HSBP1017C00137 - Extension JA (08 JUN 2022) Redacted.pdf

J&A for HSBP1017C00137 – Sole-Source Extension

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1)

Pursuant to the requirements of the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 6.3 and in accordance with the requirements of FAR 6.303-1, the justification for the use of the statutory authority under FAR Subpart 6.3 is justified by the following facts and rationale required under FAR 6.303-2 as follows:

1. Agency and Contracting Activity.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Office on Acquisition (OA), on behalf of the CBP Office of Information Technology (OIT), proposes to extend the period of performance and ceiling of HSBP1017C00137 on a basis other than full and open competition.

2. Nature and/or Description of the Action being Approved.

(a) Nature of action:

CBP intends to raise the ceiling and extend the period of performance for the Data Center Support Services (“DCSS”) contract HSBP1017C00137 for up to 11 additional months (estimated June 25, 2022 through May 24, 2023). The current contract with Accenture Federal Services LLC is scheduled to reach its ceiling on or around June 24, 2022. This sole source action is necessary to prevent a lapse in critical service while allowing the additional time necessary to recompete the requirement and allow for a transition to a new contractor if the incumbent is not selected.

(b) Name and address of the contractor:

Accenture Federal Services LLC 800 North Glebe Road, Suite 300, Arlington, VA 22203-1807

(c) Contract type:

The current contract type is a hybrid cost plus award fee (CPAF) and labor hour (LH) type contract.

(d) Estimated total value (including options):

Term Estimated Period of Performance

Monthly Estimate

Total

Up to 11 mos. June 25, 2022 – May 24, 2023

The extension period will be structured in monthly option periods which can be exercised in accordance with FAR 52.217-9 (Option to Extend the Term of the Contract).

(e) Type of funding:

Operations and Support (O&S)

(f) Year of funding:

FY 22, FY 23

(g) Solicitation number:

Not applicable.

(h) Background information about the requirement:

DCSS provides the DHS and CBP with 24x7x365 secure, stable and high-performance information technology (IT) infrastructure, scientific solutions, and forensic services.

The CBP Office of Information Technology (OIT) has the responsibility for identifying and evaluating new technologies for applications in support of CBP business processes. A new era of terrorist threats requires systems that can support the future vision of a unified, integrated, intelligence-driven agency to protect the United States against all threats. In order to be successful, the Government and Contractor team must identify and acquire highly skilled professionals from across industry that are capable of leading the technological revolution currently underway within OIT systems applications without abandoning and losing all existing critical corporate knowledge.

DCSS encompasses numerous tasks including: (1) IT program management, (2) enterprise operations center (EOC) support, (3) storage management, (4) database services, (5) legacy application support, (6) general servers and virtualization support, (7) service design and transition support, and (8) enterprise web services.

Contract HSBP1017C00137 was awarded on September 30, 2017, resulting from a full and open competition, in response to solicitation HSBP1017R0031 with a ceiling value of $307,202,426.00.

At the time of contract award, the planned period of performance was up to 10 years (September 30, 2017 through September 29, 2027, if all option periods and award terms were exercised). However, throughout the course of contract, CBP discovered latent deficiencies in the data center infrastructure. The corresponding complexity of effort required to remedy those deficiencies were vastly greater than projected at the time of contract award. The additional work that had to be accomplished was all within scope, but CBP/OIT underestimated the sheer volume of the deficiencies that existed within the data centers that required urgent resolution. Accordingly, the overall contract period of performance was shortened to ensure the original contract ceiling was not breached.

3. Description of Supplies/Services.

The services required under this contract include comprehensive DCSS to the CBP OIT in the area of Enterprise Operations, Enterprise Infrastructure, Enterprise Architecture, and Common Services.

Support spans across all locations, to include CBP Headquarter Offices in Washington, DC, CBP Data Centers, and in any location where CBP operates in the future.

The OIT provides CBP with support in all aspects of IT. CBP OIT has overall management responsibility for IT program activities including, but not limited to, infrastructure operations and engineering, user support, and enterprise architecture.

CBP OIT data center processing is performed at multiple data centers within the continental United States. Data centers currently providing services to CBP OIT include the following: CBP National Data Center (NDC) Complex located in Springfield, Virginia; and the Stennis Data Center (DC1) at Space Center in Mississippi (supports multiple DHS Agencies, including CBP). Additionally, CBP utilizes public cloud service providers (e.g., Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform and Azure), in which the Contractor supports and further develops during the life of this contract.

4. Identification of Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition.

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C.3304(a)(1) implemented by the FAR Subpart 6.302-1 entitled “Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.”

5. Identification of Exception to the Buy American Statute

Buy American Statute is not applicable.

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

(a) Due to the unanticipated acceleration of costs incurred under the existing contract, a short-term extension is necessary to prevent an unacceptable gap in mission critical services. This interim action will provide adequate time for CBP to complete the follow-on competition (solicitation planned for July 2022). Accenture Federal Services (AFS) is the current contractor supporting the DCSS contract under HSBP1017C00137. AFS has over 270 active resource personnel in place with required CBP clearances along with specialized knowledge and experience necessary to perform the contractually required services without disruption. No other contractor is able to satisfy this short-term requirement primarily because of the lengthy transition-in and entry-on-duty (EOD) processing required for over 270 new employees. AFS is the only responsible source available to satisfy this short-term requirement without a gap in mission critical services.

