SOL Review 07-16-16 - Justification for Other Than Full Open Competition for BL Hooks Job Corps Center - final.pdf

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

1) IDENTIFICATION OF THE AGENCY AND CONTRACTING AGENCY:

Contracting Activity Customer Agency Job Corps Acquisition Services Employment and Training Administration

Office of Job Corps

2) NATURE AND/OR DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTION BEING APPROVED:

This justification requests approval to award a short-term, sole-source, firm fixed price contract to Education and Training Resources (ETR) for the continued operation of the BL Hooks Job Corps Center.

This sole-source action is to ensure continuity of operations at the BL Hooks Job Corps Center while the administration of Job Corps program is subject to two federal court orders and while DOL assesses plans to issue a competitive procurement for a long-term contract to operate the BL Hooks Job Corps Center. These issues will not be resolved before the incumbent contract expires on July 31, 2026, so, therefore, this sole source contract is necessary to continue to maintain the status quo of uninterrupted operations for this center during the re-procurement process.

The short-term contract will include a one-year base period, plus a possible extension of six months under Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO) 52.217-8:

Period of performance Total Amount BASE: August 1, 2026 through July 31, 2027

EXTENSION (under RFO 52.217-8): August 1, 2027 through January 31, 2028.

TOTAL

$12,653,093.00

$6,431,989.00

$19,085,082.00

3) A DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES OR SERVICES REQUIRED TO MEET THE

AGENCY’S NEEDS (INCLUDING THE ESTIMATED VALUE OF ACTION):

a. Description of supplies or services:

The BL Hooks Job Corps center is a 24-hour, 7 days per week operation that provides essential residential (including food and shelter), medical, education, training and career transition support to the students participating in the Job Corps program. The proposed short-term contract will enable the provision of these critical services through the continued operation of the Center.

b. Estimated value including the base and any options and extensions: $19,085,082.00

4) AN IDENTIFICATION OF THE STATUTORY AUTHORITY PERMITTING OTHER

THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION:

The statutory authority permitting acquisition of this requirement by other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1), as implemented by RFO 6.103-1, Only One Responsible

Source and No Other Supplies or Services will Satisfy the Agency’s Requirements.

5) A DEMONSTRATION THAT THE PROPOSED CONTRACTOR’S UNIQUE

QUALIFICATIONS OR THE NATURE OF THE ACQUSITION REQUIRES USE OF THE

AUTHORITY CITED:

ETR is the only contractor available who can operate this center without disrupting critical services to the students, incurring transition time and associated costs, which would cause significant harm to the Government. As the current operator, the incumbent is in place and prepared to continue services immediately without disruption to maintain the status quo.

ETR’s current contract expires on July 31, 2026. Thus, Job Corps requires an operator that can continue operating the Job Corps center without disruption or interruption while DOL re-competes this requirement. With the limited time to award a new contract by July 31, without ETR continuing to operate this center then operations at the center would be interrupted and each student would require transportation to return home or transfer to another center. Re-entry into the program for students who were transported home would be problematic and very costly. DOL estimates the transportation costs to be approximately $20,000, and would likely result in some students having to choose to withdraw from the program, thereby denying them the economic benefit of program completion, and also the benefit of DOL’s investment into the students up to this point. Students’ academic and career technical training would be interrupted and irreparably affected while the students wait at home or at another center. Student outcomes and Job Corps’ performance would suffer given the lack of an orderly transition. For example, it is likely that staff who the current contractor recruited, hired and trained would choose to find alternative employment in order to ensure greater job security and that a new contractor, once selected, would have to re-recruit, hire and train an entirely new workforce, which would likely then be passed along in the fixed price charged to DOL. Given that the center currently employs dozens of staff, this is a significant expense. Also, DOL would incur additional expenses for a caretaker contract, valued at approximately $100,000 to $150,000 per month, which would be required to safeguard government-owned facilities while the center’s operations are interrupted.

In addition to hiring, training, and retaining staff, there are many subcontract arrangements under the incumbent operator’s contract. The contractor is required to provide services, including the provision of food, clothing, security, transportation, janitorial, and grounds maintenance. Awarding a short-term contract to other than the incumbent contractor would require the new contractor to quickly enter into many new subcontracts, which could result in additional disruption of services. Additionally, DOL would incur additional transition costs, greater than the standard estimated transition costs of $100,000, as the new contractor would have to ramp up hiring and onboarding of students from scratch, instead of having the ability to retain already trained and qualified staff, and to continue training to an already established on board strength. The cost of this are not easily quantifiable, but DOL’s experience is that it would take upwards of 1.5 to two years just for the center to get back to the point (staffing and student OBS) where the center was at the expiration of the current operations contract.

Uninterrupted operation of the center by the contractor would ensure that the young adults currently housed at the center could depend on the center to provide their comprehensive needs (including housing, food, and medical care) while students progress toward obtaining academic and career technical skills to secure employment.

