JEFO-ASPR-CP_Redacted.pdf

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

1. the the

: Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), Center of Preparedness (CP)

: Office of Mission Acquisition Solutions (OMAS)

2. the

New Requirement Sole Source Order against IDIQ 75A50121D00011 &

75A50524F65003 to Existing Delivery/Task Order/Contract Number

Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) Labor Hours (LH) Time & Materials (T&M) Cost Type

3. the meet the needs the

The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), Center for Preparedness (CP), requires continued professional administrative, technical, and operational staffing support to sustain mission-critical functions and provide surge capability for emergency response, recovery, information management, data analytics, logistics, and national-level coordination activities. These services are necessary to ensure uninterrupted execution of ies supporting the Healthcare and Public Health Sector.

ASPR/CP leads the Nation’s public health and medical preparedness, response, and recovery planning efforts and coordinates Federal operations to minimize disease, injury, and disability during public health emergencies and disasters resulting from intentional, accidental, or naturally occurring threats. ASPR serves as the Federal lead for public health emergency preparedness and response within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and functions as the Sector Risk Management Agency for the Healthcare and Public Health Sector.

operations, data analytics, and interagency coordination, as well as the capability to provide technical assistance and operational support to Federal, State, local, tribal, territorial, and private sector partners.

Contractor support is required across multiple Center for Preparedness offices, including critical infrastructure protection, strategy and policy, data and analytics, planning and evaluation, and operational coordination functions. Required services include support for incident response coordination, cybersecurity risk collaboration, development of analytic and reporting products, workforce security processing, executive-le coordination with interagency and external partners, and operational planning for public health

Conducting a competitive fair-opportunity task order under OASIS+ at this time would require an estimated 90–120 days for requirements nalization, solicitation preparation and posting, offeror proposal submission, evaluation, award, and transition of personnel. Given the current task order’s March 29, 2026, expiration, this schedule would result in a multi-week or longer gap in professional staffing support services for the Immediate Office.

ASPR’s ability to manage controlled correspondence, congressional and stakeholder engagement, timely response to OIG and GAO inquiries, maintain Section 508-compliant public and internal communications, and support public health emergency policy and planning activities. Accordingly, full and open competition and fair opportunity process at this time would result in an unacceptable delay in performance. A short-duration sole source bridge is required to ensure continuity of these mission-critical services while the competitive OASIS+ task order is executed.

Even a short lapse in contractor support of a few weeks would materially impair ASPR’s ability to meet time-sensitive statutory and oversight obligations, including established response timeframes for congressional correspondence and stakeholder inquiries, OIG and GAO audits and data calls, and public-facing communications related to public health decisions are made without the necessary analytical, policy, and communications support, undermining ASPR’s ability to execute its congressionally mandated mission.

ASPR leads the execution of critical statutory responsibilities under the Public Health Service Act (PHSA), the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act (PAHPAIA), Presidential directives, and HHS mandates. These authorities include coordinating state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) preparedness and response activities (PHSA §2811; 42 U.S.C. 300hh–10), advancing national health security and medical surge capacity (PHSA §§2801–2803), and supporting public health emergency response (PHSA §319).

Consistent with Presidential directives on critical infrastructure security and resilience (e.g., PPD-21 and subsequent National Security Memoranda) and HHS-designated responsibilities, ASPR/CP serves as the Sector Risk Management Agency (SRMA) for the Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) sector on behalf of the Department and the Secretary of HHS. In this role, CP is responsible for ensuring the protection, resilience, and operational continuity of the Nation’s healthcare infrastructure.

Absent execution of a bridge contract, even a short lapse in contractor support would materially impair ASPR/CP’s ability to meet time-sensitive statutory, Presidential, and Departmental mandates, including execution of the following mission-critical activities. The support provided under the contract is essential across all these areas:

SLTT Preparedness Coordination (PHSA §2811): Disruption of preparedness planning, tabletop exercises (TTX), and operational coordination with SLTT partners, reducing national readiness and response alignment;

Critical Infrastructure Protection (PAHPAIA; PPD-21; NDAA): Interruption of risk assessments (e.g., RISC), diminished support to the Healthcare and Public Health Sector Coordinating Council (SCC), and weakened public-private coordination to protect critical infrastructure;

Public Health Emergency Response (PHSA §319): Reduced ability to deploy and coordinate resources and integrate data analytics (e.g., OADAI) for timely, informed decision-making during incidents;

Medical Surge & National Preparedness (PHSA §§2801–2803): Delays in planning and coordination for surge capacity, including beds, staffing, and supply chain readiness.

