Posting Limited Source Justification.docx

HCR210009PR

JOFOC HCR eConnect

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity

United States Department of Transportation (USDOT), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Headquarters, Office of Acquisition and Grants Management, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., Washington, DC 20590.

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved This is a Justification For Other Than Full And Open Competition to award a contract to AskReply, Inc. (dba B2Gnow). The acquisition associated with this justification is for the contractor to provide maintenance, enhancements, and reporting services for the Civil Rights e-Connect Database (CRC).

The FHWA anticipates awarding a new contract to AskReply, Inc. entitled “Federal Highway Administration Office of Civil Rights e-Connect Database” (“Civil Rights Connect”). The objective of this new contract is to ensure continued operation and functionality of the system, which collects data and information as required by regulations for the following programs: Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE); DBE Supportive Services (DBESS); EEO Employment Data; On-the-Job Training (OJT); Title VI and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

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

The FHWA Office of Civil Rights (HCR) is responsible for a centralized resource for all civil rights reporting and collection required by regulation. The centralized system provides HCR with the ability to generate unique reports, simplify trend analysis, eliminate the need for paper documents and reduce the need for staff to hand key in data which involved months of work that was not as reliable as an electronic system. In order to meet the program objective and comply with reporting requirements, HCR has a need for continued operation of the CRC.

CRC is a configurable Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) system that collects data and information for Civil Rights programs. This procurement is for a software as a service, and the vendor provides operations and maintenance, annual services, module configuration and activations, and one-time changes to the system. CRC utilizes a Microsoft technology stack including: MS SQL Server; IIS webserver; and .NET framework. It is a secure multi-tiered architecture hosted on the AWS FedRamp platform. CRC is designed to facilitate recipient responses and feedback on mandatory and recommended FHWA reporting for the Civil Rights Programs.

FHWA subscribes to the CRC system to facilitate the collection of data and information for the DBE, DBESS, EEO, OJT, Title VI, and ADA programs. The CRC interface allows FHWA’s recipients to upload data and information as required by regulations (49 CFR 26, 23 CFR 230, 23 CFR 200). With this data, FHWA can determine regulatory compliance and program trends. The system also provides the ability to create reports to respond to inquiries on the state of practice of the programs.

The FHWA intends to issue a new contract with a base year and four option years for a total potential period of performance of five years. The total estimated value for the five-year contract is $999,882. Attached is a draft Statement of Work with details for each task and expectations of the contract.

4. Statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition

The statutory authority that permits contracting without providing for full and open competition is FAR 6.302-1, Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The rationale contained in the following paragraphs forms the basis to support a limited source justification under the proposed procurement.

In addition, the CRC has been fully integrated into FHWA’s IT environment, and business processes, workflows, and reports have been developed around this system. There is no other solution that can be implemented and immediately be interoperable with the IT environment and existing business processes and workflows. Choosing a different contractor would require building an entirely new system, assure the data integrates nationally and with other USDOT modes and re-training all users on a new platform. A solution other than the CRC would result in FHWA incurring significant personnel costs, costs for professional services, and additional resouces for personnel training and testing of a new solution.

It is noted that there are currently 400 users of the system, which include State DOTs. Users inputting data and FHWA Division Office representatives reviewing and recommending acceptance of the data are trained on this system and have established passwords and usernames. AskReply, Inc. is also very familiar with FHWA’s regulations and best practices for data collection and reporting. Their expertise on the regulatory requirements facilitates problem solving and enhances reporting.

Market Research was conducted by the program office during the months of April to June, 2021. The following sources were reviewed and/or information obtained from the following:

· items available from other agency contracts, such as Federal Supply Schedules or governmentwide acquisition contracts (GWACs);

· published a sources sought notice and draft SOW;

· reviewed existing contracts in the Office of Civil Rights;

· conducted search on-line; and

· held discussions with other Government agency subject matter experts.

