JandA (72027920M00001-P000010) (Signed).pdf

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL UNDER THE DETERMINATION

AND FINDINGS FOR ACTIVITIES TO PREVENT AND RESPOND TO

FOOD INSECURITY

To: Karla Camp, USAID/Middle East Regional Platform/Regional

Office of Acquisition and Assistance

From: Carter Hemphill, Economic Growth Officer, Office of

Economic Growth, USAID/Yemen

Re: Economic Recovery and Livelihoods Program (ERLP) in Yemen contract number 72027920M00001

SUBJECT: Justification and Approval for Other than Full and Open

Competition under the D&F for Activities to Prevent and Respond to Food Insecurity

1. This document sets forth the facts and rationale justifying the use of other than full and open competition, in accordance with AIDAR

706.302-70(b)(3)(ii) Impairment of foreign aid programs

Approval is requested for the justification for the use of other than full and open competition pursuant to the authorities under the Determination and Findings

(D&F) for Activities to Prevent and Respond to Food Insecurity, approved on

August 23, 2022. Your approval of this Justification for Other than Full and Open

Competition (J&A) constitutes the justification for other than full and open competition as required by the D&F for Activities to Prevent and Respond to

Food Insecurity.

2. The nature and/or description of the action being approved:

This is a request to approve a modification of contract number 72027920M00001, awarded on June 29, 2020, to the Pragma Corporation (Pragma). Approval of this request will allow USAID to increase the total ceiling amount by $6.5 million, from

$37,408,907 to $43,908,907, based on anticipated funding from USAID and other sources. These additional funds will expand existing technical assistance to accelerate critical institutional reforms in the Central Bank of Yemen (CBY), the

Yemeni Ministry of Finance (MOF), and the Yemen Customs Union (YCA) to foster greater economic stability, stabilize the country’s foreign exchange and improve tax revenue. These actions support the U.S. Government’s objective of peacefully resolving the Yemen conflict.

The increase in the ceiling will not extend the performance period, with the activity still scheduled to end on June 30, 2024. The utilization of the D&F requires any J&A that extends the performance period of an award beyond

September 30, 2024 to obtain Agency Competition Advocate clearance. As this

Modification does not extend the period of performance of the award, Agency

Competition Advocate clearance is not required.

3. Description of the supplies or services required, including an estimated value:

This is a request to approve an increase in the Total Estimated Cost of the award to Pragma by $6.5 million.

USAID is programming FY 2022 Economic Support Fund (ESF) resources under the Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022 (AUSAA) (P.L.

117-128) to prevent and respond to food insecurity resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Funding is being programmed directly in the countries of highest concern based on vulnerability and exposure to price shocks and supply disruptions resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Economic Recovery and Livelihoods Program (ERLP) in Yemen is a Time and Materials (T&M) task order under GSA Multiple Award Schedule

GS00F303CA. The activity’s purpose is to address the constraints in Yemen that have led to a declining and unstable economy and a decline in employment and the standard of living. ERLP consists of two main components:

● Component 1: Improved Macroeconomic Functions of Key Institutions

● Component 2: Improved Microeconomic Conditions

USAID will request the Contractor expand and extend its current technical assistance under Component 2 in response to the unexpected result of a one-time worldwide shock caused by the Ukraine war and its impact on food security. The

Ukraine conflict has severely impacted wheat imports into Yemen, further exacerbating food insecurity levels in-country.

The main interventions that will be added through the increased TEC are as follows:

● Introducing improved, market-led farming practices and new technologies to partner households operating in the coffee, honey, horticultural crops, and livestock value chains (VCs). The project will expand the network of producers and further introduce affordable, innovative technologies that significantly increase farmer input efficiency and productivity.

● Strengthening the operational, technical, and management capacity of four

Partner Financial Institutions (PFIs) to provide innovative agricultural finance products and services to the agricultural sector.

● Sustainably strengthen the fisheries value chain in Yemen and help ensure local communities benefit from the re-emergence of a dynamic and resilient fisheries sector. Interventions will raise the quality of fresh, frozen, and processed fish products and build stakeholder technical and quality management capabilities. Compliance with international quality and safety standards will increase Yemen’s access to more lucrative regional and international markets.

Based on the level of effort and materials for this T&M task order, the additional costs for these expanded activities under the existing scope of work will not exceed $6.5 million.

4. Statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition:

This request is in accordance with AIDAR 706.302-70(b)(3)(ii) Impairment of foreign aid programs for awards for countries, regions, projects, or programs for which the Administrator of USAID makes a formal written Determination and

Findings (D&F) that compliance with full and open competition procedures would impair foreign assistance objectives, and would be inconsistent with the fulfillment of the foreign assistance program. The D&F signed by the

Administrator is attached to this J&A as Annex 1.

5. A discussion of the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition that requires the use of the authority cited:

Up to $760,000,000 of FY 2022 ESF funding provided under the AUSAA is meant to address urgent global food security needs arising from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

This award is already in place and can be immediately leveraged to use this funding so that interventions reach beneficiaries and produce results as quickly as possible. Given the urgency of country-level needs and the speed with which

FY 2022 ESF funds under the AUSAA need to be deployed, it is in the Agency’s interest in most situations to use existing awards to the maximum extent possible, rather than having to compete, evaluate, and award new contracts.

Competing the requirements will result in unnecessary additional costs in terms of the level of effort to the U.S. Government. It will result in a gap in the critical services provided as part of this increase in TEC. Pragma has already established relationships with host country counterparts and intended beneficiaries that would unlikely be quickly replicated by a new contractor.

Pragma is uniquely situated to deliver the additional highly specialized services described in Section 3 in terms of technical substance, institutional familiarity, and critical timing. The award of this modification will enable Pragma to provide technical assistance to execute additional interventions within the current scope of work and achieve enhanced outcomes. Scaling up activities envisioned under the existing scope of work is cost-effective and would avoid unnecessary and unacceptable delays that a new mechanism would require.

Finally, the additional funding leverages the management and facility costs already expended under the award to Pragma. The additional start-up and indirect non-programmatic administrative costs required to manage these activities under a new contract would be duplicative and significantly reduce the amount of funding that can otherwise be directed to actual programmatic support. These additional costs are particularly unnecessary given that if a new contract was awarded, two contractors would be working in the same sector with the same counterparts and would require the new contractor to duplicate much of the current work already performed under the ERLP contract. This is demonstrated by the fact that the proposed activities extend the existing interventions under Component 2 of the activity that will be defined in the work plan rather than a new, stand-alone activity component.

An increase in the estimated contract cost will also leverage non-USG funds

(see below for more information), minimize unnecessary costs, and provide a seamless continuation of vital, highly specialized support services.

The increase in the total estimated cost will enable USAID to leverage Britain’s

Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office’s (FCDO) £3.8 million gifts to the activity in the past three years of implementation. FCDO has committed to providing an additional £900,000 which will support the expansion of the current interventions implemented by USAID. Likewise, the Kuwait Fund is considering gifting USAID $1.5 million for ERLP to help small and medium-sized enterprises in the agricultural and fisheries sectors. Building upon more than $6 million in pledged and received support from outside sources for ERLP, USAID is talking to other donors and anticipates additional funding opportunities in 2023.

6. A description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable.

According to AIDAR 706.302-70(c)(3) and AIDAR 705.202(b)(1) when the authorities at 706.302-70(b)(3) are used, advance notice of proposed contract action is not required.

7. A determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

This is a Time & Materials task order issued under a GSA Multiple Award

Schedule, and thus costs charged by the Contractor are similar to those used in the current task order, and costs have been pre-competed. For example, labor rates are established in Section B.3 of the contract. The anticipated level of effort is derived from levels of effort provided during the first two years of the activity and thus are determined to be fair and reasonable. Additional anticipated material costs are consistent with those originally budgeted, including anticipated travel costs to align with anticipated levels of effort. The Mission has prepared an

Independent Government Cost Estimate with anticipated costs for this increase.

Additionally, the Contracting Officer will ensure that a detailed cost analysis will be conducted on the proposal received from Pragma to ensure that costs are fair and reasonable.

In accordance with FAR 6.303-2(b)(7), the Contracting Officer, with her clearance of this justification, has determined that the anticipated costs to the

Government will be fair and reasonable based on the anticipated programming.

8. A description of the market research conducted (see FAR Part

10), and the results or a statement of the reason(s) market research was not conducted.

Market research was not conducted. Given the urgency of this requirement to respond to the mandate of the AUSAA (to prevent and respond to food insecurity), it is not feasible to select new contractors who are familiar with the breadth and scope of the work to be undertaken. Additionally, the urgency of the intervention would not allow for sufficient time to bring in new partners through a competitive award process.

9. Other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is resulting in global food, fuel, and fertilizer shortages. The AUSAA specifically authorized emergency supplemental FY

2022 ESF funding to prevent and respond to food insecurity. Full and open competition will delay the delivery of this critical assistance. Given the emergency nature of this funding, it was clearly the intent of Congress that this assistance be obligated and disbursed as quickly as possible. A delay would undermine the current relations with private sector stakeholders, and duplication would cause unnecessary costs and duplication under a new contract.

The second rating period for the Contractor Performance Assessment Report

(CPAR) ended June 30, 2022. The Contractor received positive ratings demonstrating that the quality of work, schedule, cost control, and contract management are satisfactory and above.

Note that a previous J&A was prepared and cleared to increase the TEC of the award before the blank Agency waiver for Ukraine funds was in place and before there was visibility on Ukraine supplemental funding. The J&A was signed by the

Agency Competition Advocate, Ms. Deborah Broderick, on April 15, 2022, and posted on www.sam.gov. The J&A permitted a TEC increase of $10 million to the award, which was processed through Modification # 08. The J&A was prepared for an increase of $10 million based on the anticipated funding that would be available to the Mission for this award through its life. Now that additional, unexpected Ukraine supplemental funds have been allocated and received, the TEC is being increased further to reflect the actual needs on the ground. The Mission anticipates being able to fully fund the award up to the new

TEC.

10. Sources, if any, that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.

N/A http://www.sam.gov/

11. The actions the Agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required:

No barriers to competition are foreseen to any subsequent acquisition. A follow-on activity was always envisioned at the end of the current activity in June

2024, but the design and procurement would take at least eighteen months, which would not help meet the current need for the funds to be expended now.

With the follow-on activity, the agency intends to compete future requirements through full and open competition and potentially set aside for small businesses.

12. Technical Certification:

In accordance with FAR 6.303, I hereby certify that the technical statements included above and which form a basis for the justification are complement and accurate in accordance with the D&F for Activities to Prevent and

Respond to Food Insecurity approved August 23, 2022 (attached).

Cleared by e-mail on 09/28/2022 _____________________

Carter Hemphill Date

Technical Office Representative

13. Resident Legal Officer Clearance:

I hereby certify that the justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Cleared by e-mail on 09/28/2022 ___________________

Kelly Mack Date

Resident Legal Officer

14. Mission Director Clearance:

Kimberlee Bell Date

Senior Development Advisor

15. Contracting Officer Approval:

I hereby certify that the justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Contracting Officer Date