JA_for_Contract_HQ0034-15-C-0039_Redacted.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

WASHINGTON HEADQUARTERS SERVICES

1155 DEFENSE PENTAGON

WASHINGTON, DC 20301-1155

ACQUISITION DIRECTORATE

July 7, 2015

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN

COMPETITION

1. Contracting Activity Washington Headquarters Services – Acquisition Directorate 1225 South Clark Street Arlington, VA 22209-1901

2. Description of the Action Being Approved This is a sole source action to award a firm-fixed-price contract to BAE systems, to support the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) for a period of performance from 29 May 2015 to 28 November 2015 with an estimated total value of $1,978,199.60. This requirement is to support DLA to prevent a break in service while the protest is adjudicated at the General Accounting Office (GAO). The place of performance is Alexandria, VA, and the period of performance is one 3-month base period ($989,099.80) with one 3-month option period option ($846,060.00.00). The purpose of the three month period of performance, with one three month extension is to allow GAO enough time to issue its decision which could take up to 100 days from the date of the protest per GAO bid protest regulations at 4 CFR §21.9.

The six months would also give the Acquisition Directorate enough time to take any corrective actions that might include discussions as well as re-evaluation of proposals.

This will be the third J&A issued; the first J&A resulted in a sole source contract with BAE, the incumbent (HQ0034-13-C-0113). DLA required time to complete their requirements, determine the most appropriate contracting activity to conduct the follow-on acquisition, and to make an award. Once a decision was made to maintain the Program Management Office- Defense Travel System (PMO-DTS) Support Services contract with Washington Headquarters Services/Acquisition Directorate (WHS/AD), there was insufficient time to compete the requirement.

A second sole-source bridge contract (HQ0034-14-C-0077) with BAE was put into place with a start date of 31 July 2014 and a maximum expiration date of 29 May 2015. This sole-source was required as a result of a pre-award protest to the Government Accountability Office on a new 5 year (1 Base and 4 Option Years) contract that was competed on GSA’s eBuy among small business concerns. For this protest, corrective action was taken by amending solicitation HQ0034-14-R-0051-P00004. The amendment included updating the opening date on GSA’s eBuy to January 9, 2015 with a closing date of January 20, 2015 to submit proposals. WHS/AD received 12 proposals by the closing date of January 20, 2015.

Contract HQ0034-15-F-0073 was awarded to Horizon Industries Limited.

Upon award to Horizon Industries Limited, WHS/AD received two new GAO award protests on May 11, 2015 which necessitates this third J&A. The grounds for the second protest included discrimination against an 8(a) Economically Disadvantaged Woman-Owned Small Business (EDWOSB), relevance of past performance references, incorrect ratings for Factor 1 and Factor 2, and deviation from the evaluation factors and rating methodology as pre-established in the solicitation. The third protest alleged WHS unreasonably departed from the solicitation’s best value evaluation scheme and converted this procurement to lowest-priced technically acceptable. It also alleged WHS departed from the solicitation’s best value evaluation scheme due to a number of significant weaknesses in Horizon’s proposal.

The Government awarded contract HQ0034-15-F-0073 to Horizon Industries Limited. It was competed on GSA’s eBuy among 12 small business concerns. The period of performance for this contract is (1) twelve month base period and (4) twelve month option periods. The period of performance for the contract was to begin on May 30, 2015.

The primary objective of the PMO–DTS is to support Department of Defense (DOD) efforts to automate the processing of defense travel transactions into the DOD financial and accounting system enterprise. The PMO–DTS provides the required management for an Acquisition Category 1 Major Automated Information System per DoD Instruction 5000.02, performs software development management efforts, and analyzes requirements and software functionality. Further, the PMO–DTS manages the technology refresh of the software and hardware design and network connections of the Defense Travel System (DTS).

This requirement provides administrative support and information technology services to the PMO DTS. This support is critical in order to execute the PMO DTS mission. BAE is the only one responsible source who can satisfy the DLA PMO DTS Mission within the time period required for continuity of program services. DLA PMO DTS has an urgent and continuing need for the administrative and information technology services to provide services to PMO DTS. The requested sole source authority in this J&A will expire on November 28, 2015 if the option is exercised. The option will only be exercised if necessary to continue work, while the protest is adjudicated.

