JA - FBO Award Notice - Tampa CPS Redacted.pdf

VHAPG Part 819.7008/7009 Sole Source Awards to SDVOSB/VOSB Page 1 of 6 Revision: 01 Effective Date: 01/01/2023

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Justification and Approval (J&A) For

Other Than Full and Open Competition (<SAT)

Acquisition Plan Action ID: 36C776 23 AP 0487

1. Contracting Activity:

The contracting activity for this requirement is the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Program Contracting Activity Central (PCAC).

2. Nature and/or Description of the Action Being Processed:

This justification is in support of a new, single award, Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contract for an Architectural Engineering (A E) firm to provide solicitation support services and Construction Period Services (CPS) for the Specialty Treatment Expansion (Minor) Construction project at the Tampa VAMC. Solicitation support includes responding to RFIs and incorporating any design modifications that may arise. CPS includes pre construction meeting, bi monthly site visits, responses to RFIs, review and approval of contractor’s Shop Drawings, Product Data, and Samples. The AE shall also furnish a final, and updated set of drawings to be used for the construction of said project.

3. Description of Supplies/Services Required to Meet the Agency’s Needs:

Contract VA248 17 C 0107 for the Specialty Treatment Expansion (Minor) Design was awarded to TTV Architects Inc. (TTV), on June 30, 2017, by NCO 8 in the amount of $392,198.00. Solicitation support services and CPS was originally accounted for in this award. This contract was terminated because the money expired before the construction design was completed. NCO 8 had to facilitate a T4C in order to to de obligate the funding for CPS and to close the OBE contract out. This termination was a direct result of project management delays by the Tampa VAMC during the design phase. TTV was not responsible for the termination.

On June 1, 2022, Contract 36C24822C0057 was awarded to TTV in the amount of $233,000.00. NCO 8 facilitated this award. This current contract is for the design and preparation of construction documents concerning the Physical and Electronic Security. This discipline was never addressed in the previously terminated design contract. However, this recently awarded contract does not account for any solicitation support services or CPS.

The period of performance for the solicitation support services base item is 120 calendar days from award of this contract. The period of performance for the CPS, option items, is 540 calendar days from award of the option for CPS. This will also match the period of performance of the construction contract. The anticipated award date is September 2023. The estimated cost of both solicitation support services and CPS is .

4. Statutory Authority Permitting Other than Full and Open Competition:

(X) (1) Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy

Agency Requirements per 41 USC §3304(a)(1) as implemented by FAR 6.302 1;

( ) (2) Unusual and Compelling Urgency per 41 USC §3304(a)(2) as implemented by FAR 6.302 2;

( ) (3) Industrial Mobilization, Engineering, Developmental or Research Capability or Expert Services per 41 USC §3304(a)(3) as implemented by FAR 6.302 3;

( ) (4) International Agreement per 41 USC §3304(a)(4) as implemented by FAR 6.302 4

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Effective Date: 01/01/2023

( ) (5) Authorized or Required by Statute per 41 USC §3304(a)(5) as implemented by FAR 6.302 5;

( ) (6) National Security per 41 USC §3304(a)(6) as implemented by FAR 6.302 6;

( ) (7) Public Interest per 41 USC §3304(a)(7) as implemented by FAR 6.302 7;

5. Demonstration that the Contractor’s Unique Qualifications and/or Nature of the Acquisition Requires the Use of the Authority Cited Above (applicability of authority):

This requirement is for Architect Engineering services associated with the design, construction, and alteration of real property, so commercial business practices were not considered, and the commercial marketplace was not surveyed.

The proposed source for this acquisition is TTV, a registered and verified small business, located at 115 E. Forsyth St., Jacksonville, FL., 32202. TTV is technically qualified for this project as they are the designer of record for this current (Minor) requirement. A review of the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) has confirmed TTV’s successful past performance on VA design projects. The VA’s technical experts have determined that TTV is the most qualified to perform the required services as they possess all institutional knowledge regarding this project and no other vendor either SDVOSB or small business concerns are willing to take over the liabilities from the original AE of record (see Section 6 below).

