OTIE_LSJ_(12-24-13)_FBO_Posting.docx

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

REGION 4

LIMITED SOURCES JUSTIFICATION

BACKGROUND

Date: December 18, 2013

JUSTIFICATION

1. Identification of the agency, and the contracting activity, and specific identification of the document as a “Limited Sources Justification”

The Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, proposes a Limited Sources Justification for the purpose of continuing activities under the current Superfund Technical Assessment and Response Team (START) program. The Region 4 Acquisition Management Section (AMS) would be the contracting activity issuing the action.

2. Nature and/or Description of Action to be Approved:

The action to be approved is a delivery order using GSA Schedule GS-00F-0006L. The estimated value is approximately $9,000,000. The period of performance will be from January 1, 2014 through August 31, 2014 with four (4) one month option periods. EPA has determined that issuing the proposed contract action to OTIE will allow Region 4 the ability to continue the effort necessary to meet the Government’s need while avoiding significant financial harm, avoid creating significant delays associated with a loss of continuity of service, prevent damaging ongoing enforcement and site-specific community involvement activities, and mitigate impairing readiness for response. Any delays would increase the public’s exposure to potentially hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants at the many ongoing site projects. A break in service would be extremely disruptive to critical ongoing work and create a significant impairment in the Region’s ability to accomplish its mission as required under the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), Stafford Act, and Homeland Security Act in the case of a nationally significant event, emergency or other time-critical action (i.e. natural or man-made disasters) in the Region.

3. Description of Supplies or Services Required:

The Government intends to award a delivery order, with work ordered through the issuance of Technical Direction Documents (TDDs) on primarily a time-and-materials basis in accordance with the attached Performance Work Statement (PWS). The PWS will be limited to Response Activities, Preparedness and Prevention Activities, and Assessment and Inspection Activities under the Region 4 START program.

4. Identification of Authority Permitting Limiting Sources and a demonstration of the proposed contractor's unique qualifications to provide the required supply or service:

The statutory authority permitting limiting sources relative to this request is FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i) (B), only one source is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services are unique or highly specialized. The agency’s need for the supplies or services is to allow uninterrupted coverage. Unless the agency is permitted to limit the number of sources from which it solicits bids or proposals, a break in coverage would result in unacceptable delays that could seriously impair the agency’s mission to protect human health and the environment. The Agency has determined that OTIE is the only firm that can perform these highly specialized services at the level required in a prompt and timely manner without delays. OTIE is currently assigned 55 independent projects within Region 4’s eight (8) states with a total value of $7,980,617.00. This bridge contract would also provide coverage for the upcoming 2014 hurricane season.

There are also approximately 204 independent projects still in the closeout process. The closeout process was increasingly hampered by the government shutdown during which time the contractor was not allowed to work on 95% of the work assigned. During this period, the contractor will continue all projects and any new emergency work that falls within the limited PWS. OTIE has performed as the START III small business contractor for the past 7 years. They have the resident key personnel, specialized skill, and equipment, on site and readily available without delay. OTIE is capable of responding to any and all events under the START program.

5. A Determination by the Contracting Officer that the Order Represents the Best Value.

The Contracting Officer has determined that the order represents the best value consistent with FAR 8.404(d). OTIE has been issued over 473 TDD’s over the contract period and has successfully supported all projects, despite being a small business while maintaining a better than average performance rating. OTIE possesses historical knowledge on a number of projects that date back to the beginning of this contract making it the only source capable of providing the level of quality services required to accomplish the mission, without delay, until a follow-on contract is awarded.

For the past three years, the rates for the current contract (EPW05053) remained unchanged at the levels negotiated for Award Term II. It is anticipated that the current approved contract rates will be applied to the bridge contract with only minor wage rate increases which will be tied to Consumer Price Index (CPI) increases for 2014. These rates are lower than the current GSA Schedule rates and were determined fair and reasonable based on a cost analysis of the contractor’s proposal and negotiations at the time of award.

