HNC_UESC JA 88th USARRD_SCA HCA Redacted SAM.pdf

CUI

Control Number: CEHNC-25-0003

FAR PART 6.302-1 JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR OTHER THAN

FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

Program/Equipment: Utility Energy Services Contract (UESC), 88th U.S. Army Reserves Readiness Division (USARRD)

Authority: 10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(1) as implemented in FAR Part 6.302-1, �Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.�

Amount:

Contract Specialist:

Contracting Officer: Lisa L. Steenburn 256-895-5236 Procuring Contracting Officer Lisa.L.Steenburn@usace.army.mil

Technical/Requirements Representative:

This document contains proprietary, or source selection information related to the conduct of a Federal Agency procurement. The Office of Federal Procurement Policy restricts the disclosure and receipt of this information (41 U.S.C. Div. B of subtitle I). The unauthorized disclosure of this information may subject both the discloser and the recipient to the contractual, civil, and/or criminal penalties as provided by law.

Controlled by: Army Controlled by: USACE-CEHNC CUI Category: General Procurement and Acquisition Distribution/Limited Dissemination Control: FEDCON POC: Lisa L. Steenburn 256-895-5236

SCO-C&L and Headquarter Reviews

The following signatures indicate concurrence with the contents of this document.

CUI

CONCURRENCE:

action, which means the Government would potentially have to fund an additional $1.5M in CEHNC�s labor [(6 additional solicitations x $250k/solicitation)].

Option 1: Solicit for each site individually for a total of seven solicitations. Based on the market research, the most likely outcome would be that up to four of the solicitations may result in two offers received, and the other three solicitations would result in only one offer because no other utility was interested or capable of performing a UESC at these locations.

Option 2: Solicit for four sites under one solicitation and three sites under a second solicitation.

This would also result in up to two offers received for four of the locations, and only one offer received for the three of the locations because there was no other utility interested or capable of performing a UESC at these locations.

Both alternate approaches leave three locations with only one utility interested and capable of performing the work at those locations. Soliciting for this requirement using either three separate solicitations that each cover only one location, or one solicitation that covers all three locations will result in only one utility provider proposing on the effort, ComEd. Both alternate approaches shown above do present the opportunity for at least two utility providers to propose on the other four sites; however, there is a significant cost savings to the Government in terms of acquisition and administration costs for awarding one UESC that covers all seven locations.

For a UESC to effectively work, the ECM must produce enough energy savings to offset the costs to finance and implement the ECM. In many instances, one ECM may not be cost effective to implement, even though the ECM is required/needed to upgrade the facilities at the site to make them energy efficient. For small sites like Army Reserve facilities, spreading the cost for implementing the various ECMs across multiple sites/facilities enables the Government to achieve a significant cost savings because those savings are now leveraged across multiple sites/facilities. Procuring lighting or other equipment for seven locations and all the facilities at those locations in bulk versus procuring for a single location or facility can achieve significant cost savings for the customer. Additionally, small projects tend to increase the risk of not obtaining enough energy savings to cover the finance payments, thus financial institutions tend to look upon smaller projects negatively such that many utility providers find it difficult to secure the financing needed for the project, or the interest rates they receive are such that it is not feasible or reasonable to proceed with the project. While it is not known until the PA is complete for each site, the PA may show that at one or more locations, only one ECM may be required versus multiple ECMs at the same location. Grouping the seven locations under one award increases the ability for a utility provider to obtain better financing, lower material costs, and achieve higher energy savings opportunities across multiple ECMs. The likelihood of achieving higher energy savings also assures the financier that they will receive their investment costs back because the utility provider will achieve a significant energy savings across the entire project.

Pursuing this requirement using multiple single site solicitations instead of all sites under one solicitation would cause the utility to lose the ability to leverage the energy savings obtained by the multiple ECMs across the multiple locations under one task order. As a result, this alternative is not in the Government's best interest when compared to the proposed single UESC task order solution.

d. Impact if J&A is not approved:

If this J&A is not approved and the services are not performed, the 88th USARRD would be unable to implement these ECMs using a third party financed energy savings contract and would be required to wait for appropriated funds to execute the requirement under a traditional contract.

Alternatively, they would have to reallocate appropriated program funding and resources to cover the full capital investment needed for each ECM executed under a traditional contract. If the 88th USARRD had the appropriated funds, a fixed priced service contract would be issued and the UESC would not be pursued. Additionally, the installation would not benefit from cost savings available through implementation of multiple ECMs associated with this UESC project.

The purpose of doing these upgrades with a UESC is to leverage the multiple possible ECMs and combine their respective savings contributions into a more comprehensive energy management effort for the 88th USARRD, thereby ensuring their ability to meet their energy savings and resiliency goals.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: To obtain competition, CEHNC engaged with industry using several techniques which included Requests for Information, a Sources Sought Notice (SSN) on SAM.gov, and Letters of Interest (LOI) to utility providers in the state of Illinois. Please see detailed results from these efforts in paragraph 8.

a. Effective Competition:

The market research (detailed below in Section 8) indicates only one utility is eligible to perform work at all seven sites, ComEd. At least one other utility company, Southern Gas Company/NICOR (NICOR), can provide services to 4 of the 7 individual locations, they did not have the capability to provide the required services across all 7 locations under one contract. To the extent that any competition under the proposed acquisition may be possible, it will be among potential subcontractors and CEHNC will concentrate its effort to obtain subcontractor competition.

