JA - 75N98019D00055 - Redacted.pdf

Justification and Approval for Other than Full and Open Competition

1. Identification of the agency and contracting activity.

a. Federal agency and contracting activity.

Department Health and Human Services (DHHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH)

b. Sponsoring organization. Office of the Director (OD), Office of Research Services (ORS), Events Management Branch (EMB)

c. Project Officer information.

Representative Name:

Mailing address:

E-mail address:

Telephone number:

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

a. Acquisition purpose and objectives. The purpose of this acquisition is to extend the ordering period and ceiling of the current contract to meet the needs of the NIH for sign language and interpreting services. The ORS Interpreting Services Program, Events Management Branch (EMB), is centrally managed and funded to deliver essential communication services NIH-wide to deaf and hard of hearing employees, patients, and visitors, requesting an accommodation under Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act. Since 2015, the program has grown to become the largest contract of its kind in the Federal Government, attracting Deaf researchers and other talent to NIH and developing a reputation for providing quality and dependable accommodation services easy to schedule and manage. Services include but are not limited to American Sign Language (ASL) Interpreting (basic and scientific) and Computer Assisted Real-time Transcription (CART) delivered onsite and online by an experienced professional services provider. For patients and their families, these services are delivered round the clock including weekends, holidays and during Government shutdowns, and must include a Continuity of Operations Plan.

Specifically, this Justification and Approval is being requested to prevent a lapse in service for a period of seven (7) months (estimated period, September 1, 2025 through March 31, 2026) to support performance of the objectives stated above during the acquisition planning, negotiation, and award of the competitive small business set-aside requirement under Request for Proposal (RFP) No. 75N98025R00007 for American Sign Language Interpreting and CART accommodation services, required under Section 501, and Captioning and other accessibility services, required under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. The requirement will be awarded for a base period of one-year with four (4) one-year option periods.

The subject services remain essential to mission execution; however, the recompete contracting action has been delayed due to unforeseen circumstances outside the normal acquisition cycle. Orders and directives supporting administrative priorities such as Executive Orders on required revisions to acquisition documentation as well as significant organizational restructuring and realignment of roles and processes. These delays were beyond the control of the acquisition and requiring offices. As a result of these unanticipated and uncontrollable factors, it is necessary to extend the current contract to ensure continuity of mission-critical services. This extension enables NIH to maintain essential operations that support safe medical systems and services. Any disruption could significantly impact patient and employee safety, potentially resulting in a range of adverse outcomes, including serious harm or death. Without these interpretation services, the government would face unacceptable delays in meeting medical and research services.

b. Project background. The proposed action is to extend Contract No.

75N98019D00055 with Access Interpreting on September 15, 2019, as a single award Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ), Performance- Based type contract for a period of six years (based period and four (4) option periods) and an additional six months and two weeks under FAR Authority 52.217-8 and 52.237-3. The contract resulted from a small business set-aside competitive acquisition. The HCA approved a J&A in March 2025, to increase the contract ceiling by an estimated $3,244,499.89 from $27,979,218.85 to $31,223,718.74 and extend the period of performance from April 1, 2025 to August 31, 2025.

3. Description of the supplies or services needs (including the estimated value).

a. Project title: Sign Language Interpreting Services

b. Project description: As noted above in the section titled Contractor will provide essential communication services NIH-wide to Deaf and Hard of Hearing employees, patients, and visitors, requesting an accommodation under Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act. Furthermore, patients and their families need these services to be delivered round the clock including weekends, holidays and during Government shutdowns. These services are detrimental to human safety.

Attached is the Performance Work Statement (PWS) for this contract which describes the requirements for successful completion of performance under this contract.

Requirement type.

Research & development (R&D) R & D support services Support services (non-R&D) Supplies/equipment Information technology (IT) Construction Architect-engineer (A & E) services Design-build Other (specify): ____________________

Type of action.

New requirement Follow-on Contract Extension Other (specify): ___Extension of the Ordering Period and ceiling increase___________________

Proposed contract/order type.

Firm-fixed-price Other fixed-price (specify, e.g., fixed-price award-fee, fixed-price incentive-fee): ___ ___ Cost-plus-fixed-fee Other cost reimbursement (specify, e.g., cost-plus-award-fee, cost-plus-incentive-fee): ___________ Time and materials Indefinite delivery Indefinite Quantity Other (specify): ___________ Completion Form Term form

Acquisition identification number: 75N98019D00055

c. Total estimated dollar value and performance/delivery period.

