NSF Budget Function JOFOC_Final_Redacted.pdf

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

OFFICE OF BUDGET, FINANCE AND AWARD MANAGEMENT

DIVISION OF ACQUISITION AND COOPERATIVE SUPPORT

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

FOR DATA ASSEMBLY FOR NCSES R&D BY BUDGET FUNCTION REPORT SERIES

Version 1: 04/2022

Pursuant to the requirements of the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 6.3, the following facts and rationale justify the use of such authority.

1. Agency and Contracting Activity.

The Division of Acquisition and Cooperative Support, Contract Operations Branch proposes to enter a contract on behalf of the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) on a basis of other than full and open competition.

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

The type of action being proposed is a new contract on a sole source basis to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS):

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 1200 New York Ave, NW Washington, DC 20005

The anticipated contract type is firm-fixed price (FFP). AAAS was previously awarded contracts on a sole-source basis for the same requirement during 2000-2013. From 2013 to the present, the requirements were procured under a separate contract vehicle and AAAS was a subcontractor under the contract vehicle.

3. Description of supplies or services required to meet agency needs (including the estimated value).

The requirement is to provide the NCSES with data on federal R&D funding by federal budget function categories at the NSF Headquarters in Alexandria, VA at a total cost of approximately over a five (5) year period of performance. These supplies/services will allow the NCSES to accomplish its legislative mandate under both the National Science Foundation Act of 1950, as amended, including a statutory charge to “...provide a central clearinghouse for the collection, interpretation, and analysis of data on scientific and engineering resources, and to provide a source of information for policy formulation by other agencies of the Federal Government…”; and the America COMPETES reauthorization Act of 1010 Section 505 which requires NSF’s National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics to “collect, acquire, analyze, report, and disseminate statistical data on (A) research and development trends…” The annual Federal R&D Funding, by Budget Function report is subject to both of these legislative mandates.

DIVISION OF ACQUISITION AND COOPERATIVE SUPPORT

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

FOR DATA ASSEMBLY FOR NCSES R&D BY BUDGET FUNCTION REPORT SERIES

Version 1: 04/2022

4. Identification of statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C.

§3304(a)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1, Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

5. Demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited.

Historically, NCSES, and its predecessor organizations within NSF, has required tabulated budget authority data (in current dollars, by federal fiscal year) from various federal agencies to fulfill these mandates and complete its regularly published detailed statistical tables on “Federal Funding for R&D by Budget Function.” NCSES annual reports on this topic currently include 25 detailed statistical tables (see https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf22316 for the most recent edition). However, the total number of tables may change somewhat from year-to-year, depending on the incidence of budget authority for R&D across the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) 20 broad functional categories into which the overall annual federal budget is classified (see OMB Circular A-11, Section 79, Exhibit 79A).

The rationale supporting the use of FAR 6.302-1 is that AAAS already provides detailed information pertaining to R&D budget authority and has over 30 years of experience on this topic through its’ R&D Budget and Policy Program. AAAS compiles and analyzes R&D statistics submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) from government agencies that provide data for the annual Budget of the United States Government. Based on these data, and AAAS’s own relationships with agency budget offices, AAAS collects additional details that modifies data from the OMB MAX system in order to issue its own reports on the subject of federal R&D budget authority, through their R&D Budget and Policy Program (https://www.aaas.org/programs/r-d-budget-and-policy). The NCSES is seeking updates of statistics readily available from AAAS as a result of its own data collection efforts as well as additional collections needed for the purpose of preparing the:

Federal R&D Funding by Budget Function: Fiscal Years 2021-23, Federal R&D Funding by Budget Function: Fiscal Years 2022-24, Federal R&D Funding by Budget Function: Fiscal Years 2023-25, Federal R&D Funding by Budget Function: Fiscal Years 2024-26, and Federal R&D Funding by Budget Function: Fiscal Years 2025-27.

In addition to the annual R&D budget function, the NCSES also requires federal R&D budget function compiled according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) socio-economic objectives. This is a reclassification of existing federal R&D budget function data, which AAAS already collects, by OECD classifications of government funding

DIVISION OF ACQUISITION AND COOPERATIVE SUPPORT

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

FOR DATA ASSEMBLY FOR NCSES R&D BY BUDGET FUNCTION REPORT SERIES

Version 1: 04/2022 for R&D. These data may also be used for the congressionally mandated National Science Board (NSB) report, Science and Engineering Indicators, other analytical publications, and internal statistical research regarding R&D budget authority in the Federal sector.

AAAS will bring more than 30 years of extensive and specialized expertise in work with Federal R&D budget and policy. This is reflected in the organization’s annual report that analyzes the President’s budget proposals for R&D in the coming fiscal year for major agencies and disciplines (see the most recent report at https://www.aaas.org/news/guide-presidents-budget-research-development-fy-2021). Another report shows estimates and analyzes funding for R&D in the final congressional appropriations (https://www.aaas.org/programs/r-d-budget-and-policy/fy-2021-rd-appropriations-tracker). The budget estimates presented in these two AAAS reports draw heavily on the same data sources used by NCSES to prepare the annual Federal R&D Funding by Budget Function report, namely the OMB MAX system which AAAS already has accounts with to access some of these data. In order to produce these reports, AAAS has maintained extensive contacts not only with OMB, but with many federal agency budget offices where supplemental data are required to complete these reports both for AAAS and for the NCSES.

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

A notice to the Government Point of Entry (GPE) website (Sam.gov) was published on March 21, 2022, in accordance with FAR Subpart 5.2. This posting informed potential sources of NSF’s intent to award this sole source contract to AAAS. The results of this synopsis are summarized in Section 10 below.

7. Determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The Contracting Officer’s signature on this document indicates that the Contracting Officer has determined that the anticipated cost to the government will be fair and reasonable. The Contractor shall be required to submit a proposal to be evaluated and negotiated by the Government. Prior to execution of the contractual instrument, a proposal analysis will be performed. The proposal analysis will ensure that the final agreed-to price for the contract action is fair and reasonable based on both commercial pricelists for similar services and prior acquisition history.

8. Description of market research conducted.

Based on prior market research and experience with this requirement, AAAS is the only capable source, other than NCSES itself, to provide detailed analysis of R&D submitted to OMB from Federal government agencies that provide data for the annual Budget of the United

DIVISION OF ACQUISITION AND COOPERATIVE SUPPORT

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

FOR DATA ASSEMBLY FOR NCSES R&D BY BUDGET FUNCTION REPORT SERIES

Version 1: 04/2022

States Government. NCSES has been unable to identify any other contractor with the same level of experience and expertise and contacts who can perform the required work.

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

None.

10. A listing of the sources, if any that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.

A notice of NSF’s intent to award this sole-source action was synopsized on the GPE website (Sam.gov) per FAR Subpart 5.2 (See Section 6 above). The synopsis was issued on March 21, 2022 requesting that parties express their interest in writing to the Contracting Officer. One source expressed interest but after reviewing their capability statement, it was determined they were not capable.

11. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for supplies or services required.

The Agency will continue to examine the market in the future for alternative solutions or new sources before executing any subsequent acquisitions for the same requirements.