JA_ 12.102(a)_FMLT Conference Services.final_Signed 10.8.2026 CO signed.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Office of Acquisitions

Enterprise Procurement Office (EPO) 5202 Presidents Court, Suite 103

Frederick, MD 21703

Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition

FAR 12.102(a) For acquisitions valued at or below the simplified acquisition threshold (SAT)

1. Contracting Activity:

This Justification and Approval (J&A) for Other than Full and Open Competition is executed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Office of Acquisitions (OA), Enterprise Procurement Office (EPO) in partnership with VA’s Office of Finance (OF) and Office of Finance Audit and Policy (OFAP).

2. Nature and/or Description of Action Being Approved:

The purpose of this document is to obtain approval for the use of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 12.102(a): For acquisitions valued at or below the simplified acquisition threshold (SAT). This sole source action is to award a purchase order for lodging services accommodating up to 600 attendees and include conference meeting space, audio visual (AV) support, and other miscellaneous services to assist in the successful facilitation and execution of the Financial Management Leadership Training (FMLT) event.

3. A Description of the Supplies or Services Required to Meet the Agency’s Needs (Including the Estimated Value):

• Hotel/Lodging services to accommodate up to 600 finance conference attendees (All travel costs, including nightly lodging, will be covered by the various organizations the conference attendees belong to and will not be part of the contract amount.)

• Conference Meeting Space to accommodate up to 600 conference attendees and include a grand ballroom that can fit the entire conference audience, additional conference room space for breakout training sessions, as well as small meeting room space for senior executives and/or conference attendees as needed. (estimated cost $25,000)

• Audio Visual (AV) Support Services throughout the duration of the conference event (estimated costs $44,398.50)

• Miscellaneous services to provide PWS indicated reporting task ($500.00).

The proposed cost for these services is $69,898.50

4. An Identification of the Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and

Open Competition:

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C.1901 as implemented by the FAR Section 12.102(a) For acquisitions valued at or below the simplified acquisition threshold.

5. A Demonstration that the Proposed Contractor’s Unique Qualifications or the

Nature of the Acquisition Requires Use of the Authority Cited:

The Hilton Orlando is the only source available to provide these services. After reviewing all capability statements received from the Request For Information (RFI) posting on Sam.Gov (36C10X26Q0266), the Orlando Hilton was the only hotel that directly responded with a capability statement. They proposed the ability to accommodate all our conference needs, including availability for the desired week (3/22/26–3/26/26), and host the VA FMLT event. The Hilton Orlando offered sufficient lodging rooms for conference guests, conference space to accommodate training session needs, audio visual support as required and other miscellaneous and logistical services to accommodate an event of our size.

All other capability statements submitted were not hotels, but rather third-party organizations mostly offering conference planning and/or professional training services.

The OFAP has the direct responsibility for conference planning as well as the training curriculum for the event so these services offered by third party organizations are not needed and ultimately the third-party organizations did not provide any direct confirmation from actual hotel venues that they could accommodate or meet our lodging, conference space, audio visual and other logistical requirements.

6. A Description of Efforts Made to Solicit Offers from as Many Offerors as

Practicable, Including Whether a Notice was or will be Publicized as Required by Subpart 5.1 and, if not, Which Exception Under 5.101 Applies:

Development of the FMLT conference requirement began with VA’s Conference Oversight Reporting Knowledgebase (CORK) process. Market research was conducted to identify the most cost-effective area, given consideration for timing, suitability of facilities and overall budget. The Orlando, Florida area was deemed as suitable for the time of year (Spring 2027) and for general availability of conference resources to include accommodations for up to 600 attendees and onsite conferencing amenities (AV equipment, Wi-Fi access, etc.). As a means of further defining availability in the Orlando area, a RFI was posted to SAM.gov on September 10, 2026 with a response date of September 28, 2026. A total of 12 respondents provided capabilities, answers to the posted questions, and/or feedback on the PWS. Consequently, of the 12 respondents, only one was an actual hotel with the full capability to accommodate up to 600 attendees while also having conferencing facilities on site and available staff to provide all necessary ancillary services required for a multi-day conference of this size and scope. Giving full consideration to the possibility of finding other viable sites via unrestricted competition, the Government has determined that it would likely not receive any further benefits with respect to cost and quality of deliverables by releasing a solicitation or conducting further market research.

