JA Exception to Fair Opportunity EPS 01132023 CO.pdf

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

Acquisition Title: Enterprise Portal Services Transition- Out Agency: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Acquisition Year: 2023 Author: Andrew Mummert, Contracting Officer

1. Description of Action:

A. Nature

a. ____ New Requirement

b. _X___ Follow-On Order

c. ____ Modification of Existing Purchase Order / Contract Number

B. Order Against

a. HHSM-500-2017-00015I

C. Contract Type

a. __X__ Firm-Fixed Price

b. ____ Time and Materials

c. ____ Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF)

i. ____ Term

ii. ____ Completion

d. ____ Cost Plus Award Fee (CPAF)

e. ____ Other: ___________

D. Projected Cost / Price of contract (Base & All Options): $1,852,708.19 E. The total estimated value of the proposed sole source action (for modifications only):

F. Funding Source (s): 0511: Program Operations Direct: Disc

G. __X__: Basis for Approval (Far 6.303-1(d) _X_: Individual Basis ____: Class Basis

On February 27, 2018, CMS issued a task order using fair opportunity procedures for severable, professional services to operate, maintain and iterate on CMS’ Enterprise Portal. The awardee was CHAGS- Health Care Information Technology Inc. (C-HIT). The term included a 12-month base period followed by four, consecutive, one-year option periods. The last option period included a transition-out task to be performed in the final four months. The contract number is HHSM-500-2017- 00015I/75FCMC18F0001. CMS issued the order under the Strategic Partners Acquisition Readiness Contract (SPARC), a multiple-award Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract.

The periods of performance (POP) were as follows:

Base Period: CLINs 0001, 0002, 0003, 0004

02/28/2018 - 02/27/2019 $21,080,398.80

Option Period One:

CLINs 1001, 1002,1003

02/28/2019 - 02/27/2020 $21,449,896.08

Option Period Two:

CLINs 2001, 2002, 2003

02/28/2020 - 02/27/2021 $20,286,293.37

Option Period Three:

CLIN 3001

02/28/2021 - 02/27/2022 $19,062,804.30

Option Period Four:

CLIN 4001

(Transition included)

02/28/2022 - 02/27/2023 $18,254,758.90

CLIN 5001- Phase II Portal Modernization

CLINs 6001, 6002, 6003- Enterprise Portal Services Innovations and POI Phase 3

09/09/2019 - 09/08/2020

09/18/2020-02/27/2023

$2,790,505.00

$4,292,616.64

Total Contract Value: $107,217,273.10

Subsequently on July 27, 2022, CMS issued a follow-on task order for Enterprise Portal Services (EPS) to Sparksoft Corporation. The order included a period of performance from October 22, 2022 through October 27, 2027. On September 13, 2022, GAO notified CMS of a protest to the award. On October 27, 2022, CMS issued a stop work order to Sparksoft. On December 14, 2022, GAO denied the protest. On December 15, 2022, CMS issued Modification P00001 to Sparksoft Corporation to lift the stop work order and adjust the period of performance to December 19, 2022 through December 18, 2023.

The scope of both the original and follow-on task orders described above includes the provision of support services for EPS O&M and enhancements, and to transition the work at the end of the task order’s life. The current task order ends on February 27, 2023. The transition was to begin on October 28, 2022. However, the protest delayed the commencement of transition by two months. EPS requires a four-month transition, which will now start in January 2023. This delay pushes the transition end date to April 27, 2023, which is two months later than the current task order’s end date of February 27, 2023.

Therefore, CMS contemplates award of a relatively short-term task order to bridge the two orders described above and complete the transition out task. The term of this contemplated “bridge” task order will be two months from February 28, 2023 through April 27, 2023.

2. Description of Supplies or Services:

Enterprise Portal (EP) is a shared, enterprise service to all integrated CMS information technology applications via a user interface presented as an "Integration Glass," a single window through which users may see and access information and applications from multiple sources, based on each individual user's roles and permissions. A portal combines and displays content and forms from multiple applications and information sources, supports users with navigation and cross-enterprise search tools, supports simplified sign-on, and uses role-based access and personalization to present each user with only relevant content and applications.

CMS requires contractor support to provide operations, maintenance, and enhancement of the EP.

The APP for this follow-on order is APP #231054.

3. Authority and Rationale:

The Contracting Officer shall give every awardee a fair opportunity to be considered for a delivery/task order exceeding $3,500 unless one of the following statutory exceptions applies. FAR 16.505(b)(2). Mark the applicable exception:

__ The agency need for the supplies or services is so urgent that providing a fair opportunity would result in unacceptable delays [FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(A)];

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

_x_ The order must be issued on a sole-source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it is a logical follow-on to an order already issued under the contract, provided that all awardees were given a fair opportunity to be considered for the original order [FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C)]; or

It is more economical and efficient to award a logical follow-on order to C-HIT to permit them to complete the four-month transition-out services rather than to compete and award a new task order. It would not be logical to compete a task order for the completion of a specific contractor’s (C-HIT) services to hand the work off to the newly selected contractor.

It would not be economical in that it would be highly unlikely that competition would result in cost savings for a new contractor to perform the required hand-offs. It would not be efficient in that the government would have to solicit and evaluate proposals and select a winning contractor. This would create unnecessary demands on CMS resources. Additionally, the competitive procurement would require about 105 days from release of the solicitation to award (based on current CMS procurement lead time standards) and could not be completed by the end of February 2023. As mentioned previously, CMS competitively awarded the existing task order providing fair opportunity to all eligible SPARC awardees. It is not reasonable to believe that any potential source other than the incumbent would be selected as the awardee in any fair opportunity / competitive acquisition given the additional cost, time and performance risk associated with such a source selection.

___ It is necessary to place the order to satisfy a minimum guarantee [FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(D)].

____ A statute expressly authorizes or requires that the purchase be made from a specified source. [FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(E)].

4. Provide 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:

None, because CMS already removed barriers for fair opportunity and competed the procurement for the required services, however, due to protest-caused delay, CMS needs to procure additional services to complete the transition out.

5. State any other facts supporting the justification:

This sole source task order will greatly benefit CMS by allowing continuation of the EPS transition out task. This will allow EPS services until a new contractor is on-boarded and avoids major disruptions to CMS business and technical staff to focus on transition activities. This task order will also mitigate the risk for premature loss of essential C-HIT technical staff resources and expertise during this period.

Approvals:

Program Office Certification. This is to certify that portions of this justification have been developed by the undersigned program office personnel, including supporting information and/or data verifying the Government’s minimum needs, schedule requirements and other rationale for Exceptions to Fair Opportunity, which form the basis for this justification.

Contracting Officer Representative (COR) / Date

Program/Project Manager (P/PM) / Date

Best Value Determination. By my signature below, after review of the relevant documents, I have determined that the order subject to this Justification represents the best value for the Government as set forth in FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)(5), and constitutes a fair and reasonable price. The basis for my determination is as follows:

The total estimated firm fixed price amount of $1,852,708.19 for the two-month period was determined by using the actual prices paid against recent monthly invoices submitted by C-HIT under the current Enterprise Portal Contract (EPC) task order. The total estimated cost for this sole source task order falls in line with historical costs incurred for the same effort. In addition, pursuant to FAR 15.404-1, the Contracting Officer will perform price analysis on the contractor’s proposal to determine that the negotiated price will be fair and reasonable.

Contracting Officer Certification: This is to certify that the justification for the proposed acquisition has been reviewed and that to the best of my knowledge and belief, the information and/or data provided to support the rationale and recommendation for approval, is accurate and complete.

Contracting Officer / Date

Andrew Mummert -S Digitally signed by Andrew Mummert -S Date: 2023.01.25 13:20:02 -05'00'

Gregory T. Crawford -S Digitally signed by Gregory T.

Crawford -S Date: 2023.01.26 09:56:23 -05'00'

Mark P. Hogle -S Digitally signed by Mark P.

Hogle -S Date: 2023.01.26 10:54:58 -05'00'

Additional OAGM Approvals:

I hereby confirm the circumstances described above apply and approve the justification for Exceptions to Fair Opportunity.

OAGM Division Director / Date

OAGM Group Director / Date

Head of Contracting Activity (HCA) Approval I hereby confirm that the circumstances described above apply and approve this Justification for Exception(s) to Fair Opportunity.

HCA Name / Date

Competition Advocate Approval

I hereby confirm that the circumstances described above apply and approve this Justification for Exception(s) to Fair Opportunity.

N/A Name / Date

OGC Legal Review

Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization

Senior Procurement Executive (SPE) Approval I hereby confirm the circumstances described above apply and approve the Justification for Exceptions to Fair Opportunity.

01/27/2023

Andrew Mummert -S

Digitally signed by Andrew Mummert -S Date: 2023.01.25 13:20:43 -05'00'

Benjamin M. Simcock -S

Derrick L. Heard -S Digitally signed by Derrick L. Heard -S Date: 2023.01.30 17:28:14 -05'00'

SPE Name / Date