RMACC_JOTFOC.pdf

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

10 U.S.C. § 2304 (c ) (1) and FAR 6.302-1, Only One Or a Limited Number of Responsible Sources and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements

Pursuant to the requirement 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 warranted by the following facts and rationale required under FAR 6.303-2 as follows:

(1) Agency and Contracting activity.

The requiring activity is the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), United States Coast Guard (USCG), Shore Infrastructure Logistics Center (SILC). The SILC maintains a Contract Vehicle that is included in the DHS Department-Wide Strategic Sourcing Portfolio as a non-mandatory, agency-specific source to support facility maintenance, repair, and minor construction. This Contract Vehicle is commonly known as “The Regional Multiple-Award Construction Contract (RMACC),” but actually consists of eight separate Multiple-Award Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contracts that cover different regions of the United States. Each of the eight IDIQ contracts includes a range of four to eleven individual contracts. In all, there are forty-eight individual contracts. While the Contract Vehicle is available to all DHS Components and has been effectively utilized by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Transportation Security Administration, the U.S Coast Guard maintains the largest percentage of all DHS real property assets and has been responsible for the majority of all task order awards under the current contracts. All of the contracts fall under the USCG Head of Contracting Activity.

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

(a) Approval is sought for a twelve (12) month extension of services to the Regional Multiple- Award Construction Contract (RMACC) while the re-procurement of a new and enhanced replacement contract vehicle is completed. Additionally, the existing annual limit of $5M per individual RMACC contract will be removed.

The forty-eight active, individual RMACC contracts were awarded based on solicitation HSCG88-09-R-623066. A list of these active contracts is provided as Attachment 1 to this document. The original duration of all of the contracts was not to exceed 84 months (one year award plus six option years). Each individual contract (contractor) was limited to $5M on an annual basis. Individual contracts were awarded over a range of dates at the conclusion of individual procurement actions that stemmed from the single solicitation. Based on this range of award dates for the individual contracts, the current contracts will expire on a corresponding range of dates in the months of November through December of 2016.

Upon approval of this action, a modification will be issued to each of the existing contracts to extend the ordering period for one year and to remove the annual limit of $5M. As a result of this action, the current RMACC will be available until the new and enhanced RMACC is awarded during the first few months of FY18 (October through December of 2017). The current RMACC is a low risk and cost effective method of executing maintenance, repair, and minor construction projects.

The extension of the existing contract is critical to the successful execution of the DHS FY17 facility programs, the ability of the existing staffs to have the required capacity to put the new RMACC in place, and the transition to the new contracts upon the commencement of the DHS FY18 program execution. Without this extension, unacceptable delays will occur during the execution of the FY17 facility program and these delays will be further compounded because the ability to award the new contract will be jeopardized.

Since competition is already occurring for the award of each task order and the contractors on the existing RMACC have the demonstrated capability to complete the work in a cost effective and efficient manner, there is no additional cost associated with the extension of the contract and no specific savings that could be achieved through other competitive methods. In fact, if the current contract is not extended, there will a substantial duplication of efforts required to award numerous standalone contracts that will result in significant contracting costs; this duplication of effort will erode the ability to award a new contract, because the staff that is taking responsibility for award of the new RMACC will need to engage in the additional efforts to award the standalone contracts.

(b) Amount: During the requested one year extension in ordering period, the estimated amount of orders to be issued on the contract vehicle (RMACC comprised of forty-eight (48) individual contract holders) is $63 million. This estimate is based on the calculation of current overall usage of the contract showing an average of $5.25M contract task orders issued each month.

Note that no overall increase in the contract ceiling is required. When the total amount from this extension is added to the aggregate amount of total orders through the end of the contract, the projected expenditures on the contract still fall well below the overall $1.75B contract capacity that was established at the time of contract award.

(c) Type of Funding: Operations and Maintenance, primarily AFC 43 and AFC 30

(d) Years of funding: Fiscal Years 2017 and 2018

(3) Description of Supplies/Services.

