Sole Source Justification_REQUIREMENTS-25-0456_Redacted.pdf

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SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION

FOR AN ACTION EXCEEDING THE SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION THRESHOLD

USING SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURES FOR CERTAIN COMMERCIAL ITEMS

(AUTHORITY: FAR 13.501(a), 41 U.S.C. 1901)

REQUIREMENT-25-0456

1. Agency and contracting activity.

Department of Commerce, NOAA Acquisition and Grants Office (AGO), Western Acquisition Division (WAD), and the National Weather Service, Central Region Headquarters (NWS CRH), located in Kansas City, MO.

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

This sole source justification is a follow-on requirement to the existing contract 1305M219DNWWR0005. This will be a Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP), five (5) year Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract with Ground Level Services, LLC.

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

The purpose of this requirement is to provide the removal and installation of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) replacement equipment within the 38 National Weather Service, Central Region Weather Forecast Offices (NWS- CR WFO’s) and interconnected Radar Data Acquisition (RDA) sites. The period of performance for these equipment replacement services will be five (5) years from the date of award. The total estimated value for this contract is

4. Statutory authority permitting the sole source (including brand name) acquisition.

41 U.S.C. 1901, using simplified acquisition procedures up to $7.5M as authorized by FAR 13.500(a) and implemented by FAR 13.501(a).

5. Demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited. The contracting officer has determined the following circumstances justify the use of a sole source as supported below:

Beginning in 1995, the NWS purchased buildings manufactured by Fibrebond Corporation (FC) for all WFOs. At the time of acceptance, the NWS received building drawing packages that did not contain complete design disclosures from FC due to its proprietary rights of the design, concrete mixture formula, and knowledge used to design and build the concrete structures. Further, the structures that the NWS purchased were done on an “engineer to order” basis so that the specifications created by Fibrebond were unique to each order, even if many of the structures were built utilizing the same or similar construction methods. These proprietary rights are now owned by Ground Level Services, LLC (GLS), which acquired them

REQUIREMENTS-25-0456

in a spinoff transaction with FC during the course of the current IDIQ, 1305M219DNWWR0005, and was novated through modification P22003. These drawings are not released to other contractors for liability purposes.

At each of the 38 sites mentioned above, there is typically one WFO (non-Fibrebond) equipment room and three Fibrebond concrete shelters. A contractor must often make structural modifications to the building where an HVAC system is being replaced or installed, and requires knowledge of critical structural characteristics of the building’s design. The structure could be negatively impacted without this knowledge, and to otherwise obtain the information necessary to make these changes to the structural design of the building, it would require a complete structural engineering analysis in order to assess the impact of any proposed modifications on the integrity of the structure.

Due to the proprietary nature of the drawings which GLS solely owns, and the significant cost and delay to the Government to otherwise perform in-depth structural analyses, GLS is the only source capable of performing the services required.

6. Description of efforts made 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 FAR Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under FAR 5.202 applies.

Due to the proprietary nature of this acquisition, this requirement did not utilize SAM.gov to solicit available capabilities from industry. However, a notice of intent was posted to SAM.gov on 23 June 2025 in accordance with FAR 5.207(c)(15), in order to identify the intended source and provide justification for the lack of competition.

7. Determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The Contracting Officer determines that the anticipated price(s) will be fair and reasonable, in accordance with FAR 13.106-3, based on comparison of the proposed price with prices found reasonable on previous purchases as well as a comparison to an independent Government estimate. Prior to the award of any task order resulting from this IDIQ contract, price information will be obtained and a cost/pricing analysis will be performed and documented in order ensure the Government obtains the required services with pricing that is fair and reasonable.

8. Description of the market research conducted (see Part 10) and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

On April 24, 2024, the Contracting Specialist reached out to the incumbent, Ground Level Services, LLC., to confirm they still hold proprietary rights in connection with the buildings purchased from the National Weather Service in 1995. Based on the answers obtained by the incumbent (see attached), further market research was not conducted. Their response identified them as the only available source to provide the required services in accordance with the Statement of Work (SOW).

9. Any other facts supporting the use of a sole source (including brand name), such as:

GLS possesses unique qualifications to perform this requirement because their plans are proprietary and directly linked to the performance of the HVAC equipment which requires replacement. By awarding this Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) IDIQ contract to them as a sole source, the Government eliminates the risk of damaging the structure of the buildings purchased from Fibrebond Corporation in 1995 as well as the interconnected data radar systems. Damage could result in the WFO remaining inoperable for months which would directly impact the life and property of the residents within each of the 38 WFO service areas.

10. List of the sources that expressed a written interest in the acquisition.

N/A

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.

The Government will continue to conduct market research by confirming active proprietary plans with the incumbent as well as reaching out to the marketplace to gauge capabilities for future requirements that are identical in scope.

12. Technical/Requirements Representative Certification

13. Office of General Counsel Review

14. Contracting Officer’s Certification and Approval

15. NOAA Competition Advocate Approval: