NOI - Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition ASRS.pdf

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

FINANCE AND FACILITIES DIVISION | PROCUREMENT SECTION

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL (J&A) FOR OTHER THAN

FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION IN ACCORDANCE WITH 41 U.S.C. 3304 (a) (1)

Requisition Number: SHOP-PR-24-000919

Date: May 14, 2024

Estimated Contract Dollar Value:

1. Identification of the agency and contracting activity.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Information Technology Acquisition Unit (ITAU), has prepared this justification for other than full and open competition for an Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Service on behalf of the Technology Innovation Section (TIS), Information Management Division (IMD).

2. The nature and/or description of the action being approved, i.e., sole source, limited competition, establishment of a new source, etc.

In accordance with a statutory exception to the fair opportunity process, the FBI contemplates award of a hybrid contract consisting of Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) and Time and Materials (T&M) contract line-item numbers (CLINs) to Clark Facilities Solution, LLC., for full system O&M Services of the ASRS. There is also one (1) contract line for Other Direct Costs (ODCs) associated with travel expenses for emergency on-site repair services with a period of performance is one (1) base year and four (4) one-year option periods.

3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs.

The services required to provide full system O&M for the ASRS consists of work to be conducted at FBI facilities in Winchester, VA by Clark Facilities Solution, LLC. Those services include:

• System administration for IT management and software maintenance of the system

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL (J&A) FOR OTHER THAN

FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

• Operation and maintenance of the physical/mechanical components of the system, to include robots, conveyors, grid, and bins performed by the Robotic equipment technicians (RETs).

• Replacement of spare parts and inventory management performed by Contractor as needed for the system to operate as intended. This scope also includes the replacement of robot batteries.

Additional services are required for system functionality and reliability. Those services include:

• Remote telephone helpdesk and physical on-site support for troubleshooting, repair, and maintenance of all aspects related to the ASRS.

• Update/replace system software and hardware that is near or at end of life (EOL).

Patching or other mitigation of security vulnerabilities identified by FBI or Department of Justice (DOJ) and security upgrades as required by DOJ and/or FBI. Both activities must occur without increased system downtime or reduced system performance. This scope includes regression testing and upgrades to . This work will include software development, testing, and installation by

• System administration consultation and backup for detailed physical IT support for troubleshooting, repair, and maintenance of hardware and software infrastructure components. This service also includes onsite backup services for system administration when Lead IT System Administrator and IT Administrator Assistant are both out on any extended periods of planned or unplanned leave. This also provides periodic on-site visits, e.g., two (2) days per month, telephone, and email support between visits as well.

ASRS general operating hours are 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM, EST, Monday – Friday, with core hours from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, EST. At least one (1) service contract personnel must be present during the operations window. The three (3) RETs are expected to generally stagger their work times to cover the entire operations window. The IT Systems Administrator and Assistant IT Systems Administrator are also expected to generally stagger their work times to cover the operations window.

4. The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL (J&A) FOR OTHER THAN

FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 USC 3304 (a)(1) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 6.302-1(a)(2)(ii)(B) entitled, “Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.”

5. Demonstrate the unique qualifications of the proposed contractor or the nature of the action requiring the use of the authority.

Clark Facility Solutions is uniquely qualified to provide these O&M services to the FBI’s Information Management Division (IMD) based on the following:

The FBI’s CRC ASRS is highly integrated within the overall CRC facility. The original acquisition of this building and contents were part of a General Services Administration (GSA) construction project built by Clark Construction Group (CCG) and completed in January 2020. As construction was nearing completion, GSA contracted the facility maintenance of the CRC building to Clark Facility Solutions (CFS), a subsidiary of CCG. The ASRS contract was included as a subcomponent of the overall CFS facilities maintenance contract and was funded by FBI via an annual recurring Reimbursable Work Authorization (RWA) to GSA.

The GSA contract (GS-03-P-17-CD-C-0002) included a one-year base period spanning from 07/01/2019 to 06/30/2020 with four (4) one-year option periods, concluding on 06/30/2024.

GSA has requested that the FBI assume the ASRS operations & maintenance portion of the contract at the end of the current contract. Therefore, this requirement needs to be awarded by the FBI with a period of performance beginning on 07/01/2024.

All ASRS, including the CRC ASRS, are highly customized. The CFS maintenance team has gained significant unique information and hands-on experience regarding the customized system that originates from the startup and pilot phases of the system in early 2020 and has continued through 3.5 years of successful operation. Switching to a new contractor, without the specific experience gained from integration, acceptance, and 3.5-year operation of the CRC ASRS presents a significant risk to day-to-day operations. A new team would be unable to respond to and repair issues without significant downtime.

If the Government were to switch to another Contractor at this time, it would expose the FBI to significant risks including but not limited to increase of downtime, decreased system reliability, and periods of file inaccessibility. These conditions would negatively impact IMD’s Enterprise Vetting Center / National Name Check Program (EVC / NNCP) and Freedom of Information Act

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL (J&A) FOR OTHER THAN

FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

(FOIA) operations, as well as FBI analysts and agents across the organization requesting information within the closed case files.