This sole source contract will allow DLA to maintain critical support, and prevent a break in vital mission essential services.

3. Description of Supplies/ Services

This contract provides support services to the PMO-DTS to include but not be limited to:

• Administrative Support – Establish and maintain a wide variety of files and records of correspondence, reports, and various administrative data pertinent to the activities’ operations.

• Financial Management – Provide administrative, analytical and business to support financial management and the Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) financial processes.

• Configuration Management – Provide analytical support to identify, document, and verify the physical characteristics of systems, to control changes and non-conformance, and to track actual configurations of systems and platforms.

• System Engineering and Integration – Assist the Government with the maintenance of existing DTS capabilities; technically support development of minor alterations to existing DTS interfaces.

4. Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition As implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-2 Unusual and compelling urgency, When the agency’s need for the supplies or services is of such an unusual and compelling urgency that the Government would be seriously injured unless the agency is permitted to limit the number of sources from which it solicits bids or proposals, full and open competition need not be provided.

5. Rationale Justifying Use of Cited Statutory Authority Due to the unknown timeline of when the protest will be resolved, and the existing contract period of performance expired on May 29, 2015, the Government needs to continue performance in order to keep the program operational and functioning.

6. Description of Efforts Made to Solicit Offers from as Many Offeror’s as Possible This requirement has been competed on GSA eBuy as discussed in Section 2. However, due to the two protests with GAO, which were not resolved prior to the end of the bridge support contract which ended May 29, 2015, a competitive acquisition for this action could not be completed due to time constraints and no other sole source opportunities were available based on the need for turnover and transition time. The incumbent was the only source that can provide the required services without interruption.

This Justification and Approval will be posted to Federal Business Opportunities (www.fbo.gov) for this requirement in accordance with FAR 5.202.

7. Determination of Fair and Reasonable Cost The Government has historical data for the Firm Fixed Price (FFP) costs associated with the requirement and will use comparative analysis to determine if the contractor’s proposal is fair and reasonable.

8. Description of Market Research Although no market research was conducted for this bridge contract, market research was conducted for the competitive acquisition posted on GSA’s eBuy and can be considered http://www.fbo.gov/ relevant for this acquisition. The Market Research indicated that the services are commercially available, and small businesses are available to perform the work. An RFQ was released on GSA’s eBuy on January 9, 2015 with 12 proposals received by the closing date of January 20, 2015. Due to the two protests with GAO, which were not resolved prior to the end of the bridge support contract which ended May 29, 2015, a competitive acquisition may not be used due to time constraints, and no other sole source opportunities are available based on the need for turnover and transition time. The incumbent is the only source that can provide the required services without interruption. The WHS Small Business Coordinator and other stakeholder concurred with this approach.

9. Other Facts:

None

10. Listing of Interested Sources Because of the criticality there was not enough time for other sources to provide a written expression of interest in this bridge contract. As previously discussed, 12 proposals were received to the currently litigated competitive 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/ services required.

WHS/AD fully complies with FAR and DFARS regulations. A new contract was competitively awarded to Horizon Industries Limited on April 30, 2015. The RFQ for this requirement was posted to GSA’s eBuy from January 9, 2015 – January 20, 2015. If the GAO Protests are dismissed, Horizon Industries Limited’s contract HQ0034-15-F-0073’s period of performance will begin. If the protests result in further corrective action, WHS/AD will appropriately complete the competitive award process initiated by the RFQ posting in January.

12. Approval

Requiring Office Certification I certify that the supporting data, which form the basis for this Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition, are complete and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Technical Representative Date

Contracting Officer Certification All of the requirements of FAR Part 6.3 have been considered in preparing this justification.

Based on the above, I recommend this acquisition be conducted on the basis of other than full and open competition. I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Contracting Officer Date

Procuring Activity Competition Advocate Approval

Competition Advocate Date