The purpose of the Regional Multiple-Award Construction Contract (RMACC) is to perform maintenance, repair, and minor construction for components of the Department of Homeland Security in any of the 50 United States. This is a Multiple-Award IDIQ contract and the value of individual orders will vary depending upon the requirements at the task order level. Since Multiple-Award IDIQ contracts are used, individual requirements will continue to be competed among the contract holders on a fair opportunity basis. All contracts were awarded as set-asides to various small business socioeconomic groups and the contractors continue to maintain their status within these programs. This contract is available for use by all components of Department of Homeland Security. The USCG places the majority of orders under the contract and relies heavily on the efficiencies achieved through its use. The contract is vital to the USCG’s ability to execute their annual maintenance and repair program of approximately $200M.

(4) Identification of Statutory Authorities Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition.

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 10 U.S.C. § 2304 (c )

(1) and FAR 6.302-1, Only One Or a Limited Number of Responsible Sources and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.

(5) Demonstration That The Nature of the Acquisition Requires Use of the Authorities Cited.

The Regional Multiple Award Construction Contract (RMACC) is a non-mandatory DHS Department-Wide Strategic Sourcing Contract that is available to all components of DHS. The forty-eight contracts provide prompt responses on an as-needed basis for routine and emergent requirements. The Multiple-Award IDIQ contract format provides a readily available and cost-effective alternative to the award of an individual contract for each requirement. Individual requirements are awarded as task orders using a streamlined approach with reduced risks and with ongoing competition between the qualified contractors.

Each Regional Multiple Award Construction Contract is comprised of contractors in one or more small business socioeconomic program. The scope of work includes design/build, performance-based construction, and design-bid-build contracts for facility repairs, maintenance, general construction, marine construction, demolition, and historical restoration. The contractors provide all necessary personnel, facilities, equipment, and materials for multiple task orders within the respective regions across the United States. Requirements are executed in compliance with all applicable environmental and safety laws and regulations and will meet all relevant, appropriate, and applicable standards. Facilities include, but are not limited to, operations buildings, hangars, boat houses, firing ranges, residential and light commercial buildings and their mechanical and electrical systems, site utilities, waterfront facilities, electronic surveillance/security construction, dredging, and airports/runways.

While the contracts provides a readily available means of meeting requirements for all components of DHS as a non-mandatory source, the contracts are a fundamental cornerstone of the USCG’s maintenance and repair program execution. Over the course of time that the contract has been in place, an average of 144 task orders has been placed on an annual basis.

Out of these actions, the USCG has placed an average of 130 actions, while other DHS components have added an average additional 14 actions each year. Although the USCG also uses supplementary acquisition strategies that include stand alone procurements of various types, the RMACC has allowed the USCG to standardize and streamline ordering for much of its $200M annual repair and maintenance program. Use of the RMACC lowers costs of the Coast Guard program and provides a ready means of achieving socioeconomic goals. Because the USCG makes such extensive use of the contract, the extension of the existing contract is vital.

Without the proposed extension to the RMACC contract, the USCG’s ability to execute its FY17 maintenance and repair budget will be at risk.

The pool of forty-eight contract holders on the Regional Multiple-Award Construction Contract (RMACC) that was awarded based on solicitation HSCG88-09-R-623066 is the “limited responsible source and no other sources will satisfy agency requirements” pursuant to 10 U.S.C.

2304(c)(l), FAR Part 6.302—1. The use of these contracts is the only source that will allow execution of the Coast Guard’s FY17 maintenance and repair requirements while still allowing for award of the enhanced replacement vehicle. Competition is obtained through the use of the current RMACC, since all task orders are competed on a fair opportunity basis among all contract holders in a particular Region.

Use of an IDIQ vehicle for DHS facility maintenance requirements like the RMACC is critical to the Coast Guard and it would be impossible to put such a vehicle in place in a more expeditious manner than outlined herein. The Coast Guard and DHS’s need to have the forty-eight RMACC contracts in place during the one year extension is of such a critical nature that the United States would be seriously injured without this extension.