6. Description of Efforts Made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as deemed practicable:

A VIP query indicated there are 166 verified SDVOSBs under NAICS 541330 within the state of Florida, that could potentially submit on this project. On December 20, 2022, a Notice of Intent to Sole Source to an SDVOSB was posted to SAM.gov. No responses were received by the close date of December 30, 2022. On January 17, 2023, it was discovered that TTV is not an SDVOSB. They are a small business. A second Notice of Intent to Sole Source/Sources Sought Notice to a small business was posted on April 3, 2023. This version allowed all vendors that fall under the small business category to provide a capabilities statement if they believed they could take over the work previously completed by TTV. No responses were received by the close date of April 18, 2023.

Also, a review of the VISN 8 AE IDIQ Holders shows there are four verified SDVOSB firms interested in performing design projects in the area. The firms are AESUS Design Group, LLC, AKEA Design, Inc., RDC/John Poe Architects, LLLP, and Toland Mizell Molnar, LLC. Strollo & Strollo could not be verified in VIP at this present time. Furthermore, all four verified AE contract holders have previously been determined to be capable by NCO 8 prior to contract award. None of these IDIQ vendors showed any interest in either the first Notice of Intent to Sole Source or the second Notice of Intent to Sole Source/Sources Sought Notice. Since no responses were received concerning either the first Notice of Intent to Sole Source or the second Notice of Intent to Sole Source/Sources Sought Notice, there are currently no existing SDVOSB or other small business concerns that are interested in taking over the liabilities from the original AE of record concerning solicitation support services and CPS.

This Justification and Approval (J&A) document will be posted within 14 days after award in accordance with FAR Subpart 6.305. The award synopsis will be posted to GPE in accordance with FAR Subpart 5.301(a)(1).

7. Determination by the CO that the Anticipated Cost to the Government will be Fair and Reasonable:

Although there were no responses received concerning either Notice of Intent to Sole Source. The CS reached out to one of the VISN 8 AE IDIQ Holders, , in an attempt to

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Effective Date: 01/01/2023 discover why they were not interested in taking over a previous firm’s design during the CA stage. They identified the following concerns:

The amount of CA effort is highly dependent on two factors out of our control: the quality of documents produced, and the quality of the contractor involved in the project.

Who would be responsible for the engineering portion of the CA? We would need to bring on consultants to review the various MEP shop drawings and RFI’s? I think engineers would be even less interested since they would be engineering the project again if any questions arise.

The scope says minor updates to the drawings and specifications may be required. I get very nervous about what that may require. Document quality, software requirements (I would only consider it if done in Revit) and liability responsibility for the design are all concerns with editing another architect’s design.

No knowledge of the design process and priorities in the decision making process.

Without knowing all of the specifics, the pricing would most likely be at least two times higher than the normal cost of construction period services for this project.

The market price for the AE’s rates for solicitation support services and CPS will be compared with their rates from the design portion of this project, from the IGCE, and from rates that have been used in previous design projects at the Tampa VAMC. A fair and reasonable determination will be made by the Contracting Officer before award will be made.

PCAC has experience with sole sourcing solicitation support services and construction period services in support of Minor construction projects. Below is an overview of past scenarios where PCAC was required to obtain solicitation support services and/or construction period services from an AE where the services were not part of the original design contract. In some cases, there was a sole source to the same AE of record and in other instances to a new AE. The comparisons can be found below.

1. Project # 675 901 Expand Emergency Department Minor, Lake Nona VAMC: The original design task order for this project was awarded by Network Contracting Office (NCO) 8 on September 9, 2020, in the amount of $208,920.95 to RDC/John Poe Architects. This task order did not include construction period services, as it stated these would be procured through a separate task order.

In 2022, PCAC was sent the requirement to procure the construction portion of the project and during the procurement review it was discovered the construction period services was not part of the project. Since RDC/John Poe Architects was a verified SDVOSB and the original design firm, it was determined to sole source this project to them in accordance with VAAR 819.7007. The estimate provided was in the amount o , for a performance period of 270 calendar days, to include attendance at the pre construction meeting, monthly site visits, responses to Requests for Information (RFIs) and submittals, review of change orders, inspections and testing, work acceptance and providing As Built drawings. This sole source contract was awarded to the original design firm. The award amount of $83,120.23 was less than the IGCE amount of

2. Project # 438 440 Construct New Laboratory Addition Minor, Sioux Falls VAMC: NCO 23 awarded the design contract for this project on September 29, 2017, in the amount of $803,587.71, to Anderson Engineering. The design contract did not contain construction period services. The

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Effective Date: 01/01/2023 construction procurement was sent to PCAC in March of 2019. As part of the procurement request, PCAC was tasked with procuring the construction period services with Anderson Engineering. The IGCE was in the amount of , to include solicitation support services and construction period services. In accordance with VAAR 819.7007, this project was sole sourced to Anderson Engineering. The award was made on May 1, 2019, in the amount of $121,720.63, to include both solicitation support services and construction period services. This sole source contract was awarded to the original design firm. The award amount of $121,720.63 was less than the IGCE amount of 0.