In accordance with FAR 8.404(d), GSA has determined the prices of supplies and fixed-price services, and rates for services offered at hourly rates, under schedule contracts to be fair and reasonable.

If the Government were to switch contractors for this short period of time, not only would there be an unacceptable delay but EPA would also have to pay mobilization and demobilization cost. It is estimated that approximately $360,000 would be necessary to demobilize contractor personnel from field sites and does not include the cost of placing ongoing work placed with other sources. This amounts to an estimated average of $30,000.00 per month for at least 8 months up to 12 months.

6. Market Research:

A sources sought notice was issued for the follow on procurement and the Contracting Officer received interest from five (5) vendors. Once this Limited Source Justification is publicized, in accordance with FAR 5.301, a listing of interested sources will be added to the file for future reference, and consideration for the reprocurement effort currently underway.

7. Other Supporting Facts:

The existing services are being performed by OTIE under contract EPW-05-053. This contract is scheduled to end on December 31, 2013 and the follow on contract is anticipated to be awarded by October, 2014. All available options to extend the period of performance under this contract have been exhausted. The only other viable alternative to obtain the service under a currently existing contract vehicle would be to access a crossover with another Region. There is only one Region with this capability and the contract capacity is not sufficient to perform the work needed. Without the START contract, Region 4 Emergency Response and Removal Branch’s ability to support the Agency’s mission will be critically hampered. EPA’s regulatory obligation to respond to emergencies and investigations is mandatory to protect human health and the environment. This is specific to various ongoing time-critical actions which must be responded to in a timely manner. A time-critical removal action means that, based on the site evaluation, EPA should begin its on-site removal action within six months (40 CFR § 300.5).

The solicitation for the small business set aside follow on START IV contract was scheduled to be released by December 2013. It has been delayed because of unforeseen time critical/emergencies that redirected EPA personnel resources involved in the solicitation process as well as the Government shut down that occurred from 1-17 October 2013. Closing out ongoing activities under this contract and transitioning the work to a different contract or to another Region by means of a crossover would cause an increase in the site costs, delay critical work activities, and significantly hamper ongoing enforcement and site-specific community involvement activities. Currently, the only crossover option does not allow enough capacity to support these activities.

The following sites are just a few examples of some of the higher priority actions that are ongoing and have been determined to pose an imminent and substantial endangerment to human health that will be continued under the bridge contract. OTIE has been performing these highly specialized services under the current contract and is the only source capable of performing this work at the level of quality required without delays until the follow-on contract is awarded.

The 35th Avenue Site in Birmingham, Alabama is a time-critical removal investigation associated with contamination from a manufacturer of foundry and furnace coke as well as furnace by-products. The contaminants of concern range from metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls and semi-volatile organic compounds. The ongoing investigation involves an estimated 1,500 residential properties in Northwest Birmingham, Alabama. The OTIE contractor is currently continuing investigation activities and is in the initial stages of the removal action. OTIE provides technical support in determining the actual extent of contamination as it relates to the facility and residential properties. This time-critical investigation is considered to be one of the most important in progress now due to the number of affected residences and the public health concerns. OTIE has sampled 1,100 residential properties thus far. A total of 450 properties have been established as above the established removal action levels. A total of 50 of these properties are considered the highest priority due to the levels of contamination. According to EPA guidance and the National Contingency Plan, these levels require a time-critical removal action to reduce the risk of exposure to the residents. Under EPA’s policy approach of “Enforcement First” to Superfund clean-ups, every reasonable effort to get Potentially Responsible Parties (PRP) to perform the removal action must be conducted. Given EPA’s limited funding, it is crucial that every effort to bring in PRPs is necessary. OTIE has been working on gathering and analyzing evidence about the past practices of the PRPs over the last 12 months. OTIE is the only source that can provide these highly specialized services at the level of quality required without delays until the follow-on contract is awarded. If the contract cannot be extended, the Agency will have to move these actions to another contract which will delay the necessary removal actions. Closing or transferring these activities to another contractor for this short period until the follow-on contract is awarded, would drastically impair the sampling and analytical efforts of the project while continuing exposure of the population to the contaminants. The urgency of this project is to immediately protect the community from contamination located on their properties. These activities are also in support of enforcement action and have involved significant and sustained investment in community engagement, both of which would be jeopardized by a work stoppage.