This vehicle is a proven, reliable, and cost effective method for fulfilling facility maintenance and repair requirements. If the contract is not extended there will be significant additional costs to the government that can never be recovered. The additional costs will be those of coordinating numerous standalone procurements which would not be expected to reduce the cost of fulfilling requirements and which would overwhelm the current acquisition staffs to the point that they could not award the new contract. Without the extension, the Coast Guard’s FY17 facility maintenance and repair program and the new contract would therefore be delayed. Any inability to award a new RMACC and gain the efficiencies associated with the use of this vehicle will result in compounded delays and a further erosion of the ability to put a new vehicle in place.

The RMACC provides a pool of highly qualified contractors who successfully competed to obtain the initial RMACC award and have typically continued to compete in an aggressive manner for each task order. The RMACC has resulted in streamlined, best value awards for the government. Without such a vehicle in place, many additional repair requirements would have to be coordinated as standalone contracts. In the short term, the additional labor required to award and administer these standalone contracts would absorb the resources that are needed to put the new contract in place. In the long term, these efforts could not be sustained by the current workforce. The proposed extension to the current contract is the only effective method for the Coast Guard to continue operations while still maintaining a capacity to put the new contract in place for the benefit of both the Coast Guard and other DHS Components.

The contract has numerous advantages in efficiency. First, the time and work required to award task orders is reduced, while still allowing for competition. Second, the time required for oversight and contract administration is reduced because the contractors remain familiar with standard procedures that are exercised through the course of numerous orders on the contract.

On average, it takes between four and six months to complete a standalone solicitation, while a task order on the current contract can be awarded within 45 days or less. The effort to award within this condensed timeframe is also reduced because a fair opportunity process is employed in a repeatable and systematic manner that the existing contractors already understand. Because competition is typically achieved and price is evaluated based on competitive proposals, business decisions are greatly simplified. Because requirements executed on the contract do not require formal posting and the contract allows for exchanges of information through relatively informal e-mail exchanges, additional savings are achieved.

Other economies are realized after award of task orders, because the existing contractors already possess access to our facilities and current knowledge of our real property assets, our environmental regulations, our quality assurance requirements, our engineering requirements, and other factors. The availability of this knowledge and the savings associated with not having to transfer this knowledge to new contractors provides additional labor and time savings to the government staff.

Significant advance planning has gone into the re-procurement of the RMACC. Because of this, the new RMACC will be enhanced in many significant ways. Efforts, to date, have included market research that was initiated in January 2015 and concluded in June 2015, coordination of a DHS Business Case for the Strategic Contract Action that was initiated in July 2015 and approved in June 2016, posting of an advance pre-solicitation notice in February 2016, posting of a full draft solicitation in March 2016, and several briefings that were provided in conjunction with industry outreach events. Also, a thorough review by a Coast Guard JAG Legal Review Board was required and conducted.

The anticipated gap in service and the requirement for the proposed extension is due to the high levels of diligence devoted to enhancing the RMACC through the course of Acquisition Planning and the development of the Business Case. The market research for this procurement was carefully evaluated from a strategic point of view to develop a set-aside strategy that would complement the achievement of DHS small business goals. The Acquisition Planning included significant attention to the proposed use of methods to fully leverage the use of the Coast Guard’s special statutory authority for the One-Step (Design-Build) Turnkey project delivery method. Also the Acquisition Planning included significant attention to develop the contract in a manner to support facility programs for Puerto Rico and Guam. The Business Case required thorough vetting to ensure that there were no potential duplications of effort such as overlap between the new vehicle and other agency-specific contracts. Also, potential conflicts between this new vehicle and ongoing GSA strategic sourcing initiatives had to be considered. These efforts to ensure that the new and enhanced contract will maximize efficiencies for DHS have required an intense and lengthy review.

This need for coordination on many fronts and the RMACC’s high dollar value and nationwide scope all contribute to make the RMACC re-procurement complex and time-consuming.

Because of the high dollar value, senior level approvals and significant coordination between the U.S. Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security were required. Coast Guard Procurement professionals from five Civil Engineering Units located throughout the United States participated in evaluating the market research and performing Acquisition Planning.

These same procurement professionals, together with technical personnel, will participate in the nine separate two-phase source selections.

