N0018919R0099_CEAP_JA__10_Oct2019.docx

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY

NAVSUP FLEET LOGISTICS CENTER NORFOLK

700 ROBBINS AVE, BLDG 2B

PHILADELPHIA, PA 19111-5083

IN REPLY REFER TO

J&A 19-060

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

FOR USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

1. Identification of Agency and Contracting Activity: The requiring activities are the Navy Office of Civilian Human Resources (OCHR) and the Department of the Air Force (AF); the contracting activity is the Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk (FLCN), Contracting Department, Philadelphia Office

2. Description of the Action Being Approved: The purpose of this justification is to provide approval to issue a new fixed-price Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) type contract to Magellan Federal (Magellan) for Civilian Employee Assistance Program (CEAP) services covering a population of 200,797 Department of the Navy (DoN) including U.S. Marine Corps; and 174,354 AF civilian employees and/or their family members during Fiscal Year (FY 2020).

3. Description of Supplies/Services: CEAP provides assistance for civilian employees’ work-related problems, traumatic incidents, substance abuse, mental illness, marital or family problems, and financial or other personal problems. Magellan primarily provides behavioral health support; its proposed subcontractor, Life Care, Incorporated (LCI) provides work-life services. CEAP services will be obtained under a fixed-priced type contract to provide coverage for Fiscal Year 2020 …REDACTED…

4. The CEAP program provides comprehensive and professional counseling services for employees, who may be struggling with a variety of substance, family, marital, financial, legal, child and elder care, relocation and tuition/education issues, emotional concerns (including suicide and crisis support) or a variety of other issues. CEAP seeks to help the employee with these challenges by exploring options and developing a plan of action to create solutions that work for the employee. Subsequent to initial contact, employees are provided a minimum of six sessions of one-hour duration per issue at no cost to the employee/dependents. If additional assistance is needed beyond the initial six hours per issue, the employee will be referred to the most appropriate and affordable professional resources. The above chart contains both the Navy and Air Force estimates. …REDACTED…

5. Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(2), as implemented by FAR 6.302-2. The agency’s need for the services is of such an unusual and compelling urgency that the Government would be seriously injured unless the agency is permitted to limit the number of sources from which it solicits bids or proposals, in this instance, to Armed Forces Services Corporation Magellan Federal (Magellan).

6. Rationale Justifying Use of Cited Statutory Authority: In accordance with the cited authority, the services are available from only the above-cited source within the time frames available to avoid a critical lapse in services.

The DoN and AF have an urgent and compelling need to maintain CEAP services. Federal agencies are mandated to provide employee assistance and work/life support to their employees by a framework of federal legislation, regulations, and Executive Orders. Historically, CEAP support has been obtained via an Interagency Agreement (IAA) with the Federal Occupational Health Office (FOH), which is part of the Cabinet-Level Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). Authority for the IAA was the Economy Act, which allows federal agencies to obtain goods and services through other federal agencies. The previous use of the interagency actions to obtain CEAP services provided for economies of scale in that the numbers of Navy and Air Force personnel covered were a part of a much broader program run by FOH.

Unfortunately, as a result of an internal review of FOH’s parent division within HHS, Product Support Center (PSC), PSC determined that it does not have the policies and procedures necessary to continue providing FOH services to DoD for fiscal year (FY) 2020. FOH notified its DoD customers, by letter dated 06 September 2019, that it was invoking the cancellation clause in its IAAs, which means that within 60 days of the date of the letter, FOH would cease providing support to DoD (including DoN and AF). That cut-off date is 09 November 2019. However, the current DoN IAA expires on 30 September 2019 and does not provide for coverage past that date. AF support will end 09 November 2019. Due to the extremely short notice provided by FOH, the Navy and the Air Force are unable to competitively procure these critical services with sufficient time to prevent a gap in coverage. The pressing criticality of this vital support was further amplified when FOH prematurely shut down the Navy call and internet lines over Labor Day 2019 weekend. The DoN and AF are primary users of CEAP services from FOH since the current Navy and AF requirements include a total population of 375,151 civilians/dependents which is approximately 40% of the total CEAP population (945,999) among the various federal agencies that are supported by FOH. While it appears that FOH will continue to provide CEAP support to other Federal agencies, it is clear that FOH will not continue to support DoD. In an effort to still effect some economy of scale for FY 2020, it was decided to combine the DoN and Air Force requirements in one contract.

Currently, the DoN and AF CEAP efforts from FOH are supported by two commercial contractors, Magellan and LCI; therefore both vendors have agreed to have LCI serve as a designated subcontractor to Magellan in order to maintain the current level of support while still preventing redundant cost duplication.

Only Magellan, with its subcontractor LCI, can provide the required expertise for these highly specialized services under the required timeframe. Award to any other source would likely result in substantial duplication of cost to the Government and unacceptable delays. If a new vendor were to provide these services, it would necessitate a lengthy transition time of at least six months in order to bring the new contractor up to speed on existing processes, systems and pending cases already being worked by Magellan and LCI. In addition, transitioning the work to a contractor other than Magellan and its designated subcontractor, LCI to perform these services would also involve time lost to government personnel who would have to familiarize the new contractor personnel in their duties and also provide an increased level of oversight until the new contractor was sufficiently transitioned in to the efforts. The actions and processes of this program are of a time sensitive nature as DoN and the AF work to ensure seamless CEAP support due to the pending holiday period which is a busy time for CEAP support. Therefore, award to any other source would cause delays that would severely hinder the ability of both the Navy and AF to secure these critical services for their civilian populations.

Subsequently, the subject IDIQ contract will have a one-year ordering period from 01 October 2019 to 30 September 2019 in order to accommodate the aforementioned learning curve, processing of a competitive follow-on action and transition support.

Based on the foregoing, pursuant to FAR 6.302-2(a), the services are deemed to be available only from Magellan because the award of these highly specialized services to any other source would result in substantial duplication of cost to the Government and in unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency's requirements and ultimately its mission.

7. Description of Efforts Made to Solicit Offers from as Many Offerors as Practicable: Market research was conducted, however, for the reasons addressed in paragraph 5, Magellan, with its subcontractor LCI, is the only known source who can complete the urgently-required services in the time frames available, without a critical lapse in services. In accordance with FAR 5.202(a)(2), a synopsis of this proposed contract actionwas not posted since the action is being taken under the conditions described in FAR 6.302-2 (Unusual and Compelling Urgency).

8. Determination of Fair and Reasonable Cost: The Contracting Officer has determined that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

9. Actions to Remove Barriers to Future Competition: The DoN and AF will overcome barriers to competition by participating in a further strategic sourcing initiative covering all DoD to be processed during FY 2020. It is also intended that the award of this contract will also allow a sufficient transition period.

10. Contracting Point of Contact: The FLCN, Contracting Department, Philadelphia Office Contracting Officer is Ms. Rose McWilliams, rosemary.mcwilliams@navy.mil, 215-697-9740.

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