HSHQDC-14-J-00141_JEFO_Final.pdf

Justification for Exception to Fair Opportunity Exceeding the SAT pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)

JEFO No.: FY17-0148

Date: March 20, 2017 PR Number: RSRT-17-00007

1. Agency and Contracting Activity.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of Procurement Operations (OPO), on behalf of the Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) First Responder’s Group (FRG) prepared this justification for an exception to fair opportunity.

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

DHS OPO intends to modify task order HSHQDC-14-J-00141 to add work without considering the other awardees of EAGLE II IDIQ contracts pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B).

3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s need.

Currently Teracore Inc. provides assistance to S&T FRG to support mission critical strategic program and technical management, program planning and oversight, financial management, and technical website administration functions across the broad scope of First Responder activities under task order HSHQDC-14-J-00141, which was awarded under HSHQDC-13-D-E2027 (Eagle II IDIQ contract).

Pending the competitive award of a new task order currently in the solicitation drafting phase, S&T FRG has a requirement for an additional five months of services under the existing task order to continue the level of quality of mission critical business and technical management support currently provided by Teracore. This work is currently being performed under task order HSHQDC-14-J-00141 and the current period of performance ends March 31, 2017. Upon approval of this JEFO, a modification will be issued to extend the task order period of performance through August 31, 2017.

By modifying task order HSHQDC-14-J-00141, FRG will be in a position to effectively function at full mission capability while the competitive task order is put into place. Currently HSHQDC- 14-J-00141 has a total value of $9,999,659.49 with all current options exercised. The estimated value of all work added under this JEFO is $2,054,280.24. If extended, the total estimated value of the task order will be $12,053,939.73.

4. Identify the exception to fair opportunity and supporting rationale, including a demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the exception cited.

FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B), Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized.

Rationale:

In order to maintain the current level and quality of Business and Technical Management services, task order HSHQDC-14-J-00141 must be extended by five months through August 31, 2017, while DHS completes a competitive award for these services. The Business and Technical Management services in support of FRG are critical to FRG’s ability to perform its mission.

Therefore the level and quality of services must be maintained until a new task order can be awarded.

The Contracting Officer’s Representative performed market research and determined that the combination of technical expertise and proficiency with DHS S&T’s programmatic requirements makes Teracore the sole option available to support FRG in the time and manner required.

Market research indicates that if a contractor other than Teracore had to take over the requirement immediately, several key highly visible S&T programs would suffer and valuable strategic work products would not be completed..

If there is a break in service and no transition period, FRG’s work with the Central U.S.

Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC) would stop. As a result FEMA/CUSEC regional catastrophic planning efforts over the next seven months would be dramatically degraded. Additionally, S&T’s relationship with the 18 CUSEC member states (Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee) and associate states (Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Kansas, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Virginia) would be severely impacted. Collaboration and assistance working with CUSEC to integrate and transition the Regional Common Operating Picture (RCOP), Community Hazard Assessment and Mitigation Planning System (CHAMPS), and Mutual Aid Resource Planner (MARP) capabilities/technologies as national models would stop and render the CUSEC states (and partners) unable to effectively prepare for and respond to disasters. Moreover, two interrelated project charters documenting S&T’s and CUSEC’s shared vision for deploying resilience-focused technologies at the regional and national levels, currently under development, would not be completed.

Additionally if there is a break in service, initial planning for the fifth annual Canada-U.S.

Enhanced Resiliency Experiment (CAUSE V), a high-visibility international disaster response exercise, would be severely degraded, possibly forcing S&T to significantly delay, or even cancel, the exercise. This would mean the CAUSE V exercise objectives would go unrealized, including threat and hazard modeling, mutual aid pre-planning, and public alert notification; the first test of a next-generation public safety broadband/FirstNet-type capability to move data across an LTE network would not occur. Additionally, S&T’s relationship with Canada and several northwestern U.S. states would be moderately damaged. Likewise, The CAUSE V experiment overarching plan, currently under development would either need to be repeated or would not be completed.

