JA ITSC Bridge REDACTED.pdf

IT Strategic Communication Bridge VA-20-00044338

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: The proposed source is LTS,11950 Democracy Drive, Suite 275, Reston, Virginia. The original TO was awarded to LTS as a result of a FFP competitive action under the CIO-SP3 contract vehicle. The TO is set to expire on August 1, 2020. VA is in the process of drafting requirements for a long term competitive contract for the ITSC support services which is anticipated to be solicited in September 2020. In preparation for this competitive contract, ITSC conducted market research by issuing a Request for Information (RFI) on the Contract Opportunities Page in December 2019. The market research yielded 22 responses, of which 7 were deemed capable. Upon completion of this market research, ITSC began drafting acquisition requirements documents in January and February 2020 to include the following; performance work statement, independent government cost estimate and the source selection evaluation plan. In early March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic began severly impacting the United States, causing the ITSC team take on additional projects and communications responsibilities to ensure accurate, timely, and consistent pandemic messaging. Specifically, OIT stood up a completely new structure of 11 COVID-19 scrum workstreams that required an ITSC representative per workstream, which accounts for approximately 30% of the ITSC team. These new workstreams meet daily and now dictate COVID-19 response operations and are integral to how ITSC communicates. Additionally, ITSC is now required to submit approximately 20 weekly COVID-19 reports to VA Leadership, with daily reports being transmitted to the White House Task Force. Prior to COVID-19, ITSC was not preparing reports on daily operations. Furthermore, OIT is conducting weekly, versus quarterly, All Hands Town Halls to provide up-to-date COVID-19 information to the workforce. The ITSC staff is responsible for scheduling the weekly calls with all appropriate support staff and multiple executive participants, which include approximately 6 to 15 executive participants and guest speakers from other VA organizations. ITSC is responsible for developing the agenda and associated content, scheduling and conducting two rehearsals before each live event, sending weekly OIT-wide announcements and/or CIO messages regarding the presentations, and collecting and coordinating responses to 130-200 weekly OIT employee questions. As a result of these weekly All Hands meetings, ITSC developed and maintains an online portal that includes the frequently asked COVID-19 questions from OIT employees, past town hall presentation decks and links to on-demand videos, and numerous other resources demostrated during the presentations.

The above stated additional COVID-19 workload caused ITSC to put a hold on finalizing the competitive acquisition requirement documents. Additionally, ITSC is currently reassessing and revising the PWS requirements for the new competitive contract in light of the support required by ongoing pandemic response, which is atypical of normal operations.

On March 13, 2020 the President of the United States declared a national emergency under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has created an emergent need for continuity of communication services to VA’s stakeholders, including Veterans, VA leadership and employees, and external partners such as the COVID-19 Task Force. Due to the current state of affairs caused by COVID-19, it is imperative that the aforementioned ITSC services are sustained at the current level of accuracy and consistency to mitigate significant risks to the Government during the COVID-19 pandemic, as it relates to crisis response operations. All indications are that the posture VA has undertaken in March 2020 to support COVID-19 will last late into the first quarter of FY 2021.

Additionally, VA is actively implementing its “4th Mission” as the Nation’s backup healthcare system, creating additional, unusual, and emergent conditions to be supported by effective communication services. Only LTS possesses the in-depth knowledge of key VA and OIT stakeholders as they relate to the current and real-time strategic communication goals and processes. This knowledge is critical to the continuity and consistency of services required during a rapidly developing and unpredictable global crisis response operation.

In March 2020, OIT began significantly ramping up its operational and communication activities in response to the growing COVID-19 crisis. This new stance is unique and unlike any crisis response OIT has experienced in recent history, particularly in its increased operational tempo across the organization and expected duration of several months. OIT leadership is heavily engaged in providing swift IT support across the VA enterprise to address critical business needs, while at the same time working to ensure the health and wellness of its own 16,000 employee and Contractor workforce. As a result, OIT leadership is relying heavily on its ITSC staff to provide rapid, accurate, and consistent communication to multiple audiences that are aligned with the White House and VA messaging at all times. The OIT strategic communication staff is responsible for reaching and communicating with:

VA staff of over 330,000 for IT-related support in delivery of care and services to over 9 million Veterans;

VHA leadership and staff in over 1200 VA health care facilities in support of their unique health care needs during the pandemic;

VA business lines as they direct employees to telework in huge numbers (OIT is preparing to support many thousands of new teleworkers);

Oversight bodies, such as Congress, and Federal Government partners, such as the Federal CIO and the Office of Management and Budget;

An OIT staff of 16,000, both for health and wellness, and for operational guidance.