The planned acquisition was added to DOTs FY21 procurement forecast, and the entry can be found here: https://www.transportation.gov/procurement-forecast-opportunity/procurement-forecast-opportunity-203506-2021-189

A Sources Sought Notice (SSN) was published on beta.SAM.gov on June 9, 2021. The SSN included a copy of the draft SOW. The SSN was intended to inform industry of the planned acquisition and provide interested vendors an opportunity to submit capability statements and/or questions and comments on the draft SOW. Two responses were received in response to the SSN: Askreplay, Inc. and Vyts, Inc. Per the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR), Askreplay, Inc (dba B2Gnow) is very capable since they have a system which meets FHWA’s requirements, as well as the experience of providing diversity and civil rights data collection and reporting systems to government customers. Vyts, Inc. on the other hand, was deemed not capable because the vendor did not demonstrate a good understanding of the requirements and the capabilities described, which are suitable for a government-owned systems/applications, and would not meet HCR’s needs since CRC is not a government-owned system/application.

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

The FHWA will ensure that all costs associated with the proposed contract are fair and reasonable. The FHWA intends to issue a firm-fixed price contract. The Contracting Officer will request labor rates and labor categories to evaluate and determine that prices are fair and reasonable. The FHWA will perform a thorough cost/price analysis of the Offeror’s proposal to substantiate this determination. FHWA prepared an Independent Governmental Cost Estimate (IGCE). The IGCE will be used as a comparision to ensure the Offeror’s price is fair and reasonable. The Government will also evaluate the price/cost against historical costs for similar services to ensure the amount is fair and reasonable.

In addition, the Contracting Officer’s Representative and a panel of technical experts will review the technical proposal provided by the vendor to ensure that it meets the technical requirements for this acquisition.

8. Description of the market research conducted and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted

As noted above and in the Market Research Report, the planned acquisition was added to DOT’s FY21 procurement forecast and a SSN was posted. After canvassing the marketplace, HCR did not find another vendor that could provide the CRC due to the data collection and reporting requirements and how the data is housed and integrated with other operating modes.

As documented in the Market Research Report, HCR staff researched and met personally with other vendors that deliver similar data collection systems, including AASHTOware, Equitable Business Opportunities (EBO), and Salesforce. Each of these vendors would require changes to their unique systems, as well as custom software development for these systems to provide the required capabilities. Choosing a different vendor would adversely impact the program and prevent HCR from meeting its mission and regulatory requirements given the delays associated with building an entirely new system and re-training all users.

Given the proprietary nature of the software and delays to HCR’s programs due to choosing another vendor, there is no known action that the Government can take to remove or overcome the barrier that led to the limited source justification.

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

This work was first procured under Task Order No. DTFH6116F00043, which was awarded in 2016 to LCPTracker and B2Gnow as a result of a full and open competitive procurement. In 2019, FHWA issued a sole source follow-on order to LCPTracker and B2GNow to continue providing the services. Specifically, FHWA Task Order No. 693JJ319F000317 with LCPTracker and B2GNow is an on-going contract that is scheduled to expire on in August 29, 2021.

In previous contracts the vendor was referenced as LCPTracker and B2Gnow. LCPTracker partnered with Askreplay, Inc (dba B2Gnow) to provide a vehicle for Askreplay, Inc to be on the GSA Schedule. Askreplay, Inc is a small business but is not on the GSA schedule. Askreplay, Inc provides the CRC proprietary software system and all maintenance technical assistance for the system. Since it is not necessary for Askreplay, Inc to be on the GSA schedule, the proposed contract will be procured on a sole source basis and as a small business set aside to result in a stand-alone contract with Askreplay, Inc.

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

As discussed above, two responses were received in response to the SSN: Askreplay, Inc. and Vyts, Inc.

11. 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.

HCR has discussed with FHWA IT the option of developing an in-house system, and it was determined that FHWA does not have the in-house expertise and resources to develop a new system. Given the proprietary nature of the software and potential delays to HCR’s programs due to choosing another vendor, there is no known action that the Government can take to remove or overcome the barrier that led to the limited source justification.