LSSN_-_LSB_JA_Redacted.pdf

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

1. AGENCY AND CONTRACTING ACTIVITY: The Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, Acquisition Directorate (DOD/WHS/AD) on behalf of the Pentagon Force Protection Agency/Force Protection Technology Directorate (PFPA/FPTD).

2. NATURE/DESCRIPTION OF ACTION(S): The WHS/AD plans to award a task order via an exception to the fair opportunity process. This justification provides the required information necessary to issue a sole-source task-order for the Life Safety System Network (LSSN) and Life Safety Backbone (LSB) services under the General Services Administration (GSA) Alliant contract number GS00Q09BGD0055. This sole-source task order will be awarded on a firm-fixed price basis.

The original task order fulfilling this requirement under HQ0034-09-F-3001 was competitively awarded to SRA International, Inc. on a firm-fixed price basis per the ordering procedures at FAR

16.505 with a performance period ending 30 APR 2014. It was competed under the GSA Millennia Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) number GS00T99ALD0211. All qualified Millennia GWAC industry partners were given fair opportunity to be considered for award as each industry partner received a Request for Proposal.

WHS/AD issued a competitive solicitation under HQ0034-14-R-0015 on 25 NOV 2013 with the intent to receive proposals in JAN 2014. The follow on contract was to be awarded by 31 MAR 2014 to allow a one month transition period with SRA.

Government awarded a sole-source bridge task order under HQ0034-14-F-0104 to SRA to maintain continuity of critical support for the LSSN and LSB services, The award was made against the GSA Alliant GWAC for a base period of six (6) months and included an additional option period of up to six (6) months pursuant to FAR Clause 52.217-8, Option to Extend Services. The sole source award was to enable the incumbent vendor to complete Phases 3 and 4, which could not be completed prior to the task order expiration date of 30 APR 2014.

The Government awarded task order HQ0034-14-F-0104 for the period 1 MAY 2014 through 31 OCT 2014. Because the Government was still in the process of defining it’s follow-on requirements, the Government extended the contract via the above option clause for five (of a possible six) additional months through 31 MAR 2015 to allow time to solicit and award the follow-on competitive requriement. The original approved justification limits the task order to $12.5M; therefore, the entire six (6) month extension period contained within the option clause cannot be executed.

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

WASHINGTON HEADQUARTERS SERVICES

1155 DEFENSE PENTAGON

WASHINGTON, DC 20301-1155

ACQUISITION DIRECTORATE

LSSN/LSB JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

The Government requires additional time to award the follow-on competitive contract due primarily to delays in the source selection evaluation process, to include the need to enter into discussions with multiple interested parties to resolve various issues and concerns with their proposals as further detailed under paragraph 8 below.

To ensure continuity of mission critical services, the Government needs to award a new task order for a two (2) month base period with a two (2) month option period. In addition, the FAR Clause 52.217- 8, Option to Extend Services will be included and evaluated. The total independent government estimate for this task order (base period and option) is During this period of performance, SRA will continue to provide services and support to the PFPA LSB.

3. DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES: PFPA is currently partnered with SRA as the information technology integrator for the LSSN to provide a complete range of non-personal, technical services and products in support of the current and an evolving PFPA LSSN environment.

PFPA requires technical services and products to operate, maintain (to include Help Desk operations), sustain, and integrate the PFPA LSSN and to support PFPA’s business enterprise information and communications services and product needs.

4. SUPPORTING RATIONALE, INCLUDING A DEMONSTRATION THAT THE PROPOSED

CONTRACTOR’S UNIQUE QUALIFICATIONS OR THE NATURE OF THE

ACQUISITION REQUIRES USE OF AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY:

(a) Exception to Fair Opportunity. The specific circumstance that justifies restriction for this extension is FAR 16.505(b) (2) (i) (C), the order must be issued on a sole-source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it is a logical follow-on to an order already issued under the contract, provided that all awardees were given a fair opportunity to be considered for the original order.

If the current contract is allowed to expire without any continuity of service, there will be a break in service until the Pentagon Force Protection Agency Security Integration and Technology Support (PSITS) requirement is awarded.

Therefore, a short-term extension of services is being sought under the GSA Alliant GWAC to enable the Government to maintain the current level of expertise and support without jeopardizing the mission pending award of a competitive follow-on contract.

