JA FAR Part 13.501_Redacted.pdf

CUI//SP-SSEL

(Source Selection Information - See FAR 2.101 and 3.104-4)

Sole Source Justification and Approval Under FAR 13.501

1. Contracting Activity: 413th Contracting Support Brigade, Regional Contracting Office- Hawaii

2. Description of Action: Approval for an O&M funded single award Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) that only provides for firm fixed-price (FFP) Calls for wired Telecommunications Commercial Circuits service for multiple locations in Hawaii. This is a follow-on effort to BPA W912CN-20-A-0003.

3. Description of Supplies/Services: The contractor shall provide recurring commercial telecommunication services to include new installations, modifications, relocations and termination of circuits and telephone lines on an as needed basis for Army installations requiring such service within the State of Hawaii which includes, but is not limited to, Tripler Army Medical Center (Oahu), Pohakuloa Training Area (Hawaii), Bradshaw Army Airfield (Hawaii), Schofield Barracks (Oahu), Wheeler Army Airfield (Oahu) and other Army locations.

Period of Performance: Base: 26 June 2025 – 25 June 2026 Year 1: 26 June 2026 – 25 June 2027 Year 2: 26 June 2027 – 25 June 2028 Year 3: 26 June 2028 – 25 June 2029 Year 4: 26 June 2029 – 25 June 2030

Estimated Value:

4. Authority Cited: 41 United States Code 1901 as implemented in Federal Acquisition Regulation 13.501(a)(1)(ii), sole source under the authority of the simplified procedures for certain commercial items. 5. Reason for Authority Cited: The Government currently subscribes to non-official, commercial, phone/land line telephone services that are used in support of day-to-day communication needs. These needs are provided by central office equipment, inside and outside plant facilities operated by Hawaiian Telcom. Although there are other communication service providers, only Hawaiian Telcom can provide services in the event of an island wide power outage. Hawaiian Telcom provides the dial tone from their central offices, which are battery-backed up and then supported with generator power. From the central offices, it goes directly to the customer premises and to power backups provided at the location of service. Other providers require and rely on powered nodes in their network that may not be backed up by batteries or generators and hence become unusable during power outages. Due to the remote location and existing copper-wiring infrastructure at Pohakuloa Training Area and Bradshaw Army Airfield, Hawaiian

Telcom offers uninterrupted communications to these locations, which are critical for emergency and operational communications supporting the mission. Therefore, Hawaiian Telcom is the only reasonable source capable of meeting this requirement. The Army installations within the State of Hawaii have a 99.99% up time requirement. The continuous circuit/phone line services require their own local power sources to maintain their end of the phone lines during times of power failure to the Contractor’s main power source. The continuous connection is provided by the dedicated circuits such as the digital T-1 cable supplied by the T-carrier, currently Hawaiian Telcom.

5. Primary locations such as Tripler Army Medical Center (TAMC) which supports a NORTEL SL100 switch (hosts up to 80,000 lines), Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) and Wheeler Army Airfield (WAAF) Air Traffic control towers Crash System, and PTA and Kilauea Military Camp (KMC) NORTEL CS1000 switches (which can accommodate 22,500 lines 3200 trunks) have their own local backup power (battery banks or generator) to remain operational in times of a power outage. With regard to the alarm systems, the majority are old systems which are designed to communicate/operate on traditional telephone and dials back directly to the Directorate of Emergency Services (DES).

a. Hawaiian Telcom offers end-to-end installation and support at roughly 99% of commercial locations as well as to the TELEX at on-base locations. They are also well-versed on installation procedures on military installations and have technicians with the requisite clearance to perform the work. Hawaiian Telcom owns the equipment and circuits being monitored. As a result, there is little incentive for companies to increase their infrastructure to provide commensurate level services, much of which they would need to procure from Hawaiian Telcom, to garner this portion of the market. Additionally, equipment owned and operated by Hawaiian Telcom such as circuit and telecommunication room equipment, manholes / handholes, telephone poles and messenger cables, conduits, copper / fiber cables, and a data system supplying raw data of billing feeds the internal 30th Signal Battalion Telephone Management System that offers tracking for the customers.

b. Switching to a different telecommunication provider would take a year or more of planning, preparation, and execution, as infrastructural changes and coordination would need to occur between the incumbent and the new vendor, which could have a further delay in communication services for the Army war-fighter. Remote areas such as the Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) on the Big Island, which includes the Bradshaw Army Airfield, present unique challenges for service provision due to their location. For another telecommunications company to provide service, it would need to undertake the significant task of laying miles of wired lines for phone and circuit connectivity. This infrastructure requirement is a substantial barrier to entry for other providers. The current Contractor, Hawaiian Telcom, is the only Contractor that possesses the needed infrastructure to maintain the required services and would not allow any other Contractor access to or permission to utilize or maintain their system. It is essential that current phone line telecommunication services be maintained and remains uninterrupted to include times of plant/grid failure during bad weather or otherwise so this would not be a feasible alternative.

