NHTSA CISS JOFOC.pdf

U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition (JOTFOC)

Proposed Modification No. 00009 with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and KLD Associates.

1. Identification of Agency:

The Agency for this activity is the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Office of Acquisition Management (OAM), 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20590.

2. Description of Action:

NHTSA proposes to modify its Crash Investigation Sampling System (CISS) Primary Sampling Unit (PSU) Operations Center contract, NHTSA contract no.

693JJ921C000011, to obtain additional services from KLD Associates Inc.

(KLD).

3. Description of Supplies/Services and Estimated Value:

Description of Services

CISS Program and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (Infrastructure and Jobs Act) and the CISS Expansion Timeline

Pursuant to 23 U.S.C. § 403, NHTSA may conduct research and development, including data collection, to support the agency’s mission to improve motor vehicle traffic safety. NHTSA has several data collections that support its mission. One data collection that NHTSA conducts is the CISS program that is supported, in part, through the above identified contract. The CISS program collects detailed crash data to help scientists and engineers analyze motor vehicle crashes and injuries. The program collects data on a nationally representative sample of minor, serious, and fatal crashes involving at least one passenger vehicle – cars, light trucks, sport utility vehicles, and vans – towed from the scene.

The CISS program divides the country into primary sampling units (PSUs) that are positioned in selected areas across the country and identifies motor vehicle crashes to study by obtaining police crash reports from law enforcement agencies in each PSU. The location of the PSUs reflect the geography, population, miles driven, and crashes in the United States to obtain a nationally representative sample. The CISS program collects data from a motor vehicle crash that includes information related to the vehicle, road conditions, and injuries that is beyond mere coding of information off police accident reports.

When studying a motor vehicle crash, a CISS investigator will perform an in-depth crash investigation that consists of documenting and creating a scaled diagram of the crash scene, inspecting the exterior and interior of involved vehicles, interviewing crash victims, reviewing medical records to identify injuries, and assigning injury causation scenarios to specific components of the vehicle. The CISS investigators use specialized equipment to support an investigation that can obtain the vehicle’s Event Data Recorder (EDR) data, which can provide precrash data related to the vehicle’s speed, braking, steering, and the status of crash avoidance equipment technologies. The EDR information also provides investigators with the deployment timing and status of safety systems such as air bags and the severity of the impact. The CISS investigators also obtain three-dimensional measurements of the crash scene and vehicles using total station theodolites, which are tools that assist in accident reconstruction.

Each CISS investigator takes a comprehensive training program to develop the skills necessary to adequately collect the information needed for CISS vehicle and crash analyses.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), also known as the “Infrastructure and Jobs Act” (IIJA), P.L. 117-58, section 24108€ (Nov. 15, 2021), authorized NHTSA to enhance the collection of crash data by upgrading the CISS program to include additional program sites and expand the crash types that are included in the collection. NHTSA has determined that the CISS program would benefit from a greater emphasis on crashes involving pedestrians, motorcycles, and large vehicles. Although CISS has always investigated crashes involving pedestrians, motorcycles and large vehicles, these specific crashes will receive greater emphasis in the sampling process to increase the data available to further understand the crash dynamics and injuries in these types of crashes.

In response to the direction provided by Congress, NHTSA developed a plan to incrementally add PSUs and increase the emphasis on various crash types in CISS. NHTSA’s plan is to incrementally increase the number of PSUs from the current 40, by 25, to 65 PSUs – and place greater emphasis on the designated crash types – by 2026 as follows.

Add nine PSUs (41 – 49) in calendar year 2024 and greater emphasis on non-motorist crashes Add eight PSUs (50 – 57) in calendar year 2025 and greater emphasis on motorcycle crashes Add eight PSUs (58 – 65) in calendar year 2026 and greater emphasis on large vehicle crashes

A phase in is a practical, cost-effective way to expand CISS, rather than an approach that would expand CISS at one time. A one-time expansion would create significant burdens on NHTSA and divert resources from the current CISS operations. For NHTSA (or its contractor) to open a PSU, it must perform an analysis of each area to ensure that the area has law enforcement, hospitals, and other partners (e.g., insurance companies, salvage/tow facilities, and other vehicle-related organizations) that can support CISS operations. A PSU must establish cooperation with the law enforcement, hospitals, and other necessary partners to ensure efficient and comprehensive data collection. In addition, the contractor must locate, lease, and furnish office space and obtain staff motor vehicles. These types of arrangements take time for a contractor to organize.

