LSJ - HCBS Bridge _Redacted.pdf

Limited-Sources Justification (LSJ)

FY20-00247 - 1 -

LJS No.: FY20-00247

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple-Award Schedule Program, 41 U.S.C. 152(3), Competitive Procedures, and 40 U.S.C. 501, Services for Executive Agencies.

1. Agency and Contracting Activity.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of Procurement Operations (OPO), Information Technology Acquisition Center (ITAC) proposes to award an order pursuant to FAR 8.405-6(a), Limiting Sources.

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

DHS/OPO intends to limit the number of sources solicited pursuant to FAR Part 8.405-6(a) for the procurement of Technical Support Services for the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO), Human Capital Business Solutions (HCBS).

The proposed contractor to perform the services is listed below:

ECS Federal LLC.

2750 Prosperity Avenue Suite 600

Fairfax, VA 22031

3. Description of Supplies/Services.

The requirement is to provide technical support services to assist HCBS in executing and accomplishing its mission until the requirement is competitively awarded under the DHS Architecture, Development, and Platform Technical Services (ADaPTS) Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA). Specifically, the contractor is required to provide the following support services:

Information technology support services for the Human Capital Segment Architecture (HCSA) Blueprint Program

Acquisition support in the Systems Engineering Life Cycle (SELC) and Acquisition Lifecycle Framework (ALF) frameworks to develop, design, and acquire a centralized Human Capital data repository complete with analytics, reporting and data management capabilities

Technical support for the Human Resource Information Technology (HRIT) Share Services Initiatives

Collaboration, workflow and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Solutions support

ServiceNow Platform Knowledge and Experience Support

FY20-00247 - 2 -

OPO proposes to award an interim bridge task order to ECS Federal under ADaPTS BPA #70RTAC19A00000009 to acquire the services required until a new order is competitively awarded under the ADaPTS BPA.

The estimated value is as follows:

Period Time Frame Total Base: 8/21/2020-12/20/2020 4 months $ Option 1: 12/21/2020-1/20/2021 1 month $

Total: $

4. Authority and supporting rationale.

This acquisition is being conducted under the authority of the Multiple-Award Schedule Program, 41 U.S.C. 152(3), Competitive Procedures, and 40 U.S.C. 501, Services for Executive Agencies, in accordance with FAR 8.405-6(a), Limiting Sources. An award will be made pursuant to FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(B) as 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.

An interim bridge task order with ECS Federal represents the most economical and efficient method of acquiring the services required until the new order is competitively awarded.

HCBS manages the HRIT Portfolio of programs that automate and integrate business processes across all functions of the Human Capital Business Reference Model (HCBRM) by analyzing the existing programs portfolio and customer needs to identify gaps and opportunities for Human Resources (HR) business improvement. ECS Federal supports OCHCO in modernizing its existing business applications to migrate off unsupported platforms and improving the efficiency of OCHCO’s application delivery functions. The continuation of these services by ECS Federal is required to prevent a stoppage in the current systems support and services from occurring and to fully transition to a potential replacement vendor during the recompete. If HCBS had to precipitously transition to another vendor without proper knowledge transfer, unnecessary delays may occur and additional transition time would be required to educate the new vendor. A disruption of the HCBS Program operations will cause OCHCO and DHS to regress in efforts to reduce unsupported platforms’ security risks, replace outdated policies, automate manual time-consuming processes, identify and implement shared services solutions, system development and customer satisfaction. If security risks associated with unsupported platforms are not reduced, DHS would remain exposed to data breaches of confidential and/or protected information. In addition, as a result of disruption in replacing outdated policies and automating manual processes, DHS would be at risk of not complying with any new laws and regulations issued by DHS, as the vendor is required to analyze all DHS-wide laws and regulations, and not addressing new systems and technology that are necessary to support the OCHCO’s operations, which result in inconsistent practices.

FY20-00247 - 3 -

Only ECS Federal possesses the immediate knowledge to continue uninterrupted technical support at a sufficient level to meet the OCHCO’s missions until a new order is competitively awarded under the ADaPTS BPA. If a new order was competed and awarded, the awardee may require approximately 60 days for transitioning-in, to include onboarding and training of staff to establish the necessary skills for the requirement. Additionally, there would be a learning curve with the new contractor during which service degradation would impede OCHCO’s operations. Only ECS Federal possesses the cleared employees and the immediate knowledge to continue uninterrupted Technical Support Services and has the capability to operate effectively assisting OCHCO with implementing and managing Cloud-based commodity computing system, maintaining and tracking application service level agreements and performance measurements support, performing application and service compliance and performance monitoring support, planning, developing, and managing enterprise application development and delivery support, providing an integrated approach, etc. Other vendors are not familiar with the current requirements and do not have the ability to source personnel in a short time period to meet requirements without resulting in a gap in service. No other vendors have the immediate capability to support OCHCO with the above-mentioned tasks and lack understanding of the HCBS complex requirements. ECS Federal possesses knowledge of the HCBS complex requirements, which do not rely on documented requirements alone because the requirements affect one another, and the person documenting them has to continuously cross-link, identify and define new requirements as required. The HCBS requirements are complex in nature as their goals and objectives are constantly changing and determined by the findings during document and/or system analysis. The findings can lead to new decisions, directions, or changes in requirements. Without having sufficient knowledge and understanding of the HCBS complex environment and requirements, the vendor will not be able to fully support OCHCO’s operations. The technical support currently being provided is a full range of technical support services to meet those HCBS complex requirements. ECS Federal already possesses a full understanding of the HCBS complex requirements and has the capability to analyze and manage the complex and constantly changing data and provide recommendations for improvement.

