LSJ_Final_-_signed.pdf

Limited-Sources Justification (LSJ)

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LSJ No.: 047C-14

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple Award Schedule Program, Title III of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (41 U.S.C. 251, et seq.) and Title 40 U.S.C. 501, Services for Executive Agencies.

1. Agency and Contracting Activity.

The Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) Contracting Office, proposes to award an order using limited competition procedures pursuant to FAR 8, Limited-Sources Justification.

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

USCIS intends to limit the number of sources solicited pursuant to FAR Part 8.405-6 for the procurement of design interaction support for the myUSCIS portal to Proposed Contractor: IDEO LLC, 100 Forest Avenue, Palo Alto, California 94301-1612.

3. Description of Supplies/Services.

The requirement is to provide design interaction support for the myUSCIS portal at a total estimated cost of $508,289. The myUSCIS portal is an element of the digital customer service experience of USCIS’ customer service delivery model. The design support will result in deployable designs that will support USCIS customers with a relationship to more than one applicant such as attorneys, non-profit organizations, families and employers. The requirement includes conducting user-centered research and the development of interaction designs or wireframes that extend upon the designs IDEO LLC created during the performance of USCIS task order number HSSCCG-12-F-00200 (performance of the previous task order was June 13, 2012 through November 22, 2013).

Over the course of the past five months the designs that were created under HSSCCG-12- F-00200 have been approved by USCIS and are in production with IT system developers.

IDEO will also consult with the development team responsible for transforming the designs into functioning software. The period of performance for this order is anticipated to be five (5) months.

4. Authority and supporting rationale.

FAR 8.405-6 (a)(1)(i)(C) In the interest of economy and efficiency, the new work is a logical follow-on to an original Federal Supply Schedule order provided that the original order was placed in accordance with the applicable Federal Supply Schedule ordering procedures. The original order or BPA must not have been previously issued under sole-source or limited-sources procedures.

This acquisition is being conducted under the authority of the Multiple Award Schedule Program, Title III of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 http://uscode.house.gov/

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(41 U.S.C. 251, et seq.) and Title 40 U.S.C. 501 in accordance with FAR 8.405-6, “Limited-Sources Justification.” This procurement is being conducted in the interest of economy and efficiency as a logical follow-on to an original Federal Supply Schedule order #HSSCCG-12-F-00200. The original award was competitively solicited and awarded using the ordering procedures at FAR 8.405. In the performance of task order # HSSCCG-12-F-00200, IDEO LLC, in collaboration with USCIS and USCIS’ customers, developed a comprehensive customer service delivery model, a high fidelity prototype of a new digital customer service experience known as myUSCIS, and a new visual identity system for USCIS’ digital experience. The myUSCIS prototype will serve as the foundation for the new myUSCIS experience for individual customers. The Help Center and myUSCIS portal portions of the myUSCIS experience are in the early stages of development with plans for beta versions to be deployed in the summer of 2014. It is necessary to limit competition for new work described herein as a logical follow-on because transitioning the design work to another design firm will result in the duplication of a significant amount of customer research and interaction design work. The duplication of effort is a result of the fact that the initial IDEO designs which were designed for customers with a one to one interaction are already in production and USCIS is seeking a continuation of these same designs for customers with more than one applicant (one to many interactions), which would require another design firm to conduct research, review the deliverables previously provided and re-create the wireframes that IDEO previously designed for the customization and changes for the one to many interaction. Not only would this transition result in increased costs to the Government for research and design re-work, but as the myUSCIS project is already in the development phases it would result in delays for USCIS’ planned beta release.

5. Determination by the ordering activity contracting officer that the anticipated order represents the best value consistent with FAR 8.404(d).

The contracting officer has determined that issuing the proposed Task Order to IDEO LLC for the design interactions support represents the best value and will result in the lowest overall cost, considering price and administrative costs, to meet the Government’s needs. This order will be placed in accordance with FAR 8.404, “Use of Federal Supply Schedules.” The General Services Administration (GSA) has already negotiated fair and reasonable pricing rates and discounts to these GSA schedule rates will be requested.

Prior to issuance of the task order, the ordering activity will analyze the mix of labor and rates proposed to perform the specific task being ordered in order to determine that the total price is reasonable. The contractor’s proposed labor mix, number of hours for each labor category and rates will be compared to the Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE) and other GSA contractor’s labor rates that provide similar services.

Additionally, the contractor’s labor mix and rates will also be compared to the historical order (HSSCCG-12-F-00200), as the historical order was established through competition.

6. A description of the market research conducted among schedule holders and the results, or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

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Market research was conducted with several GSA schedule holders in the SIN 874-1 and several other design firms were found to have the knowledge and skill set required to perform the work. USCIS proposes however, in the interest of economy and efficiency, that IDEO LLC continue with the design work as they have already conducted an extensive amount of research and interaction design and in order to achieve similar results and extend the designs properly another design firm would have to duplicate research previously done and re-create the wireframes that IDEO previously designed.

Additionally, market research identified that IDEO’s labor rates are priced comparably to the other design firm labor rates under GSA schedule SIN 874-1 contracts.

7. Any other facts supporting the justification.

In the interest of economy and efficiency, some benefits of pursuing a logical follow-on with IDEO for this work include:

• Faster development of designs and wireframes that extend the myUSCIS designs to customers that have filed immigration benefits on behalf of multiple immigrants.

• Increased consistency in the designs since the vendor that designed myUSCIS would be developing the extended design using established relationships with customers, constant design parameters for wireframes, and the same interaction design methodology.

• Cost avoidance of $195,316 is estimated as the anticipated level of effort is significantly increased for a firm with limited knowledge of USCIS, the services it offers, our customer service delivery model and our customers and conduct additional research on the user experience. It is anticipated that a different firm when given the prototypes and research deliverables previously completed will still require an additional five to six weeks to bridge this knowledge gap. This $195,316 estimated cost would increase the current IGCE of $508, 289 by 38%.

• Additionally, as myUSCIS has been designated as a Flagship Initiative by DHS in its OMB Open Government Plan and will be a signature initiative on the President’s Management Agenda, it is a critical project, and a logical follow-on with IDEO will increase the likelihood that USCIS will produce a high functioning quality design that will be applied timely to the beta versions of the myUSCIS anticipated to be deployed in the summer of 2014.

8. A statement of actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to restricted consideration (i.e., limited-sources) before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made.

The continuation of the interaction design support being proposed is for the continuation of the myUSCIS portal designs for interactions for customers that have a relationship with more than one applicant (one to many interactions) with the firm that created the interactions for customers that have a one to one interaction to ensure consistency in the design. Once the prototype for the alternate set of customers is completed the baseline to launch the portal will be formulated and all future design interaction support will focus on new and expanded functionality of the myUSCIS portal and the government intends to

Limited-Sources Justification (tSO seek competition in future acquisitions for design interaction support for the myUSCIS initiative, thus eliminating the barriers to competition.

9. DHS intends to post this requirement on Fedbizopps pursuant to FAR 8.a05-6(a)(2)(i).

I 0. Technical/Requirements Personnel Certification.

Pursuant to FAR 8.a05-6(c)(2Xx), I certiry that this requirement meets the Govemment's minimum need and that the supporting dat4 which form a basis for the justification, are accurate and complete.

*/u /z"rl Date

11. Approval:

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

lleiaorc1 DateNot exceeding

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