Justification--Bridge CSA IT SVCS_signed_Redacted.pdf

Justification and Approval (J&A) for Other Than Full and Open Competition

August 2023 Page 2 of 4August 2023 Page 2 of 4

Department of the Air Force, Air Education and Training Command (AETC), 502d Air Base Wing, 502d Contracting Squadron, Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA) Randolph, TX, 78150-4525. Contracting Officer is Alton Hufstetler, DSN 487-8969 or COMM (210) 652-8969.

This is a sole source justification for a new firm fixed price Bridge contract action to Centech Group, INC.

to continue to provide on-site Client Support Administrative Services (CSA) to HQ AETC. The current contract FA301619FA524 was established with a 12-month base year and four 12-month option years from 29 September 2019 to 28 September 2024. FAR 52.217-8, Option to Extend Services, has been exercised and FA301619FA524 was extended for the maximum period of 6-months, and the contract expires on 28 March 2025. There are no other options to extend the contract's performance period any further, therefore, an urgent bridge action is in the best interest of the Government to continue services supporting AETC mission. The additional time will avoid a gap in services, ensure uninterrupted operations, and continuity of services. The bridge action per DAFFARS 5306.303-1-90(a) will prevent a break in service while the follow-on acquisition processes are implemented. This action is necessary due to the unforeseen circumstances that have occurred with this procurement as outlined in Section IV of this J&A.

Centech Group, Inc. is responsible for the administration of the Information Technology (IT) equipment on the non-secure internet protocol router network (NIPRNet), the secure internet protocol router network (SIPRNet), audio & Video Teleconferencing Support, Unit Software License Manager, and hardware/ software desktop and network administration support services, to include Tier 1 client support and IT equipment custodian services. The PWS requires the contractor to provide Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to perform these IT services. The SMEs provide in-depth technical knowledge and expertise critical to the IT operations that encompasses the management and maintenance of HQ AETC's IT infrastructure, including network management, server administration, and user support. SMEs are critical to the daily operations of the AETC's IT systems by providing help desk support, data backup, system monitoring, and patch management. The tasks performed by the SMEs contribute to mission critical functions and key operations of maintaining a secure and functioning IT system for over 1300 users across HQ AETC. The Government is requesting a 12-month Bridge contract since this acquisition is basically starting over as explained in Section IV below.

Period of Performance: 29 March 2025 to 28 March 2026

CLIN 0001: On-site Client Support Administrative Services: 12 months (mos)

The Centech Group, Inc. is the incumbent contractor and is the only contractor capable of continuing these services under a Bridge contract. As stated above the Government does not have time to award a new contract before the current contract expires. There were unique circumstances that occurred that prevented the follow-on contract from being awarded on-time and the following paragraph will explain those circumstances.

A multi-functional team (MFT) meeting was held on 24 January 2024 to begin the acquisition of the

August 2023 Page 3 of 4August 2023 Page 3 of 4 follow-on contract. The acquisition milestones that were discussed during the MFT meeting had an estimated award date for the follow-on contract of 3 September 2024. This award date was based on getting a complete requirements package no later than 1 February 2024. However, despite numerous requests the customer did not provide an approved RAD until 13 September 2024. Based on that, the contract was initially extended by 4-months to 28 January 2025 using the Extension of Services clause (FAR 52.217-8). The planned acquisition approach was to move the requirement under the AbilityOne program. Source America had already determined that these services were currently being provided under the AbilityOne program and identified an organization that could provide the services. Once the RAD was received the Government was getting ready to issue the solicitation when Source America informed the Government that the AbilityOne Commission determined that there was going to be a severe impact to the incumbent contractor if this requirement was added to the procurement list. Therefore, on 22 October 2024, the Commission denied the request to move this requirement to the AbilityOne program. This was very unexpected by both the Government and Source America

. This required the acquisition team to start over and come up with a new acquisition strategy which took a few months. Based on this, the contract had to be extended again for an additional 2-months under the Extension of Services clause (FAR 52.217-8) to 28 March 2025.

The new acquisition strategy based on extensive market research was to issue a competitive Women Owned Small Business set-aside solicitation. After receiving clearance, the solicitation was issued on 27 January 2025 with a proposal due date of 21 February 2025. However, after issuing the solicitation the customer came back and stated that they had other AETC Directorates that wanted to use these services.

In addition, the Government received 237 questions from industry based on the solicitation that was posted.

There were a significant number of questions that were technical in nature. Based on the fact that the customer wanted to change the requirement to add additional Directorates and the fact that industry had so many questions it was determined it was in the governments best interest to cancel the solicitation, so the customer has sufficient time to better define the requirement. Based on these circumstances a Bridge contract is needed to allow the customer sufficient time to determine the number of users and to review industries concerns and update the PWS as required. Therefore, this acquisition will be a follow-on contract to the incumbent contractor Centech Group, Inc. since they are the only contractor that can satisfy the Government's need since additional time is needed to execute a new follow-on contract.

In accordance with FAR subpart 5.2 a Notice of Intent (NOI) to solicit and award a Sole Source Firm Fixed Price Contract to Centech Group, Inc. was posted to SAM.gov on 21 February 2025. To date there have been zero respondents to this NOI. As stated above, the Government posted a solicitation on SAM.gov in an effort to promote competition but had to cancel the solicitation due to a change in requirements and the need for the customer to better define their requirement. The Government will ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable once the requirement is better defined.

The Government will use the proposal analysis techniques in FAR 15.404-1 and information other than certified cost or pricing data provided in the offeror's proposal to determine the prices fair and reasonable.

After the AbilityOne Commission determined that requirement could not be added to the AbilityOne program as

August 2023 Page 4 of 4August 2023 Page 4 of 4 stated above the Government was required to establish a new acquisition strategy. Based on that, a Request for Information (RFI) was posted on SAM.gov. Ninety-nine responses were received, only seven were other than small businesses and thirty were Women Owned Small Business (WOSB). On 30 October 2024, an RFI for was posted on NASA SEWP and only one response was received from a WOSB. Based on this market research a solicitation was posted to SAM.gov as WOSB set-aside. However, as stated above this solicitation was canceled. Once the customer has better defined their requirement additional market research will be conducted based on the new requirements to ensure the proper acquisition strategy is used.

None.

See Section VII above for the results of the market research.

Since it was determined by the AbilityOne Commission that this requirement can not be added to the AbilityOne program at this time the follow-on requirement after the Bridge contract will be competed once the customer has the time to better define their requirement.