LSJ for Transportation and Prisoner Security Support Services BPA.pdf

LIMITED SOURCE JUSTIFICATION

U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE

PRISONER OPERATIONS DIVISION

1. Identification of the agency and contracting activity.

The agency is the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The contracting activity is the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), Prisoner Operations Division (POD), Office of Detention Services (ODS), Procurement Services Branch.

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

The USMS requires a contractual vehicle for prisoner transportation services to replace services currently being performed under the USMS private prisoner detention Contract Number ODT-9-R-0004 awarded to the Management & Training Corporation (MTC), 500 North Marketplace Dr., P.O. Box 10, Centerville, UT 84014, a large business, and Contract Number 15M40018DA3500001 awarded to The GEO Group, Inc. (GEO), 621 NW 53rd Street, STE 700, Boca Raton, FL 33487, a large business. Both contracts will expire on September 30, 2021.

In addition to the Southern District of California and the Southern District of Texas, the USMS may require services at other locations impacted by the Executive Order Reforming Our Incarceration to Eliminate the Use of Privately Operated Criminal Detention Facilities.

The Executive Order prohibits the DOJ to exercise any private prison facility contract options; therefore, the remaining options on the before mentioned contracts cannot be exercised and no new contracts can be awarded. This effort is not to replace the current private prisoner detention contracts. This effort is to acquire transportation support services in USMS Districts impacted by the Executive Order.

This requirement will be awarded as a sole-source, single award Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA).

The period of performance for the proposed BPA is one (1), one-year base year with no option periods.

The period of performance estimated start date is September 24, 2021 through September 23, 2022.

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

The USMS has a continuing need for transportation and prisoner security support services to transport prisoners outside of secured facilities. The contractor will provide transportation support services for the USMS prison population. The contractor will be responsible for the movement/transportation of prisoners designated to the institution as requested in writing by the USMS.

Examples of circumstances requiring prisoner movement/transportation include but are not limited to outside medical care; transfer or movement to/from other Government facilities; and airlift sites.

Transportation procedures shall ensure staff and prisoner security, safety, and utilize restraint equipment identical to the USMS when one-for-one equipment exchange is required (e.g., airlifts).

The government total estimated dollar value for the support services is $4.0 million for the one (1)year of performance.

4. The authority and supporting rationale (see 8.405-6(a)(1)(i) and (b)(1)) and, if applicable, a demonstration of the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications to provide the required supply or service.

Authority

The authority cited for this Limited Source Justification is statue 48 CFR § 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(A) which permits limited sources when, “An urgent and compelling need exists, and following the procedures would result in unacceptable delays[.]”

The proposed contractor is:

The GEO Group, Inc.

621 NW 53rd Street, STE 700 Boca Raton, FL 33487-8242.

Supporting Rationale

The government’s current contracts with MTC and GEO provide detention support services and includes ancillary transportation services to support the contract requirements. The MTC and GEO contracts will expire on September 30, 2029 and September 30, 2027 respectively if all options are exercised. However, the Executive Order on Reforming Our Incarceration to Eliminate the Use of Privately Operated Criminal Detention Facilities signed on January 26, 2021, prohibits USMS from exercising options on privately operated criminal detention facilities. Thus, the current contracts along with the transportation services will expire on September 30, 2021.

The government still has a need for prisoner transportation services beyond September 30, 2021 in the USMS Districts. A sole-source BPA award acquisition strategy is in the best interest of the government for the following reasons:

As a result of the Executive Order, POD was unable to define the transportation requirements until early August 2021 due to various issues and concerns regarding the relocation of prisoners in the affected facilities. Thus, POD does not have sufficient time to conduct a proper competitive acquisition for a requirement of this size, scope and complexity which will require approximately 18 to 24 months to successfully execute. The lack of time to complete a competitive acquisition is not a consequence of POD failing to conduct adequate procurement planning. It is an outcome of responding to everchanging operational demands. Moreover, with contract options still available on the private detention facility contracts as of October 1, 2020, there was no reasonable expectation that the contract options would not be exercised as usual.

A sole-source BPA award will allow USMS to continue to perform one of its core mission responsibilities which is to transport USMS prisoners throughout the United States and its territories. In the absence of a contract to provide prisoner transportation services, the USMS will not be able to transport federal prisoners for court appearances, medical facilities for treatment and other moves that necessitate the movement of prisoners. The absence of transportation services will not only impact the USMS, but it will also have serious effects on the judicial process.

