JOFOC_Advisory Services for the Togo Threshold Program.docx

UNCLASSIFIED

UNCLASSIFIED

Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition (Over SAT)UNCLASSIFIED

1. In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 6.303-2 [Name the MCC Activity] requests the Division of Contracts and Grants solicit only this source for the following supplies or services required to meet the needs of MCC:

In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 6.303-2, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Department of Policy and Evaluation (DPE) requests the MCC Contracts and Grants Management (CGM) Division to modify; the DPE Togo Threshold Program Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Land Reform to Accelerate Agricultural Productivity (LRAP) Projects under BPA Call Order# 95332418F0456 with Integra Government Services International LLC to increase the contract ceiling and extend the period of performance.

2. Nature of the action Being Approved

The action being approved by this JOFOC will be a modification to BPA: 95332418A0027/ BPA Call Order: 95332418F0456 between Integra Government Services International LLC and MCC for Advisory Services to the Togo Threshold Program Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Land Reform to Accelerate Agricultural Productivity (LRAP) Projects. Specifically, this request includes an overall increase up to $1,614,951.44 to the ceiling price of the contract and an extension of one (1) year and eight (8) months or 20 months in the period of performance; from September 2024 through May 2026.

The Base and All Options Period of Performance are as follows:

The contract ceiling would need to be raised by a maximum of $1,614,951.44 from $3,585,923.40 to $5,200,874.84. The majority of the increase reflects labor costs for the program and project-level extensions, which were not originally expected.

The Statement of Work developed for the original solicitation has been amended to show the extended period of performance. There are no changes to the nature or type of work expected to be performed.

3. Identify the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

MCC awarded a competitive contract to Integra in September 2018 to assist MCC with the oversight of both the ICT and LRAP projects within the Togo Threshold Program. The contract was negotiated based on the information known to MCC, the Contractor, and the accountable entity in Togo at that point in time. Program due diligence and oversight support are designed around the project components and timeline, so if changes are made to the program, the corresponding assistance required by MCC staff must also adapt. The extension is necessary as a result of the following:

1. Following the end of the US Government shutdown in late 2018/early 2019, the grant agreement with the Government of Togo was signed in February 2019. After signature, MCC proceeded quickly with launching the administrative and operational work required to stand up the in-country oversight systems, called the “Accountable Entity.” This entity takes the form of a Togolese government organization that leads threshold program implementation. Due to protracted negotiations with the Government of Togo and thus correspondingly slow progress on the hiring of the accountable entity staff – who were not hired until September 2021 – the awarding of subsequent programmatic technical assistance contracts was also delayed. During this period, Integra continued to support MCC but at a much lower rate than planned.

2. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, which lasted several years, severely limited the ability to initiate procurements and oversee ongoing contracts, thereby also delaying the issuance technical assistance contracts by the accountable entity.

Effectively, Togo lost approximately 2 years of implementation time and the technical assistance contracts were not signed until almost 3 years after grant signature (June 2022 for the LRAP project; December 2022 for the ICT project). While Integra’s burn rate was comparatively low during this period, it has picked up precipitously as these main contracts came online. Then in July 2023 MCC decided to extend the program end date from November 2024 to February 2026 (adding 15 months). The extension and estimated ceiling increased identified for Integra in this JOFOC is necessary to ensure that MCC continues to receive program oversight and due diligence support all the way through the anticipated threshold program closure period of May 2026. Note that at the time of drafting this JOFOC, the LRAP project end date has been been extended to February 2026 but the ICT project end date is still November 2024. If the ICT project is not also extended to the program end date (February 2026), MCC expects the amount of support required from Integra will decrease as some of the labor categories supporting the ICT project will be dropped.

The contractor will provide an increase in critical technical and operational oversight to MCC. Due to circumstances outside of the contractor’s control the Togo threshold program was extended by 15 months. IDG’s services will be required through the new program end date (February 2026) as well as 3 months afterwards to cover closeout and final reporting.

Modifying the existing evaluation contract would avoid duplication of effort and increased costs and is in the best interest of the Government. This approach is both economical and efficient and would allow the evaluation work to continue on the necessary timeline. Integra has provided support to MCC on the Togo threshold program since the program development phase in 2017 and 2018. To preserve consistency in program oversight and due diligence and avoid duplication of efforts and additional cost from bringing in a new evaluator, it is advisable to increase the ceiling and extend the period of performance for the IDG contract.

Due to the time and materials nature of the contract, there is no set list of deliverables. However, in order to support MCC through the new program end date of February 2026 and ensure the threshold program’s sustainability, additional funds and time beyond the allotted 5 years is necessary. IDG’s contract currently ends on September 29, 2024, and the Threshold program ends in February 2026, with an administrative closeout period anticipated (but not yet agreed with the Government of Togo) to conclude by mid-2026.

NOTE: Select the single exception to full and open competition which fits your circumstances. See FAR 6.302 for further explanation of each exception.

☒ Pursuant to 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1), FAR 6.302-1, Only one Responsible Source and No Other supplies of services will satisfy Agency requirements ☐ Pursuant to 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(2), FAR 6.302-2, Unusual and Compelling Urgency ☐ Pursuant to 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(3), FAR 6.302-3, Industrial Mobilization; Engineering, Developmental, or Research Capability; or Expert Services ☐ Pursuant to 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(4), FAR 6.302-4, International Agreement ☐ Pursuant to 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(5), FAR 6.302-5, Authorized or Required by Statute ☐ Pursuant to 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(6), FAR 6.302-6, National Security ☐ Pursuant to 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(7), FAR 6.302-7, Public Interest

See Sections 2 and 4 for a discussion of why/how the noted exception applies to this acquisition.