Additionally, the proposed action will be synopsized on SAM.gov in accordance with FAR 5.201. No unsolicited proposals are expected as a result of this posting.

7. A Determination by the Contracting Officer that the Anticipated Cost to the

Government will be fair and reasonable:

No award shall be made until the Contracting Officer determines the cost to the Government to be fair and reasonable. Normally, competition establishes price reasonableness; however, since this is a Sole Source acquisition, no competition is anticipated. Therefore, in accordance with FAR 15.404-1, the VA will ask the vendor to provide their commercial catalog pricing, as offered to their most preferred customers.

VA will also compare pricing to the independent Government cost estimates as well as other means reasonably necessary to ensure fair and reasonable pricing.

8. A Description of the Market Research Conducted (see part 10) and the Results or a Statement of the Reason Market Research was not Conducted:

Market Research was conducted by the OF and OFAP program as part of development of the requirement and was necessary for the CORK process.

• Evaluated per diem costs and identified potential cost-effective host cities o Dallas, San Antonio, St. Louis, Charlotte, New Orleans, Orlando.

• Gathered cost information from hotel venues in targeted cities that could accommodate a conference of our size (600 estimated attendees) – 17 total hotels identified o Dallas (4 hotels), San Antonio (3 hotels), St. Louis (3 hotels), Charlotte (1 hotel), New Orleans (3 hotels), Orlando (3 hotels)

• Accumulated cost information from hotel venues in target cities with available dates within our timeframe (FEB-MAR 2027) o Dallas (3 cost estimates), San Antonio (0 cost estimates), St. Louis (3 cost estimates), Charlotte (0 cost estimates), New Orleans (3 cost estimates), Orlando (1 cost estimate)

• Evaluated cost estimates from each target city and venue for various factors including lodging and meal per diem rates, travel costs, conference space rental, audio/visual support, etc.

• Documented comparative cost estimate of top three most cost-effective target city options in VA10008a form.

• Orlando, Florida was the most cost-effective city in our market research. This market research information was provided to the contracting office which was then used to post a RFI on Sam.Gov to identify any venues in the target city with capability and availability to meet FMLT conference needs.

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

There are no other known sources available based on the unique criteria: time, place, availability, etc. for this requirement and the RFI discussed previously found no other viable facilities offering services for the FMLT conference these criteria.

10. A Listing of the Sources, if any, that Expressed, in Writing, an Interest in the Acquisition:

Responding Vendors Business Size/Socio-

Econ

Hotel/Conference Facility

SAM

Registered

Hilton Orlando Other than Small Yes Yes

Sign Tiarra Brooks Small No Yes

Medina Travel Group Small/SDVOSB No Yes

Manhattan Strategy Group

Small/Disadvantaged No Yes

Global Lodging Mgmt. Corp

Small No Yes

Dumonde Travel Small/Minority Owned No Yes

Qii Solutions Small/Woman Owned No Yes

Leading Edge Skills Small No Yes

S365, Inc. Large/Woman Owned No No response

Sade Solutions Small/SDVOSB No Yes

Promo Cues Small No No response

11. A 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 or Services Required:

The Government will continue to conduct market research, as needed, to ascertain if there are changes in the marketplace that would enable future actions to be competed. All future requirements will be handled on a case-by-case basis to determine any future acquisition strategy.

12. Certification:

I certify that the statements and information provided above are complete and correct to the best of my knowledge. In accordance with FAR 12.102(a), the facts of this acquisition preclude the use of full and open competition.

Signature:__________________________________ Jed Case Program Deputy Director Office of Financial Audit

Signature:

Michael Silva Contracting Officer Enterprise Procurement Office