P03 - 36C245-22-AP-3317 FAR 13.5 Sole Source Justification - Over SAT (v3) HCA Signed.pdf

VHAPG Part 813.5 Simplified Acquisition Procedures for Certain Commercial Items Sole Source Justification >SAT-$7.5M under FAR13.5

36C245-22-AP-3317 - Perry Point VAMC Andover Continuum Controls Preventive Maintenance

Effective Date: 02/01/2022 Page 1 of 5

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION UNDER SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURES FOR CERTAIN COMMERCIAL ITEMS IN

ACCORDANCE WITH FAR 13.5

Acquisition Plan Action ID: 36C245-22-AP-3317

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs, VISN 5, VA Maryland Healthcare System

(VAMHCS), Perry Point VA Medical Center Purchase Request/2237#: 512-23-2-641-0010

2. Nature and/or Description of the Action Being Processed:

This procurement is for Preventive Maintenance on Andover Continuum Controls located throughout the Perry Point VA Medical Center in accordance with FAR 13.5 Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items and specifically FAR 13.501 Special Documentation Requirements, where acquisitions conducted under Simplified Acquisition Procedures are exempt from the requirements of FAR Part 6, but still require a justification using the format of FAR 6.303-2. Describe the action being reviewed and approved and state whether the action will be awarded as a new contract or by modification to an existing contract (identify contract number) and identify the type contract planned (e.g., firm-fixed-price, time and materials, labor hour, etc.) This action will be a 5- Year (Base Year + 4 Option Years) Firm Fixed Price service contract awarded to the only vendor authorized by the OEM (Schneider Electric) to provide maintenance, repair and technical support for the Andover Continuum Controls located throughout Perry Point VA Medical Center.

IGCE: - Base (03JAN2023-02JAN2024): $180,277.44

- OY1 (03JAN2024-02JAN2025): $183,432.30

- OY2 (03JAN2025-02JAN2026): $186,642.36

- OY3 (03JAN2026-02JAN2027): $189,908.60

- OY4 (03JAN2027-02JAN2028): $193,232.00

- Total (03JAN2023-02JAN2028) $933,492.70

3. Description of Supplies/Services Required to Meet the Agency’s Needs:

Perry Point site is a multi-building campus. The campus includes inpatient and outpatient care buildings, administrative buildings, and chiller plant. The campus building management system (BMS) operates using Andover. The BMS provides automated controls which is used for smart metering for energy management, to reduce downtime, operating sequences and to optimize the effectiveness. Contractor will provide (1) Andover qualified technician 3x per week @ 8-hour block, 1,248 hours per year between Monday through Friday. Typical day is from 7:30am to 3:00pm, 3x per week. Technician will troubleshoot, provide engineering support, commissioning, program changes, on-site training and all other preventive maintenance specified or recommended by the equipment manufacturers. This technician will be expected familiarize themselves with the building locations.

This requirement is necessary to reduce the dependence of VA staff during the performance of this work. The technician will have the skills, tools/equipment, and transportation to perform maintenance, testing, troubleshooting and all other preventive maintenance specified or recommended by the equipment manufacturers for all equipment used in the BMS. The qualified technician will have a minimum of (3) recent continuous years’ experience with working on this equipment and programming. Service contractor to provide resume on the technician(s) they plan to use on this contact include references & training documentation. The contractor must provide authenticated factory training certificates of credentials (or acceptable substitute as approved by

Effective Date: 02/01/2022 Page 2 of 5 the VA COR) for any personnel who will be working on any VA equipment. The VA Utility System Repair-Operator (USRO) Supervisor will assign a weekly schedule for the 3-days, will receive work assignments and priorities. The technician shall advise in writing via email distribution to the VA Shop Supervisor of any parts/materials required to perform the repairs. Service contactor to provide weekly maintenance reports of completed and ongoing work.

4. Statutory Authority Permitting Restricted Competition:

FAR 13.5 Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items. The statutory authority for applying the Simplified Procedures for Commercial Items of FAR 13.5 is 41 U.S.C. § 1901 and is implemented by FAR 13.106-1(b)(2) for restricting competition on this procurement. Competition is restricted on this procurement for the reason below:

(X) Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements

5. Demonstration that the Contractor’s Unique Qualifications or Nature of the Acquisition Requires the Use of the Authority Cited Above (applicability of authority):

The Perry Point VAMC’s Building Management System (BMS) Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), Schneider Electric, has stated in writing the following regarding the sole authorization of Facility Engineering Services to maintain their (Schneider Electric) solutions:

“Schneider Electric’s Branches and EcoXperts Channel Partners throughout North America to provide our customers with a single point of contact for obtaining Schneider Electric products and services.

Each of Schneider Electric’s Branches and EcoXpert partners offer sales, engineering, project management and service capabilities for those customers within their defined territory. The Schneider Electric EcoXpert Partner in Reisterstown, MD, Facility Engineering Services, is the only representative trained and authorized to sell, install and support Schneider Electric solutions and products for Perry Point VA Medical Center.”

Accordingly, Facility Engineering Services is the only firm capable of providing the supplies and services described in Section III above without the Veteran’s Health Administration experiencing substantial duplication of cost that could not be expected to be recovered through competition.