Most importantly, the contractor must hire several qualified staff, including motor vehicle crash investigators. Furthermore, due to capacity limitations at NHTSA’s training facility, a contractor is limited to hiring less than 20 non-CISS experienced crash investigators to perform the data collection. Based on NHTSA’s experience with the CISS program, these activities cannot feasibly be completed by government and contractor personnel at a greater rate than the proposed schedule, while also operating the current system efficiently.

Currently, NHTSA, through its current contractor, operates 40 field data collection sites under a cost-plus-fixed-fee (CPFF) contract that was awarded in September 2021. To effectuate the intent of Congress as expressed in BIL, NHTSA modify the current contract to expand the number of PSUs and raise the award ceiling that was established under the 2021 CISS PSU Operations contract award. NHTSA will add 25 PSUs to its CISS data collection under this action.

Estimated Value

To effectuate the intent of Congress as expressed in BIL to expand CISS, and to continue current operations through 2026, which is the end of the period of performance of the current contract, the estimated value of the contract will be $109,807,407. Accordingly, the contract ceiling will increase to $109,807,407 from $61,213,701.

4. An identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

41 U.S.C. § 3304(a)(1) and FAR 6.302-1(b)(1)(i), only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements, permits NHTSA to use other than competitive procedures for this activity.

5. Demonstration that the Proposed Contractor’s Unique Qualifications or the Nature of the Acquisition Requires Use of the Authority Cited:

KLD is the only responsible source that will currently satisfy the agency’s requirements to expand PSU sites and motor vehicle crash types to meet

Congressional intent, as expressed in BIL. KLD is the company that provides motor vehicle crash investigation services for the current CISS PSU operations effort and has the ability to scale operations to meet Congressional intent to expand CISS. BIL’s expansion of the CISS data collection requires NHTSA to expand the existing services, which requires additional personnel, training, and infrastructure. Except for the addition of crash types, the additional activity is identical to the services that are required under the current contract. As discussed above, the current services and the expanded services are very technical and specialized in nature that requires each crash investigator receive specialized, NHTSA-specific training. KLD has the experience in NHTSA/CISS specific crash investigations and has the resources in place to meet NHTSA’s immediate expansion requirements.

Based upon its experience with the current procurement effort and examination of the current market, NHTSA is unable to locate a vendor that could meet the agency’s current requirements for CISS PSU operations.

The current procurement commenced when NHTSA published a request for proposals (RFP) in 2021. NHTSA solicited the effort under full and open competition. In response to the RFP, NHTSA only received two proposals. The offerors were KLD and Automotive Safety Research Center (ASRC). However, ASRC was disqualified because it was awarded the CISS Quality Control Center (QCC) contract, with a period of performance through 2026. The CISS QCC contract obtains services for the technical direction on, and quality control of cases generated by CISS investigators in the PSUs. NHTSA does not permit a vendor to perform both the CISS QCC and CISS PSU Operations contracts simultaneously due to the potential for conflicts of interest since the QCC provides oversight of the work generated by the CISS PSUs.

While the 2021 RFP revealed that only two vendors submitted proposals for the existing contract, NHTSA recently conducted extensive market research to examine whether other vendors were capable to perform the work required under this modification. This research did not identify other vendors that would be capable of meeting NHTSA’s current requirements. NHTSA’s market research is detailed in paragraph 8 below.

Furthermore, given the nature of the work required under this effort, were NHTSA to follow competitive procedures earlier than 2026, it would result in substantial duplication of costs to the government that is not expected to be recovered through competition. KLD has the knowledge of, and experience with, the collection of data through a national representative sample and is extremely familiar with the processes required to open PSUs, secure qualified personnel, and provide the quality data necessary for NHTSA. KLD has the necessary personnel and resources in place to meet NHTSA’s requirement to expand CISS. Were NHTSA to compete the requirements for an expanded CISS collection, it would have to terminate the existing contract early and/or locate a vendor who would likely take significant time to establish operations without similar operational experience as KLD.