The CTS of Asheville Site in North Carolina has been one of OTIE’s longer term projects that has spanned 5 years from the removal to remedial action with listing on the National Priorities List in March 2012. This site was formally the location of various manufacturing and plating operations that resulted in groundwater and soil contamination. TCE became the primary contaminant of concern at this site as well. This site became a high priority focus for EPA early during the investigation. Community concern was driven by the length of time it was taking officials to connect the contamination to an actual source. OTIE has a long history on this project and is currently charged by EPA with monitoring the Potentially Responsible Party’s (PRP) activities during the Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study (RIFS) and is conducting quarterly groundwater sampling of the residential drinking water wells. OTIE is the only source that can provide consistent oversight with historical knowledge of this site for this short period until the follow-on contract is awarded. Progress has been made to ensure the trust of this community. Turning this project over to another contractor would severely and negatively impact the progress that has been made with clean up of this community.

The Southside Chattanooga Site in Tennessee is currently a time-critical action involving 68 residential properties above the action level for lead. This site resulted as a request from Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) after they found high levels of lead in the soil as well as a resident who had high blood lead levels from an unknown source. OTIE is performing additional sampling as well as confirmation sampling during the current removal action to ensure the properties will be brought to an acceptable level. Delaying or stopping this progress is not an alternative due to the human health risk that directly impacts the residents. OTIE is the only source that can provide these highly specialized services at the level of quality required and without delays until the follow-on contract is awarded.

Typically, the first six months of the START contract may require many adjustments by a new contractor because of the complex requirements. Given this transition period, awarding a potential one (1) year stop-gap contract would not allow a new contractor adequate time to adapt to contract requirements to effectively support program needs and ensure program continuity before beginning the 3 month contract shutdown process. Minimal disruption in consistency of support to this program is particularly essential to ensure the agency's ability to provide nationally consistent technical assistance and services in support of the agency's critical national response system. It is accepted that the demobilization/mobilization may likely be required when a new long-term contract is awarded. However it is not responsible from a logistics, programmatic, contractual and financial perspective to take 3 months or more to compete an emergency stop-gap procurement, which will be in place for only 9 months before the contractor will have to initiate shut down operations under the contract. Shut down will take another three months to complete. A short-term contract mechanism would cause serious financial injury given the extensive time and other resources required to put a contract in place.

8. A Statement of the Actions, if any, The Agency May Take to Remove or Overcome Any Barriers That Led to the Restricted Consideration Before Any Subsequent Acquisition for the Supplies or Services is Made.

The follow on procurement is underway. Minimizing disruption and providing continuity of service for ongoing projects is necessary at this time and is in the best interest of the government As stated in Section 7 above, a sources sought noticed was issued for the follow on procurement and the Contracting Officer received interest from five (5) vendors. Once this justification for Other than Full and Open Competition is publicized, in accordance with FAR 5.301 and FAR 8.405-6(a)(2), a listing of interested sources will be added to the file for future reference and considered for the reprocurement currently underway.

9. Certification of the Contracting Officer:

I certify that the above justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

10. Technical/Requirements Certification:

Based on the above, and as evidenced by their signatures on the signature page, the technical and/or requirements personnel have certified that any supporting data contained herein which is their responsibility is both accurate and complete.

I recommend this acquisition be conducted on the basis of Limited Source Justification. I certify that technical data that forms the basis for this justification that are the responsibility of technical or requirements personnel are complete and accurate.

Project Officer Superfund Support Branch

________///Signed///_______________________ _______12/17/13_________________ W. David Keefer, Acting Chief Date Superfund Support Branch Contracts & Grants Section

Emergency Response Service Center Superfund/RCRA Regional Procurement Operations Division

Competition Advocate Office of Acquisition Management