Redacted_JOFOC_-_68HE0C18C0001_1.pdf

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

Upon the basis of the following justification, the undersigned Agency Advocate for Competition hereby approves the use of other than full and open competition of the proposed contractual action pursuant to the authority of 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1.

Identification Number: Contract 68HE0C18C0001

1. Identification of the agency and contracting activity.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Acquisition Solutions (OAS), Cincinnati Acquisition Division (CAD)

2. The nature and/or description of the action being approved, i.e., sole source, limited competition, establishment of a new source, etc.

The purpose of this justification is to extend specific work assignments currently being performed under contract 68HE0C18C0001 for six (6) months, beginning July 1, 2023 and ending no later than December 31, 2023, in accordance with the below. The extension is proposed under a sole source basis.

The undersigned Contracting Officer has determined that the current contractor, Eastern Research Group, Inc. (ERG), is the only responsible vendor capable of providing uninterrupted support of essential requirements under Contract 68HE0C18C0001 until a follow-on vehicle can be awarded and becomes fully operational to maintain required contractor support. Without a sole source contract extension to ERG, the systems and processes developed by ERG over the past five (5) years of contract performance could not be replicated by another vendor in time to avoid a disruption to the Agency’s requirements and would thus result in an undue burden on the Agency to both: (1) lose essential contractor support; and (2) expend unnecessary time and resources attempting to transition essential contractor support within an unreasonable timeframe.

Below is identification of the incumbent contractor, ERG, which is proposed as the only responsible source to maintain uninterrupted continuation of the Agency’s requirements:

Vendor Information:

Eastern Research Group, Inc. (ERG) 110 Hartwell Ave Suite 1 Lexington, MA 02421 Attn: [REDACTED] UEI Code: DK4TBEJRAR56

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

Under the current contract, the U.S. EPA, Office of Air and Radiation (OAR), Office of Transportation and Air Quality (OTAQ) receives services from the above vendor that play a critical role in supporting OTAQ’s mission of assessing mobile source-related air quality problems and developing sophisticated modeling tools to obtain solutions, measure results, and support emission inventories. These activities support EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment through the establishment of national standards and regulations that reduce emissions from on-road and non-road mobile sources of pollution.

The six (6) month extension described above will be used to continue uninterrupted contractor support on specific, Agency-essential work until a competitive follow-on vehicle is awarded and fully operational. This requirement was originally awarded as a Cost-Plus-Fixed- Fee, Level of Effort contract with a 12-month Base Period and four (4) 12-month Option Periods with an effective period of performance of July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2023. The contract also contained the Option to Extend Services clause, which provides for up to six (6) months of additional contractor support beyond the June 30, 2023 contract expiration date. However, the costs associated with this option to extend services were not evaluated during the pre-award phase, rendering this JOFOC necessary to proceed with an extension.

This proposed additional six (6) month extension seeks to provide continued, uninterrupted contractor support on select Agency-essential work assignments, while transition to a new multiple award Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) known as “EARTH” is completed.

Specifically, fully executed call orders issued under EARTH to support the requirements currently being completed under Contract 68HE0C18C0001 are not expected to be operational by June 30, 2023, based both on standard Agency acquisition lead timeframes as well as the complexities associated with awarding call orders under the EARTH BPA, which includes competition among twelve (12) small and large business vendors.

The EARTH acquisition team, which comprises a group of both Headquarters and Cincinnati team members, are handling both pre- and post- award responsibilities for the initial round of call orders under EARTH. There are several call orders that have already been awarded, and many more are at various points of the pre-award process. The call orders associated with this JOFOC have just recently been received by the EARTH acquisition team for pre-award intake, and are currently in the introductory file review phase. Due to the complexities of re-organizing these requirements from a large work assignment type contract to two (2) large call orders, there were some reasonable delays in developing the complete call order packages being submitted.

Additionally, given the approximate four (4)-month anticipated lead time to issue call order awards under EARTH, along with an expected transition period that will be required for the awardee to get “up to speed” with EPA’s requirements, it is reasonable to expect that a six (6) month extension will be required to provide seamless transition of Agency-essential work between the current contract and the EARTH BPA.