If there is a break in service and task order HSHQDC-14-J-00141 is not extended, all administrative support to the First Responder Communities of Practice (FRCoP) platform would cease. FRCoP was recently demonstrated to FRG leadership at the request of FRG Director to highlight the site as a significant new planning, collaboration, and management tool. If there was a break in service there would be no support to help achieve this goal because (1) the FRCoP member vetting and community vetting processes would not occur, meaning no new members or new communities of practice; and (2) FRCoP technical inquiries and requests (such as password resets) are managed via a central inbox, which would go unmonitored. Such issues would remain unresolved and result in less usage or the cancellation of FRCoP due to inactivity, thereby wasting S&T investment in the platform. Moreover, monthly FRCoP site statistics and analytics reports – creation of these reports is done by support contractors and would not be completed; these reports are used to gauge the success of FRCoP, help tailor future content, and identify potential future administrators and CoPs.

Lastly if there is a break in service, all administrative support to the Social Media Working Group for Emergency Services and Disaster Management (SMWGESDM) would cease. The SMWGESDM is legislated by Congress to become a Federal Advisory Committee; this transition is in process and would not be completed. Additionally, bi-monthly SMWGESDM meetings would cease; these meetings offer members and interested parties the opportunity to bring new and exciting ideas and challenges for the group, paving the way forward for experimentation and future reports. Moreover, publication of the SMWG’s report, Best Practices for Incorporating Social Media into Exercises, would be severely delayed; a planned supplement to this report, which would address additional issues and considerations for first responder agencies using social media in exercises, would not be begun or completed.

Only the incumbent, Teracore, is capable of maintaining the necessary support services for FRG because only Teracore has the institutional knowledge, subject matter expertise, specialized skill, and ability to continue to provide the level of quality needed right now without a break in critical services. Teracore currently provides strategic program management, technical assistance, and assistance evaluating homeland security technologies in the field for FRG. Teracore is in a critical position where it continues to be the engine for FRG’s organizational evolution, programmatic priorities, and communications and stakeholder outreach efforts. Contractor support levels need to stay consistent to continue to maintain and secure the content management of the existing public facing First Responder Communities of Practice (FRCoP) website and complete planning, analysis, and management support for the transition to the new website environment.

Furthermore, this task order modification is also necessary should a contractor other than Teracore win the recompeted task order. The task order will ensure that a new awardee is provided sufficient transition time to allow for uninterrupted service to FRG and the transfer of information necessary to ensure the continuation of the required level of support.

Lastly, should this task order expire, FRG will see its mission critical staffing level significantly reduced for a lengthy period, resulting in crippling irrecoverable deficiencies in programmatic, management, and technical effectiveness. If task order HSHQDC-14-J-00141 is not extended there would be no opportunity for transition planning or knowledge transfer to the Government or to another support contractor and years of institutional knowledge and program-specific information technology expertise would be lost. Moreover, some relationships with first

JEFO No.: FY17-0148 responder and stakeholder groups cultivated by subcontractor G&H International on behalf of S&T would be lost.

5. Determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The Contracting Officer has determined that the anticipated prices will be fair and reasonable based upon price analysis of the task order modification proposal. The reasonableness of the proposed prices will be determined by using the Price Analysis techniques in FAR 15.404-1(b).

This will include the comparison of proposed prices to historical prices paid, whether by the Government or other than the Government, for the same or similar items including comparison to EAGLE II established prices. Additionally, the Contracting Officer will determine fair and reasonableness via the comparison of analysis of data other than certified cost or pricing data (as defined at 2.101) provided by the offeror.

6. Any other facts supporting the justification.

Due to events outside of the program office’s control, the schedule for the re-compete exceeded the initial planned transition period and an additional bridge period is needed to maintain the level and quality of services. Due to the delays in the re-compete process, there is now insufficient time to award a new competitive task order and allow for a 30-day transition period, if necessary, prior to March 31, 2017, which is the current end date of task order HSHQDC-14-J- 00141.

The Government is currently in the process of awarding a new competitive task order. At this time it is anticipated that the new task order will be awarded by July 25, 2017. An extension of five months, through August 31, 2017, will provide sufficient time to award the task order and allow for any transition-in of a new contractor if other than Teracore should win the competitive task order.

7. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the exception to fair opportunity before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made.

Once the solicitation process is completed, the award of a new competitive task order will remove any barriers to an exception to fair opportunity.

8. DHS intends to post this requirement on FedBizOpps pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D).