In addition, SRA is the only vendor who possesses the knowledge, security-cleared personnel, and expertise necessary to support the mission at this point in time without incurring transition/startup delays. Award to another contractor, even with a transition plan, would likely result in a minimum 90- 120 day delay in services because a new contractor would not be able to be fully up to speed on the details of this critical support service.

5. DETERMINATION OF FAIR AND REASONABLE COST: Per the ordering procedures stipulated in the GSA Alliant contract, the prices must be determined fair and reasonable for all Fixed-Price orders in accordance with FAR 16.202-2(b), Fixed-Price Contracts. The Contracting Officer will ensure that price is found to be fair and reasonable prior to award. Currently, there are price comparisons available from prior purchases of the same or similar supplies or services made on a competitive basis that were previously found to be fair and reasonable.

6. MARKET RESEARCH: Market research was conducted for the follow-on contract that is in the evaluation stage. This bridge contract did not have any separate market research conducted as the original market research for the follow-on was conducted within the last 12 months, and market research would not influence the need for a sole source to SRA as this requirement is based on economy, efficiency and the need to have the continued services of SRA to meet the PFPA mission.

Due to the transition time required, award of this requirement to a new vendor would introduce unacceptable risk as identified above in section 4 of this document.

7. ANY OTHER SUPPORTING FACTS: The Government intended to award a follow-on task order through the Defense Information Technology Contracting Office (DITCO) Encore II contract vehicle prior to the expiration of the current task order. However, due to unforeseen issues surrounding the solicitation and evaluation of offers as described below, there is now a need to extend the current period of performance .

After the previous task order was issued, the Government immediately began working on defining the requirement. From May 2014 through November 2014, the Government was determining the bona fide need for follow-on services

The Government’s requirement is now largely for sustainment purposes.

To provide fair opportunity, the Government issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) on 2 DEC 2014 to all ENCORE II contract holders with a closing date of 5 JAN 2015. The Government received 135 questions in response to the solicitation. On 22 DEC 2014, the Government issued Amendment 0001 to the RFP, which provided responses to the questions and extended the closing date to 9 JAN 2015.

Amendment 0002 to the RFP was issued on 7 JAN 2015 to further clarify the requirement.

The Government was able to extend the current award through 31 March 2015; however, the Government will not be able to award by the expiration of this current period of performance. As such, the Government is requesting an extension for the minimal number of months to allow the Government adequate time to conduct meaningful discussions, evaluate final proposal revisions, and to make a resulting best value decision to award.

The Government anticipates the effective date of the task order to be 11 MAY 2015, allowing for a three week transition period to coincide with the end of this new task order.

In accordance with synopsis requirements of FAR Part 5, WHS/AD posted a Notice of Intent to Sole- Source to SRA on 4 MAR 2015 to the Government Point of Entry (GPE), the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website for two (2) weeks requesting any interested parties to submit a written synopsis with sufficient documentation establishing a bona fide capability to fulfill this requirement from industry. No responses were received from industry in regards to the notice of intent to sole-source to SRA.

Customarily, PFPA’s needs can be met by services available in the commercial marketplace and there are known small businesses for this requirement, but due to the estimated delay in award of a new task order, in addition to the one (1) month delay due to a required transition period, there are no vendors, other than the incumbent, who can perform these services without an unacceptable delay.

8. ACTIONS TAKEN TO REMOVE BARRIERS TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY: The Government is currently in a source selection and anticipates award of a follow-on contract based on competition no later than 10 MAY 2015 so that transition events can commence on 11 MAY 2015 and full performance can start on .

9. TECHNICAL/ REQUIREMENTS PERSONNEL JUSTIFICATION:

Daniel P. Walsh Date Assistant Director, PFPA/ADSIT

10. CONTRACTING OFFICER CERTIFICATION:

Stephanie L. Powell Date Contracting Officer, WHS/AD

11. APPROVING OFFICIAL IDENTIFICATION OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT APPLY:

David L. Price Date Division Director, ESTSD, WHS/AD

APPROVAL

12. COMPETITION ADVOCATE APPROVAL:

Timothy M. Applegate Date Acting Director, WHS/AD