(b) The tasks performed under this contract extension are highly dependent on one another and do not allow for tasks to be broken down into separate competitions. As a result, no portion of the work can be broken down and recompeted under a separate action.

Due to the short timeline, a short-term sole source extension to this contract is the only viable path forward while CBP conducts a competition of the new requirement, the anticipated timeline for which is set out below in Section 12 of this document.

(c) There are no alternatives to this sole source contract action because the length of time it would take a new contractor to transition-in and EOD employees. The transition of the mission critical tasks from to contractor to another is an extensive process and will require no less than 90 days. Further, competing two contract actions, a bridge and a new award, would be duplicative and lead to delays in award, and potentially create two transition periods.

(d) OIT supports over 220 complex Mission Essential Systems (MES), which present numerous operational challenges. DCSS rises to meet those challenges daily, and they have made giant strides to improve and deliver mission relevant outcomes. Should this justification for other than full and open competition not be approved, CBP would have over 220 complex Mission Essential Systems at risk. The risk includes reducing cyber threats, financial loss, and reputational damages due to outages.

7. Description of Efforts Made to Ensure that Offers are Solicited from as Many Potential Sources as is Practicable.

In accordance with an exception listed in FAR 5.202(a)(11), this extension action will not be publicized on the government point of entry prior to the issuance of the sole source action, as the proposed contract action is made under the terms of an existing contract that was previously synopsized in sufficient detail to comply with the requirements of FAR 5.207 with respect to the current proposed contract action.

CBP intends to make this justification publicly available, pursuant to FAR 6.305, on SAM.gov, within 14 days after the modification is awarded. This justification will remain posted for no less than 30 days.

As discussed in section 6 above, the unforeseen schedule delays to the anticipated follow-on award to contract HSBP1017C00137 drove the need for this extension and ultimate sole source action. Because of the nature of this requirement, the short duration of the performance period, and the inability for any other contractor to transition in a timely manner, no offerors have been solicited for this short-term, sole source action.

8. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the Anticipated Cost to the Government will be

Fair and Reasonable.

The contracting officer will evaluate the total proposed price, which includes the base period and all options, for determination of price reasonableness in accordance with FAR 15.4.

9. Description of Market Research.

A request for information (RFI) was released to industry via the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) on March 14, 2022 to aide in market research for the planned follow-on procurement for DCSS.

Responses to the RFI were submitted by April 13, 2022. Based in part upon the results of the market research, the acquisition strategy will be finalized for the competitive follow-on procurement. CBP is confident there is a competitive commercial marketplace for the anticipated follow-on requirement.

However, as stated within this justification for other than full and open competition, no contractor other than AFS has the ability and the extensive operational knowledge to transition onto a short-term award in a matter of weeks given the lengthy transition-in and entry-on-duty (EOD) processing cycle for over 270 employees. Therefore, this short-term bridge extension of the current contract is required while the follow-on procurement is solicited, evaluated, and awarded.

10. Any Other Facts Supporting the Use of Other Than Full and Open Competition.

No other supporting information is applicable.

11. A Listing of the Sources, if Any That Expressed, in Writing, an Interest in the Acquisition.

To date, no other sources have expressed a written interest in the acquisition of this proposed sole source action.

12. A Statement of the Actions, if Any, the Agency May Take to Remove or Overcome Any Barriers to Competition Before Any Subsequent Acquisition for Supplies or Services Required.

The purpose of this justification for other than full and open competition, and extension of the current contract, HSBP1017C00137, is to allow time for the competition of the anticipated follow-on competitive procurement. The anticipated milestone schedule illustrating the timeline comparison of this sole source action and ongoing competitive procurement follows:

Event: Estimated Date:

Request for Information (RFI) Released March 14, 2022 (Completed) RFI Responses Received April 13, 2022 (Completed) Solicitation Released July 2022 Proposals Received August 2022 Evaluations Conducted (if a Two Phased Evaluation is Utilized)

August – December 2022

Award Late January 2023 Transition (if required) February – mid-May 2023

CBP is in the process of finalizing the acquisition strategy for the planned Enterprise Cloud & Integration Services (ECIS) procurement. Due to potential overlap between the planned ECIS procurement and the active DCSS procurement, coordination was required to ensure the respective scopes were clearly defined to avoid any conflict. The period of performance of this sole source action will provide enough time for receipt of proposals in response to anticipated solicitation, evaluation of proposals, award, and post award transition (if required). CBP anticipates no less than 90 days to fully transition after award if a new contractor is selected. As stated earlier in this document, while CBP is requesting up to an eleven (11) month extension of HSBP1017C00137, the extension will be structured into monthly option periods to afford CBP flexibility to only extend the current contract for as long as needed to complete the competition for the recompeted procurement, and any extension will align to the procurement schedule of the follow-on competition. CBP does not anticipate requiring additional sole-source awards for this requirement after execution of this sole-source action.

13. Technical/Requirements Certification.

I certify that the data supporting the recommended use of other than full and open competition is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Technical Representative

14. Contracting Officer’s Certification. I certify this requirement meets the Government’s minimum need and that the supporting data, which forms a basis for this justification, is complete and accurate.

Contracting Officer

Concurrence:

CBP Competition Advocate

Approval:

Head of the Contracting Activity