NPS_Consolidation_Determination_-_Northern_Rockies_MATOC_IDIQs_7-25-22_2.pdf

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Department of Interior

Contract Consolidation Determination and Findings

1. Purchase Request Number: TBD

2. Solicitation Number: 140P1422R0002

3. Contracting activity/agency: National Park Service – Regions 6, 7, 8

4. Project Name: Northern Rockies MABO MATOC

5. Description of supplies or services required to meet agency needs.

The Northern Rockies Major Acquisition Buying Office’s, National Park Service, intends to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) for award of a Multiple Award Task Order Contract (MATOC). A MATOC is an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract vehicle that can be used to accomplish a broad range of real property maintenance, repair, renovation, and construction projects for NPS located within Montana, Wyoming, and including Golden Spike National Historic Site and Timpanogos Cave National Monument in Utah and Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado.

Type of Contract Firm-Fixed Price Estimated Total Value

$40,000,000.00

Estimated Start Date 11/01/2022 Estimated Completion Date

10/31/2027

NAICS Code 236220 Small Business Size Standard Applicable

$39.5M

PSC Z2AZ Contract Status New Requirement

Typical work under the MATOC contract will include, but will not be limited to construction only services to repair or rehabilitate historic and non-historic structures in addition to a minimal amount of new construction for project types inclusion of Site Utilities (gas, electric, communications), Site Improvements (trail, fence, grading, concrete work, landscaping), Water & Wastewater, Roadway (bike, roadway, signage, striping), Fire & Safety, Building exterior, Building interior, HVAC, Electrical, Plumbing (MEP), Sustainability (energy efficiency, renewables). The project examples include renovations of historic and non-historic maintenance shops, visitor center and fee stations, upgrades to electrical, water and sewer systems and facilities, rehabilitation of fire suppression systems and safety systems, parking lot and road paving, HVAC rehabilitation, re-roofing, water, sewer, and gas tank construction. There may be minimal new construction of administrative building, comfort stations and vault toilets.

The total contract ordering period shall not exceed five (5) calendar years. Task Orders may range from $2,000.00 to $5,000,000.00.

The Government team anticipates awarding six (6) indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity firm-fixed price construction contracts. However, the Government reserves the right to award fewer than six contracts or more than six contracts as it deems necessary.

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The total of all task orders placed against this contract shall not exceed $40,000,000.00 in aggregate to all contractors over the five-year ordering period.

6. Market Research In accordance with FAR 7.107-2, I have reviewed this requirement and associated market research and determined that consolidation of the referenced contract requirements is both necessary and justified. My review resulted in the following findings:

Dynamic Small Business Search Engine:

A Dynamic Small Business Search was conducted utilizing our MATOC specific requirements: NAICS 236220; located in Montana and Wyoming; no more than $39.5 million average annual gross revenue;

Bonding capacity of $2 million per task order / $10 million aggregate. The follow table reflects specific search results within Montana and Wyoming.

Business Category Count

Small Business (SB) 22

Women Owned Small Business 2

Economically Disadvantaged Women Owned Small Business 2

Veteran Owned 1

Service-Disabled Veteran Owned 1

SDB Certified 14

HUBZone 5

8(a) Certified 3

Source Sought Notice:

On 22 October 2021, the Contract Specialist posted a sources sought notice on SAM.GOV with a due date of November 12, 2021. A total of 24 businesses responded in writing by e-mail. The Contracting Specialist reviewed the capabilities of each contractor based on the information provided from their sources sought responses. The following table provides a breakdown of available sources after a comprehensive review of sources sought responses:

Available Sources:

Business Category Count

Section 8(a) Certified Businesses 10

Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB) 4

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Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB) (Self Certified) 8

Economically Disadvantaged Women Owned Small Businesses (EDWOSB) (Self Certified)

Service-Disabled Veteran Owned (SDVOSB) 4

Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDB) Certified 4

HUBZone Small Businesses (HUBZone) 4

Native Owned Small Business 4

Small Business (SB) 24

Evaluation:

Based upon the review of the firms responding to the sources sought, and the anticipated total award of six contracts, with the right to award less or more, sufficient competition is not expected from each of the following socio-economic categories. Below is a summary of each business category:

• Small Disadvantaged Business: Upon review the contractor pool is insufficient to provide adequate competition on the MATOC as the Government anticipates award of six contracts. Set aside is not justified.

• Section 8(a) Business: Upon review the contractor pool is insufficient to bid on the MATOC as the Government anticipates award of six contracts. Even though ten 8(a) contractors responded to the sources sought, three of the 10 contractors would graduate the program before the five years are up.

Set aside is not justified. A set aside for 8(a) companies has a high probability of resulting in a severely limited number of proposals from qualified contractors, putting the government at risk of not being able to meet the need of multiple awards to a qualified pool of MATOC contractors.

