JOFOC_Executedkm.pdf

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

NBIS Tier 2 Help Desk Support

1. Identification of the agency and contracting activity.

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) Contracting and Procurement Office (CPO) has entered a contract on a basis of other than full and open competition on behalf of the National Background Investigation Services (NBIS) program management office.

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

Contract No. HS002124C0003, executed February 2, 2024, is an undefinitized letter contract with GovCIO, LLC. Pursuant to FAR 6.302-2(c) and 6.303-1(e), DCSA has prepared this justification within a reasonable time after contract award because the contracting officer determined that preparation and approval prior to award would have caused unreasonable delay under the circumstances.

3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including estimated value).

Once completed, NBIS will be the Federal Government’s information technology system for end-to-end personnel vetting—from initiation and application to background investigation, adjudication, and continuous vetting. Presently, among other functions, NBIS provides the Government with personnel vetting alerts pertaining to cleared Federal and contractor employees. As explained in Section 5, this functionality is particularly relevant to this justification.

DCSA requires approximately 15 to 20 full-time equivalent Tier 2 Help Desk personnel to address about 1,800 NBIS Help Desk trouble tickets that are escalated by Tier 1 each month.

These tickets must be addressed within seven calendar days of receipt. To fulfill this need, DCSA awarded Contract No. HS002124C0003 on February 2, 2024, with a period of performance of February 5, 2024, through August 4, 2024, at an undefinitized obligation amount of $1,000,000.00. The total not-to-exceed price over the six-month performance period is $2,500,000.00.

4. Identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C. 1901 as implemented by FAR subpart 13.5.

5. A demonstration that the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited.

DCSA required use of the authority at 10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(2) because the lack of NBIS Tier 2 Help Desk support posed a national security threat of unusual and compelling urgency that precluded the possibility of full and open competition.

Historically, DCSA has had Tier 1 and Tier 3 Help Desk support for NBIS, which had been adequate to address trouble tickets. Prior to October 2023, NBIS experienced small, manageable ticket increases from month to month. These incremental increases peaked in September 2023, when Tier 1 escalated approximately 450 tickets for Tier 3 resolution. But starting in October, ticket submissions surged. Following fixes to the NBIS software in September that DCSA expected to reduce the quantity of trouble tickets, the opposite occurred: the quantity of tickets escalated to Tier 3 doubled to 900. Then, in November, the number doubled again to 1,800 following the transition of accounts from the legacy eQIP system to the NBIS eApp. Monthly escalations to Tier 3 have remained at approximately 1,800 ever since. Initially, DCSA assigned a combination of Federal and contractor personnel to provide ad hoc support to address the influx, but this proved inadequate to address demand. Ultimately, Tier 3 could no longer keep pace, and a ticket backlog formed.

By February 1, 2024, there were 1,456 unresolved NBIS Help Desk tickets open with an average age of 58 days—significantly greater than the ticket resolution standards established by the NBIS Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) processes. The NBIS ITSM processes establish resolution periods of one day for Priority 1 incidents, up to three days for Priority 2 incidents, up to five days for Priority 3 incidents, and up to seven days for Priority 4 incidents. Thus, on average each ticket exceeded the allowable resolution standard by a minimum of 828%. (In reality, however, because the backlog includes a range of priority levels, the discrepancy is actually much higher.)

The sustained inability of DCSA to address incoming tickets on a timely basis posed a national security risk because some of these tickets pertained to personnel vetting alerts, which warn the Government of events that indicate a change in a cleared individual’s risk profile. Leaving such tickets unaddressed for an extended period could potentially allow these individuals, whose clearance DCSA might otherwise have suspended or revoked, continue to access Government facilities or classified information. Allowing uncleared individuals access to classified materials and facilities poses risk of catastrophic harm to the Government and the country. The immediate provision of Tier 2 Help Desk support under this authority helped to mitigate this risk by enabling DCSA to review and respond to trouble tickets pertaining to personnel vetting alerts on a much timelier basis.

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

On or around January 25, 2024, DCSA approached three contractors it believed could perform this work to assess their ability to respond to the Government’s aggressive performance schedule. The first, ASRC Federal, did not respond to the Government’s phone call or voicemail. The second, Akima, LLC, indicated it would need time to assess its subsidiaries to determine which would be most capable of performing this work. Even then, it did not have an immediate plan for onboarding personnel on a timetable that would align with the Government’s requirement. The third, GovCIO, LLC, responded immediately with the names of individuals working on other DCSA contracts it could realign right away to support this work without impacting performance under the other contracts. By the next day, GovCIO had provided a phased onboarding plan composed of temporary and permanent personnel.

At that point, the contracting officer determined that any formal competition would not be practicable under the circumstances. DCSA had identified a contractor willing and able to start work immediately upon contract execution; spending additional time seeking other contractors who could do the same would have been antithetical to the Government’s objective. Each day without support deepened the ticket backlog and increased risk to the Government. Even a streamlined competition would have increased the potential for harm, as it still would have required DCSA to explain the work and the program to other contractors, consider the ability of each contractor to do the work, respond to contractor questions, and wait for contractor personnel to onboard.

Competition also would have created an opportunity cost for the Government, as DCSA had limited resources devoted to awarding this contract, and those resources were fully burdened from the moment this requirement was identified until contract award. Any time spent on soliciting, evaluating, and negotiating competitive proposals for this contract would have taken away time from other activities integral to the award of this contract and extended the pre-award timeline. For these reasons, it would not have been practicable for DCSA to solicit offers for this work.

Nevertheless, in accordance with FAR 5.201, DCSA did synopsize a notification of intent to award a contract to GovCIO on a sole-source basis. DCSA posted the notice to www.sam.gov on January 29, 2024, at 8:00 p.m. ET. The notice closed the following day at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Three contractors submitted responses to DCSA expressing interest in this work either immediately or at the conclusion of the letter contract: KPaul, Southern Background Services, and Inserso. Due to reasons discussed above, DCSA did not consider any of these contractors for award.

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

The contracting officer will ensure that the definitized contract price is fair and reasonable.

The contractor is utilizing publicly posted contract rates and commercial labor categories, which the contracting officer anticipates will aid with price analysis.

8. A description of the market research conducted (FAR Part 10) and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

See Section 6 of this document for a description of market research efforts.

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

No further information.

10. A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.

See Section 6 of this document for the names of sources that expressed interest.

11. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required, if subsequent acquisitions are anticipated.

DCSA does not foresee any long-term barriers to competition for this work. In the immediate term, the only barrier is time. The next contract for this work will be part of a much larger and more costly scope of work. To award that contract within the current six-month performance period, DCSA intends to non-competitively offer the successor contract into the 8(a) Program for a two-year period of performance. Thereafter, while that contract is ongoing, DCSA then plans to hold a competitive, 8(a) set-aside source selection for a five-year period of performance.

Certification

Program Official:

I certify that the facts and representations under my cognizance, which are included in this justification and which form its basis, are complete and accurate.

X Program Official

Contracting Officer:

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

Contracting Officer

Reviews and Approvals

Advocate for Competition:

I have reviewed this justification and find it to be accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. Since this JOFOC does not exceed $15M, this review serves as approval.

Activity Advocate for Competition