Limited_Source_Justification_ID05170042_r_Redacted.pdf

Limited Sources Justification and Approval Under the Authority of FAR 8.405-6, Multiple Award Schedule Program

1. Identification of the Contracting Activity and the Requiring Agency: The Contracting Activity is the General Services Administration (GSA), Federal Acquisition Service’s, Contracting Division. The requiring activity is the National Geospatial- Intelligence Agency Analytic Technology Office (NGA/ATT).

2. Nature/Description of Action

It is the intent of the NGA to obtain continued professional Information Technology (IT) support services from Moriarty and Associates Consulting Corporation (Moriarty) to support a classified Warfighter Lab Innovation Fund (WLIF) project. This limited source task order will continue the WLIF project that was competitively awarded to Moriarty on behalf of the NGA through the use of a SPAWAR technical services contract supporting the Deployed Interoperable Node for GIAT Operations (DINGO). The requested action will be issued as a GSA Task Order against Moriarty’s Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) 70 contract and will begin on or about June 1, 2017, ending one year later, on May 31, 2018. A one year option period is also included in this request, should additional support be needed to finalize this project.

3. Description of Supplies and Services This WLIF project will deliver and finalize an operational capability out of previous work conducted by Moriarty by completing additional airborne data collection and additional validation of the tools and techniques previously used to include integration and demonstration of the tools in an operationally representative environment. These collections will support final integration of tools to accomplish the classified operational goals against the targets of interest, which will ideally be further validated by additional collection with an operational DoD aircraft. Additional details of the effort are available through classified channels. The estimated dollar value of this task order is $649,530.00.

4. The authority and supporting rationale for limiting the source for a follow-on task order

Pursuant to FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(B), 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. Those conditions are met in this case.

NGA relies upon Moriarty’s proven ability to adapt to a dynamic work environment and provide reliable solutions to complex problems. Moriarty was initially tasked with providing technical services for the integration of the surrogate system in May of 2015.

Five months later Moriarty had successfully completed the first iteration of the surrogate system integration and onsite testing. Moriarty has supported the worldwide deployed DINGO system since 2008. Moriarty has supported the Over-the-Horizon Full Motion Video (OTH-FMV) project since inception. Moriarty deployed and demonstrated OTH- FMV at various locations and operational environments, to include integrating onboard the Stiletto naval vessel and the Polaris Ranger Utility Task Vehicle (UTV). Moriarty received commendations for their “planning, hard work, and in situ problem solving.”

This highly specialized experience is invaluable and unique to Moriarty.

Using another contractor to perform the technical services would require substantially more testing and data analysis due to the complex equipment involved. Essentially, Moriarty’s inclusion in this requirement reduces the inference of inaccurate data validation to the project as a whole. Any other contractor’s support increases additional variables into the data, thereby weakening the data previously verified. Another contactor would disrupt the testing schedule because a new contractor would present performance delays, particularly as it would lack the unique expertise and experience which Moriarty has amassed as a result of their experience with the DINGO system. In light of these risks, and in the interest of economy and efficiency, the NGA seeks a task order with Moriarty for continued services and support of the surrogate system. This will ensure that the NGA’s testing and validation is completed timely without incurring duplicative costs.

Upon being advised of the above-referenced rationale and reviewing the classified information, the current GSA contracting officer concurred with the NGA ATT Director’s decision to pursue this task order to Moriarty. The services Moriarty will provide are not only unique in nature, they are a logical follow-on and continuation of the previous work that was competitively awarded to Moriarty. While the previous order was not issued as a schedule order; having Moriarty complete the services under a GSA MAS task order is in the NGA’s best interest and ensures economy and efficiency.

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

On August 17, 2015 Moriarty was awarded a contract under GSA MAS 70. GSA’s schedule procedures provide agencies with a simplified process for obtaining commonly used commercial supplies and services, FAR § 8.401(a), and, although streamlined, satisfy the requirement for full and open competition. 41 U.S.C. § 259(b)(3) (2006); FAR § 6.102(d)(3). See Perot Systems Government Services, Inc., B-402138, 2010 CPD ¶ 64.

GSA schedule contracts require all schedule contractors to publish an "Authorized Federal Supply Schedule Pricelist." FAR 8.402(b). The pricelist contains all supplies and services offered by a schedule contractor. Id. Of relevance here, services listed on the schedules are priced either at hourly rates (the case here), or at a fixed price for performance of a specific task. Because prices in schedule contracts already have been determined by GSA to be fair and reasonable, ordering activities are not required to make a separate determination of fair and reasonable pricing prior to issuing an order against a schedule contract. FAR 8.404(d). However, ordering activities may seek additional discounts before placing an order. Id.

In this case, the Contracting Officer has determined that adequate technical and pricing information is available to determine that the anticipated cost to the Government of the services covered by this task order will be fair and reasonable. The Government will utilize the posted IT Schedule 70 labor rates from Moriarty and other Schedule 70 Holders to compare to the labor hours and rates proposed by Moriarty for this task order award. The Government will also analyze Moriarty’s proposed labor rates, labor mix and labor hours against their historical pricing.

11. Written Determination by Approval Official(s)

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby determine that the circumstances of FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(B), “Limited Sources” which states, “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,” applies to this order.

APPROVED: