OCI_Certificate.doc

HT0011-14-T-0034

ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST (OCI)

For purposes of identifying, avoiding and / or mitigating against OCIs, DHA will examine all its non-purchased care requirements and acquisitions regardless of the cognizant contracting activity or the type of contract vehicle used. Offerors shall submit their anticipated organizational structure. The organizational structure must include the prime Contractor and first tier subcontractors. The organizational structure shall include addresses and telephone numbers. In the case of a joint venture or other business structure, a clear description of the organizational relationships must be disclosed.

In accordance with FAR 9.505, Organization and Consultant Conflicts of Interest, DHA is indicating and advising awareness to all interested Offerors that “actual” and “potential” organizational conflicts of interests (OCI) may exist. This is to assist prospective Offerors in developing their own business strategies regarding DHA requirements; and in doing so: avoid, mitigate, and neutralize any “actual” and “potential” OCIs. The following is provided for the purpose of identifying, avoiding, and mitigating against OCIs of this solicitation/award process.

1) “Potential” or “actual” OCIs may exist with DHA Contractors that currently perform logistical, program, operational, data management support for DHA Aurora CO, DHA Falls Church VA, and the Pacific Joint Information Technology Center. It is incumbent on all Offerors to use sound business judgment and determine the significance of any conflict of interest.

2) Potential or actual OCIs may exist with former DoD officials/employees that have served in positions such as Tricare acquisitions, program management, finance, in an executive position or participated in a Tricare source selection evaluation board as the Source Selection Authority, an advisor or an evaluator. (SEE DFARS 252.203-7000 (Ref 203.171-4)).

3) In the event an Offeror for this procurement intends to use any Contractor employee that currently supports DHA or the Pacific Joint Information Technology Center as a subcontractor or in any advisory capacity to this solicitation/contract, or to use a former DoD official/employee when developing a proposal in response to this solicitation, or as a member of the Offeror’s organization structure, the Offeror shall provide a mitigation plan to the Government that effectively demonstrates how the Offeror will mitigate any potential or actual OCI in its business arrangement for supporting this contract and any other DHA contract. The mitigation plan shall be forwarded to the Contracting Officer with the Offeror’s proposal.

The contracting officer shall determine if there is a conflict of interest. Any real or perceived conflict of interest needs to be identified by the vendor in submission of the proposal, and if there is a conflict of interest a mitigation/ avoidance plan must be provided. If there is a conflict of interest that is determined to not be mitigatable the contracting officer shall not award a contract to that vendor.

DHA will administer this clause for purposes of award eligibility for each solicitation as follows:

An Offeror that has never provided support to DHA in any of the categories is eligible for award in any category without any further action required under this clause.

An Offeror that provides or has provided support to DHA in only one category of work and has never supported DHA in any other category (a single-category Contractor) is eligible for award for any future requirement in that single category without further action under this clause.

A single-category Offeror/Contractor wishing to submit an offer in a different category, or any Offeror/Contractor which now provides or previously has provided support in more than one category, must include the following as part of its offer:

· Perform a comparative analysis of the potential new work against all current and previous work performed in support of DHA in any category other than that of the new work being offered. The comparative analysis must be included in the quote for the new work, and must include a statement certifying whether the Contractor believes that its performance of the quoted new work would create a real or apparent OCI. If the Contractor believes that no real or perceived OCI will result from an award of the quoted work, no additional action by the Contractor is required.

· If the Offeror/Contractor believes that a real or apparent OCI may exist as a result of an award, the Contractor shall also submit an OCI Avoidance or Mitigation Plan with its quote.

Inclusion of the comparative analysis and OCI Avoidance or Mitigation Plan will not be counted against any offer page limitations otherwise stated in the solicitation.

The Contracting Officer (and when applicable the appropriate program office, acquisition manager, and legal counsel) will review the comparative analysis and, if provided, the Avoidance or Mitigation Plan, in accordance with the requirements of FAR Subpart 9.5 (Organizational Conflict of Interest) to determine whether award to that Offeror would be consistent with those requirements. If it is unilaterally determined by the Contracting Officer that no OCI would arise or that the OCI Avoidance or Mitigation Plan adequately protects the interests of the government in the event of award to that Offeror, the Offeror will be determined, for purposes of this clause, to be eligible for award. If the Contracting Officer reasonably determines that a Contractor has not provided either a comparative analysis or avoidance/mitigation plan, or both, or that the analyses or plan provided is inadequate, sanctions including elimination from the award process, or termination of the related contract effort already awarded, as well as other appropriate actions will be considered.

If the Offeror/Contractor knows of no OCI in accepting work under this contract, it shall certify its OCI status and submit the certification at the end of this clause with its quote and any later award, if awarded the contract. The Contractor shall also obtain a similar certification of OCI status from all subcontractors, teaming partners or consultants prior to tasking any such party under this contract. The Contractor shall appropriately modify and include this clause, including this paragraph, in all consulting agreements and subcontracts of any tier to preserve the rights of the Government.

For breach of any of the above restrictions or for nondisclosure or misrepresentation of any relevant facts required to be disclosed concerning this contract, the Government may terminate this contract, disqualify the Contractor from subsequent related contractual efforts, and pursue any remedies as may be permitted by law or this contract.

Prior to a contract modification involving a change to the Statement of Work, or an increase in the level of effort or extension of the term of the contract, the Contractor shall submit any applicable organizational conflict of interest disclosure or an update of the previously submitted disclosure or representation.

The Offeror/Contractor should review the considerations below in determining whether or not a conflict of interest exists.

· Does the Offeror or any intended subcontractors, teaming partners, quoted employees, or affiliates have Unequal Access to Information? Would award to the Offeror result in the Offeror having the opportunity to access nonpublic information that may give the Offeror a competitive advantage in a later competition for a government contract? Specifically, will the Offeror/Contractor have access to any of the following information:

· Budget(s), or Budget Information?

· Acquisition Sensitive Information related to the procurement process to include, but not limited to Acquisition Plans, Requirements, Statements of Work, or Evaluation Criteria?

· Does the Offeror or any intended subcontractors, teaming partners, quoted employees, or affiliates have “impaired objectivity” because the Offeror’s ability to render impartial judgments may be compromised because of its conflicting role(s) on this effort and other government contracts?

· Do “biased ground rules” exist? Most commonly, this would include a situation where the Offeror has, as a government Contractor, written specifications or a statement of work for this effort, which could skew competition in favor of itself?

· Is the Offeror aware of any other information relating to this quoted contract/order, which could reasonably be construed as creating an OCI?

The Offeror/Contractor hereby certifies to the best of its knowledge its OCI status below:

(Offeror: Choose one of the following two statements. Indicate which one applies by placing an X in the box to the left of the statement.)

No real or perceived OCI, as defined in FAR 2.1 and discussed in FAR 9.5, will result from an award of the quoted work (there are no ‘Yes’ responses to the questions above).

A real or apparent OCI may exist as a result of an award and therefore an appropriate OCI Avoidance or

Mitigation Plan is attached (Offeror shall include an appropriate OCI Avoidance or Mitigation Plan, as required by this clause, with its quote to the Contracting Officer).

Upon award the Contractor agrees that it will provide timely OCI training to all employees and subcontractor employees working on this effort, which will include emphasis on how work performed by Contractor employees (either prime Contractor, subcontractor, or other teaming partners) under one DHAOCI category can exclude the Contractor as well as its teaming partners from performing related tasks under a different OCI category of work.

____________________________ (Signature) ____________________ (Date)

____________________________ (Printed Name) ____________________ (Title)