LSJ - Qwest Bridge.v3 Executed_Redacted.pdf

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR OTHER-THAN FULL-AND-OPEN COMPETITION

1 CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB), 1700 G STREET, NW WASHINGTON, DC 20552

LIMITED SOURCES JUSTIFICATION

NEW TASK ORDER TO CONTINUE WORK

PERFORMED UNDER

9531CB20F0040

1.0 Agency Name & relevant office(s): Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB” or “the

Bureau”); Technology and Innovation (T&I)

2.0 Nature and/or description of the action being approved, the supplies or services needed, and estimated dollar value.

CFPB intends to award a new firm fixed-priced Task Order, to Qwest Government Services (dba CenturyLink) for Wide Area Network (WAN) services and Internet Access Network Solution services, including additional bandwidth for Sterling and Chicago sites, to replace Task Order 9531CB20F0040, which was issued under General Services Administration’s (GSA) Networx contract, GS00T07NSD0040.

Qwest was awarded as a sole source Task Order (TO) 9531CB20F0040, against the GSA Networx Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) GS00T07NSD0040 on January 21, 2020. The period of performance expired on January 31, 2021. The GSA Networx contract vehicle is ending, and to be able to leverage GSA’s competitively awarded IDIQs for such services, GSA is requiring all new competitive fair opportunities to be competed under GSA’s replacement Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC), Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) IDIQ. To obtain long-term WAN services and Internet Access Network Solution services, CFPB competitively awarded on September 23, 2020 Task Order 9531CB20F0132, to the same vendor (Qwest) against the EIS IDIQ GS00Q17NSD3006. The Bureau intended to transfer these services as soon as practicable after award of the EIS Task Order; however, a task order modification had to be executed between the Bureau and Qwest before the WAN and Internet services could be transferred to EIS and before services orders could be placed on their systems.

This award will be structured with a four (4) month base and two (2), one-month option periods.

The base period will meet the Bureau’s known minimum period of performance need, and the option periods will allow CFPB flexibility to end this Task Order as early as possible, upon the complete transition of the WAN and Internet Services to the EIS Task Order. The Government anticipates being able to transfer all of the WAN services and Internet Access Network Solution services to the EIS Task Order by June 30, 2021.

Estimated value: $2,271,709.20 for the six-month base period, $378,618.20 per month (WAN Services - $ per month and Addtl Bandwidth - $ per month). CFPB has requested and will receive the same pricing from Qwest for this bridge Task Order as it did under 9531CB20F0040, and intends to maintain current pricing and requirements.

3.0 Authority for other-than full-and-open competition (proposed contractor’s unique quals, etc.)

2 CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB), 1700 G STREET, NW WASHINGTON, DC 20552

The period of performance of the current Task Order that provides these services expired on January 31, 2021 and Qwest Government Services in coordination with the CFPB still needs several more months to transition all of the WAN services and Internet Access Network Solution services to the EIS Task Order. This bridge order is being placed under FAR Part 8.405-6 (a)(1)(A), which permits the placing orders if an “urgent and compelling need exists, and following the procedures would result in unacceptable delays.” Failure to continue these critical services will result in key Bureau IT systems and applications becoming inoperable or insufficiently secured.

Issuing a bridge Task Order contract with a potential six-month base period should provide the time necessary to transition all of the WAN and Internet Services from the old Networx Task Order to the newly awarded EIS Task Order.

The critical services that will be performed under this bridge Task Order are:

Managed Firewall Services Managed Network Services Network-Based IP VPN Services (NBIP-VPNS) Vulnerability Scanning Services Co-located Hosting Services Internet Protocol Services Managed Trusted Internet Protocol Services

Continuation of these critical services will assist CFPB with managing and securing key IT network systems and applications that are used by the Bureau. If a lapse were to occur before a complete transition can be executed, fundamental services protecting CFPB network traffic, including the flow of sensitive data, detection of unknown exploits in the Bureau’s network, devices, servers, web applications, databases, or other assets, both on-premise and in the cloud, could be jeopardized.

All of the services in these areas are critical to the CFPB’s entire infrastructure and must continue to be performed to ensure a breach or failure does not occur, as a breach or failure would be detrimental to the CFPB mission. The Government lacks the resources to maintain these services independently and any service interruption would result in unacceptable risk to ongoing CFPB operations.

Given the expected timeframe for the follow-on contract, the services required, as well as preventing a gap in service, a sole source bridge Task Order is the only available solution.

4.0 Best Value Determination.

In the interest of economy and efficiency, the Contracting Officer will seek to negotiate the same rates currently being used by Qwest Task Order 9531CB20F0040 for use on this order or, at minimum, will negotiate rates no higher than Qwest’s Schedule 70 GSA rates for the current year. Those rates have previously been determined to be fair and reasonable and the

3 CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB), 1700 G STREET, NW WASHINGTON, DC 20552 contemplated order would represent the best value consistent with FAR 8.404(d). First, GSA has already determined the prices of supplies and fixed-price services, and rates for services offered at hourly rates, under Schedule contracts to be fair and reasonable. Therefore, ordering activities are not required to make a separate determination of fair and reasonable pricing, except for a price evaluation as required by FAR 8.405-2(d). As such, I determine that a fixed-price buildup using the same rates for this bridge Task Order as were utilized under 9531CB20F0040, and/or rates authorized under Qwest’s GSA Schedule 70 contract, is fair and reasonable, and represents the best value to the Bureau for these services, as the work will continue at or near the rates the Bureau is currently paying.

5.0 A description of the market research conducted and the results, or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

Market research was not conducted for this order, as unforeseen delays in the transition of WAN and Internet services from Qwest’s Networx bridge Task Order to Qwest’s EIS Task Order 9531CB20F0132 has necessitated a second bridge Task Order contract for continuing these services based on an urgent and compelling need. CFPB anticipated making a Task Order award off of GSA’s EIS Schedule in the 2019 calendar year. However, unexpected delays have created a need for an extension of these required services. Most notably, issues with GSA’s EIS third-party contractor support services caused a delay in mandatory Pricing Workbook revisions until June 2019. Prior to that approval, CFPB had worked with GSA to obtain other mandatory EIS-related reviews: GSA’s EIS “In-Scope Review” (October, 2018), GSA revisions to the Bureau’s Statement of Work (December 2018), Source Selection Plan development with GSA (February 2019), and the Pricing Workbook Development with GSA (April 2019 – June 2019). Internal CFPB reviews were completed by October 2019, when the solicitation was posted to GSA’s eBuy service. Quotes were received on April 8, 2020 and the EIS Task Order finally awarded on September 23, 2020.

Due to the long procurement process leading up to the evaluation and award of the EIS Task Order, only four (4) months remained on the bridge Task Order to transition these services.

As indicated above, Modification 0001 to the Bureau’s EIS Task Order had to be executed before service orders related to WAN/Internet Services could be placed on and transitioned to the EIS task order on the Contractor’s systems. Several transition planning meetings were held between CFPB and Qwest/Lumen in October, November, and early December and modification 0001 was finally executed on December 15, 2020. An additional bridge Task Order with a potential six (6) month term is therefore required.

6.0 A description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable, including whether a notice was, or will be, publicized as required by Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under 5.202 applies. Include a listing of sources, if any, that expressed a written interest in the acquisition as a result of the FBO posting.

A notice of intent to issue or a notice of award will be publicized before award at the Governmentwide Point of Entry (GPE) website https://beta.sam.gov/ in accordance with FAR 8.405-6 (a)(1)(A) and FAR 8.405-6(a)(2)(i).