In parallel, ASPR’s security and vetting functions would be directly impacted, with immediate operational consequences:

Personnel Security & Vetting: Interruptions in background investigations, clearance adjudications, and onboarding, limiting availability of cleared personnel for mission-critical roles;

Classified Operations Support: Inability to effectively support SCIF-level meetings and secure information sharing, constraining classified and interagency coordination;

Information Protection & Cybersecurity: Increased risk to sensitive public health data and reduced cybersecurity support to the HPH sector;

Continuity of Operations (COOP): Degraded ability to maintain secure, uninterrupted operations necessary for the safety of human life and protection of property;

Interagency Coordination: Disruptions in coordination with DHS, FEMA, FBI, and other partners, affecting unified response and security risk management.

Any such lapse would directly degrade ASPR/CP’s ability to fulfill its SRMA responsibilities on behalf of HHS and the Secretary, resulting in diminished SLTT coordination, delays in infrastructure risk mitigation, reduced situational awareness and data-driven response, and constraints on secure and classified operations. Accordingly, execution of a bridge contract is essential to prevent operational disruption, maintain continuity of mission-critical functions, and ensure ASPR/CP remains fully capable of meeting its statutory, Presidential, and Departmental mandates to protect the Nation’s health security and emergency preparedness posture.

Failure to continue with the current vendor will result in unacceptable delays which will in turn create a lapse in service. Drodex Inc. is currently providing critical professional staffing support to ASPR/CP, and has developed the operational knowledge, cleared personnel, and technical expertise required to support multiple CP offices without disruption. Drodex Inc.

currently performs Immediate Office staffing services under Task Order 75A50121D00011_75A50524F65002 as the protégé venturer of the Cyber Pro JV, with a period of performance from September 30, 2024 through March 29, 2026.

Through this effort, contractor personnel perform specialized functions including support to coordination for the Healthcare and Public Health Sector, national incident response support, development of situational awareness reports and dashboards, Medical Reserve Corps coordination, emergency workforce security processing, and preparation of senior

These services require personnel who are already trained on ASPR systems, security requirements, and operational procedures and who can operate in time-sensitive environments without delay. Based on current performance, the Government has that Drodex Inc. has the capability to meet the requirements, provide personnel with the necessary clearances, and maintain continuity of support using existing institutional knowledge, allowing performance to continue under the proposed sole-source bridge without a transition period.

A gap in service would result in the immediate loss of experienced and cleared staff supporting incident response coordination, reporting, security processing, and national preparedness activities, which would disrupt ongoing operations, delay response capabilities, and increase risk to critical government functions. Continued performance by Drodex Inc. is necessary to maintain continuity of operations, prevent degradation of support national public health and medical emergency readiness without interruption.

By contrast, awarding this requirement to a different OASIS+ contractor at this time would require onboarding and vetting new personnel, obtaining completely new, but necessary badges and system access, and conducting extensive knowledge transfer, none of which could be completed before March 29, 2026. As a result, attempting to compete this requirement now would itself cause the very lapse in mission-critical services that this bridge action is intended to avoid.

The to the government of awarding this - is an efficient reduction in administrative and physical security costs and time to on-board new contractor personnel, avoidance of a gap in service, and the retention of institutional knowledge.

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5. the

I hereby determine that the anticipated price/cost for this contract action will be fair and reasonable. The labor category price lists for each company have been established through the over-arching contracts and have been reviewed by GSA to ensure reasonable pricing. However, HHS reserves the right to further negotiate price reductions as allowable by the FAR.

In addition, under this sole source, the Contracting Officer will further assess price reasonableness by comparing the proposed labor categories, hours, and rates to (1) the rates and labor mix on the current Cyber Pro JV task order for these services, (2) the Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE), and (3) the awarded labor category rates of other relevant acquisitions. Any variances will be documented and, as appropriate, used as the basis for seeking price reductions to ensure the Government pays fair and reasonable prices for the bridge period.

6.

In addition to the factors described above, this action is expressly intended as a short-duration bridge to a fully competitive task order to be issued under the GSA OASIS+ multiple-award IDIQ.

ASPR and OMAS have already substantially developed the acquisition strategy and requirements for that competitive action, and this sole source bridge will provide the minimum additional time needed to nalize, compete, and award the OASIS+ task order without a lapse in mission-critical services.

7. Led The Government intends to establish a competitive task order for these services against the GSA One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services Plus (OASIS+) MA-IDIQ which was designed to provide federal agencies with comprehensive, non-IT professional services