4. Further describe the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition (i.e. emergency, statutory requirement to use one source) that meets the use of the authority cited.

The contractor has been working on the Togo threshold program since 2018. Maintaining continuity of support, which has been critical to all stages of program development, signature, and implementation, should be prioritized to ensure that MCC continues to be able to carry out successful technical oversight. Moreover, the cost to procure a new contractor at this stage would be prohibitively expensive and likely higher than the additional cost to extend the current contractor’s agreement. To date, the contractor has been working with MCC on the Togo threshold program for over 6 years. The contractor’s team has accumulated a massive knowledge base of high-specific technical knowledge as well as having developed deep relationships with country partners that would be impossible for a new contractor to access. As an organization, the contractor provides continual, high-quality support. Deliverables are received on time (often early and/or on short notice). Costs are managed appropriately, and the contractor is transparent and collaborative when it comes to savings money.

5. Describe efforts made to ensure that offers were solicited from as many potential sources as practical, including whether the action was synopsized as required by FAR Subpart 5.2.

The original solicitation for this requirement was issued on July 26, 2018 under MCC’s DPE/DCO Mission Support Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) in accordance with the procedures at FAR Subpart 13.5. There were 48 vendors that were solicited, of which two (2) responded.

The original requirement was not synopsized in accordance with the exception cited at FAR 5.202(a)(11), “The proposed contract action is made under the terms of an existing contract that was previously synopsized in sufficient detail to comply with the requirements of 5.207 with respect to the current proposed contract action.” Namely, the existing legacy BPA (MCC-13-BPA-0014) was awarded as a result of Solicitation #MCC-13-RFQ-0084, which was synopsized on FedBizOpps (FBO) now SAM.gov.

Integra’s quote was the highest rated against the evaluation criteria with an overall rating of Good. It was also the lowest priced quote. Therefore, no tradeoff evaluation was necessary to determine that Integra’s quote represents the best value to the Government

The evaluation panel noted Integra proposed a strong team of ICT and land experts; many of whom have direct experience in West Africa and Togo. In addition, they proposed a very solid team organization and approach for conducting the two (2) major tasks of the work to be conducted under the contract. Further, Integra has an excellent understanding of the challenges in both sectors and practical approaches for dealing with issues that will arise in supervision.

6. Describe the market research conducted (reference FAR Part 10) or state the reason market research was not conducted.

Market research was conducted by the PM by comparing labor rates to those of similar MCC support contracts. The MCC Threshold team tracks and assesses costs across the various support contracts and currently manages about 6 such contracts – in addition to dozens of other contracts in the Department of Policy and Evaluation that perform similar work, such as for end of program evaluations. The MCC Threshold team tracks and assesses costs across its division-specific contracts and, on the whole, the Department currently manages over 90 such contracts. As for the estimated ODCs to cover the travel, these costs, too, are in line with the costs seen for other, similar, support efforts.

As a form of market research, this particular action (i.e., the contract modification to increase the ceiling and extend the period of performance of this call order) is also being posted on SAM.Gov for five (5) business days.

7. Cite any other facts supporting other than full and open competition for this acquisition.

The contractor has performed high-quality work under a unique set of circumstances: (i) the ICT project does not align with MCC’s traditional core competencies and the contractor brings deep expertise in the sector; (ii) the ICT project with the partner government was revised during the implementation period and the contractor played a key role in developing the adjustments, which would be challenging for a new contractor to take on board after the fact; (iii) and, finally the contractor has established a unique team composed of experts across both of the program’s projects. This team has developed relationships with MCC, the host country government, and with the in-country Government implementation unit, such that changing the team would grind the entire program to a halt, making completion risks a serious possibility.

In considering the justification, it is important to understand the nature of evaluation work. The design and timing of evaluations depends entirely on the design and timing of the project being evaluated. The ideal scenario for an evaluation occurs when a project design and its underlying rationale are clearly articulated upfront and adhered to throughout project implementation, and when implementation takes place on time. This allows for evaluators to design the evaluation in advance, collect baseline data before project interventions begin, and collect midline and/or endline data at a pre-determined date. However, this is not the reality for most development projects, and the evaluations have to adapt to changes to the project along the way. For example, the decision to add or remove a project activity during implementation could require another round or another type of survey of the evaluation in order to accurately or comprehensively measure the project’s results. These types of changes almost always have cost implications. It would be simplest for evaluators to wait until design and implementation are complete before making decisions about the evaluation approach and content of surveys, but this is impossible because baseline studies must be conducted before project implementation begins. Evaluations have to be nimble in order to rigorously measure impacts, and it is not possible for them to predict every project design or implementation change at the time of contract award.

8. List all sources, if any, who expressed in writing an interest in the acquisition.

None identified

9. State the actions, if any, the agency will take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required.

At this time, MCC does not anticipate any future non-competitive actions in relation to this project.

10. Certification of the Managing Director of the Program Office:

I certify that the supporting technical data, which form the rationale for a sole source acquisition, is complete and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Certified by: _________________________________ Date: _______________

11. Contracts & Grant Division Contracting Officer Certification:

Attached is a price determination that the anticipated cost to the Government is fair and reasonable. I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Certified by: _________________________________ Date: _______________

12. Managing Director, Contracts & Grants Division:

Certified by: ________________________________ Date: ________________ (Actions exceeding $1,000,000)

13. Office of General Counsel/Competition Advocate Approval:

Approved by: ______________________________ Date: ________________ (All actions exceeding micropurchase threshold)

July 2019