JEFO_Crossley_DES_68HE0321F0050_P00010_1.pdf

CUI//PRIVILEGE

Controlled by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

JUSTIFICATION FOR EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

Environmental Protection Agency

Remedial Acquisition Framework Contracts – Design and Engineering Services

1. Agency/Contracting Activity:

Contracting Officer: Elena Banis, Region 3

Address: US Environmental Protection Agency Region 3 4 Penn Center 1617 John F Kennedy Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19103

Mail Code: 3MD21

Telephone No.: (215) 814-5325

Email: Banis.Elena@epa.gov

Program Office: Superfund & Emergency Management Division

Site Remediation Branch – PA Remedial Section

(3SD22)

Project Officer: Leslee Everett, Remedial Project Manager

Project Identification: Remedial Acquisition Framework Contracts – Design and Engineering Services for Region 3 Crossley Farm Superfund Site

2. Nature and/or Description of Action to be Approved

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 3 awarded a task order under the multiple award Design and Engineering Services (DES) suite of contracts under the Remedial Acquisition Framework (RAF), using the authority of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B). This task order provides for design support services during construction and for a hydraulic control study from the contractor that provided the design for the Crossley Farm Superfund Site (“Site”) under a DES Task Order (Order No. 68HE0321F0050 or “existing Task Order”). The continued designer support is required during remedial action to support DES Task 2 and Subtask 6.6 as detailed below. The DES Task Order is scheduled to expire on December 12, 2024, and will require an extension to continue to provide these two main services (design support during construction and the hydraulic control study) in the DES Task Order since the construction is ongoing and is not scheduled to be completed until December 2025.

Site Background

The Crossley Farm Site is located on a 209-acre property in Hereford Township, Pennsylvania.

From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, drums of liquid waste were disposed of at the Farm.

These activities heavily contaminated soil and groundwater with hazardous chemicals, specifically trichloroethylene (TCE). EPA selected a remedy in a 2001 Record of Decision (ROD) for groundwater extraction and treatment for the Hot Spot Area which is defined by TCE concentrations greater than 100,000 micrograms per liter (µg/L) in groundwater or in other terms a dense non-aqueous phase liquid (DNAPL). This remedy is currently in construction and construction and post-construction work is scheduled to be completed on September 26, 2025, under a RES TO 68HE0322F0077

The contractor under a RAC work assignment and then under a DES TO completed the design that is the basis for the remedy, provides design support during construction, and will conduct a hydraulic control study. The design, construction support, and the hydraulic control study are complex, technical tasks at a Site that has high levels of contamination in a very complex geological system, fractured bedrock. An additional complexity is that the extraction and treatment of groundwater in this Hot Spot area will be integrated into an existing treatment plant.

The treatment plant was operational and functional as determined by EPA on August 14, 2014.

Presently the contractor under the ESO TO operates, monitors, and maintains the treatment plant and the extraction and monitoring well network and will continue this work until 2025, when PADEP is scheduled to take over operation of the remedy. The contractor on the ESO TO is also the contractor on the RES TO.

The ESO TO is to operate a treatment plant to treat the Valley Plume, the highly contaminated groundwater plume that contains greater than 1,000 µg/L of TCE. The Valley Plume is being continually fed by the DNAPL from the Hot Spot Area. The 2008 ROD required construction of a Groundwater Treatment System (GWTS) to extract and treat the contaminated water from the Valley Plume. The treatment plant is providing hydraulic control of the Valley Plume, minimizing further migration of the Valley Plume, and when constructed will treat the additional contamination for the Hot Spot.

The EPA awarded an ESO Task Order on July 31, 2020, to EA Engineering, Science and Technology, Inc. to provide Long Term Response Action. The purpose of this Task Order is to maintain and operate the treatment plant at the Site.

Under the DES Task Order (Order No. 68HE0321F0050), CDM Federal Programs Corporation (CDM) completed design of a conveyance system to bring extracted groundwater from the Hot Spot/Source Area to the GWTS and upgrades to the GWTS so it can efficiently and effectively treat the extracted groundwater. The Source Area groundwater is more contaminated than the Valley Plume groundwater currently being treated by the GWTS therefore, under the DES Task Order, CDM will also develop a work plan for a Hydraulic Control Pilot Study that can only be executed when the remedial construction (i.e., new conveyance system and GWTS upgrades) have been completed. Based on the current schedule the Hydraulic Control Pilot Study will take approximately 4 months starting on October 2024 and to be completed in February 2025. The purpose of the Hydraulic Control Pilot Study is to provide data needed by the design engineer (CDM) to determine key parameters for the effective operation of the modified extraction network and treatment system. In essence, the Hydraulic Control Pilot Study is integral to the operational design of the system and can only be performed when the remedial system upgrades have been made. The system upgrades will be made under the RES Task Order.

While the DES Task Order does include tasks for performing the Hydraulic Control Pilot Study by the designer of record (DOR) the construction schedule has been impacted and there is a blank number of month delay changing the completion date to month, year and therefore requiring an extension to the DES TO to provide construction and post-construction support and to perform the Hydraulic Control Pilot Study that will determine the proper operational parameters for extraction wells in the Source Area.

For the reasons provided in this Justification, there are significant risks to the Government by not using CDM, the DOR, to complete its work in providing engineering assistance during the remedial action (RA) and performing the Hydraulic Control Pilot Study. It is in the Government’s best interest to allow CDM to perform this work. Therefore, it is in EPA’s best interest to use an exception to the fair opportunity procedures under these specific facts.

