Limited Source-18F1255 extension 12 14 20 for MOD 7.pdf

LIMITED SOURCE JUSTIFICATION

1. Agency, Contracting Activity and Document

The National Science Foundation proposes a Limited Source Justification (LSJ) for a modification to task order 18F1255 under GSA Schedule 70 with Civic Actions, Inc.

to increase the level of support required and authorize additional support. The contracting activity is the Division of Acquisition and Cooperative Support (DACS).

This document justifies using a limited source.

2. Action Being Approved

The National Science Foundation awarded task order (18F1255) under GSA Schedule 70, SIN 132-51 to Civic Actions on August 7, 2018 for Agile Information Technology Services in support of the ongoing website modernization process. This task order was issued for the Information Dissemination Branch (IDB) of the Division of Administrative Services. The task order was subsequently moved to the Division of Information Systems. The entire task order is currently valued at $4,353,207.46. The order was issued to obtain contractor support to replace the current NSF.gov with a new site that is hosted in NSF’s cloud at Amazon Web Services (AWS) and using Drupal 8 for the CMS functionality. Due to unanticipated delays in access to a development and production environment at Amazon Web Services (AWS), as well as in establishing the infrastructure for a full CI/CD pipeline, the project is behind schedule. This action documents the need for additional hours to extend the period of performance in order to complete the procurement process for the follow-on contract.

3. Description of Services/Supplies

During the remaining months of performance, the contractor will continue to provide work on the development and production environment and establish the infrastructure for a full CI/CD pipeline. The contractor will also advise on technical strategies and government best practices to assist in the future integration or development of sites like seedfund.nsf.gov and the Multimedia Gallery within NSF's Drupal infrastructure. They will be expected to research and advise on whether integration with existing third-party services (such as WebDam) is feasible within reasonable developmental costs and suggest alternate solutions that align with government best practices.

The total cost for additional work is $608.922.33,000, which increases the award to $4,962,129.79.

4. Justification Rationale

This is a sole source in the government’s best interest based on FAR 8.405- 6(a)(1)(B) as a logical follow-on to an order issued under competition. FAR 8.405-66(a)(1)(B) describes circumstances that may justify restriction of sources.

This modification fits closely under the circumstances stated under FAR 8.405- 6(a)(1)(B) which indicates “Only one source is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services are unique or highly specialized”.

This previous award was solicited among GSA schedule 70 vendors as indicated above. NSF received 5 quotations in response to the solicitation. Awarding a bridge contract to a new contractor for 3.5 months is impractical given the NSF’s onboarding policy and the work required to get a new contractor acclimated.

The NSF.gov modernization project is an agency initiative that is being reported on the agency’s IT dashboard. In order to meet expectations internally to CPIC, senior management and to NSF webmasters, and externally to OMB, this surge in resources is necessary if the project is to reach the FY21 milestone of taking over as the primary NSF web site.

The resources provided by the contractor have acquired an in-depth knowledge of NSF technology and content requirements. The work they are doing in creating U.S.

Web Design System components for Drupal is of such a high quality that they have been made a co-maintainer of the module. Any new contractor would have to understand NSF’s grant process and funding opportunity data well enough to build a working data model in Drupal. A new team could spend most of a year learning the existing databases and proposed Drupal content model. The delays from onboarding and the learning curve for NSF systems and content would make a recompete cost ineffective, prohibitively expensive, and prevent or delay the deployment of the new funding search, funding lists, directorate and division home pages, and new main home page.

5. Determination of Best Value

The contracting officer has determined that the anticipated cost to the Government will represent the best value consistent with FAR 8.404(d) based on an analysis of the cost proposal for this work and a comparison with the cost of the work proposed under the original task order issued under NSF 18F1255.

6. Market Research Market research was not conducted in this instance because we are extending the current contract by 3.5 months, which would be impractical to obtain a contractor to complete the required work for this duration. Due to factors explained in paragraph 4 above, market research was not pursued. However, market research has been conducted for the follow-on award and NSF found 8 viable candidates to solicit.

7. Additional Facts:

This extension is being accomplished under the authority of the Multiple Award Schedule Program.

8. Removing Barriers to Competition

This modification extends the February 6, 2021 end date of the original agreement to May 21, 2021. There will be a new competition for site development and maintenance in fiscal 2021.NSF is in the process of conducting a procurement and anticipates award of the new contract by April 21, 2021.

9. Certifications/Coordinations/Approval

Contracting Officer:

I assure that a detailed analysis will be performed on all proposed prices to assure that they are fair and reasonable. I also certify that this Limited Source Justification is complete and accurate.

Katrina Barry 2/9/2021

Katrina Barry