation (data models, dictionaries, help files).

6. Authority Cited: RFO 16.507-6(b)(3) – The order must be issued on a sole-source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it is a logical follow-on to an order already issued under the contract, provided that all awardees were given a fair opportunity to be considered for the original order.

7. Supporting Rationale: The original task order was competed under fair opportunity procedures among the seven small business TPSS Multiple Award Task Order Contract (MATOC) holders. Although the solicitation was competed, only one offer was received, and the task order was subsequently awarded to the incumbent contractor. This satisfies the statutory requirement that all awardees were given a fair opportunity to be considered for the original order.

The Army Chief Information Officer (CIO) has mandated the convergence of Army energy systems onto an enterprise-approved low code/no code (LC/NC) platform, which will ultimately result in the decommissioning of the legacy AEWRS system.

This strategic migration is designed to reduce technical debt and align with broader enterprise modernization goals. However, the new LC/NC environment will not be validated and ready for full deployment until March 2027.

The existing AEWRS system must remain fully operational and supported until the new environment is successfully deployed. The current contract PoP expires on September 29, 2026, which occurs before the FY26 Annual Energy Performance Report cycle can be finalized. Without continuous contractor support through the final data aggregation, validation, and submission phases, the Army will be unable to fulfill its critical, statutory energy reporting requirements.

A lapse in service under this task order would have a severe, immediate impact on the global AEWRS user base. Without the incumbent's continuous helpdesk assistance, database administration, and technical troubleshooting, CONUS and OCONUS users would be left without support during the most critical data aggregation phase of the year. Any system outages, data import/export failures, or unresolved user access issues during this gap would paralyze end-users' daily operations. Users would be forced to abandon automated routines and revert to manual, ad-hoc data tracking. This would not only create an unsustainable administrative burden on Army personnel but also introduce a high probability of severe data entry errors, ultimately compromising the integrity of the Army's enterprise energy reporting.

Awarding this six-month task contract to any source other than the incumbent would result in an unacceptable delay in fulfilling the agency's requirements and a substantial duplication of costs, and an immediate degradation of user support. A new contractor would require months of ramp-up time to obtain necessary system access and the highly specialized knowledge required to navigate the legacy system's intricate data interfaces, System Interface Agreements (SIAs), and

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Memorandum of Agreements (MOAs). Such a delay would guarantee statutory non-compliance for the FY26 reporting cycle. Therefore, it is in the best interest of economy and efficiency to issue this extension to the incumbent as a logical follow-on.

8. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the Anticipated Cost to the Government will be Fair and Reasonable: The Contracting Officer will determine that the anticipated cost to the Government for this six-month extension is fair and reasonable. This determination will be based on a comparison of the contractor's proposed pricing against the historically evaluated and accepted pricing on the current task order, adjusted for any applicable economic price adjustments, as well as the Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE).

9. Any Other Facts Supporting the Justification:

a. MATOC Expiration: The parent MATOC under which this task order was issued is scheduled to expire on August 7, 2026. Because of this impending expiration, the ordering period is closing, and there is no remaining time or contractual mechanism to compete and award a new task order under the

MATOC.

b. Lack of Feasible Competitive Alternatives: Competing and awarding a brand-new, standalone contract outside of the MATOC for a temporary, highly specialized six-month transition service is administratively impractical and highly inefficient. It is impossible to complete a new competitive acquisition cycle before the current task order expires on September 29, 2026.

c. Evaluation History: As previously noted, although FAR 52.217-8 was present in the initial solicitation, the Government did not price or evaluate the six-month extension during the initial competition, preventing its execution now.

This EFO serves as the only legally viable contractual vehicle to ensure the Army meets its legal FY26 reporting obligations while executing the CIO's modernization mandate smoothly.

10. Actions, if any, the Agency May Take to Remove or Overcome any Barriers that Led to the Exception to Fair Opportunity Before Any Subsequent Acquisition for the Supplies or Services is Made: The requirement for legacy AEWRS sustainment will permanently end upon the successful deployment of the new LC/NC platform in March 2027. Any future requirements for the operation, maintenance, or sustainment of the new LC/NC platform will be competed using standard fair opportunity procedures under a new, active contract vehicle.

11. Technical Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in the justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

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12. Requirements Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in the justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

13. Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Approval

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the Exception to Fair Opportunity (EFO) to issue a six-month sole-source task order modification (extension) to the incumbent contractor, RMC Global Inc., under Task Order W912DY23F0523, awarded against the TPSS MATOC, W912DY21D0056. This action is approved in the estimated amount of $535,807.89 for the period of performance from 30 September 2026 through 31 March 2027 to provide continuous, uninterrupted reports, analysis, operation, and system administration support services for the Army Energy and Water Reporting System (AEWRS).

The procurement is approved using an exception to fair opportunity pursuant to the authority of RFO 16.507-6(b)(3). The task order modification must be issued on a sole-source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it is a logical follow-on to an order already issued under the contract, provided that all awardees were given a fair opportunity to be considered for the original order.

Contracting Officer