NCI - Exception to Fair Opportunity - 26Aug2020.pdf

Exception to Fair Opportunity

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Office of the Managing Director (OMD) -

Enterprise Acquisition Center (EAC) 445 12th St SW, Washington DC 20554.

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

The contraction action is a Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) with NCI

Information Systems, Inc. under its NIH Information Technology Acquisition and

Assessment Center (NITAAC) contract, HHSN316201200035W. The order is a labor-hour order with a twelve (12) month base period, three twelve (12) month option periods. The order is a logical follow-on to order FCC15G0118, which was competitively awarded to NCI on September 30, 2015 under its NITAAC GWAC and provides for continuation of operations and maintenance of Financial Operations systems, development of new Financial

Operations systems, and support of the Certification and Accreditation of financial

Operations systems and Tier II customer support.

3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the estimated value).

The Contractor shall manage sustainment support efforts to ensure life cycle support for all

Financial Operations systems.

The contractor shall manage the development of new and updates to current Financial Operation systems. Currently there are no new Financial Operation systems planned, but several of the

COLDFUSION systems, such as Fee Filer, Red Light Display and ROSIE 159 Payment, and

ULS Pay Fee systems, will all be consolidated into CORES in FY 2021. This task does not include direct support of the FCC’s core financial system (Momentum).

The contractor shall support the Certification and Accreditation (C&A) process for the

Financial Operations systems. This will include, but not limited to, documentation updates to all C&N documents, participation in Disaster Recovery exercises, and support the

System Test and Evaluation (ST&E) process.

The contractor shall support the FCC’s Enterprise Risk Management initiative. This will include, but not limited to, documentation and meeting coordination.

The contractor shall support the Financial Operations Tier II Help Desk. This will include, but is not limited to, diagnosing and resolving software issues opened by the Gettysburg

Tier I helpdesk, resolving data issues opened by the Gettysburg Tier I helpdesk, and issues opened by FSOG.

The total estimated value of this procurement is $5,690,532.10 over a four-year period of performance, which includes a twelve (12) month base period and three (3), twelve (12) month option periods.

4. Identification of the exception to fair opportunity and the supporting rationale.

This acquisition is being conducted under the authority of FAR 16.505(b)(2)(C) (“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.”)

All conditions for use of the authority are met. The original order, FCC15G0118, was competitively awarded to NCI in 2015 in accordance to FAR 16.505 ordering procedures, and no sole-source or limited-source procedures have been employed with respect to the original order.

While other contractors can provide similar software support and development to the

Commission, it would be inefficient to procure services that are not compatible with the already-existing financial operations systems methods and procedures and would result in a substantial duplication of costs.

Even after completion of a formal transition period, a new contractor would still have a learning curve to achieve the same level of knowledge and understanding of the FCC’s requirements as the current incumbent. Given the scope and complexity of the financial operations systems, the learning curve would be quite substantial. Due to the necessary transition period and subsequent learning curve, a new contractor would be less efficient than the incumbent contractor for a significant period of time. This reduced efficiency would result in higher incurred labor hours and, under a labor-hour task order, higher costs for the

FCC than would be experienced if the incumbent is retained.

Furthermore, the agency would take a considerable risk and could adversely impact its mission by substantially changing its development and operations and maintenance routines were it to procure another vendor. Award to another source is likely to result in disruption of

FCC mission-oriented operations, substantial duplication of costs not expected to be recovered through competition, and unacceptable delays in the transition to a new vendor.

NCI is the most familiar with the customer population, operational considerations, and technical challenges of financial operations systems used at the FCC.

This approach reduces risk and expense. By limiting the source of award, the Government ensures efficiency and continuity and minimizes the risk of a potential loss of quality in support provided by incumbent.

5. A determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable

NITAAC has already determined the prices of the services under the NCI contract, including rates for services offered at fixed hourly rates, to be fair and reasonable. In addition, discount to the NITAAC rates were requested and obtained from NCI through negotiations prior to issuance of the order. Furthermore, the contracting officer has considered the proposed level of effort and labor mix and determined that the anticipated cost of services is fair and reasonable under.

6. Any other facts supporting the justification.

The FCC’s financial systems operations, continues to facilitate compliance with Federal and

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requirements along with the maintenance of an unmodified financial audit opinion for the Commission. Knowledgeable and effective support of these systems has enabled standardization of financial practices and improved efficiency within the FCC.

The financial system operations support the Office of the Managing Director’s goals of controlling and/or cutting costs, providing high quality service, and improving efficiency and effectiveness by:

• Reducing applicable audit deficiencies

• Reducing duplicate processes

• Reducing system response time

• Increasing data accuracy

• Reducing the number of system interfaces

• Reducing total cost of ownership

• Ensure documented and sustainable resiliency and security of the system

• Better aligning IT activities with business management goals.

7. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the exception to fair opportunity before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made.

Going forward, the FCC will evaluate and assess the market for support paths that are more easily adapted to FCC’s specific conditions and needs and that provide technological or pricing opportunities that would justify migration risks and expenses. FCC will be vigilant in its review of market changes that allow greater value opportunities for future acquisitions.

8. The contracting officer’s certification that the justification is accurate and complete to the best of the contracting officer’s knowledge and belief.

I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief and that it has been reviewed and certified by the appropriate program or technical personnel as to supporting data for which they are responsible.

Contracting Officer Date

9. Evidence that any supporting data that is the responsibility of technical or requirements personnel (e.g., verifying the Government’s minimum needs or requirements or other rationale for an exception to fair opportunity) and which form a basis for the justification have been certified as complete and accurate by the technical or requirements personnel.

I certify that supporting data contained or relied upon in this justification that were developed by, or that are the responsibility of, the program office or technical personnel signing below, are complete and accurate.

Print Name: Date

10. Head of the Contracting Activity (HCA) Approval.

Head of Contracting Activity Date

August 26, 2020Tenecia Moncrief, COR