Original OEM letter available within contract file.

6. Description of Efforts Made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as deemed practicable:

RFI’s 36C24522Q1067 & 36C24523Q0071 posted to FBO; Notices of Intent to Sole Source posted to SAM.gov 9/22/2022 and updated Notice posted 10/19/2022 with 0 (zero) responses to date.

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

The anticipated cost is considered to be fair and reasonable in accordance with FAR 15.404-1(b)(2), when compared to the IGCE currently estimated at $933,492.70, commercial price ranges, and the historical hourly pricing rate from the previous contract (36C24518C0042). Based on open-source market research, the average cost for Commercial HVAC services falls in a price range of $85- $150/hr. for standard/routine services, and $140-$210 for emergency services. The final option year of the previous contract found $116/hr. for standard services fair and reasonable but did not

Effective Date: 02/01/2022 Page 3 of 5 award a line item for emergency services. The new SOW and resulting contract will include both standard and emergency repair services, quoted at a rate of ~$120/hr. and ~$172.50, respectively.

Because the cost falls within industry standards, are well under the IGCE, and can be reasonably compared to historical pricing from the previous contract, I hereby determine the cost to be fair and reasonable.

8. Description of the Market Research Conducted and the Results, or a Statement of the Reasons Market Research Was Not Conducted:

Previous Contract, 36C24518C0042, was Sole Sourced to Facility Engineering Services Corporation under the same authority. Additionally, RFI # 36C24522Q1067, Notice of Intent to Sole Source posted to SAM.gov 9/22/2022 with 0 (zero) responses to date.

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

• Since 1991 FES has been the certified Andover representative for the State of Maryland.

• The current service provider is the primary manufacturer representative on all FES Andover sites, provides the core product comprising the Building Management System (BMS) smart metering systems implemented throughout the VA Portfolio and currently possesses an in-depth knowledge of the VA Standards and As-Built architecture.

• The design and application of the BMS at these facilities has especially unique and specialized elements making it an essential facet of the supervision and operation for the systems and infrastructure.

• The current service provider provides a portfolio of instrumentation and control elements that have been standardized throughout the portfolio for purposes of high reliability and minimizing the cost of spare parts inventory.

• For the integrated BMS to continue to perform and function according to the VA design requirements, the components necessitate regular maintenance, calibration, up to date software releases, and regular recommissioning by qualified technical personnel of professional stature with expert proficiency and experience on the systems in order to sustain acceptable confidence levels.

• Current service provider provides fair and reasonable costs for the supplies and services as validated by conformance to the negotiated schedule pricing standards for labor and material in context with the resource requirements for these applications.

• The continuation and integrated nature of these systems with manufacturer support also avoids the added complexity and VA cost of training employees to operate systems and maintain spare parts inventories using a variety of diverse types of architecture, hardware, and software.

• The material and services to support on-going facility upgrades, expansions and projects must be compatible in all aspects for form, fit and function with existing systems presently installed, to insure basis of design functionality, warranty continuity and composite protection.

• The systems as described contain components, operating sequences and features which require recommissioning and confidence testing best achieved by decidedly trained and certified personnel, familiar with the details involved in their composite site-wide system operation such as those provided and developed by Facility Engineering Services Corporation.

Effective Date: 02/01/2022 Page 4 of 5

10. Listing of Sources that Expressed, in Writing, an Interest in the Acquisition: None.

36C24522Q1067, Notice of Intent to Sole Source posted to SAM.gov 9/22/2022 with 0 (zero) responses to date.

11. A Statement of the Actions, if any, the Agency May Take to Remove or Overcome any Barriers to Competition before Making subsequent acquisitions for the supplies or services required:

Given the sole authorization from the OEM for Facility Engineering Services to perform the required tasks on the existing Building Management System (BMS) at Perry Point VAMC, there are no other available options to overcome barriers to competition. In the future there may be potential for a full replacement of a less restrictive BMS for Perry Point VAMC but at this time that would require an exorbitant amount of funding and planning to remove and replace the currently operational system.

12. Requirements Certification: I certify that the requirement outlined in this justification is a Bona Fide Need of the Department of Veterans Affairs and that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in the justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Mike McNeil Date General Engineer Perry Point VAMC, Facilities & Engineering

13. Approvals in accordance with the VHAPM Part 806.3 OFOC SOP:

a. Contracting Officer or Designee’s Certification (required): I certify that the foregoing justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Darren G. Morris Date Contracting Officer NCO 5, Service Team 1

b. One Level Above the Contracting Officer (Required over SAT but not exceeding $750K):

I certify the justification meets requirements for other than full and open competition.

Bradley Davis Date Branch Chief

NCO 5, Service Team 1

10/25/2022 https://dvagov.sharepoint.com/sites/VHAProcurement/VHAPM/VHAPM_Part_806.3.aspx

Effective Date: 02/01/2022 Page 5 of 5

c. VHA RPO HCA Review and Approval: I have reviewed the foregoing justification and find it to be complete and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief and approve ($750K to $7.5 million (or $15.0 million for acquisitions described in FAR 13.500(c)) for other than full and open competition.

Joseph P. Maletta Date Executive Director VHA Regional Procurement Office East