While there are approximately seventeen (17) active work assignments (including a few that remain in the award process) under Contract 68HE0C18C0001, the OTAQ program office and the undersigned CAD contracting team have worked to narrow the scope of the extended work to include only Agency-essential activities and work wherein final deliverables could be degraded, lose data integrity, or fail to be delivered in the event of a lapse in service. In total, this analysis resulted in the proposed extension of eleven (11) of the seventeen (17) total work assignments, and involves work in the following technical areas: (1) emissions inventory updates to the national MOVES Model program; (2) Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Clean School Bus program requirements; and (3) the advancement of regulatory action deadlines found within Presidential Executive Order 14037 on “Strengthening American Leadership in Clean Cars and Trucks and EPA rule on GHG emissions standards.”

Specifically, should a lapse in services occur with respect to the above-described work, delays in the following ongoing projects would negatively impact the Agency: (1) analyses informing critical updates to the modeling of the benefits of Inspection and Maintenance (I&M) programs for light-duty vehicles planned for inclusion in the public release of the “MOVES5” inventory model, which is scheduled to occur between June 2023 and October 2023; (2) development of capability to decode the Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) for heavy-duty vehicles, a prerequisite for appropriate classification of these vehicles in subsequent analyses; (3) progress toward issuance of the final Light and Medium Duty Vehicle Multipollutant Rule, which must have uninterrupted progress to meet the Agency’s March 2024 deadline; (4) advancement of new techniques and methodologies to measure vehicles at a lower emission level to gain a better understanding of overall fleet emissions; and (5) gathering critical activity data on how older and new electric vehicle school buses are being driven to improve emission reduction.

4. 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)(1), as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1, entitled “Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.”

5. A statement demonstrating the unique qualifications of the proposed contractor or the nature of the acquisition requiring the use of the authority.

In accordance with FAR 6.302-1, ERG is uniquely qualified to satisfy Agency requirements to provide continued, uninterrupted support for Agency-essential services and final contract deliverables under Contract 68HE0C18C0001. Without an additional six (6) month extension as authorized by this JOFOC, the Agency will be forced to “default” into a stop-work situation on numerous projects, as the above-described BPA responsible for continuing these projects is not anticipated to have active call order support for several months following Contract 68HE0C18C0001’s June 30, 2023 expiration. ERG is the only vendor capable of continuing this work uninterrupted, given that the contract will expire before a competitive procurement could be completed to potentially contemplate another vendor.

As detailed above in Part 3 of this JOFOC, a lapse in services presents an unacceptable scenario for the Agency, as much of the work contemplated by the extension period focuses on continuing statutory objectives mandated by Congress through the above-described statutes and Presidential executive order. The Agency cannot default on its statutorily prescribed work, and losing contractor support for any length of time renders meeting deadlines regarding these statutes nearly impossible.

Lastly, even if there were an opportunity to conduct a competitive procurement in the very limited time available, the Agency resources required to do so are significantly outweighed by the fact that such a contract would only be needed to operate for approximately six (6) months.

The length of time for a new contractor to get “up to speed” on these highly technical requirements could reasonably consume most of those six (6) months, leaving very little time for meaningful performance to occur. After this abbreviated performance period, all requirements are anticipated to be absorbed onto the EARTH contract, rendering the previously issued short-term competitive award obsolete.

6. A description of efforts to ensure that offers were solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable. Include whether or not a FedBizOps announcement was made and what response, if any, was received, or include the exception under FAR 5.202 if not synopsizing. Describe whether any additional or similar requirements are anticipated in the future (this may not be included as an addendum but must be in the body of the

JOFOC).

A notification of intent to sole source was publicly posted under Notice ID 68HERC23R0164 to SAM/FBO on April 4, 2023. The Agency established a deadline of 4:00 PM (EDT) on April 19, 2023 (15 days, with the publication date counting as “Day 0”) for submission of capability statements. In this notice, all interested vendors were asked to submit a capabilities statement and qualifications to perform the proposed work, and were advised that such capabilities/qualifications would be evaluated solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct this procurement on a competitive basis.

One (1) capability statement was received by the above deadline from [REDACTED].

[REDACTED] approach relies almost solely on a proposed plan to recruit and retain incumbent contractor employees, which they assert can be accomplished “within 2 weeks.” Following review of [REDACTED] capability statement by the EPA’s technical evaluation team, [REDACTED] plan was determined to be insufficient for purposes of a potential award competition (see Contract File Tab 122). Specifically, [REDACTED] capability statement did not include any letters of commitment from incumbent employees. Moreover, it is not reasonable to expect incumbent employees to leave the incumbent for only a six-month opportunity, and [REDACTED] provided no concrete evidence that incumbent employees were considering this potential opportunity. Even assuming that [REDACTED] could recruit a sufficient incumbent contractor team away from the incumbent and this could be accomplished in two weeks or less, the EPA technical team determined that: (1) [REDACTED] listed company experience is primarily in the IT technical area, which is not an area supported by Contract 68HE0C18C0001 nor required by the OTAQ program office; and (2) even a 2-week lapse in service for [REDACTED] to recruit and retain a capable staff for performance is unacceptable as relates to OTAQ’s progress toward meeting imminent regulatory and modeling work deadlines.