• Woman Owned Small Business: Upon review the contractor pool is insufficient to bid on the MATOC as the Government anticipates award of six contracts. Although 8 contractors self-identified as WOSB in response to the Sources Sought, none of the 8 were certified by the SBA. Set aside is not justified.

• Economically Disadvantaged Woman Owned Small Business: Although 3 companies self identified as EDWOSB, none of these were certified by the SBA. Upon review the contractor pool is insufficient to bid on the MATOC as the Government anticipates award of six contracts. Set aside is not justified.

• HUBZone Small Business: Upon review the contractor pool is insufficient to bid on the MATOC as the Government anticipates award of six contracts. Set aside is not justified.

• Veteran-Owned Small Business: Upon review the contractor pool is insufficient to bid on the MATOC as the Government anticipates award of six contracts. Set aside is not justified.

• Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business: Upon review the contractor pool is insufficient to bid on the MATOC as the Government anticipates award of six contracts. Set aside is not justified.

• Native Owned Small Business: Upon review the contractor pool is insufficient to bid on the MATOC as the Government anticipates award of six contracts. Set aside is not justified.

Based on the results of the sources sought and the dynamic small business search, the contract specialist suggests a Total Small Business Set-Aside as appropriate and suitable for this acquisition to promote

Version 2.0 Page 4 of 7 competition. This recommendation is based off of a comprehensive evaluation of all responses received and is also in line with the most recent set-aside used on the latest awarded Northern Rockies/Lakewood MATOC. A Total Small Business set-aside will:

• Promote and enable a high level of competition among contractors to participate in Multiple Award Task Order Contracts.

• Provide competitive pricing amongst highly qualified contractors.

• Gain access to a broader field of contractors with the technical competency to perform the level of work needed, especially for geographically separated remote parks.

Extent of Commerciality in the Market:

This requirement is for the acquisition of construction, alteration, or repair of buildings, structures, or other real property for Governmental purposes and considered non-commercial. Although while considered non-commercial in nature, commercial practices may still be used to complete tasks.

Conclusions and Recommendations:

The objective the MATOC is to provide general construction services, including repair, rehabilitation, and minimal new construction in support of the National Park Service. It is imperative to solicit highly qualified contractors, with proven past performance and capabilities, to accomplish this work. After a comprehensive review it is in the best interest of the Government to set this aside as a Total Small Business concern. Based on the information provided, the Northern Rockies MABO would like to award a minimum of six contracts on the new MATOC. Historically, six or more contractors have been awarded Multiple Award Task Order Contracts within this region.

7. Any alternative contracting approaches and rationale for rejection:

Alternative contracting approaches that would involve consolidation to a lesser degree, should always be a consideration in the acquisition strategy for any single, or multiple award IDIQ contract (Simplified Acquisition of Basic Engineering Requirement (SABER), Single Award Task Order Contract (SATOC), Multiple Award task Order Contract (MATOC), Job Order Contract (JOC), Task Order Contract (TOC), etc.). In the case of this specific acquisition, the Northern Rockies (NR) Construction MATOC is intended to fulfill a majority of the construction requirements for the MABO. The NR Construction MATOC contract is simply one of many procurement tools, which uniquely allows for accelerated and simplified procurement of commonly encountered construction tasks and projects, including maintenance, repair, alteration, and other construction projects. The Construction MATOC dramatically cuts contract procurement time. The MATOC shares many of its core attributes with Job Order Contracting (JOC), but is usually more flexible, robust, and intended for larger scale work efforts. The desired outcome will be a multiple award contract (desired target of six contractors) with each task order being competed unless a unique circumstance exist to limit competition. The MATOC is better defined as a program and procurement method, and not simply a contract and is a reliable and flexible, alternative way to procure construction, and construction related requirements that emphasizes simplified, accelerated, and streamlined procedures and processes, as well as long-term partnering and teamwork with the selected contractors. The NR Construction MATOC provides the tools and ability to simultaneously execute multiple small to medium sized task orders. The MATOC contractors will be selected based on best value, qualifications, and performance versus lowest price. The MATOC contractors will provide "on call" construction services from concept to close-out, for the end-user.

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8. Any negative impact by the acquisition strategy on contracting with small business concerns has been identified:

1. A DI-1886 setting this contract aside as a Total Small Business set aside is approved.

2. The region currently utilizes small business for a majority of its construction requirements. Since this

MATOC is intended as a small business set-aside, all orders placed against it will go towards fulfilling the region's Small Business goals. The MATOC is anticipated to be used for a majority of the construction projects, which should result in an increase to the construction work being performed by small businesses within the region. In fact, due to typical performance requirements of this MATOC, i.e., the number of task orders the MATOC contractors must be capable of accomplishing simultaneously; geographical coverage area; etc., sub-contracting a large portion of almost every task order to other local small business concerns, is essentially a pre-requisite for successful performance as a MATOC contractor. Although there will be approximately six contracts awarded, the sub-contracting opportunities for local small businesses is anticipated to be high and we anticipate little impact to the local small businesses since we anticipate all primes and subs to be small businesses.