Even though this effort has been on-going for at least twenty-one months, compliance with Federal, DHS, and Coast Guard acquisition regulations and procedures and the possibility of protests means that it is not reasonable to expect that awards for all the Regional contracts will be made by the time the existing contracts expire in the November-December 2016 timeframe.

(6) Description of Efforts Made to Ensure that Offers are solicited from as Many Potential Sources as is Practicable.

Since the requirements for maintenance and repair will continue to be ordered through the forty-eight existing contracts and with no disruption to the mission, it is not in the best interest of the government to solicit any new sources during the period of this extension. This justification will be made publicly available on FBO as required by 10 U.S.C. 2304(l). Also, a Notice will be posted on FBO informing industry of Government’s intent to extend the RMACC contracts for one year. A pre-solicitation notice was also made publicly available on FBO in February 2016 to announce the proposed solicitation for the new RMACC contract in accordance with FAR 5.101(a)(1). Additionally, the solicitation for the new contract will be posted to FBO in accordance with FAR 5.102.

(7) Determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be Fair and Reasonable.

There is no monetary cost to the Government for extending the ordering period of the contract or for removing the annual limit placed on each contractor. All contractors under the current MACC have proven on past requirements that they are capable of successfully completing a broad range of maintenance, repair and minor construction requirements. Previous requirements awarded under the MACC contract have yielded adequate competition amongst these small businesses. During the extension of the contract, individual orders will continue to be competed on a fair opportunity basis to the contractors on the Multiple-Award IDIQ contractors. The Contracting Officer for each order will determine that the price is fair and reasonable, prior to award of the action.

(8) Description of market research.

Specific market research to cover the one year extension of the RMACC contracts was not conducted; however, significant market research was conducted and compiled that will lead to the effort to re-procure the replacement contract. The Coast Guard Shore Infrastructure Logistics Command maintains ongoing industry outreach and knowledge of capabilities within the market to satisfy requirements for maintenance, repair, and minor construction. Based on knowledge of the industry and the timelines required to comply with all acquisition regulations, it would be impossible to replace all forty-eight existing contacts before they expire in the period of November through December of 2016. Extending the ordering period for the existing RMACC is the only option available that will allow DHS to continue to have a viable strategic source for maintenance and repair during the re-procurement period.

(9) Any Other Facts Supporting The Use Of Other Than Full And Open Competition.

There are no other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition.

(10) A Listing Of The Sources, If Any, That Expressed, In Writing, An Interest In The Acquisition.

As stated in section 8 above, significant market research has been conducted and compiled to support the re-procurement of the RMACC. As a result of this research, each region of the new contract will be set-aside for one of three different small business socioeconomic contracting programs. From our market research, we have high confidence in obtaining a group of highly qualified contractors within these programs to support each region of the new contract.

(11) A Statement Of Actions, If Any, The Agency May Take To Remove Or Overcome Any Barriers To Competition Before Any Subsequent Acquisition For Required Supplies Or Services.

Our procurement history in using the current RMACC and our market research for the follow-on RMACC has not disclosed any barriers to competition. The RMACC contracts are Multiple- Award IDIQ contracts with ordering procedures that require competition unless a specific exception applies. By extending the ordering period for the forty-eight existing contracts, DHS will be able to achieve efficient competition on maintenance and repair requirements while the new RMACC contract is established. This approach will allow DHS to seek competition on existing requirements as orders under the extended contract and to seek competition for the new requirements through a source selection process which will be utilized for the procurement of the new RMACC. In this manner, any barriers to competition are eliminated both now and for future requirements.

(12) Contracting Officer's 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.

Ross D. Woodson Contracting Officer Chief of the Contracts Office for Construction Shore Infrastructure Logistics Center

(13) Technical/Requirements Personnel Certification.

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

Commander, Shore Infrastructure Logistics Center

(14) Legal Review and Concurrence.

I have reviewed this justification and deemed it legally sufficient. .

Attorney, US Coast Guard Legal Service Command

APPROVAL

USCG Procuring Activity Competition Advocate