Were NHTSA to terminate early, KLD would have to cease operations earlier than planned, which would likely result in significant costs to the government.

For example, KLD has existing lease contracts in place for 40 offices throughout the country and approximately 80 vehicles to support motor vehicle crash investigations. KLD entered into five-year lease agreements on the basis that KLD would operate the offices and vehicles for a period of five years. Because the NHTSA PSU Operations contract is structured as a one-year base period with four one-year options, the contractor must enter into lease agreements that provide it with the option for early termination. Due to the nature of the commercial office space market, an early termination clause in these leases may increase the costs to the government should it terminate the contract early. Early lease terminations, if exercised, will result in losses of tens of thousands of dollars that would likely be reimbursable costs to the contractor under a settlement for termination for convenience.

In addition, NHTSA would experience unacceptable delays resulting from a full and open procurement. KLD has the knowledge of, and experience with, the collection of data through a national representative sample and has a NHTSA-trained workforce in place. A trained workforce is vital for CISS crash data collection, as it takes nearly a year and approximately $125,000 to recruit and fully train a CISS investigator. NHTSA trains new contractor personnel both remotely and through multiple in-person sessions at its training site before they are qualified to conduct investigations and collect data. The training provides both classroom instruction and hands-on physical training. A disruption to these services to initiate a new procurement would both interrupt the program’s ability to conduct the current effort and would undermine the Congressional intent to expand the CISS in a timely manner.

Another factor that NHTSA considered is that CISS PSU Operations historically experience relatively high turnover and KLD has instituted measures during the current period of performance to minimize turnover. Should NHTSA terminate the contract early and establish a new procurement, it would likely result in an increase in turnover and damage the government’s ability to maintain the volume of cases necessary for a nationally representative sample of motor vehicle crashes to support the agency’s mission.

6. Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practical.

In accordance with FAR subpart 5.2, “Synopses of Proposed Contract Actions,” NHTSA intends to provide notice on SAM.GOV before it modifies the current contract.

NHTSA will also make this modification justification publicly available pursuant to FAR part 6.305, “Availability of Justification.”

7. A Determination by the Contracting Officer that the Anticipated Cost to the Government will be Fair and Reasonable:

The Contracting Officer has determined that the anticipated pricing will be fair and reasonable based on the historical pricing from prior NHTSA motor vehicle crash data collection contracts and the labor rates as set forth in KLD’s contract and in accordance with the Service Contract Act Wage Determination.

In NHTSA’s experience, KLD has historically remained within the cost parameters of the contract and has consistently been rated as satisfactory or better for cost control in performance reviews. Also, based on NHTSA’s experience with other motor vehicle crash data collection contracts, KLD is one of the few vendors that does not charge a fee for the equipment purchases necessary for the program.

8. A Description of the Market Research Conducted and the Results or a Statement of the Reason That Market Research Was Not Conducted:

NHTSA conducted market research in 2021 for the current effort, which resulted in a full and open competition.

In 2021, NHTSA conducted initial market research during acquisition planning for the current effort. NHTSA used GSA’s MRaS program to help it learn if there were category management and Best-in-Class (BIC) vehicles available for the effort. At that time, GSA recommend the One Acquisition Service for Integrated Services (OASIS) and OASIS Small Business (SB) vehicles that provide solutions for complex professional services. In March 2021, NHTSA issued Requests for Information (RFI) that included a statement of work and six general questions for OASIS vendors to answer to assist NHTSA to determine if they were qualified to conduct the CISS PSU operations effort. The GSA search returned four potential vendors, with only one vender providing a response that was eligible for NHTSA’s consideration. As part of those general questions, NHTSA sought information that could identify potential conflicts of interests. The eligible vendor provided a response to one question that removed it from consideration. The question was: “Does your company have any other contracts with vehicle manufacturers, law firms or agencies, or consult on or conduct crash investigations for other clients? Such relationships preclude work on this crash investigation research project.” Since this vendor answered “Yes” to this question, it was disqualified because of a potential conflict of interest.1 Based on

1 NHTSA policy is to obtain services from vendors that appear neutral in their investigative work to avoid any appearance that a vendor may be biased when conducting a motor vehicle crash investigation.

these results, NHTSA concluded that OASIS vehicles did not yield a competitive group of potential vendors for the procurement.

