Sole Source Justification Approval BAS FOB Fort Smith AR Redacted.pdf

GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

PUBLIC BUILDINGS SERVICE

REGION 7

SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION AND

APPPROVAL

Prepared IAW FAR 6.302-1

(1) Identification of the agency and the contracting activity:

U.S. General Services Administration, Public Buildings Service, Region 7, Acquisition

Management Division, Non-Prospectus Branch (7PQC).

(2) Nature and/or description of the action being approved:

Building Automation System (BAS) Upgrades in the Judge Isaac C. Parker Federal Building, Fort Smith, AR, are to be obtained through a sole sources procurement, in accordance with

FAR 6.302-1, Only One Responsible Source. There is only one source for the upgrade of the brand of Siemens JACE equipment and Niagara Tridium Jace software: Powers of Arkansas.

This is due to an exclusive provider arrangement between Powers of Arkansas and Siemens.

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

(Including the estimated value):

The required services are to upgrade Tridium /Niagara hardware and software connected to the existing Regional Building Automation System (BAS). This purpose of this project is to remove existing obsolete JACE hardware, install updated building JACE(s) to the most modern model, licensing, and software available and to ensure that all building systems, graphics, and associated software are fully functional, accessible, and integrated at the Judge

Isaac C. Parker Building (GSA Bldg. No. AR0021ZZ), Fort Smith, AR.

The current BAS system has obsolete devices which need to be replaced for the GSA to be able to properly communicate with it. GSA requires a qualified Niagara-certified, Insight-certified, Siemens-approved company to install the necessary BAS controls. This will require

Powers of Arkansas to perform maintenance and address all open work orders with the current Siemens control system due to Powers of Arkansas being the exclusive provider.

The Independent Government Estimate (IGE) for this procurement is

(4) The authority and supporting rationale, and, if applicable, a demonstration of the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications to provide the required supply or service:

FAR Part 6.302-1, only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

Citations: 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1) or 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(1).

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The government requires a limited source justification in two ways: brand name and sole provider. The brand required is a Siemens JACE product, either branded as Siemens or Talon 8000 (Siemens). The software requirement is Niagara Tridium JACE controller software (JACE).

The Siemens equipment allows the Tridium software to control and customize software and operations remotely in field offices and locations without physically traveling. While other JACE equipment allows communication and some similar functionality, the Siemens equipment allows for a greater ability to “reach into” and control or the manipulation of remote field equipment.

Unless a software allows this, more actions would have to be done manually by travelling to the location. Allowing this remote work saves the government time, money, and resources to ensure the building is operating to the maximum functionality with the lowest risk. This can to some extent be achieved with additional software such as Apogee Insight, but that software is also Siemens owned and increases risk of a failure in the process. Apogee is also out of date and would require an additional layer of software versus streamlining the process with Siemens JACE equipment. On top of these advantages, the BAS units in Arkansas have been in the process of upgrading to Siemens equipment. Having differing equipment allows some communication but limits a lot of the capability to control units from different manufacturers more fully. In one example where equipment is of a non-compatible brand, the unit sends communication data to the BAS, but otherwise works almost like a standalone and has limited remote control ability. Upgrading all systems at the same time is not cost effective since they vary in age and there is not sufficient funding available to complete such an expensive task.

Upgrades happen incrementally.

Powers of Arkansas is also sole sourced as a provider of this service due to having exclusive licensing to operate as a field office for Siemens in the geographic region. Even if another vendor were able to get the prime contract, they would have to act as a pass through and subcontract all the work to Powers of Arkansas which would result in additional costs to the government.

(5) A determination by the ordering activity contracting officer that the order represents the best value consistent with FAR 6.302-1

The Contracting Officer has determined that awarding a sole source contract to Powers of

Arkansas is the best value consistent with FAR 6.302-1. GSA has an extensive history with procuring services of this nature, and knowledge of reasonable pricing for these services.

Additionally, a comparative analysis of the contractors proposed price will be compared to the Independent Government Estimate (IGE), current market rate, historical pricing of similar projects performed within GSA and, if required, negotiations will be conducted to achieve the goal of fair and reasonable.

(6) A description of the market research conducted among schedule holders and the results, or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted:

New market research was not conducted due to the agency’s extensive experience with procuring the same or very similar supplies and services in Region 7. The agency has procured the same and or identical supplies and services often, multiple times a year for several years in

Arkansas. The proprietary nature of the software and equipment, as well as the manufacturer’s restriction to Powers of Arkansas for Siemens’ products have long been reviewed. The agency is always aware of the need to re-evaluate when the situation changes.

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