6) A DESCRIPTION OF EFFORTS MADE TO OBTAIN COMPETITION TO ENSURE

THAT OFFERS ARE SOLICITED FROM AS MANY POTENTIAL SOURCES AS

PRACTICABLE, INCLUDING WHETHER A NOTICE WAS OR WILL BE PUBLICIZED

AS REQUIRED BY RFO 5.2:

There are two ongoing federal court litigations on the administration of the Job Corps program and the center operator contracts. On June 25, 2025, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York entered an opinion and order granting a Preliminary Injunction (PI) in a case known as NJCA et al., v. DOL. That PI prohibits DOL from “enforcing, implementing, maintaining or giving effect to the closure of the private Job Corps centers, including the stop work orders and termination and non-renewal notices delivered to Job Corps center operators starting May 29, 2025; from issuing, enforcing, implementing, maintaining or giving effect to any shutdown tasks, job terminations, or student removals; and from taking any further action to eliminate the Job Corps program without Congressional authorization.” On July 25, 2025, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia entered an opinion and order granting a stay pending review pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 705 in a case known as Cabrera, et al. v. DOL. The order stayed “the Department of Labor’s May 29, 2025 directive to effectuate the closure of all privately-operated Jobs Corps centers” and stated “[t]he Department shall not issue, enforce, implement, maintain, or give effect to any termination or non-renewal notice issued under that directive without following the procedural requirements in 29 U.S.C. §§ 3209(j) and 3211(c).”

DOL is in the process of developing a comprehensive procurement plan that includes the competitive procurement of the subject Job Corps Center and DOL is finalizing a solicitation for the competitive procurement, the acquisition plan and solicitation for the subject Job Corps Center’s operation. However, implementation of this procurement plan and competitive procurement cannot be completed by the expiration of the current contract on July 31, 2026, and there could be a risk of an interruption in services unless DOL maintains the status quo to extend the current contractor’s services to ensure there is no lapse in critical services. This sole-source award allows DOL additional time to implement its procurement plans and competitions while complying with federal court orders.

DOL issued a notice of intent to sole source a contract to ETR on Tuesday, June 30, 2026.

Two responses were received and DOL has considered the response and has determined that the incumbent contract continues to be the only entity capable of satisfying the agency’s needs at this time.

7) A DETERMINATION BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER THAT THE ANTICIPATED

COST TO THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE FAIR AND REASONABLE:

The estimated costs for operating the center was based on historical pricing and the budgeted monthly costs for the most recent center operations contract to ensure fair and reasonable costs.

8) A DESCRIPTION OF MARKET RESEARCH CONDUCTED (SEE FAR PART 10) AND

THE RESULTS OR A STATEMENT OF THE REASON MARKET RESEARCH WAS

NOT CONDUCTED:

Market research has been conducted that identified entities that currently operate Job Corps Centers, and those who have expressed an interest and capability to operate a Job Corps Center in the past. However, it was determined that no other entities possess the ability to ensure continuity of services, to include the continuation of key subcontractor agreements and vendor arrangements, while DOL completes the competitive procurement of a long term contract for these services.

9) OTHER PERTINENT FACTS SUPPORTING THE USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND

OPEN COMPETITION:

No additional facts.

10) INCLUDE A LISTING OF SOURCES, IF ANY, THAT EXPRESSED (IN WRITING) AN

INTEREST IN THE ACQUISITION:

Two entitles expressed an interest and DOL has reviewed the capability of those entities.

11) A STATEMENT OF THE ACTIONS, IF ANY, THE AGENCY MAY TAKE TO REMOVE

OR OVERCOME ANY BARRIERS TO COMPETITION BEFORE ANY SUBSEQUENT

ACQUISITION FOR THE SUPPLIES OR SERVICES REQUIRED:

Job Corps Acquisition Services (JCAS) will compete and award a contract for the long-term operation of the Center.

TECHNICAL CERTIFICATION

Supporting data that is the responsibility of technical or requirements personnel (e.g., verifying the Government's minimum needs, schedule requirements, and/or other rationale for other than full and open competition) and which form a basis for this justification is certified as complete and accurate by the technical or requirements personnel.

The program/technical official further certifies that no conflict of interest exists in awarding a sole source contract to the contractor identified herein.

Technical or Requirements Official Date

CONTRACTING OFFICER’S CERTIFICATION

Contracting Officer’s certification that the justification is accurate and complete to the best of the Contracting Officer’s knowledge and belief.

Contracting Officer Date

APPROVAL

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement for under an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority of 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1) as implemented by FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(ii) and provided that the services and property herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

Signature: Approved by Memorandum by DOL's Chief Acquisition Officer (CAO) on July 29, 2926

Date: __________________________

Print Name:

Title:

07/22/2026_______________________