Two (2) additional responses were received that did not meet EPA’s requirements for submission of a qualifying capabilities statement in accordance with the published Notice of Intent to Sole Source. First, a general statement-of-interest was received by e-mail from [REDACTED]. A response was provided back to [REDACTED] indicating the instructions for submitting a timely capability statement for EPA’s review. However, [REDACTED] did not engage further, and no capability statement was submitted for review. Second, a voicemail from an unknown company (potentially a contract opportunity “search firm”) was received by EPA asking for general information about the opportunity. However, this voicemail was not formally acknowledged by

EPA, as the above-cited Notice of Intent to Sole Source specifically stated that “Telephone or other verbal communications are not acceptable in response to this notice.”

7. The anticipated dollar value of the proposed acquisition, including options if applicable, and a determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The total anticipated dollar value for this six (6) month extension is approximately [REDACTED], and will be administered on a Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee, Level of Effort (LOE) basis in accordance with contract parameters. Specifically, the new 6-month option period, “Option Period 5,” will utilize exactly ½ of the current (twelve-month) Option Period 4 dollar value and LOE ceiling values (including optional increments and optional dollar ceiling), in order to establish a six (6) month extension period that is based off of the most recent prior option period (i.e., Option Period 4) that has previously been determined fair and reasonable.

This arrangement has been negotiated with, and agreed to by, the sole source vendor, ERG.

Additionally, EPA will request an updated Certificate of Current Cost or Pricing Data with from ERG, insofar that the costs associated with this extension have not previously been evaluated.

Based on the above, this is determined to be fair and reasonable by the undersigned Contracting Officer.

8. A description of the market research conducted and the results.

The Agency program office (EPA/OAR/OTAQ), who has both extensive knowledge of the requirements and experience overseeing this contract, has evaluated the vendor marketplace and indicated that there are no other vendors who are capable of undertaking an immediate and uninterrupted transition of contract responsibilities without a lapse in essential services.

This conclusion is further supported by the above-detailed public posting of the Agency’s notice of intent to sole source, wherein the Agency requested capabilities statements/qualifications from all interested vendors in order to evaluate the potential feasibility of a competitive procurement.

As described above, only one (1) capability statement was received, and it was determined to be technically unacceptable by the EPA’s technical evaluation team.

Based on these results, it is the Agency’s determination following market research that a competitive procurement is not likely to yield any capable vendors other than the incumbent contractor, ERG.

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

None.

10. A listing of any sources that expressed a written interest in the acquisition.

See Item #6 above, which provides a detailed description of the two (2) written communications received in response to the Notice of Intent to Sole Source.

11. A statement of any actions the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition if subsequent acquisitions are anticipated.

The current contract, 68HE0C18C0001, was solicited as a Full and Open competition procurement. The current multiple-award EARTH BPA that will assume these requirements was issued through a full and open competition procurement process under GSA Schedules. The call order award process contains a small business set-aside component (if two or more small business BPA awardees are likely capable of performing the work), as well as a full and open competition component among both the small and large business BPA awardees in the event a small business set-aside is not appropriate.

As a result, this one (1) additional other than full and competition contract extension is both: (1) allowable in accordance with the details provided in this JOFOC; and (2) necessary to avoid a lapse in essential Agency support services.

CERTIFICATION

The information contained in this justification for other than full and open competition is certified accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Contract Level Contracting Officer’s Representative: [REDACTED]

OAR/OTAQ/TCD

I certify that the facts and representations under my cognizance, which are included in this justification and which form a basis for this justification, are complete and accurate.

[REDACTED]

Signature Date

Team Lead/Contracting Officer: [REDACTED]

OMS/CAD/OW

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

[REDACTED]

Signature Date

Branch Chief: [REDACTED]

OMS/CAD/OW

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

[REDACTED]

Signature Date

APPROVING OFFICIAL: [REDACTED]

Agency Advocate for Competition

OMS/OAS

I approve this Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition, based on the information provided within this document.

[REDACTED]

Signature Date

The technical or requirements personnel are required to certify each justification as to its accuracy and completeness. By signing the justification, the Contracting Officer certifies that the facts and statements made are accurate and complete