SSJ - Logical Follow-on washed.pdf

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LIMITED SOURCE JUSTIFICATION

FOR AN ORDER EXCEEDING

THE SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION THRESHOLD

(AUTHORITY: FAR 8.405-6)

NC-NA0000-22-00302

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple Award Schedule Program.

1. Agency and contracting activity. Department of Commerce, NOAA Acquisition and Grants Office (AGO), Eastern Acquisition Division (EAD) and National Ocean Service (NOS).

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

This is a limited source justification for a logical follow-on order awarded to SOLV LLC. The resulting order will be a follow-on requirement for current General Services Administration (GSA) order 1305M218FNCNA0166 with a period of performance of September 15, 2020 to March 14, 2022. The proposed order type will be time-and-materials (T&M).

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Ocean Service (NOS) is in the process of preparing a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) and associated statutory consultations to analyze the potential environmental impacts associated with NOS’s recurring data collection projects (surveying and mapping) to characterize underwater features (e.g., habitat, bathymetry, marine debris) throughout United States (U.S.) waters. Data obtained from these projects are used to produce many products, including charts and maps that are relied upon by mariners, scientists, the shipping and fishing industries, and countless other users in the U.S. and beyond.

NOS is evaluating the potential environmental impact of its surveying and mapping projects over the next six years. These projects would include surveys performed from crewed, remotely operated, or autonomous vessels operated by NOS field crews, other NOAA personnel on behalf of NOS, contractors, grantees, or permit/authorization holders using echo sounders and other active acoustic equipment and employ other equipment, including bottom samplers and conductivity, temperature, and depth instruments to collect the needed data. The analysis is being carried out to meet the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (42 United States Code [U.S.C.] § 4321, et seq.); Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Regulations for Implementing the Procedural Provisions of NEPA (40 CFR § 1500–1508 (1978));

NOAA Administrative Order 216-6A and other relevant federal and state laws and regulations.

On behalf of NOAA, NOS has a requirement for the services of SOLV LLC to provide specific NEPA expertise, acoustic modeling services, knowledge of impacts of echosounders, and analytical services to support the environmental analysis. NOS requires a logical follow-on to have continued access to the subject matter experts (e.g., acousticians, marine biologists) required to comply with federal statutes such as the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act, Coastal Zone Management Act, and National Historic Preservation Act. NOS does not have the in-house expertise to complete the consultation process for these environmental laws. A logical follow-on is necessary to complete these compliance processes that can take several months to years and may require additional detailed analysis.

The logical follow-on in accordance with FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(C) would be to continue the preparation of a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS), preparation of associated implementation tools, and consultations conducted in 2018-2022 (with completion of the document and related implementation materials anticipated end date of FY2025).

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

Supplemental analytical and procedural services will be required based on the results of public comment and federal agencies on current environmental analysis presented in the Draft/Final PEIS, revised acoustic modeling techniques, requests for additional scientific information and documentation to satisfy compliance requirements under related environmental statutes, preparation of implementation materials, review of the PEIS to ensure continued compliance with future surveying and mapping efforts, preparation of a supplemental document to analyze additional/new surveying and mapping techniques or increased level of effort. The services described herein are critical to maintain consistency with the analysis and compliance efforts conducted under the original task order and must be utilized to perform additional analyses under this requirement. The anticipated task order type is Time-and-Materials and the total estimated dollar value is $$$$$$$$$ for a base period of April 15th, 2022 to April 14th, 2023 and two one-year option periods.

4. Authority and supporting rationale. The following circumstance justifies limiting the source as supported below:

Logical Follow-on under the authority of FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(C) – In the interest of economy and efficiency, the new work is a logical follow-on to GSA order 1305M218FNCNA0166 against Multiple-Award Contract (MAC) GS-10F-0032J with SOLV LLC. The original order was placed in accordance with the applicable FSS ordering procedures. The original order was not previously issued under sole-source or limited sources procedures.