3. Steps have been taken to include small business concerns in the acquisition strategy for this contract.

It is our intent, and a major consideration, that the successful offeror/selected MA TOC contractor(s) will be a general contractor capable of self-performing a minimum of 15% of the work for typical task orders. Historically, the remaining portion of the work is generally sub-contracted out to local small business concerns, with the Construction MATOC contractor functioning as the prime contractor.

9. Considerations, Facts, and Reasoning Supporting the Determination:

On 12 April 2017, the Office of Management and Budget released memo 17-22 as a response in fulfilling the requirements of the January 2017 Hiring Freeze Presidential Memorandum and the March 2017 Reorganization Executive order. Section 111 para B "restructure and merge activities" provides direction from the Director of OMB to assess what activities can be restructured, streamlined, and merged to improve the efficiency, timeliness, and quality of services. It also encourages agencies to reduce the duplication of activities of functions across multiple parts of the organization and reduce redundant levels of management or administrative support. The purpose of this MATOC is to do as the Director request by consolidating Northern Rockies Contracting construction activities in order to streamline and merge functions in order to improve efficiency and timeliness of as well as reduce the duplication of activities in writing construction contracts within the Office Servicing Regions 6, 7, & 8.

Agency Benefits to the Consolidation:

1. It is the intent of the Northern Rockies MABO Contracting office to compete all construction requirements, but with a shortage of Contracting Officers, Program Managers, funding and the fact we are frequently operating during continuing resolutions, the trend of receiving construction requirements past the end-of-year cutoff continues to happen with no end in sight for the foreseeable future. When a package is received past the cutoff date, it has become a regular practice to use any of the established sources to complete the requirement with a compressed acquisition timeline. This MATOC will allow a reduced Procurement Acquisition Lead Time (PALT) on all of its actions versus non-MATOC requirements. The cutoff date on awards for construction greater than $500,000.00 in the fourth quarter is typically 1 March. While the Regional Chief of Contracting

Version 2.0 Page 6 of 7 presiding over Offices Servicing Regions 6, 7, & 8 would need to approve a late purchase request justification, efficiencies will allow larger construction requirement packages to be submitted as late as the end of June for competition and award against this MATOC.

2. The MATOC will provide for standardized quality elements and performance standards. Currently, CORs inspect multiple single award contracts, which may have differing inspection components for each contract for similar skill sets. Although the requirement will be customized at the task order level, utilizing consistent consolidated contracts will provide for better monitoring and standardization of key performance elements as defined in the base contracts. Improved quality, output consistency, and standardized inspections are all efficiencies projected with the proposed consolidated strategy.

3. Under the strategy of separate contracts, acquisition cycle times are multiplied due to differing period of performances, contract lengths, and unplanned requirements. A MATOC will reduce the number of contracts to six contractors and will provide for much greater and more efficient program management for the planning, issuance, and management of task orders.

4. The MATOC will allow for emergency work to be performed under it, allowing for an expedited contracting process.

5. Transparency would be established with the use of standardized evaluation criteria at the task order level. Standardized processes would result in more efficient and effective estimating and fixed-price construction.

6. Improvements to independent government cost estimating and performing technical evaluations may be accomplished with an increased familiarization of the process for park program managers and contract officer representatives. In turn, there is a potential for a reduction in the number of mistakes in bids as contractors become accustomed to the layout and process of providing an offer, submittals, and payroll submission.

7. Efficiencies will be gained in how site visits are accomplished. With the isolated locations of parks and progresses in technology, the park sites have the ability to conduct pre-bid visits remotely allowing more offers to participate and increase competition.

10. Summary:

It is my determination that the consolidation required by this contract is necessary and justified, because the benefits of proceeding with this acquisition substantially exceeds the benefits that would be derived from any of the alternative contracting approaches identified above. In addition, access to the use of a MATOC procurement vehicle enhances and improves the ability of acquisition personnel to successfully meet the maintenance, repair, alteration, and construction needs of Parks in a timely and cost-effective manner.

Approvals All supporting data provided, and the contents of this justification are complete and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.

CONTRACTING OFFICER CERTIFICATION:

Contracting Officer Date

HEADQUARTERS SMALL BUSINESS SPECIALIST CERTIFICATION:

Headquarters Small Business Specialist Date

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DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF SMALL AND DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS UTILIZATION CERTIFICATION:

Director, Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization Date

SENIOR PROCUREMENT EXECUTIVE

Upon the basis of the findings above, I hereby determine, pursuant to the authority of FAR 7.107-2, that the consolidation of contract requirements is both necessary and justified.

Senior Procurement Executive Date