The ITSC group is the only strategic communication voice for OIT and it achieves this through a team of approximately 25 percent Government staff and 75 percent Contractor staff, comprised of all LTS or subcontractor employees. VA anticipates that any source other than LTS would require at least 3 to 6 months to seamlessly transition and to perform the required communication services at the same level as LTS. Specifically, the background investigations, on the job training, and overcoming a steep learning curve would prevent any Contractor, other than LTS, to provide synchronized, professional strategic communication services to the largest Federal IT workforce in the US, which is currently engaged in the largest IT modernization effort, and most comprehensive crisis response operation in its history. As an additional concern, the VA Central Personal Identity Verification (PIV) Office has been operating only 40 percent of the time since impacted by COVID-19. Prior to COVID-19, the PIV Office was open five days a week, and since the pandemic, the PIV Office is only open on Tuesdays and Fridays. The reduced operating capacity of an essential function for onboarding Contractors will negatively impact the ability of new contract team members to gain access to the VA network causing the potential for a work stoppage. During the 3 to 6 month transition and training period, effective and consistent strategic communications support would be severely compromised; thus, resulting in mission failure.

ITSC produces thousands of pieces of communication products each year and has its own business operations to train each team member. During a time of crisis response, the small Government staff relies heavily on not having to instruct Contractor support on every step of producing communication products, vetting them with the appropriate subject matter experts (SMEs), getting appropriate leadership approval, socializing products with impacted stakeholders, and getting products posted to the right places at the right times. The Government staff are currently heavily taxed by daily COVID-19 briefings, coordination meetings, and special requirements. Key Government staff on the communication team are working nights and weekends to keep up with the added workload of COVID-19 operations. Bringing on a new Contractor at this stage would significantly burden the ITSC Government staff at a time when it is in the midst of crisis communication activities, necessitating additional oversight and training requirements to be performed by the current limited Government staff who do not have the capacity to do so during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For nearly four years, LTS has been embedded in the OIT organization that staffs and manages the Enterprise Service Desk, End User Operations, and other critical functions that directly support VA employees. The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting mandates for thousands of employees to telework on short notice have resulted in a rapid influx of Help Desk requests for technical assistance, largely from a workforce unfamiliar with remotely connecting to the VA network through Government Furnished Equipment or personal devices. An essential component of creating high-quality communication on a rapid schedule is having communication staff who know and understand OIT sources of technical information and organizational processes. A new Contractor would be unfamiliar with current communications status and would not be able to get up-to-speed in a timely fashion without jeopardizing the mission. For example, OIT stood up a completely new structure of COVID-19 scrum workstreams that have not been used before. These new workstreams now dictate COVID-19 response operations and are integral to how ITSC communicates. Introducing a new Contractor amid a pandemic will have a significant negative impact on OIT Government staff responding to urgent needs to educate and inform VA staff and VA leadership on technical issues that directly impact their ability to deliver healthcare and benefits to Veterans.

Furthermore, OIT’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) is responsible for providing mission critical support to over 330,000 VA employees and over 9 million Veterans who currently receive care and benefits through VA. OIT ITSC works directly in support of the CIO and each of the key leaders. The White House Task Force on COVID-19 tightly oversees all messaging related to the pandemic, as does VA leadership. The current crisis environment requires an elevated need for synchronized and well-aligned communication across all OIT organizations and partners; accurate, consistent information released to the right audience at the right time is critical to supporting a fast-moving operational environment. Achieving this synchronization requires a great deal of coordination and collaboration, which is facilitated by existing relationships and familiarity with staff throughout VA and OIT organizations that a new Contractor would not possess at time of award. These areas of communication are of high visibility during the pandemic response and would be negatively impacted by introducing a new Contractor.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in the Section 8 of this document. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government’s requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic.

There is no competition anticipated for this acquisition. In accordance with FAR

5.301 and 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), the award notice for this action will be synopsized on the Contract Opportunities/beta.SAM.gov site and the justification will be made publicly available within 14 days of award.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: There will be no barriers to future competition.

The follow-on effort is being pursued on a competitive basis and is anticipated to be solicited in September 2020.

8. Market Research: The Government’s SMEs conducted market research in order to ascertain the ability of other sources meeting VA’s need by releasing an RFI on beta.SAM.gov on December 26, 2019. The RFI and Draft PWS included a detailed description of the requirement and requested that interested parties provide their respective capabilities to perform the strategic communications support services.

On January 17, 2020 the RFI closed and the Government received 22 responses.

Although seven of the responses were deemed capable by the Government’s SME’s, including the incumbent Contractor, LTS, only LTS is capable of meeting the Government’s need for a Bridge effort to provide consistent and accurate strategic communication during the COVID-19 pandemic.

9. Other Facts: None