Justification _ Approval FAR Part13 - Decision Aid Follow On Survey (Signed).pdf

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Office of Procurement, Acquisition and Logistics (OPAL)

Strategic Acquisition Center (SAC) 10300 Spotsylvania Ave. STE 400

Fredericksburg, VA 22408

SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION UNDER SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURES FOR

CERTAIN COMMERCIAL ITEMS IN ACCORDANCE WITH FEDERAL ACQUISITION

REGULATION (FAR) 13.501

1. Contracting Activity.

This sole source justification under simplified procedures for certain commercial items is executed by the Strategic Acquisition Center (SAC), on behalf of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

2. The nature and/or description of the action being approved, This proposed action is for a nine-month firm fixed-price (FFP) order for the procurement of the VHA National Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (NCPTSD) office follow on Decision Aid Survey. This procurement is to complete the sample needed to aid in the revision of the PTSD Treatment Decision Aid and to answer related research questions about the most effective ways to present information to individuals suffering from PTSD.

The National Center for PTSD needs to conduct a follow-on survey of American adults who screen positive for PTSD on the Primary Care PTSD Screen for DSM-5 (PC-PTSD- 5). VHA has previously purchased these services from IPSOS Public Affairs LLC, under Contract 36C10G18D0091; Order 36C10G22F0023, from (August 29, 2022, through April 14, 2023), and this proposed contract order follow on will continue the procurement of such services. This activity proposes to award a non-competitive sole source order to IPSOS Public Affairs LLC, a Large Business.

3. A description of the services required.

VA has a requirement to conduct PTSD analysis follow-on Decision Aid survey using the previous survey techniques and response questionnaire developed by IPSOS Public Affairs LLC. Total number of completed survey participants will be 500, to be divided as follows: at least 10% female Veterans, at least 15% female non-Veterans, at least 10% male Veterans and at least 15% male non-Veterans. There will be 800 surveyed personnel from the IPSOS dataset distributed to ensure response of 500 participants.

All 500 completed must screen positive for PTSD using the Primary Care PTSD Screen for DSM-5 (PC-PTSD-5).

While there was an existing PTSD Decision Aid contract (36C10G18D0091; Order 36C10G22F0023) with IPSOS Public Affairs LLC, the required survey participant numbers of 300 responses were inadequate. This follow-on order will increase the response rate to be 800.

Strategic Acquisition Center (SAC)

4. The statutory authority permitting sole source.

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C.1901 as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.501(a)(1)(ii) entitled, “Sole Source Justification Under Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items In Accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation.”

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

Ipsos Public Affairs LLC has the names and addresses of the originally surveyed personnel. No other company has this information. They also have the questions used on the original survey, which no one has either and the dataset/database to combine the results into a complete survey report, as the Government only receives the datasets and not all respondent information or those who were contacted from the IPSOS database. This ensures the sample is comprised of the original baseline results in the comprehensive survey completed in the Summer 2022 – Spring 2023.

Ipsos Public Affairs offers the following unique services:

a. National experience in the survey of the 4,075 U.S. military veterans originally surveyed.

b. The sole knowledge of the names, addresses, phone numbers, and or emails to provide the original baseline of veterans and civilians with PTSD.

c. The sole knowledge of the base weights including probability of selection and post stratification weights generated by statisticians to permit generalizability of survey results to the broader population in U.S. Veterans and civilians with

PTSD.

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

On March 29th, 2023, a pre-solicitation notice for the acquisition of PTSD treatment Decision Aid was issued on SAM.gov. No responses with capability statements were received.

7. Fair and reasonable No award shall be made until the Contracting Officer determines the cost to the Government to be fair and reasonable. This determination will be based on a comparison of current contract pricing, an Independent Government Cost Estimate, past proposal submissions (if available), and other information as made available.

Strategic Acquisition Center (SAC)

8. A description of the market research conducted and the results or the reason market research was not conducted.

In the original requirement 36C10G18D0091; TO 3610G22F0023, a notice was issued on July 13, 2022, to all holders of the Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) which resulted in no other vendor responding than IPSOS. All vendors were provided the opportunity to provide their capabilities, however, none were received. An RFI was issued on March 29, 2023, to determine if any source was capable of performing the services required with the dataset, database, and weights previously determined by

IPSOS.

9. Any other facts supporting the use of sole source.

None

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

An RFI was issued on SAM.gov on March 29, 2023, to show capabilities to meet the requirements of the follow-on acquisition. No responses with capability statements were received.

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.

The Government will not continue to conduct market research to ascertain if there are changes in the marketplace that would enable future actions to be competed, as this a follow-on and the survey will end with the results generated. No other orders for this Decision Aid survey shall be conducted.

12. Technical and Requirements Certification:

I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in this J&A, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Signature: _________________________________ Date: ____________ Sadie E. Larsen, PhD Psychologist, National Center for PTSD

Strategic Acquisition Center (SAC)

13. Contracting officer certification that the justification is accurate and complete to the best of the contracting officer ’s knowledge and belief.

I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. As this action does not exceed $750,000, the certification below required by FAR 13.501(a)(2)(i) serves as approval.

Signature: _________________________________ Date: ____________ Mauricio Vazquez Chief, Acquisitions Services Division 4A Contracting Officer