P03 - FAR Part 6 Sole Source JA - HITC Fall Protection_FE_Redacted.pdf

United States Department of Veterans Affairs Strategic Acquisition Center – Frederick

5202 Presidents Court, Suite 103 Frederick, MD 21703

Justification and Approval (J&A) for Other than Full and Open Competition FAR 6.302-5 - Authorized or required by statute

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity.

This Justification and Approval (J&A) for Other Than Full and Open Competition is executed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Strategic Acquisition Center – Frederick (SAC-F), on behalf of the Office of Information Technology (OI&T), Hine Information Technology Center (HITC).

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

This activity proposed is to negotiate a Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) noncompetitive award (sole source) action with O’Neill Contractors, Inc. (SAM UEI: YPTVJDAFDU97) 4307 Regency Drive Glenview, IL 60025 for the procurement and installation of a Fall Protection Modular Permanent Safety Guardrail System at the HITC facility located at 5000 South 5th Avenue, Building 215, Hines, Illinois, 60141.

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

The Contractor shall provide all necessary labor, tools, materials, parts, and supervision required to install an approximately 1,655 linear feet, “Fall Protection Modular Permanent Safety Guardrail System,” This system shall be completely free-standing, non-penetrating into the roof surface, and meet OSHA requirements for Walking and Working Surfaces and Guardrail systems. The Contractor shall install anchors and support structures as per manufactures’ design specifications and requirements, ensuring their integrity. The Contractor shall use best practices to install and secure the Fall Protection Modular Permanent Safety Guardrail System, protecting workers from falling off the roof.

4. An identification of the 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)(5) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 6.302- 5 entitled, “Authorized or required by statute”. The applicable statute is Public Law 109- 461: “Veterans Benefits, Health Care, and Information Technology Act of 2006” specifically, the “Veterans First Contracting Program” outlined in 38 USC § 8127(c).

FAR 6.302-5 J&A | HITC Fall Protection Guardrail System

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

VAAR 819.7007 states explicitly, “A determination that only one SDVOSB can meet the requirement is not required,” and that using this authority, the following must be verified:

(1) The anticipated award price of the contract (including options) will not exceed $5 million; The estimated value of this acquisition is (including all options) and does not exceed $5M.

(2) The justification is prepared pursuant to FAR 6.302-5(c)(2)(ii) is posted in accordance with FAR subpart 5.301(d); This J&A will be posted to the Government Point of Entry (GPE), SAM.gov.

(3) The SDVOSB concern has been determined to be a responsible source with respect to performance; O’Neill Contractors, Inc. is a registered SDVOSB in the Small Business Administration (SBA) VetCert. O’Neill Contractors, Inc. is currently performing multiple VA contracts similar in size as indicated by a query of the FPDS. The Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) was also queried and resulted in 31 reports for O’Neill Contractors, Inc.

all of which were rated as satisfactory or better. Additionally, O’Neill Contractors, Inc. provided a capability statement during market research that was found by the HITC to be technically proficient.

(4) In the estimation of the contracting officer, contract award can be made at a fair and reasonable price that offers best value to the Government. A fair and reasonable price determination will be made in accordance with FAR 13.1063(a)(2)(vi), where price reasonableness is based on a comparison to an Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE). The IGCE for this requirement is estimated for a total amount of .

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.

IAW VAAR § 819.7007 Sole source awards to service-disabled veteran-owned small business concerns (b), “The contracting officer’s determination whether to make a sole source award is a business decision wholly within the discretion of the contracting officer. A determination that only one SDVOSB concern is available to meet the requirement is not required.”

7. A determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

No award shall be made until the Contracting Officer determines the cost to the

Government to be fair and reasonable. This determination will be based on a comparison of an Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE). Additionally, further discounts will be sought off of the overall proposed price.

8. A description of the market research conducted (see Part 10) and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

In accordance with VAAR 810.001-70, the VA conducted a NAICS code search of the SBA VetCert database and identified a potential 2583 SDVOSB/VOSB Operating under NAICS code 561210.

A Query of the GSA E-Library was conducted that yielded 31 potential sources across multiple socio-economic concerns however, no sources were readily identified as being able to perform the full scope of the requirement considering the required fall protection must not penetrate the roof of the structure.

A query of the Dynamic Small Business Search was conducted and yielded a potential 19 SDVOSB sources operating under NAICS code 561210.

The System for Award Management (SAM.gov) was quired using the search terms “Rooftop fall protection” and NAICS code “561210.” Based on the results it was determined that the requested services are commercially available. The SAM query did not identify any additional SDVOSB/VOSBs capable of performing the requested services.

A Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) query was conducted by searching for contracts under NAICS 561210 which resulted in multiple contracts and actions held by VA under this NAICS code indicating that the services are available commercially and similar requirements have been purchased by VA before. The FPDS query did not identify any potential SDVOSB/VOSBs capable of performing the requested services.

Based on these results VA issued a Sources Sought Notice to the GPE, SAM.gov. Five responses were received which included one response from and SDVOSB, O’Neill Contractors, Inc. O’Neill Contractors, Inc. provided a capabilities statement in their SSN response which was provided to the HITC to review for technical capability. O’Neill Contractors, Inc. was found to be a technically capable SDVOSB source that could fulfill all the requirements of the PWS.

Considering that O’Neill Contractors, Inc. was the only SDVOSB vendor that expressed interest in the requiring, is located in Illinois, and is technically capable of providing the services the Government determines that the best procurement strategy is to negotiate a Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) noncompetitive award (sole source) action with O’Neill Contractors, Inc. (SAM UEI: YPTVJDAFDU97) 4307 Regency Drive Glenview, IL 60025.

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

In accordance with Public Law 109-461, codified at 38 USC § 8127, in order to increase contracting opportunities for small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans and small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans with service-connected disabilities, contracting officers of the VA are given specific statutory authority to award a contract to a small business concern owned and controlled by veterans using procedures other than competitive procedures (i.e. a “sole source” contract). The contracting officer may do so in accordance with VAAR 819.7007.

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

MMD Construction LLC (SAM UEI: R2F3HDLMX2H4) O’Neill Contractors, INC (SAM UEI: YPTVJDAFDU97) Raincoat Roof Maintenance, INC (SAM UEI: NONE FOUND) RV Global Solutions, INC (RVGS) (SAME UEI: SYKMD2LAXJN5) Safety Rail Company, LLC (SAM UEI: UYS7MN6K3AM7)

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 the supplies or services required.

All future requirements will be handled on a case-by-case basis. Toward the expiration of this contract, consideration will be given as to whether any future acquisition should be competitive.

12. Certifications / Signatures.

Technical Representative Certification:

I certify that the foregoing justification is complete and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Contracting Officer Representative

Contracting Officer Certification:

Pursuant to (FAR 6.303-2(a)(12)), I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Contracting Officer Strategic Acquisition Center- Frederick (SAC-F)