EPA will use the sole source exception at FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B) and extend this Task Order to CDM so that it may provide these services that are customarily performed by the DOR or are integral to completion of design support. The exception at FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B) states “Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized.”

It is crucial to the successful implementation of the RA that the Government be able to consult with and obtain design modifications and related services from the DOR, CDM, during the performance of the RA. CDM will provide all design support services needed during the RA such as: interpretation and explanation of the design being implemented by the anticipated RES contractor, review of submittals and requests for information (“RFIs”) from the RES contractor, modifications to the design plans and specifications as needed, performance of the Hydraulic Control Pilot Study, and advising EPA representatives on how best to meet the designer’s intent for the RA. These services are unique to CDM because it is the DOR and, as such, possesses the intricate knowledge and background on the basis of the design and design intent.

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

The additional period of perfomance added in the proposed DES task order modification will coincide with the construction schedule in the RES task order. The tentative additional DES task order period of performance is 12-months. The estimated aggregate amount of the task order issued under this Justification for an Exception to the fair opportunity process is approximately:

$401,868.00.

CDM is uniquely qualified to provide the engineering technical support services during RA construction to ensure the effectiveness of the implemented remedy. As the DOR that stamped the final design being constructed, CDM will provide the follow technical support:

interpretation and explanation of the design being implemented by the RES contractor;

review of submittals and requests for information (“RFIs”) from the RES contractor;

performance of the Hydraulic Control Pilot Study;

preparation of modifications to the design plans and specifications as needed; and advising EPA representatives on how best to meet the designer’s intent for the RA

4. Identification of the Authority Permitting an Exception to the Fair Opportunity Process

The statutory authority permitting exception to fair opportunity relative to this request is 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1), as implemented by the FAR, paragraph 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C): “[t]he order must be issued on a sole-source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it is a logical follow-on to an order already issued under the contract, provided that all awardees were given a fair opportunity to be considered for the original order.” In lieu of a follow-on task order the existing task order will be modified.

5. A statement demonstrating the unique qualifications of the proposed contractor or nature of the acquisition requiring the use of the authority cited.

These services are unique to CDM because it is the DOR and the Hydraulic Control Pilot Study will essentially complete the design by providing the optimal operation parameters for the remedial system – a task that cannot be performed until the RA construction work is substantially complete. While other DES contractors might be able to perform this type of service, no others are the DOR or have the requisite intricate knowledge of the design that is specific to the Crossley Farm Site and the remedy.

CDM is uniquely qualified to provide these services and allowing any other firm to perform these services for this requirement would have adverse effects on the Government in terms of potentially significant RA time delays and costs and not having the design service support. With the RA ongoing and scheduled to be completed in December 2025 a delay in extending the DES TO would adversely impact the quality of the RA by not providing the Government with the technical and engineering service required in the RAF Framework. It is in the Government’s best interest to maintain the technical and engineering services for design support during construction and to perform the hydraulic control study pilot.

Risk to Government

There is a significant risk to the Government if the DES TO is not extended to fully cover the construction schedule. The Government would be providing remedial action oversight without the technical and engineering services of the designer of record (DOR) under the DES TO.

Further the Government would not have a contractor to perform the Hydraulic Control Study Pilot after completion of the construction which would require the Government to contract these services under a new Task Order which would delay the implementation of the Hydraulic Control Study Pilot and delay EPA’s schedule for transferring the treatment plant to PADEP per EPA Guidance and the State Superfund Contract.

With a design as complex as the one for this Site, it is in the Government’s best interest to maintain contractor continuity during this critical phase of construction.

Since CDM is intimately knowledgeable with the design that it stamped and certified, it is in the Government’s best interest from a both a cost and quality perspective to continue the work with

CDM.

6. Proposed Actions to Overcome Barriers to Competition

The use of this Exception to Fair Opportunity is the unavoidable result of the Government’s current requirement for design support for a design that was completed under the DES Task Order. EPA fully intends to conduct future DES task order opportunities within the Region pursuant to the Fair Opportunity process described in Attachment 4 to the DES Contracts.

Notice of this Justification will be published at the Governmentwide Point of Entry (GPE) in accordance with the posting requirements in FAR 5.301(a)(2)(ii) and it will be made publicly available at the GPE. FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D)(2).

7. Determination that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The Contracting Officer will negotiate a fair and reasonable price with CDM. The Government will issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) and request that CDM submit a technical and price proposal. A price analysis will be performed by evaluating the price elements in comparison to the independent Government estimate and data obtained from historical and similar contracts.

The Government will evaluate the labor mix proposed, the level of effort (number of hours to perform each task) and other indirect price elements in order to determine a fair and reasonable price. The Government is confident that a fair and reasonable price will be reached with CDM considering that historically, this Contractor has a record of successful performance under its contracts with the EPA Region 3 for many years at fair and reasonable prices.

8. Additional Supporting Facts

None.

9. The Contracting Officer’s certification that the justification is accurate and complete to the best of the Contracting Officer’s knowledge and belief.

CONTRACTING OFFICER'S CERTIFICATION

In accordance with 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)(8), I hereby certify that this Justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Elena Banis Contracting Officer Date

10. Additional Supporting Facts

None.

11. Written Determination by approving official

Approval

This is an approximate $401,867.23combined firm-fixed-price, price reimbursement task order to provide Remedial Design Support services. I have reviewed these facts and agree that they justify the use of an exception to the fair opportunity process. I, therefore, approve this Justification pursuant to the authority of 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1) as implemented by FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B), “Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized.”

DATE:

Approval:

_________________________ DATE: ________________________

Karyn Price Contracting Officer/RAM