LSJ_DMI_Signed_Redacted.pdf

Limited Source Justification

“Source Selection Information – see FAR 2.101 and 3.104”

1. Identification of the agency and contracting activity.

a. Federal agency and contracting activity. HHS.

NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Office of Acquisitions

Sponsoring organization. NIH, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) , Office of Information Technology (OIT)

b. Project Officer information.

Project Officer name. John Prue

Mailing address.

NIH, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) , Office of Information Technology (OIT), 6701 Democracy Blvd., Suite 207, Bethesda, MD 20892

E-mail address. john.prue@nih.gov

Telephone number. 301-827-3481

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved. The NIDCR Office of Information Technology at NIDCR, provides a full range of IT support services to the Institute including the Internet website that is the public facing and research partners’ facing website. This action is to add a three (3) month option period to the current contract, #HHSN276201500001B_HHSN26800001 with Digital Management, Inc., to provide technical and transition support following a major release of the NIDCR Internet website in January 2018. The proposed period of performance is December 26, 2017 to March 25, 2018.

a. Acquisition purpose and objectives. Add one (1), three (3) month option period to the current contract to ensure continuity of service while NIDCR finalizes the development of our new Drupal 8 based website, which has been developed by DMI. The Contractor will provide technical support (e.g., bug fixes, investigate reported issues, maintain issue and risk log, minor enhancements, performance monitoring, content updates, release planning and deployment, technical reports) following the major release of the NIDCR public website in January, develop and deploy new functionality, and provide transition planning and execution to ensure a low risk transition to the OIT's internal staff whom will assume Internet development and maintenance for the site afterward.

b. Project background. OIT is responsible for the development of the NIDCR Internet website for the Institute. The NIDCR Internet website provides up-to-date information resulting from the research on a broad range of oral health topics to the public, as well as NIDCR research partners around the world. The NIDCR Internet website is visited by several million people annually. The NIDCR Internet website development and maintenance was contracted to DMI under a previous acquisition.

Due to delays resulting from the unanticipated and long-term leave of absence of two critical NIDCR staff members in our communication office (both over three entire months each), the Internet project suffered work delays.

This three (3) month sole source retention of DMI support is required to complete the project and transition support to NIDCR technical and communications staff. Specifically with this contract, DMI will provide technical support for the launching of the site, provide after-launch technical changes as needed, and provide transition planning and support for the NIDCR Internet website.

(i) Incumbent Contractor: DMI

(ii) Current Period of Performance End: December 25, 2017

(iii) Amount obligated to date: $388,741.90

(iv) Estimated Increase: $42,550.00

(v) There were no contract option periods with this contract as the initial schedule of the work provided for completion within one year of award.

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

a. Project title. Drupal 8 website development project, final phase.

b. Project description. See Statement of Work attached.

Requirement type.

Support services (non-research & development) Information technology (IT)

Type of action.

Additional Work

Proposed contract/order type.

Labor Hour Acquisition identification number.

c. Total estimated dollar value and performance/delivery period.

$431,291/ September 26, 2016 – March 31, 2018

4. Identification of the justification rationale [see 8.405-6(a) and (b)] and, if applicable, a demonstration of the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications to provide the required supply or service.

a. Acquisition authority.

X This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple Award Schedule Program. Consideration of schedule contractors will be restricted to fewer than the number required by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 8.405-6(a)(1).

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple Award Schedule Program. Consideration of schedule contractors will be restricted only to the item peculiar to one manufacturer as provided in FAR 8.405-6(a)(2).

b. Demonstration of the proposed contractor(s) unique qualifications to provide the required supply or service.

Name and address of the proposed contractor(s).

DMI

6550 Rock Spring Dr.

7th Floor Bethesda, MD 20817 T 240.223.4800

Nature of the acquisition and proposed contractor(s) unique qualifications. Research partners of the NIDCR must have continuous access to the NIDCR public website in order to conduct research. The NIDCR Internet website is visited by several million people annually and performs key communication functions for the Institute, including clearly communicating that NIDCR is the nation’s leading sponsor of oral health science research, and providing authoritative, evidence-based information to patients, their families, and health care professionals world-wide. DMI has managed this mission critical project since late 2017. Due to this, they are uniquely positioned to continue to provide this mission critical support until the delayed work can be completed.

This three (3) month sole source option period is required to ensure that any technical issues that may arise after the major January 2018 release of the NIDCR Internet website can be swiftly resolved by the incumbent contractor. Contractor will also provide functionality development and transition services.

5. Determination by the ordering activity Contracting Officer that the order represents the best value consistent with FAR 8.404(d).

By placing an order against a schedule contract (the NLM Administered CIT BPA) using the procedures in FAR 8.405, the ordering activity CO has concluded that the order represents the best value (see FAR 2.101) and results in the lowest overall cost alternative, the determination further states:

(i) additional discounts will be sought before placing an order (see FAR 8.405-4);

(ii) this will be Labor Hour and pricing information will be obtained from the NLM CIT BPA schedule contractor(s) in relation to seeking additional discounts; and

(iii) the pricing is based on the current task order, and the CO will consider the level of effort and the mix of labor proposed and will determine that the total price is reasonable.

6. Description of the market research conducted among schedule holders and the results, or a statement of the reasons market research was not conducted.

Market research was conducted before developing an acquisition strategy for this requirement. Market research for this acquisition consisted of the following:

Using the current Task Order, HHSN276201500001B_HHSN26800001 and established BPA, HHSN276201500001B .

7. Any other facts supporting the justification. None.

8. Statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the restricted consideration before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made.

a. Removal of barriers to competition. This contract will be concluded in 2018, and further support will be provided be existing OIT technical staff.

New requirements arising from the successful operation of the site will follow proper competition guidelines for future needs of this nature.

b. Listing of sources, if any, that expressed an interest, in writing, in the acquisition. None.