LSJ_Metrostar Dissemination Support_FINAL.pdf

USCB Limited Sources Justification Page 1 of 5 Enterprise Data Dissemination Environment (EDDE) Support Services

LIMITED-SOURCES JUSTIFICATION

FOR EDDE SUPPORT SERVICES

In accordance with FAR 8.4 and CAM 1306.70

Task Order Title: Enterprise Data Dissemination Environment (EDDE) Support Services

Solicitation Number: RM-23-0049

Contractor: Metrostar Systems LLC (Metrostar)

Period of Performance: 9/22/2023 through 3/23/2024

Place of Performance: U.S. Census Bureau, Suitland, MD

COR: Sean Kinn

Contract Type: Time and Materials (T&M) and Firm-Fixed-Price

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity

The U.S. Census Bureau, Acquisition Division (1333LB).

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

This is a logical follow-on procurement for continued EDDE Support Services from Metrostar. The task order was awarded against Metrostar’s General Services Administration (GSA) Schedule Contract # GS-35F-0816P. The purpose of the task order was to provide a short-term continuation of the same services previously obtained through the original award # YA1323-15-BU-0041/ WO001 with Metrostar Systems.

The period of performance includes a three-month base period from September 22, 2023 through December 22, 2023, with a three month-optional period from December 23, 2023 to March 23, 2024.

The total estimated value of the task order is $8,635,017.

3. Description of the Supplies/Services Required

The Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data and information about the nation's people and economy. Within the Census Bureau, the Census Enterprise Dissemination Services and Consumer Innovation (CEDSCI) organization develops, enhances and maintains the EDDE that serves as the primary tool for the dissemination of Census Bureau data. The scope of the services required under the Task order includes providing support for EDDE in the following areas:

a. Agile Development Framework – Provide an industry-standard interactive process that leads to high quality development and incorporates stakeholder feedback to drive continuous improvements.

b. Development and Testing – Develop a modernized technology platform that leverages existing innovations and advances in digital capabilities to enable consumers to do more with Census Bureau data.

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c. Transition Implementation and Integration Activities – Support for the development of and migration to new Dissemination Processing Operations protocols and technologies. Establish and document product and data release procedures, schedules, and governance.

d. Business Operations – Support for data and documentation dissemination functions to enable users to search across censuses and surveys delivering a superior user experience.

e. Project Management – Support the management and implementation of enterprise services and processes associated with the dissemination vision.

4. Authority and Supporting Rationale

This procurement was taken pursuant to the authority of FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(C) – In the interest of economy and efficiency, the task order shall be awarded as a logical follow-on to an original Federal Supply Schedule task order that was competed in accordance with the applicable Federal Supply Schedule ordering procedures.

In 2017, the EDDE task order was competed under the “Project Tier” of the Census-Bureau’s Systems Engineering and Integration (SE&I) Multiple Award BPA. Metrostar was selected for award of the EDDE requirements through YA1323-15-BU-0041/ WO001. The final period of performance completion date is September 30, 2023*.

* The Contracting Officer will change the task order POP to ensure no overlap of services occurs.

Census began its acquisition planning efforts for a new procurement to obtain support services for the dissemination of Census Bureau data and to include additional operational Information Technology (IT) support for Disclosure Avoidance (DA) activities. The new procurement effort was labeled as the Dissemination Systems Development and Support Services (DSDSS) acquisition. However, significant delays were encountered during the acquisition planning efforts for the DSDSS procurement due to the severity of the delays, Census determined that a short-term (one three-month base period and one three-month option period) task order was required to ensure no disruption to the dissemination of Census Bureau data or to the ongoing support of existing data dissemination systems supported by CEDSCI and to allow adequate time for Census to complete the source selection process for the DSDSS procurement.

Additionally, the logical follow on task order with Metrostar meets a critical need for Census in ensuring that a disruption of the overall CEDSCI mission does not occur. Metrostar Systems has the necessary staff that are intimately familiar with all of the CEDSCI dissemination systems, tools and processes.

Competing and awarding the short-term EDDE requirements to a new contractor (and personnel team ) at this critical juncture would likely cause Census to incur significant impacts and increased costs as new Contractor would spend the entire task order performance period with onboarding its staff and trying to be familiar with the CEDSCI systems, tools and processes within an unrealistic performance timeframe.

Overall CEDSCI services would also likely be adversely impacted with the diversion of its personnel to work on unnecessary onboarding and orientation tasks with the contractor personnel rather than performing critical CEDSCI mission services. Further, this approach creates a scenario where Census would be required to incur the same costs again within three to six months later when the DSDSS contract is awarded.

5. Contracting Officer Determination of Best Value

All awardees were provided fair opportunity to be considered for the original task order under the GSA, Multi-Tiered Acquisition Framework for SE&I.