Unique Qualifications

GEO’s unique qualifications include its ability to provide the transportation services and vehicles within most of the USMS Districts effected by the expiration of the private facility contracts. GEO also has provided many years of successful performance under several USMS contracts. GEO’s qualifications and successful performance will ensure a seamless transition to the proposed BPA; thus, minimizing service interpretations. POD’s market research did not identify any other contractor that is capable of fulfilling the government’s requirements.

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

The Contracting Officer (CO) hereby determines that this action represents the best value to the government in accordance with FAR 8.404(d). Since GSA has already determined the prices of the services under Federal Supply Schedule contracts, including rates for services offered at fixed hourly rates, to be fair and reasonable; and by placing a BPA against a schedule contract 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. In addition, the CO shall seek additional discounts before awarding a BPA.

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

Sources Sought Announcements

The acquisition strategy prior to posting two individual sources sought announcements was to award two separate transportation contracts. One contract for the USMS Southern District of California and another for the USMS Southern District of Texas. After closer inspection of the transportation requirements over the next six to eight months, it was determined to be in the best interest of the government to award a BPA in order to provide potential services to other Districts experiencing the closure of facilities. Below are the results of the two notices that were posted to SAM.gov.

A sources sought notification titled Sources Sought Transportation & Prisoner Security S/TX Notice ID 15M40012SS00002 was posted to SAM.gov on July 19, 2021 for transportation and prisoner security services. An amendment was posted to SAM.gov on August 11, 2021 to post the Questions and Answers to questions received from potential offerors. The post closed on August 13, 2021, at 1 p.m.

EDT. There was one (1) response to the notice, The GEO Group, Inc. (GEO).

A second sources sought notification titled Sources Sought Transportation & Prisoner Security S/CA Notice ID 15M40021SS00003 was posted to SAM.gov on July 19, 2021 for transportation and prisoner security services. An amendment was posted to SAM.gov on August 12, 2021 to post the Questions and Answers to questions received from potential offerors. The post closed on August 13, 2021, at 1 p.m. EDT. There were two (2) responses to the notices, GEO, and Starside Security & Investigations Inc.

The results of the announcements appear to support that GEO is the only contractor capable and willing of providing transportation services in both regions which is the government’s current requirement.

Review of Past Procurements

There are no USMS past procurement records for standalone transportation services to review. There is an assisted acquisition GSA BPA for Detention Officer Services and Prisoner Transportation Services BPA. The agreement was issued and is administered by GSA. ODS did request the pre-award files from GSA and has yet to receive the files.

While the pre-award files were not readily accessible at the time of this document, ODS did review the BPA PWS and found that the services for the new requirement are similar to the services listed in the GSA BPA; however, the current BPA services were determined to be out-of-scope in terms of scope and complexity compared to the new requirement.

ODS was able to review unsolicited proposals for these services. There were two unsolicited proposals provided by GEO for various transportation services in the Southern Districts of Texas and California.

The proposals were provided over a year ago and is not related to this acquisition. The results of the review were that the proposals were thoroughly written and demonstrated GEO understood the Districts’ requirements.

Review of GSA’s Acquisition Gateway Solution Finder (Category Management)

ODS researched Acquisition Gateway, Solutions Finder in order to search for a solution; however, none was found for prisoner transportation services under DOJ. A more extensive use of category management will be employed for the acquisition of the long-term prisoner transportation services contract.

Other – Review of Federal Supply Schedules

ODS researched the GSA website looking for GSA schedules related to this government requirement and found the GSA Schedule 84. This schedule will be instrumental with developing the acquisition strategy for the future competitive acquisition.

7. Any other facts supporting the justification.

As noted in Section 4 of this LSJ, the USMS will not be able to fully execute its mission without transportation services. The services are currently being provided by private prison facility contractors as ancillary services to the detention contracts. The inability to access transportation services will have a significant impact on the USMS’ capabilities to provide safe, secure, and humane custody, housing, medical care, and transportation for federal prisoners throughout the United States and its territories. In addition, the absence of the services will impact the integrity of the federal judicial process in the Districts where the USMS will lose transportation services.

A one-year period of performance is the minimum acceptable period to meet mission requirements while the ODS prepares and conducts a competitive acquisition for these services. A shorter period of performance for the proposed BPA is not advisable due to the procurement schedule minimum amount of time essential for an acquisition of this size, scope, and complexity. To suggest a shorter period of performance may jeopardize awarding a replacement contract vehicle on time and may require extensions to the proposed BPA in order to successfully complete a future acquisition for these services.

8. A statement of 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.

POD shall conduct market research in accordance with FAR Part 10 and will take the necessary actions to remove restrictive barriers and incumbent advantage for the re-compete acquisition so that all qualified potential offerors have a fair opportunity to compete for the new contractual vehicle.