Redacted JA - 19F0484.pdf

Justification and Approval (J&A) for an Exception to Fair Opportunity

Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 16.5 Indefinite-Delivery Contracts

Title: Ancillary services at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, VA (NMCP) and its associated Branch Health/Medical Clinics (BHC) and Tricare Prime Clinics (TPC). (N6264519F0484)

1. Identification of the agency and contracting activity:

Defense Health Agency - Tidewater Contracting Division

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

Bridge to an existing task order / Individual

This request is for a bridge action to add a 3-month extension and a 3-month optional extension to the current task order (HT005018D0032 N6264519F0484) to incumbent Luke & Associates, Inc. 275 Commerce Parkway, Suite 103, Rockledge, FL 32955 to continue Ancillary Services. The current task order expires on 31 December 2023.

This will allow time for a review of a pre-award GAO protest filed on 13 November 2023. GAO has up to 100 days to review and comment on a protest.

3. Description of Supplies/ Services:

This is a short-term bridge action to continue existing personal services for ancillary services including Physician Extender, Certified Nursing Assistant and Optometrist services at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, VA (NMCP) and its associated Branch Health/Medical Clinics (BHC) and Tricare Prime Clinics (TPC). (N6264519F0484)

TOTAL CONTRACT VALUE BASE

POP: From 1/1/2024 to 6/30/2024 POP: From 1/1/2024 to 3/31/2024 Estimated Value $2,016,160.26 Estimated Value $1,008,080.13

Type of Contract (Primary): OPTIONS FAR 16.202 Firm-Fixed Price Number of options: 1 POP (All options): From 4/1/2024 to 6/30/2024 Estimated Value (all options): $1,008,080.13 Funding Type:

Operations & Maintenance (O&M)

4. This acquisition is conducted under the authority of 41 U.S.C. 4104, and Regulatory Authority (see FAR 16.505):

FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(A) – Agency need for the supplies or services is so urgent that providing a fair opportunity would result in unacceptable delays.

5. Rationale Justifying Use of the Statutory Authority Cited:

This requirement is a bridge in order to mitigate a lapse in services to support the mission of NMCP and supporting BHCs and TPCs. The current task order expires 31 December 2023. The PALT allowing for fair opportunity under the Multiple Award IDIQ is 160 calendar days, including time (60 calendar days) to allow a potential new awardee to recruit or retain incumbent employees. The Task Order Proposal Request (TOPR) to award a new task order was posted to Symphony on 31 October 2024 with a response date of 16 November 2024. Amendment 1 was issued on 31 October 2023 to include the correct PWS in the TOPR package. Amendment 2 was issued on 6 November 2023 to update the PWS based on the question-and-answer period. Amendment 3 was issued on 28 November 2023 to extend the question-and-answer deadline and extend the proposal due date to 12 December 2023. Additionally, Amendment 3 updated the PWS, Attachment II - Pricing Sheet, Attachment III – Additional Provisions and Clauses, Attachment IV – FAR 52.212-1 FAR 52.212-2 and the TOPR cover page. There were nine (9) “no bids” and twelve

(12) proposals submitted in a timely manner. On 13 November 2024, the Contracting Officer was informed that a protest had been filed.

A lapse in service would impact patient care severely enough to necessitate shutting down services within the MTFs.

Given the short time before the incumbent contract expires (less than 6 weeks) and the expected possible 100 days for the GAO protest process (a decision is expected by March 2024), it is in the government’s best interest to award a bridge extension on a sole source basis to the incumbent, Luke & Associates, to maintain continuity of care for healthcare services until such time as the current protest is resolved and the new task order can be awarded.

As the protest filed was in response to a competitive recompete effort, pursuing a competitive action for this temporary bridge would likely result in a duplicative protest and would certainly result in an unacceptable lapse in performance of healthcare services. Also, as mentioned earlier, the PALT for a multiple award IDIQ task order is 160 calendar days far exceeding the 45 days remaining on the current task order providing the required services.

6. Determination by the ordering activity contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable:

The contracting officer will use an IGCE and comparison to historical rates for the same services to make a determination that the anticipated cost to the government will be fair and reasonable for this short-term bridge action.

7. Description of the market research conducted among schedule holders and the results, or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted:

Market Research Conducted? No Provide Rationale:

Market research has been completed at the enterprise level for all MQS efforts. The MQS contract vehicle is a mandatory source of supply for Medical Q-coded Services, which these are. Sources are limited to those contractors with an award under the MQS contracting vehicle. All awardees under this Multiple Award IDIQ were small business contractors at time of award of the base contracts.

8. Other Facts:

Services provided by the incumbent are already established at the MTF and performance under the current contract is considered satisfactory. If fair opportunity procedures were continued and proposal evaluations conducted in a timely manner, the re-competed contract would be awarded 1 January 2024. If this bridge action is not allowed, the MTF will lose critical services for at least 100 days (allowable consideration time for GAO protest) and will not be able to provide healthcare services to the affected patient population. Due to time constraints, a 3-month sole source extension with an additional 3-month option to the current task order is being added in order to mitigate a lapse in service while the protest is being evaluated.

9. Actions to overcome barriers:

The long-term plan for this requirement is to allow fair opportunity under the current MQS contracting vehicle. The TOPR process has reached the evaluation phase. If allowed, the evaluation process can proceed, and the task order awarded with sufficient contractor start-up time before this bridge expires. If needed, there is a 3-month extension option included and this would allow time to make any corrections/remediations recommended and re-solicit the recompete of the current task order.