RMA Ops FAR 16.505 JOFOC 1_22_2021 SAIC -1.pdf

Page 1 AOP No. 5, J&A-Other Than Full & Open Competition- Attachment 7 (Feb. 26, 2020)

Justification for Exception to Fair Opportunity United States Department of Agriculture

FAR 16.505

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity.

United States Department of Agriculture, Departmental Administration, Office of Contracting and Procurement, Procurement Operations Division, 301 S. Howes Street, Suite 321, Fort Collins, CO 80521.

2. The nature and/or description of the action being approved.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) proposes to issue a limited source task order to Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), 12010 Sunset Hills Road, Reston, VA 20190 on a firm fixed-price basis for USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) IT Operations Support. The 9-month task order will continue RMA IT Operations services currently performed under task order GSQ0016AJ0021 of GSA Alliant contract GS00Q09BGD0048.

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

This acquisition will provide RMA IT Operations services from January 31, 2021 – October 15, 2021. Services include configuration and change management, IT operations administration, service desk, infrastructure management, systems administration, data center management, and IT asset management for RMA’s IT application portfolio for an estimated cost of $3.3 million.

Services will begin the day after task order GSQ0016AJ0021 expires on January 30, 2021. FPAC plans to award a task order for FPAC IT Operations Services (Boxwood) competitively by August 15, 2021. This acquisition will support knowledge transfer and transition to the FPAC IT Operations task order during the final two months of performance.

4. Identification of the exception to fair opportunity and supporting rationale.

FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C) - the order must be issued on a sole source-basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it is a logical follow-on to an order already issued.

Pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C), SAIC can provide the necessary services at this time to avoid substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition. This task order provides follow-on services started under the former task order, GSQ0016AJ0021, which was placed in accordance with the applicable GSA Alliant procedures.

The FPAC Business Center (FPAC-BC) Information Solutions Division (ISD) realigned the information technology delivery functions from FSA, NRCS, and RMA to a single organization on October 14, 2018. The Government will procure services for FPAC IT Operations services, which will subsume RMA IT Operations services, no later than August 15, 2021 through an underway acquisition nicknamed “Boxwood”. The Government will incur start-up costs associated with the FPAC IT Operations task order in August 2021. It would be both costly and potentially detrimental to the Government to procure RMA IT Operations services with another vendor less than 12 months prior to the procurement of integrated FPAC IT Operations services. The original source can provide the services without a duplication of start-up cost that will not be recovered through competition. The following factors cause a competition to not be in the government’s best interest:

Page 2 AOP No. 5, J&A-Other Than Full & Open Competition- Attachment 7 (Feb. 26, 2020)

Security Adjudication Badging Laptops Knowledge Transfer

The time required to complete onboarding with USDA currently is greater than 49 business days, creating an estimated start-up time of six to eight weeks for a fully onboarded team with Government furnished laptops and badges. The new vendor would then require overlap with the incumbent for two to three weeks for knowledge transfer.

In summary, a limited source procurement is requested due to:

A. Most of the work required of this follow-on is a continuation of current work, and a working knowledge of the current state of development and processes is critical to ensure timely successful completion with reduced funding.

B. The duplication of startup costs and effort would not be offset by savings through competition and would result in multiple transition cost and effort during a one-year period.

5. A determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

Placing this order presents the best value to the government. Award will be made based on the receipt of a technically acceptable quote containing a fair and reasonable price. USDA will review the contractor’s proposed technical solution in response to the performance work statement and review the pricing quote taking the level of effort and mix of skills available into consideration.

The resulting order will be firm-fixed-price. USDA will compare existing list prices as well as other available pricing. The previous order was against a GSA GWAC already competed and determined to be fair and reasonable. All GSA Alliant Large Business Contractors were solicited via GSA eBuy and a total number of five proposals were received and evaluated for the same effort and competitive pricing in 2015. Cost analysis will be used based on approximately 2/3 of the Option Year 4 pricing on the current GSA Alliant task order.

6. Any other facts to support the justification.

USDA continually performs market research for the related services. This is a follow-on contract from a previous FEDSIM award. The government did not do any specialized market research for this acquisition because it is soley intended to provide services to Risk Management Agency until the Boxwood services are awarded. Because of the “Boxwood” award this FY, multiple duplicate transition costs and effort within one year are not expected to be recupped or benefit the Government through competition.

As part of the Boxwood acquisition, the Integrated Procurement Team (IPT) has conducted market research by watching vendor video submissions in response to the Request For Information (RFI) posted by POD for USDA FPAC IT Acquisitions. In addition, FPAC has met with several vendors and plans to do another RFI, specically for FPAC IT Operational Services, and believes this could potentailly be fulfilled through the Department of Agriculture IT Support Services (DAITSS) Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) in which includes a total of seven small business, four of which are small businesses.

Page 3 AOP No. 5, J&A-Other Than Full & Open Competition- Attachment 7 (Feb. 26, 2020)

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

USDA plans to compete and award a contract for FPAC IT Operations services no later than August 15, 2021 that will include this requirement.

Page 4 AOP No. 5, J&A-Other Than Full & Open Competition- Attachment 7 (Feb. 26, 2020)

Certifications & Approval

Supporting data which form the basis for and included in this justification are certified accurate and complete.

Jeremy Zelman, Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) Information Services Division, Farm Production and Conservation Business Center

The information contained in this Limited Sources Justification is certified accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

JEREMY ZELMAN Digitally signed by JEREMY ZELMAN Date: 2021.01.22 16:49:23 -05'00'

JASON KATTMAN Digitally signed by JASON KATTMAN Date: 2021.01.22 17:44:16 -07'00'

KNIPPER

Contracting Officer

Additional Reviews & Approvals

Signatures are required at each threshold up to the total estimated dollar value of the acquisition

Procurement Operations Division (POD) Branch Chief (if not the Contracting Officer) (if over $700,000). I have reviewed this justification and find it to be accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

JASON KATTMAN Date: 2021.01.22 17:47:51 -07'00'

Digitally signed by JASON KATTMAN

Jason Kattman Branch Chief, Procurement Operations Division

(If over $700,000). I have reviewed this justification and find it to be accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

DANIELLE KNIPPER

Digitally signed by DANIELLE

_________________________________________________Date: 2021.01.25 09:43:49 -07'00' Danielle Knipper SB Liaison Procurement Operations Division

POD Senior Procurement Analyst (if over $700,000). I have reviewed this justification and find it to be accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Brinder Billups Senior Procurement Analyst, Procurement Operations Division

Page 5 AOP No. 5, J&A-Other Than Full & Open Competition- Attachment 7 (Feb. 26, 2020)

POD Deputy Chief (if over $700,000). I have reviewed this justification and find it to be accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Kelly Moore Deputy Chief, Procurement Operations Division

Advocate for competition for the procuring activity (if over $700,000, but not exceeding $13.5 million). I have reviewed this justification and find it to be accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. Therefore, unless additional approvals are required as prescribed below, as advocate for competition for the procuring activity, I hereby approve this justification.

Rick Jiron Chief, Procurement Operations Division Procuring Activity Advocate for Competition