The ASRS retrieves an average of approximately requests per month. Upon retrieval, the CRC Doclab preps and scans the files into electronic form and uploads them for use by the requester and for future use. Approximately of these requests, on average, are of high urgency to the requester and need to be fully processed in 24 hours or less. Other requests are processed at different urgencies between hours and business days. Without the unique skills and experience of CFS, downtimes of various durations would be likely, and as a result, the system would be unable to meet service level agreements.

CFS also has a unique relationship with the system installer and customizer, and one of several US distributors of . CFS is the only party authorized to provide on-site customer assistance on behalf of . does not have a similar relationship with any other service provider. does not provide these services directly to the government. Neither does the manufacture, , or the other US distributors of . Additionally, and the other US distributors lack knowledge of the unique customization of the FBI system, as installed by .

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

A Sam.gov announcement shall be made in accordance with FAR subpart 5.203 with the Government’s intent to sole source this action. The Government shall provide notice prior to the issuance of the solicitation and review any responses received by industry.

7. The anticipated dollar value of the proposed acquisition, including options if applicable, and a determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The estimated dollar value of this proposed acquisition is for one (1) base year and four (4) one-year option periods.

The Contracting Officer (CO) will use price analysis to determine fair and reasonable price in accordance with FAR 15.305(a)(1). The Contracting Officer shall utilize various price analysis https://www.acquisition.gov/far/html/Subpart%205_2.html#wp1107980 https://www.acquisition.gov/far/html/Subpart%205_2.html#wp1107990 techniques stated in FAR Subpart 15.404-1(b)(2) to include, but not limited to comparison with historical pricing and independent Government cost estimates.

8. A description of the market research conducted and the results.

Market research for this requirement included significant internet research of market offerings of and its U.S. based distributors, and searches of various government databases.

The research identified several new US distributors that have emerged since the completion of CRC construction in 2020, however the business model for the old and new distributors had not changed. The manufacturer does not offer O&M services, and the US distributors do no offer O&M services beyond emergency repair calls. Systems are significantly customized and completed by the selected U.S. based distributor, during installation, testing, and pilot operation.

As an industry best practice, on-site O&M service personnel gain critical specialized troubleshooting and maintenance expertise during the install, test, and pilot stages. They continue to gain specialized experience during production. Switching to a different on-site service O&M team is costly, detrimental, and poses a significant risk to system reliability and uptime.

This observation was confirmed through the FBI interview of two (2) ASRS material handling experts in April 2023 that are familiar with the specific installation at the CRC. Both served as consultants to GSA during the CRC design and construction effort. Both experts independently indicated that it was industry best practice to have the on-site maintenance team present for install, testing, and pilot, where they could learn specific customized details about the operation, maintenance, and troubleshooting of their specific customized system. A different team would not possess specific troubleshooting knowledge and operational experience and would introduce high risk of system downtime and reduced reliability. Switching to a different O&M team, without specific operational knowledge of the system, would be at high risk of degraded operational efficiency and reliability. Both experts recommended retaining the existing provider, CFS, for O&M services.

Both experts indicated that there is currently no known marketplace for experienced providers of this service. This was corroborated by internet searches for ASRS maintenance and service contracts, which yielded no productive results. Based on these factors, sole sourcing the CRC ASRS maintenance contract to CFS is recommended.

While there are other companies that provide general building maintenance services, there is no company advertising ASRS O&M. OMB Mandatory, Justice Mandatory, OMD Preferred and Justice Preferred source requirements were explored. None of the listed sources provide ASRS O&M services. Other government users of ASRS were researched in depth, and none were discovered. This is not surprising given that the FBI was the first government user of this specific type of ASRS when the CRC was completed in 2020.

Several government users of mini-load ASRS were discovered during market research at Sam.gov; these systems are significantly different than the FBI CRC’s ASRS. Mini-load systems use older technology than and typically run on different software platforms. Mini-load systems operate with cranes versus robots and use entirely different bins. The grid present in an system is replaced with metal racks that hold the bins. The cranes travel between the metal racks, pulling bins from either side and transporting them to a transfer point. O&M for and mini-load ASRS are also very different.

9. Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition.

There are no other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition other than what has been previously stated.

10. A listing of any sources that expressed a written interest in the acquisition.

At this time, no other sources have expressed a written interest in this acquisition;

however, this justification shall be updated if responses are received from the Intent to Sole Source Notice that will be published on Sam.gov.

11. A statement of any actions the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition, if subsequent acquisitions are anticipated.

Other US government agencies are pursuing ASRS for efficient storage and retrieval of records, parts, and supplies, and they frequently reach out to the FBI for information on the ASRS in Winchester. The FBI has been very supportive to these inquiring agencies and has shared its success story and provided building tours and system demos. Interested agencies include the

All these entities have compelling needs for ASRS.

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL (J&A) FOR OTHER THAN

FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

The FBI will also continue continuing market research into ASRS as well as similar emerging technologies within the market to keep abreast of market trends. As the current system ages and becomes more costly to maintain as well as newer more cost effective and competitive systems emerge in form and functionality, the FBI will consider maintenance costs vs replacement as well as the competitive environment at that time to ensure barriers to competition are reduced.