PSO NYC Metro JA FY25-084.pdf

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN

COMPETITION

41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1))

J&A No.: FY25-084

Pursuant to the requirements of the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 6.3 and in accordance with the requirements of FAR 6.303-1, the justification for the use of the statutory authority under FAR Subpart 6.3 is justified by the following facts and rationale required under FAR 6.303-2 as follows:

1. Agency and Contracting Activity. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of

Procurement Operations (OPO), Federal Protective Service (FPS), Acquisition Division (AD) proposes to extend the performance period of Contract 70RFP118DE2000001, with Paragon Systems, Inc., for Armed Protective Security Officer (PSO) services at various sites throughout the New York Metropolitan area on the basis of other than full and open competition.

2. Nature and/or Description of the Action being Approved.

(a) Nature of action: FPS intends to procure protective security officer services on a noncompetitive basis for up to six (6) months, April 01, 2025 – September 30, 2025, to allow time to finalize award of the competitive follow-on task order and provide adequate time for transition. This action will result in a modification to extend the ordering period of the current contract to allow placement of a task order to continue critical PSO services throughout the New York Metro area. The task order will only be issued under this contract for the necessary length of time required, but not to exceed six (6) months. The current contract is set to expire on March 31, 2025. The follow-on procurement is currently in the pre-award phase with the team finalizing documents to make an award on or before April 10, 2025. FPS AD utilized unrestricted/full and open Multiple Award Contract (MAC) for Protective Security Officer Services, with approval from the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU). This contract vehicle was established to compete PSO requirements in a more efficient and streamlined manner utilizing FAR 16.505 procedures. The MAC was specifically designed to enable DHS/FPS to accomplish its security mission objectives without delay. As stated above, the anticipated award date under the MAC is April 1, 2025. This follow-effort will also require a transition period of 120-days from the date of award to the performance start date. The estimated start date of the order to be placed under the MAC is August 1, 2025. As such, this extension will allow time to complete the award and provide an adequate transition period to the new effort for this requirement.

(b) Name and address of the contractor.

Paragon Systems, Inc.

13900 Lincoln Park Drive Suite 300 Herndon VA 20171-4634

(c) Contract type: Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity, Firm Fixed Price

(d) Estimated total value: Six months -

(e) Type of funding: Operations and support funds

(f) Year of funding: Fiscal Year 2025

(g) Solicitation number: Not Applicable

(h) Background information about the requirement: FPS AD intends to procure protective security officer services pursuant to FAR 6.302-1 as only one responsible source and no other sources will satisfy agency requirements for the continuation of PSO services at facilities throughout the New York Metro area.

3. Description of Supplies/Services.

The requirement is to provide Armed Protective Security Officer services at various locations throughout the New York Metropolitan area. Paragon Systems, Inc. is currently performing under a six (6) month extension pursuant to Justification and Approval No. FY24-00339 period (October 1, 2024 through March 31, 2025) of the competitively awarded contract 70RFP118DE2000001. To complete the competitive procurement process and provide a transition period for the new follow-on task order, FPS AD finds it necessary to request approval for up to an additional six (6) months of service under the authority for other than full and open competition cited herein. This will extend the ordering period under Contract 70RFP118DE2000001 from April 1, 2025 through September 30, 2025 in the event all six months are needed.

The instant action is to allow FPS AD to continue procuring PSO services from Paragon Systems, Inc. under contract 70RFP118DE2000001 while processing the evaluation and award of the competitive follow-on task order and the necessary transition period. This will ensure uninterrupted security services at federal facilities throughout the New York Metro area between the expiration of the existing contract and the start of full performance by the successful vendor under the follow-on effort. The proposed sole source extension will ensure services are provided while the award is being finalized as well as during the 120-day transition for the new vendor to train and meet all requirements of the contract prior to the security personnel standing post.

The requirement fulfills an existing government need and the extension of the existing contract is the most advantageous and only practical method of fulfilling the government’s need, price, and other factors considered. This contract extension also takes into account the government’s need for continuity of operations and potential costs of disrupting operations. The period of performance for this extension is for up to six (6) months of additional PSO services from April 1, 2025 through September 30, 2025; at an approximate value of

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) implemented by FAR 6.302-1, only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

5. Identification of Exception to the Buy American Statute

Not applicable.

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

Paragon Systems, Inc. is currently satisfactorily performing PSO services under Contract 70RFP118DE2000001, at various locations throughout the New York Metro area. The contract is set to expire on March 31, 2025. FPS AD anticipates the award of a task order under the Multiple Award Contract on or before April 10, 2025, which was solicited under Request for Quotations (RFQ) 70RFP125QE2000009. However, due to unexpected delays throughout the evaluation process, the government requires additional time to complete the procurement prior to issuing the award of the follow-on task order, which requires a minimum of a 120-day transition period.