b. Subcontracting Competition:

In accordance with FAR Subpart 19.7, DFARS 252.219-7003, and FAR Subpart 52.219-9, Small Business Subcontracting Plans (SBSP) are required in solicitations and contracts that offer subcontracting possibilities which are expected to exceed $750,000.00 ($1.5 million for construction). SBSP compliance for the 88th USARRD UESC task order will be monitored through ComEd�s annual submission of its commercial SBSP showing the total subcontracted dollars for GSA Areawide Contract # GS-00P-16-BSD-1205.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: The potential providers list for a UESC is limited by statute to the servicing water, natural gas, and electric distribution utilities. Because the potential contractors are limited to utilities, the market research required by the FAR is met by surveying the interest of the site�s servicing utilities. It is current practice to send a letter, often done via email, to the local utilities to inquire about interest, experience, capabilities, and to meet with the CEHNC acquisition team to present those capabilities. This information is also requested from the Deputy of Public Works (DPW) that support the 88th USARRD, and the state Public Utilities Commission. CEHNC also issued a Sources Sought Notice (SSN) and posted a Request for Information on SAM.gov.

8. Market Research: Market research was conducted from 20 May 2024 to 24 June 2024 for the 88th USARRD in the greater Chicago, IL area to determine the eligible servicing utilities. The market research detailed below depicts the current efforts related to vetting the eligible utilities at each location to determine their interest in performing a UESC project. To be eligible to perform a UESC, the utility must be an existing service provider to the installation where the work will be completed; ComEd was the only eligible servicing utility for all seven locations. Southern Gas Company/NICOR was only capable of serving 4 of the 7 locations. The notices required by FAR 5.201 will be published prior to release of a sole source award to ComEd. Any proposals received in response to these notices will be considered. Table 3 below shows Industry Engagement details, including Dates of Engagement (DOE) and Dates of Response (DOR):

Table 3: Summary of Engagement with Industry:

9. Interested Sources: CEHNC received replies to the Letters of Interest (LOIs) indicating interest from Southern Gas Company/NICOR (NICOR) and ComEd. NICOR currently services only four of the seven sites, and therefore could not meet the full requirement needed by the Government as they do not service all seven of the customer�s locations. Ameren Services Company did not respond. The sources sought notice issued on SAM.gov did return four other interested sources; however, none of these entities are utility providers and therefore are ineligible to execute a UESC. ComEd is the only utility provider that is interested and eligible to perform a UESC at all seven of the locations identified in Table 2. Market research will remain ongoing to continually review the market for new utility providers who perform UESCs and are approved by the Federal regulatory commissions and state and local commissions.

10. Other Facts:

a. Procurement History (Contract numbers and dates of the last several contracts for these same requirements): Not applicable (N/A). There is no prior procurement for the 88th USARRD sites.

(1) Contract numbers and dates of the last several contracts for these same requirements: N/A

(2) The competitive status of these actions: N/A

(3) Authority previously cited if less than full and open competition was used: N/A

(4) If a justification was prepared to support the procurement made before this one, a summary of the contents of paragraph 7 of the justification for that procurement and an explanation of the results: N/A

(5) If any prior contract for this requirement was accomplished using full and open competition, include a detailed explanation of the changed circumstances causing this action to now limit the sources: N/A

(6) An explanation of any unusual patterns that may be revealed by the history, e.g., several consecutive, urgent buys: N/A

(7) If a justification was prepared to support the procurement made before this one, briefly describe the circumstances justifying the procurement and whether there have been any significant changes: N/A

b. Other facts: Subcontractor Competition: ComEd is required to report through the Electronic

Subcontracting Reporting System its progress towards meeting contracting goals in its commercial plan to the GSA Contracting Officer administering its GSA AWC. ComEd will be required to provide an annual report on how it utilizes small business under this action.

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.�

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. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated price to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable. The basis for this determination is by price analysis through a comparison to the Independent Government Estimate IAW FAR 15.404-l(b)(2)(v) and a comparison of historical pricing information retained by the UESC Program over more than a decade of executing UESCs, IAW FAR 15.404-1(b)(2)(ii). Historical price analysis will include comparing proposed pricing data to historical prices for the same or similar elements, such as project rates, indirect and profit rates, cancellation fee percentages, etc. IAW FAR 15.403-l(b)(3), "The contracting officer shall not require certified cost or pricing data to support any action (contracts, subcontracts, or modifications) but may require data other than certified cost or pricing data as defined in FAR

2.101 to support a determination of a fair and reasonable price, when a commercial product or commercial service is being acquired."

Name: Lisa L. Steenburn Signature:_____________________________ Title: Contracting Officer Date:__________________________________

STEENBURN.LISA.LYNN.1058138955 Digitally signed by STEENBURN.LISA.LYNN.1058138955 Date: 2025 03 24 07:47:41 -05'00'

24 Mar 2025

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

Name: Lisa L. Steenburn Signature:_____________________________ Title: Contracting Officer Date:__________________________________

STEENBURN.LISA.LYNN.1058138955 Digitally signed by STEENBURN.LISA.LYNN.1058138955 Date: 2025 03 24 07:47:56 -05'00'

24 Mar 2025

Approval

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of the UESC Task Order for the 88th USARRD for Chicago, IL, with an estimated total ROM value of on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(l) as implemented by FAR 6.302-1 "Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements," subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services herein described have otherwise been authorized for this acquisition.