Sufficient transition of knowledge and practices is critical to maintaining an acceptable level of risk within the HRIT Portfolio. An interim bridge task order is necessary for ECS Federal to provide knowledge transfer to the new contractor under the ADaPTS BPA.

It is impractical, and not viable, to attempt to award a short-term contract on a competitive basis in the current short time frame to another contractor as the Government is in the current phase of competing an award of the new task order under the ADaPTS BPA. If a competition was held and another (new) contractor received the award at this time, DHS could be required to plan for an additional transition period between ECS Federal and the new contractor and between the new contractor and the new ADaPTS task order awardee. The high risk for potential service and mission disruption, notwithstanding unnecessary and/or duplication of costs from multiple transition periods, is an unacceptable risk.

FY20-00247 - 4 -

The required services are currently being provided by the incumbent, ECS Federal (formerly Blackstone Technology Group), under Contract #47QTCA18D00EP/Task Order #70RTAC19FR0000152. The existing task order is a labor hour (LH) type task order and is set to expire on September 25, 2020; however, the funding on this task order is expected to be fully expended prior to the expiration of the task order, approximately by August 21, 2020. The current order cannot be modified for an additional extension because FAR 52.217- 8 was not incorporated at the time of award. The Government initially planned to award a competitively follow-on task order before September 2020 utilizing the ADaPTS BPA;

however, there were delays in the procurement process due to the following events:

OPO is planning to release a solicitation for the new task order in August 2020, complete the evaluation by September 2020, and make award in late October 2020. The bridge order has a base period of August 21, 2020 – December 20, 2020, including a 2-month transition time. If any schedule delays should be realized, HCBS will require additional time beyond the 4-month base period, thus they request one (1) 1-month option period.

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 order to ECS Federal for the Technical Support Services for HCBS 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. In addition, DHS has already negotiated fair and reasonable prices for the hourly labor rates on the vendor’s ADaPTS BPA. Discounts to the ADaPTS BPA hourly rates will be requested. The contracting officer will ensure the proposed rates are not greater than the rates established on the BPA and ensure the technical expert reviews and determines that the proposed level of effort and labor mix are adequate to satisfy the requirement.

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.

FY20-00247 - 5 -

Market research was conducted with the ADaPTS BPA holders in June 2020. The result of market research indicates that all four (4) vendors (ECS Federal, Booz Allen Hamilton, Sevatec and TechFlow) under the ADaPTS BPA can provide technical support services;

however, ECS Federal is the only vendor that can continue providing the current support services without affecting the DHS/OCHCO/HCBS mission while the requirement is competitively solicited, evaluated, and awarded under the ADaPTs BPA. ECS Federal has the experience and required level of specialized technical expertise to successfully continue and complete the existing requirement.

7. Any other facts supporting the limited-sources justification.

There are no additional facts.

8. A statement of actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to restricted consideration.

Future acquisitions for these services will be competed under the ADaPTS BPA. OPO is currently preparing for a solicitation release for the follow-on task order. The solicitation will be released to all four (4) vendors under the ADaPTS BPA.

9. DHS intends to post this requirement on Beta.SAM.gov pursuant to FAR 8.405-6(a)(2)(i).

FY20-00247 - 6 -

10. Technical/Requirements Personnel Certification.

Pursuant to FAR 8.405-6(c)(2)(x), I certify that this requirement meets the Government’s minimum need and that the supporting data, which form a basis for the Limited-Sources Justification, are accurate and complete.

lt Date

Technical Representative/COR Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer

11. Contracting Officer Certification

Pursuant to FAR 8.405-6(c)(2)(ix), I certify that the Limited-Sources Justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief:

rk Date

Contracting Officer Office of Procurement Operations

12. Approval.

Pursuant to FAR 8.405-6(c)(2)(xi), I hereby determine that the circumstances under FAR 8.405- 6(a)(1)(i)(B) exist.

ia Date

Procuring Activity Advocate for Competition Office of Procurement Operations