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Rates listed on the master GSA Schedule have already been deemed fair and reasonable. The Contracting Officer, Contracting Officer Representative, and the technical team will perform an evaluation of the quotation received via the solicitation, including any discounts to the Federal Supply Schedule rates. In addition to ensuring technical compliance with the solicitation, the team will also compare the prices to the Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE) and historical acquisitions for these services. Based on this approach, a determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated price to the government will be fair and reasonable and provide the best value to the government will be documented in the memo for award.

6. Market Research

Market Research was conducted and documented in accordance with FAR Part 10 in support of this procurement. Market Research for this procurement consisted of a review of historical acquisition information, knowledge in procuring services of this type, information in SAM.gov, and a review of the GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contracts with Metrostar . Additionally, the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS) tool as well as the GSA Procurement Equity Tool were utilized to identify small businesses potentially capable of subcontracting with Metrostar Systems for this task order. Based on the market research, the Government determined that Metrostar Systems has a valid GSA MAS contract, has a valid entity registration in the System for Award Management (SAM), was not on the excluded parties list and there are small businesses capable of supporting the requirement as subcontractors.

In the interest of economy and efficiency per FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(C), no other sources can be considered for this procurement as it is in the Government’s best interest to issue a logical follow-on task order to Metrostar .

7. Other Facts Supporting the Justification

Not acquiring the required support services from Metrostar would likely result in a lapse of technical support for critical systems and applications that are utilized to disseminate Census Bureau data. The following describes the critical nature of the support services and the impacts to CEDSCI and the Census Bureau if there were a lapse in support services:

The Census Bureau is charged with providing ongoing measures of the U.S. population, housing, and economy, which supports the economic and political foundations of the United States. Reliable collection, preparation, tabulation, and dissemination of demographic and economic statistics are vital to the Census Bureau’s overall mission and strategic goals and objectives.

The Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data and information about the nation's people and economy. More than just numbers, this information shapes important policy decisions that help improve the nation’s social and economic conditions. The Census Bureau interacts with thousands of businesses, residents, partners, journalists, government officials, academic researchers, and many other organizations and groups on a regular basis to collect and disseminate information. The result of these customer interactions has a direct impact on the Census Bureau’s ability to collect high-quality data and increase the visibility and utility of it’s products. To this end, the Census Bureau’s strategic plan highlights Customer Service Excellence as one of their four strategic goals. Furthermore, the Census Bureau has developed the data dissemination strategy, which “aims to meet the needs of a complex and disparate user base; and allow these groups to make better data-driven decisions, based on credible statistics, easy-to-use tools, and standardized data elements.”

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The CEDSCI is the organization within the Census Bureau charged with the development, maintenance and enhancement of the systems, tools and processes that enable the dissemination of Census Bureau data. CEDSCI manages the planning, operations, governance, and 24/7/365 maintenance and support of data.census.gov with an integrated team of federal and contracted personnel. If CEDSCI experiences a lapse in the contracted support services, then the following impacts will occur to the Census Bureau:

The ability to disseminate data, in accordance with the established schedules, would be at risk due to the Program's loss of support provided by Contractors.

The lack of 24/7/365 support to respond to system outages during non-business hours will fall upon Federal resources, which will adversely impact their regular workload and slow program velocity. Additionally, it will increase the time required to restore public-facing services in the event of an outage. With an average of 11,162 daily unique visitors to www.data.census.gov any outages will negatively impact hundreds to thousands of public end-users.

The lack of contractor support will lead to delays in deploying software patches or upgrades to systems to ensure compliance with IT security requirements.

Delays will occur in the planning for and migration of systems to the new Census Bureau secure cloud, due to the lack of critical subject matter experts currently on the contract.

The ability to respond to defects/improvements identified in user feedback in a timely manner will be diminished. In turn, this will negatively impact the Census Bureau’s reputation for being responsive to end-users of the data dissemination systems and tools.

8. Actions to Remove or Overcome Barriers to Competition

Extensive market research was conducted for the DSDSS procurement that included engagements with industry and the Department of Commerce (DOC) Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) as well as the DOC Acquisition Innovation Lab (“The Lab”). As a result, a multi-phase competitive acquisition strategy was developed that allows for greater participation in the DSDSS procurement while also minimizing the burden on participating small businesses. Both phases of the competitive process for the DSDSS acquisition were developed based on best-practices and prior acquisitions that The Lab has supported and that have received positive feedback from industry.

Certification

9. Technical/Program Certification:

Based on the information herein, and in accordance with FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(C), this work order should be awarded to Metrostar Systems, LLC. As the Program Office Representative, I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Sean Kinn Date Contracting Officer’s Representative

CEDSCI

U.S. Census Bureau

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Certification from the Contracting Officer:

Based on the information herein, it was determined to be in the government’s best interest to award this short-term work order to Metrostar Systems, LLC in accordance with FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(C). As Contracting Officer, I hereby certify that the justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Paul W. Boesch Date Contracting Officer

Activity Competition Advocate:

I have reviewed this justification and find it to be accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. Since this Limited-Sources Justification does not exceed $13.5M, this review serves as approval.

Leslie A. Andrecs Date Competition Advocate