ATTACH_5_JA - FedMall Brand Name or Equal.pdf

DDEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

DLA CONTRACTING SERVICES OFFICE

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN

COMPETITION (FAR 6.303)

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity.

Requiring Activity:

DLA Logistics Information Operations (J6) FedMall Program Manager 8725 John J. Kingman Road Fort Belvoir, VA 22020-6220 POC: Mr. James Mette Telephone: (571) 363-8965

Contracting Activity:

DLA Contract Services Office – Columbus Division 3 3990 East Broad Street Columbus, OH 43213-1152 POC: Mr. Eric Heil Telephone: (614) 692-8634

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

DLA FedMall, by and through the DLA Contract Services Office – Columbus Division 3 (DCSO-C3), intends to solicit and award firm-fixed price indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) type contracts for commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products to be sold through the FedMall platform. This justification authorizes the use of other than full and open competition for the procurement of items using brand name or equal product descriptions. The 3,017 COTS items being solicited as brand name or equal are a result of prior demand over the course of a three-year period (FY21-FY23) on the FedMall platform.

Throughout the life of the IDIQ contracts awarded against the intended solicitation, customers will be able to submit requests for items to be added to FedMall, which may be solicited among the FedMall IDIQ contract holders—using brand name or equal product descriptions—and added to an existing FedMall catalog.

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

FedMall is a Government e-commerce acquisition platform providing an experience for customers which include the United States military services, federal, state, and authorized local governmental agencies. Customers can search and purchase items online.

Under the solicitation for this intended action, the DLA FedMall program will provide a means to purchase items that have been requested by our customers or have sold within the past three years on the platform. DCSO-C3 initially added intends to solicit 3,017 COTS items grouped in the 13 product categories. The required products to be sold on the FedMall platform, product categories, and descriptions is attached: “ATTACH_1_ FedMall Products Offering – (Company Name). DLA intends to award multiple firm-fixed price IDIQ type contracts for each product category. The exact manufacturer name and manufacturer part number will be solicited; however, offerors will have the opportunity to propose similar items that meet or exceed the defined salient characteristics in form, fit, and function. The period of performance for this requirement will be a five year base period from date of award. During this period, items may be added with brand name or equal characteristics. The total estimated dollar value of this requirement is $205,000,000.

4. An identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

The statutory authority permitting acquisition of these supplies by other than full and open competition is 10 U.S.C. § 3204(a)(1) as implemented by FAR 6.302-1(c), supplemented by DFARS 206.302-1(c).

5. A demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited.

DLA manages a portion of the FedMall platform which currently offers hundreds of thousands of items for customers to order. All items on the FedMall platform are COTS with sales to the public. The items included offer capabilities and enhances the agency’s ability to support customers. To maximize competition for the 3,017 COTS items, DCSO-C3 is using brand name or equal item descriptions to allow vendors to offer those COTS items and other COTS items with the opportunity to propose similar items that meet or exceed the defined salient characteristics in form, fit, and function. This gives offerors greater opportunity to compete. As items are COTS, DLA expects a significant market of alternatives. Offerors may propose multiple equivalents per item. In doing so, the offeror must provide written rationale demonstrating the proposed alternative item either meets or exceeds the product stated in Attachment 1 and otherwise conforms to all other solicitation requirements (i.e. compliance with sourcing restrictions, country of origin requirements, etc.).

6. A description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under 5.202 applies.

DLA issued a synopsis on December 16, 2023, in accordance FAR Subpart 5.2, on the government point of entry, SAM.gov, for more than 90 days. DLA received many vendor responses. All offerors capable of providing DLA with items within a product category will be considered and evaluated. Additionally, DLA has purposefully chosen to solicit unrestrictive, to maximize competition.

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

The Contracting Officer anticipates the pricing offered will be fair and reasonable. The Contracting Officer will evaluate the offerors’ proposed prices using the proposal analysis techniques described at FAR Subpart 15.404 and further supplemented at DFARS Subpart

215.4. The Contracting Officer anticipates significant price competition; however, if necessary, the Contracting Officer will requiring data other than certified cost or pricing data if appropriate.

8. A description of the market research conducted and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

The most relevant market research performed for this requirement was primarily based on sales extracted from the DLA FedMall website. The data pulled from the time period of 2020-2023 displayed a list of over 37,000 orders. DLA extracted the products that had greater than or equal to five (5) individual orders over the course of that period. These items were considered “in demand” and included in this solicitation. With that information, a demand forecast was conducted to formulate a five (5) year demand outlook. The items were amended into the synopsis on SAM.gov on January 18, 2024. The purpose was to give industry the opportunity to initiate their own research for products with the same exact form, fit, and function as the items being solicited. DLA also took the initiative to research the list of items to ensure that there are commercial equivalents for each product.

9. Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition.

Supporting facts are described above in paragraph 5.

10. A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.

The following sources expressed an interest in this acquisition:

Atlantic Diving Supply, Inc. (CAGE: 1CAY9) Mil-Bar Plastics, Inc. (CAGE: 06850) Advanced Safety Equipment (CAGE: 1TAJ4) MSC Industrial Direct CO Inc. (CAGE: 4J007) Divine Imaging Inc. (CAGE: 3FVT5) Zios Corporation, LLC (CAGE: 3WYK5) Alpha OneSource, INC (CAGE: 5Q399) Sands Business Equipment and Supplies, LLC (CAGE: 32WG2) The Supply Room, INC (CAGE: 0BG37) Darbonnier Tactical Supply (CAGE: 6XC33)

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.

By encouraging offerors to provide a same/similar product with the exact form, fit, and function as described above, DLA is providing federal and state government agencies the ability to process orders for COTS type items with substantially decreased lead-times. For future acquisitions, DLA will continue to conduct market research to ensure full and open competition whenever possible.

Certifications

Requirements / Technical Certification:

I hereby certify that the supporting data for which I am responsible, and which form a basis for this justification are complete and accurate.

JAMES M. METTE Date Program Manager DLA Information Operations

Contracting Certification:

I hereby certify that the information contained in this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

ERIC F. HEIL Date Contracting Officer DLA Contracting Services Office – Columbus Division 3

I have reviewed and concur with this justification.

JOY E. MULLORI Date DLA Competition Advocate DLA Acquisition

METTE.JAMES.M.1085

465739

Digitally signed by

METTE.JAMES.M.1085465739

Date: 2024.04.04 10:33:29 -04'00'

Digitally signed by

HEIL.ERIC.FRANCIS.1078498281

Date: 2024.04.04 11:07:48 -04'00'

I hereby approve the justification.

MATTHEW R. BEEBE Date Senior Procurement Executive DLA Acquisition