c. The risk to the Government should an interruption of services occur would be an immediate lack of non-official telephone services communications for both military and civilian personnel at Army installations within the State of Hawaii. Therefore, it is essential that current phone line telecommunication services be maintained uninterrupted. This BPA requirement is the follow-on BPA that will provide essential continuity of phone line telecommunications services at the current level without interruptions.

d. Hawaiian Telcom engages with support partnership in support of the diverse equipment owned and operated to maintain the critical commercial telecommunication equipment required to support the multitude of Army customers being serviced - 30th Signal Battalion, AT&T, Directorate of Public Works (DPW), Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) etc. Hawaiian Telcom provides multiple Army Installations and other crucial customers with commercial telecommunication services throughout the State of Hawaii, including the following locations on Oahu;

25th Infantry Division, US Army Pacific (USARPAC), Kaneohe Marine Corp Base, Department of Health Agency (DHA) -Tripler Army Medical Center, (Supports Life Health and safety), MWR (CDC, Gymnasiums, Family Wellness and Morale), Schofield Barrack, Wheeler Army Airfield, Red Hill, Aliamanu Military Reservation, Fort DeRussy, Honolulu Federal Building, Helemano Military Reservation, Kapolei Army Recreation Center, Waianae Army Recreation Center, Hale Koa Hotel, Oahu Recruiting Centers, Dillingham Airfield, Hickam Air Force Base and Fort Shafter.

Hawaiian Telcom provides services on outer islands; Pohakuloa Training Area (Hawaii), Kilauea Military Camp (Hawaii), Bradshaw Army Airfield (Hawaii), Mauna Loa Observatory (Hawaii), Hawaii Recruiting Centers, Maui Recruiting Centers, and Kauai Recruiting Centers.

e. A notice of intent was posted to SAM.gov on August 27, 2024, with three vendors responding to express interest. These vendors

During the review of their capability statements, it was not clear that the companies could provide all telecommunication services in accordance with the Performance Work Statement (PWS) as competing companies only referenced para 4 of PWS. This section pertains to ‘special requirements’ and addresses only a portion of the overall needs of the requirement. The Hawaiian Telcom BPA was extended from 25 September 2024 to 25 March 2025 due to excess funding. A second extension from 25 March 2025 to 25 June 2025 was done. The Contracting team was able to deobligate excess funds from prior calls to be able to extend the BPA Master call PoP.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: During the Market Research process we identified Hawaiian Telcom Inc. as the incumbent service provider for wired telecommunication service and the public utility that provides commercial phone service in the state of Hawaii and is the only capable source for telecommunications. The current Contractor has all the manpower, infrastructure, and resources in place to adequately perform these critical

Method of procurement: FAR Part 13 Type of Set-Aside: Sole Source, J&A 15-01 Contract type: FFP Period of performance: 6 Feb 2015 – 5 Feb 2019 Total awarded amount: $ 2,568,800 Number of option periods: 3 Number of Offers: 1 Source Selection Method: Sole Source Basis for fair and reasonable pricing: Comparison to previous contract pricing Current Status: Contract ended on 5 Feb 2019

Contract number, awarded Contractor: W912CN-14-A-0006, Hawaiian Telcom Description of requirement: Wired Telecommunications Commercial Circuits Method of procurement: FAR Part 13 Type of Set-Aside: Sole Source, J&A 14-20 Contract type: FFP Period of performance: 01 May 2014 – 10 Oct 2014 Total awarded amount: $ 500,000 Number of option periods: 6 Months Number of Offers: 1 Source Selection Method: Sole Source Basis for fair and reasonable pricing: Comparison to previous contract pricing Current Status: Contract ended on 10 Oct 2014

Contract number, awarded Contractor: W912CN-11-A-0009, Hawaiian Telcom Description of requirement: Wired Telecommunications Commercial Circuits Method of procurement: FAR Part 13 Type of Set-Aside: Sole Source Contract type: FFP Period of performance: 01 May 2011 – 03 Apr 2014 Total awarded amount: $ 2,000,000 Number of option periods: 2 Number of Offers: 1 Source Selection Method: Sole Source Basis for fair and reasonable pricing: Comparison to previous contract pricing Current Status: Contract ended on 03 Apr 2014

The previous contracts W912CN-20-A-0003, W912CN-15-A-0001, W912CN-14-A-0006, and W912CN-11-A-0009 contracts used the authority 41 U.S.C. 1901 as implemented by

FAR 13.501.