3. Project # 662 626 Renovate and Expand Locked Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit for Patient Privacy (PICU) Minor, San Francisco VAMC: NCO 21 awarded the design contract for this project to Polytech Associates, Inc. (Polytech). The design was completed in 2018, however additional changes were requested by the VA of Polytech in June of 2019. The site determined not to move forward with construction period services through Polytech and requested that PCAC procure these services through one of the existing NCO 21 AE IDIQs. Only one of the thirteen IDIQ holders responded to the solicitation request. The IGCE for this project was , which was in line with the CPS pricing from Polytech’s original contract. The scope included construction document familiarization of the AE with all the current documents from the original designer, solicitation support services, and construction period services to include attendance at the pre construction conference, review of submittals and RFIs, 40 site visits, review of change orders, commissioning of the HVAC systems and record drawings. The task order was awarded to MA Architects on August 27, 2019, in the amount of $528,577. This contract was awarded to the only design firm willing to take on the previous design firm’s liabilities. The award amount of $528,577 was greater than the IGCE amount of .

4. Project # 438 460 Construct New SPS Minor, Sioux Falls VAMC: The original design for this project was awarded by NCO 23 against one of their existing AE IDIQs to Four Front Design. The task order did not include solicitation support services or construction period services. The design was completed in September of 2020 and the requirements for the construction procurement were sent to PCAC in the Spring of 2021. The site requested that PCAC go out and compete the requirements against the existing NCO 23 AE IDIQs, since the design did not contain construction period services.

The IGCE provided by the site was in the amount of . The scope of work included the AE reviewing the 100% drawings and specifications prior to the construction solicitation phase and to issue any supplemental drawings, addendums, revised sheets and specifications to resolve issues uncovered in the plan review phase. The anticipated period of performance for the plan review service is 30 calendar days. The scope also included solicitation support services (performance period 90 calendar days) and construction period services, that consisted of shop drawing review, answering contractor RFIs, providing change order documents, construction observation site visits (at least 11), record drawings, revit model generation, and a red line set of construction documents. The POP for the construction period services is scheduled to be 400 calendar days. The total period of performance was 520 calendar days.

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

It is recommended that a sole source award be made to TTV. TTV is a Small Business concern that has completed the design portion of this (Minor) requirement. A sole source award to TTV is in the government’s best interest to successfully complete the solicitation support services and CPS for this (Minor) requirement as they possess all institutional knowledge regarding this project and no other vendor either SDVOSB or small business concerns are willing to take over the liabilities from the original AE of record.

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

The following A E firm expressed interested in this project:

a. None

11. A Statement of the Actions, if any, the Agency May Take to Remove or Overcome any Barriers to Competition before Making subsequent acquisitions for the supplies or services required:

The Tampa VAMC and VHA PCAC will solicit future design projects through existing A E IDIQ contracts in VISN 8 or will compete the project on the open market using the procedures established in FAR Subpart 36.6 for A E procurements.

12. Requirements Certification: I certify that the requirement outlined in this justification is a Bona Fide Need of the Department of Veterans Affairs and that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in the justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Roland Manio Date COR/Engineer Tampa VAMC

13. Approvals in accordance with the VHAPM Part 806.3 OFOC SOP:

a. Contracting Officer or Designee’s Certification (required): I certify that the foregoing justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Bridget May Date Contracting Officer Program Contracting Activity Central (PCAC)

b. One Level Above the Contracting Officer (Required over $250K but not exceeding $750K): I certify the justification meets requirements for other than full and open competition.

Donald A. Marsh III Date Supervisory Contracting Officer VHA Program Contracting Activity Central (PCAC)

Prepared By: Thomas Council, Contract Specialist

Donald A. Marsh 1489406 Digitally signed by Donald A.

Marsh 1489406

ROLAND

MANIO

Digitally signed by ROLAND

MANIO

Date: 2023.06.07 10:18:31 -04'00'

Bridget E. May 1489412 Digitally signed by Bridget E. May 1489412 Date: 2023.06.07 10:28:41 -04'00'