Following the 2021 market research results, NHTSA issued an RFP on a full and open basis in April 2021. As noted above, in response to the RFP, NHTSA received only two offers from KLD and ASRC, which ultimately was disqualified because it was selected for the CISS quality control contract. Since the CISS quality control contract runs through 2026, ASRC is not eligible to perform the work necessary for the expansion of the CISS program required by this modification. While the prior market research and the responses to the RFP provided strong evidence of the limited number of vendors available to perform the expansion of the CISS PSU operations, NHTSA conducted additional market research in September 2023. This research consisted of sampling 35 vendors listed in OASIS under the assigned NAICS code 541990 – All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services; sampling an additional 20 vendors listed under NAICS code 561611 – Investigation Services; and sampling 15 vendors (crash reconstruction firms) that provide services that appeared to align with the type of services necessary to perform this effort. As discussed further below, NHTSA’s analysis of these vendors revealed that none of the vendors had the capability to perform the work required under the contract.

NHTSA examined the GSA OASIS Pool 1 of vendors qualified to work under NAICS code 541990. There are 355 vendors in the SB Pool 1 and UR Pool 1 with this code. NHTSA sampled vendors to determine if the vendors in these pools would be capable of performing the requirements of the effort. NHTSA sampled the vendors using a virtual dice roller to ensure random selections. Each simulation identified the next organization to review. Based on this, NHTSA reviewed 35 (10-percent) vendors, but concluded that these vendors were not capable of meeting the requirements of the effort. The results indicated that 35-percent of the vendors offered information technology, analytics, and cloud services; 22-percent of the vendors offered cybersecurity services; 22-percent of the vendors offered management/consulting services; and the remaining 20-percent of vendors offered media, credit repair and other ancillary services.

NHTSA also reviewed NAICS code 561611 – Investigation Services for vendors that would be capable of performing the requirements under this effort. NHTSA reviewed twenty vendors listed under this code but learned that the vendors in this category offered services related to private investigations, healthcare fraud, background checks, fugitive recovery, and physical security of buildings and other structures. These services are not aligned with the specialized motor vehicle crash investigative work required under this effort.

NHTSA also reviewed vendors not within the non-OASIS environment, who may have been closely aligned to the requirements of this effort, specifically accident reconstruction firms. NHTSA sampled fifteen vendors and learned that the primary mission of these vendors was litigation support, even though they performed accident reconstruction. These vendors offered services that focused on civil engineering accidents, expert witness testimony, traffic management studies, and jury analysis. While some of the services that these vendors provide may align with portions of the CISS operations effort, they were either relatively small, specialized firms or large, industry-specific firms that do not provide the capabilities or potential to meet the scope of the CISS PSU operations effort.

9. Any Other Facts Supporting the Use of Other Than Full and Open Competition:

No other potential vendors examined possess the required skillset, experience, and expertise to perform NHTSA’s requirements without significant costs to the government and a long transition period that will interrupt the program and potentially prevent nationally representative crash data collection for NHTSA.

One vendor who has performed similar work in the past is ASRC. They are precluded however since they are the current vendor of the CISS QCC contract because of the inherent conflict of interest where a vendor manages both the QCC contract and the PSU Operations data collection contract.

10. A Statement of the Actions, if any, the Agency May Take to Remove or Overcome Any Barriers to Competition Before Any Subsequent Acquisition for These Services:

Based on the above, the Government does not foresee a feasible alternative to the selected source to meet the current requirements. NHTSA will continue to monitor the marketplace for viable, cost-effective options to meet this requirement.

11. Contracting Officer Certification That the Justification Is Accurate and Complete to the Best of the Contracting Officer’s Knowledge and Belief:

As confirmed by the signature below, the Contracting Officer hereby certifies that the facts and representations included in this justification are accurate and complete to the best of her knowledge and belief.