During this acquisition time frame there were unexpected delays to include: 1) the contracting division responsible for this RFQ was working on recompeting several armed PSO requirements which included contracts with more imminent expirations. The Acquisitions Division currently has limited resources to process each of these competing efforts and achieve our acquisition milestones due to significant employee attrition in recent years and 2) Procurement lead time was inflated due to the pursuit of thorough additional market research at the request of the Small Business Office representatives to ensure the appropriate acquisition strategy is selected for the follow-on procurement. This contract vehicle was established to compete PSO requirements in a more efficient and streamlined manner utilizing FAR 16.505 procedures. Therefore, the circumstances listed above necessitates an extension of the incumbent contract to allow for the evaluation and award of the follow-on task order and the required transition period.

The follow-on requirement under this contract is estimated to be awarded on or before April 10, 2025, with an anticipated performance start date on or before August 1, 2025. The follow-on task order will have a transition period of 120-days from the date of award to the performance start date.

This transition period enables the follow-on contractor to obtain all necessary equipment, licenses, training, and other certifications/ suitability requirements for its employees to be able to begin standing post at the start of performance. Due to extensive screening, training, licensing, and transition requirements for PSOs under the FPS program, another PSO firm cannot immediately replace the existing contractor without a severe and unacceptable degradation in overall security jeopardizing federal government personnel, visitors, and assets. For these reasons, it is also not feasible for any portion of the work to be segregated to allow for competition. The incumbent contractor, Paragon Systems, Inc., is familiar with the instant requirement, facility locations, and has a fully qualified staff in place and is the only contractor at this time that can immediately fulfill the requirement without delay or interruption of services. As a result, an extension of services under the current contract is necessary to ensure a seamless transition takes place from the existing requirement to the follow-on effort.

Title 40 United States Code (U.S.C) §1315 gives DHS the responsibility to protect federal facilities and the people therein. Presidential Policy Directive 21 (PPD-21), and the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) further refine DHS’s responsibility to protect buildings, grounds, and property that are owned, occupied, or secured by the Federal Government. These documents also establish U.S. policy for the protection and resilience of the Nation’s critical infrastructure and provide a framework for integrating efforts designed to enhance the safety of critical infrastructure. Given the reality of terrorist threats, it is in the best interests of DHS and the public to continue to allow the incumbent contractor to provide services until the follow-on task order is appropriately transitioned. Effective PSO services are integral to the FPS mission to respond to terrorist attacks, domestic workplace violence, trespassing, disorderly conduct, and emergency medical situations. PSO services also mitigate threats by detecting firearms, hazardous materials, and suspicious packages at these locations. Due to these critical roles, a modification to extend the current contract 70RFP118DE2000001 with Paragon Systems, Inc. is required to allow placement of a new task order to provide continued services to ensure uninterrupted service, a seamless transition, and to eliminate potential disruption in PSO services.

7. Description of Efforts Made to Ensure that Offers are Solicited from as Many Potential Sources as is Practicable.

The circumstance restricting competition for this requirement is that “only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements,” pursuant to FAR 6.302-1. Therefore, no exception to the FAR 5.2 notification requirement applies, and FPS AD posted this requirement to SAM.gov on March 17, 2025, which is slightly under the 15-day threshold; however, OPO did not approve the ADFO Memorandum until March 16, 2025, pursuant to FAR 5.201(b)(1)(ii). FPS AD intends to make this justification publicly available pursuant to FAR 6.305, via posting it on SAM .

8. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the Anticipated Cost to the Government will be

Fair and Reasonable.

The Contracting Officer has determined that the hourly rate of is fair and reasonable based on comparison of the proposed prices to historical prices paid for the same or similar items in accordance with FAR 15.404-1(b)(2)(ii). Paragon confirmed this rate for the extension period and it was reviewed by FPS AD and determined to be fair and reasonable. Paragon agreed to honor the hourly rate of which is the rate provided under J&A FY24-00339 expiring on March 31, 2025, for the period of performance from April 1, 2025 through September 30, 2025, which will be modified into the contract under modification P00033. The price analysis table below shows the comparison in hourly priced rates from the current contract as well as different contracts that were competitively awarded for PSO Armed Guard Services for the FPS East Zone to the current negotiated hourly rate which is proposed for the J&A period. All contracts have similar Statements of Work and similar training/ certification requirements as they are all for Armed PSO services.

than originally projected due to unanticipated issues. The agency plans to make award on or before April 10, 2025, with the new task order performance to start no later than August 1, 2025. It is essential that services continue without interruption for the security of federal facilities throughout the New York Metro area to include government personnel and visitors at these locations.