The current ceiling of this acquisition is $31,223,718.74. This J&A will increase the contract ceiling by an estimated $5,000,000 from $31,223,718.74 to $36,223,718.74. The extension period will be September 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026.

4. Identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of 41 United

States Code (U.S.C.) 253(c)(1) as set forth in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1.

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of section 4202 of the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996.

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Services Acquisition Reform Act of 2003 (41 U.S.C. 428a).

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of 41 U.S.C.

3304(a)(2) as set forth in FAR 6.103-2 Unusual and Compelling

Urgency.

5. Demonstration that the proposed contractor(s) unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited.

a. Name and address of the proposed contractor(s).

Access Interpreting, Inc.

200 Lawyers Road NW 1993 Vienna, VA 22180

b. Nature of the acquisition and proposed unique qualifications of the contractor(s).

The ORS, EMB, requires an extension of time in the ordering period and increase in the contract.

Access Interpreting, Inc. (Access) is the current contractor providing sign languages interpreting services. The contract held by Access provides essential communication services NIH-wide to Deaf and hard of hearing employees, patients, and visitors, requesting an accommodation under Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act. Any interruption of the services being provided by Access through the current contract and the award of the recompete contract could result in Deaf patients being unable to communicate with their clinical care team about their health and treatment options. Additionally, disruption of these services would severely impact patients and their families, and ongoing research projects and studies involving human or animal safety and healthcare, being conducted by Deaf researchers.

Access Interpreting has been providing services under this contract since 2019 and they have all the necessary professional service providers and scheduling system and procedures in place to deliver these services at scale, which in FY2024 was over 71,000 hours. It is the only vendor that can provide seamless support for this requirement, for the limited period September 1, 2025 through March 31, 2026, which is the time needed to complete the re-competition process for the recompete contract.

Based on the above, this requirement can only be satisfied by the current vendor through a modification to extend the period of performance and contract ceiling.

6. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost/price to the Government will be fair and reasonable. An Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE) has been developed based on the cost history of the current Access Interpreting, Inc. contract over the past five (5) years. As such, the IGCE (see attached for a breakdown of costs) and historical costs will be used as a reference point to conduct a price analysis to establish the fairness and reasonableness of prices. Based on the above, the Contracting Officer will be able to negotiate fair and reasonable prices.

7. Description of the market research conducted (see FAR Part 10) and the results, or a statement of the reasons market research was not conducted.

A Pre-solicitation Notice/Notice of Intent to Sole Source was published on SAM.gov on August 7, 2025. This notice described the work to be performed and the intent to negotiate on a sole source basis and provided responsible sources with the opportunity to submit capability statements by August 18, 2025 (a discussion of the responses is provided below).

8. Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition.

A non-competitive award to Access Interpreting, Inc. is in the best interest of the Government. It is impracticable to seek competition for the seven (7) month period while completing the ongoing competitive acquisition process for RFP No.

75N98025R00007. The statutory authority justifying this acquisition 41 U.S.C.3304(a)(2) as set forth in FAR 6.103-2 Unusual and Compelling Urgency provides that other than full and open competition is appropriate for recompete contracts when it is likely that the award of a contract to another source would result in substantial duplication of cost to the Government that would not be expected to be recovered through competition or that unacceptable delays would result. Delays would put patients at risk as well as deaf employees who work in NIH labs performing research.

9. Listing of sources, if any, that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition. On August 7, 2025, a Pre-solicitation Notice of Intent to Sole Source was published on SAM.gov to notify the public that the NIH, Office of Acquisitions (OA), National institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) on behalf of the ORS, EMB, intends to negotiate on a sole source basis with the incumbent Contractor, Access Interpreting, Inc., to retain the services to provide to employees, patients, and visitors, requesting an accommodation under Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act during the seven (7) month extension.

In response to the notice, . The COR reviewed the statements and determined that none of the organizations were able to provide the best value to the Government. As a result, the Government intends to move forward as a sole-source award to Access Interpreting, Inc.

10. Statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the required supplies or services. The Office of Acquisitions (OA), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is in the process of recompeting the current contract. We anticipate awarding a recompete contract by the end of March 2026.

12. Program office certification.

This is to certify that the portions of this justification that have been developed by the undersigned program office personnel, including supporting information and/or data needs, schedule requirements and other rationale for other than full and open competition, are accurate and complete.