GSA order 1305M218FNCNA0166 was awarded on a competitive basis with the following periods of performance:

Period Start Date End Date Base Sept 15, 2018 Sept 14, 2019 Option Year I Sept 15, 2019 Sept 14, 2020 Option Year II Sept 15, 2020 Sept 14, 2021

Request for Quote 1305M218QNCNA0038 was posted to GSA eBuy on July 1, 2018 and set-aside for small business with response due date of July 17, 2018. Three (3) quotes were received from small businesses. After a thorough technical evaluation it was determined SOLV LLC provided the best value to the Government.

FAR Clause 52.217-8 was exercised to extend the period of performance through March 14, 2022.

A logical follow-on order is needed in order to ensure continuity for these services. Based on recent projections, a follow-on order in the amount of $$$$$$$$$$$$ for a base period and two option years beginning April 15th, 2022 is estimated to meet the Government’s requirements.

When NOS leadership decided to elevate the preparation of PEA to a PEIS in June 2020 as allowed by flexibility in the original project scope. The change increased the level of effort needed to ensure NOS satisfies additional regulatory requirements for a PEIS. The detail in the PEIS will need to contain the level of analysis required by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Additional detail will need to be added over the next 18 months or more to be responsive to their concerns to our requests for consultation with the other environmental laws. NOS anticipates the next stages of the project will involve a significant amount of coordination between NOS and other federal agencies. A logical follow-on will provide consistency with the regulatory process as SOLV LLC has an intimate understanding of the data used for the environmental analysis including acoustic modeling conducted during the original order.

The Draft PEIS received many public comments and tribal input in November 2021. A logical follow-on would allow the appropriate level of complexity in responding to comments regarding how the acoustic data was modeled. This will require underwater acousticians who understand the methodology used for the analysis and how to address comments. SOLV LLC has this expertise and it would be detrimental to the effort if we did not have access to their subject matter experts who were familiar with the modeling process or how the data was obtained.

In June 2020, NOS decided not to hold public meetings which would have significantly decreased the funding needed to complete the process. However, the current administration has put intense focus on government-to-government consultation with federally recognized tribes. For NOS, this means engagement with Alaska Natives at an appropriate venue easily accessible to tribal communities so they can express their concerns. NOS may be required to assist with logistics, materials, and support for the meetings with tribal governments. This is critical to the success of the NOS compliance process for surveying and mapping. A logical follow-on would provide a contractor with the historical knowledge of the project for any potential tribal engagement.

Contractor continuity is critical to this project. A recompete would result in unacceptable delays to the project schedule negatively impacting environmental compliance across NOS Program Offices for all surveying and mapping projects. Without the logical follow-on, NOS would fail to meet agency environmental compliance goals, force NOS to rely on in-house NEPA expertise, straining NOS and program staffing resources to complete the project, and increase the cost to the Government. The disruption to the compliance process and the duplication of effort would insert a significant level of uncertainty in the analysis, delay the completion of the work, and increase the cost to the Government. NOAA has already invested $2,383,965 to date for the preparation of the PEIS, acoustic modeling, and consultation documents. Any change to the contractor performing the work would result in duplicating these costs. For these reasons, it is in the best interest of the Government to process this requirement as a logical follow-on.

5. Determination by the ordering activity contracting officer that the order represents the best value consistent with FAR 8.404(d).

In accordance with FAR 8.404(d) GSA has already determined the vendor’s schedule pricing to be fair and reasonable. However, further price reductions will be sought during the solicitation phase per FAR 8.405-4.

Giannina DiMaio Frantz

Digitally signed by Giannina DiMaio Frantz Date: 2022.03.08 13:52:14 -05'00'

REBECCA JACOBSEN

6. Market research conducted among schedule holders (or reason market research was not conducted).

Market research conducted at the time of initial solicitation indicated the required services could be acquired competitively as a small business set-aside on GSA E-Buy. After an evaluation of the three (3) quotes received, it was determined SOLV LLC was the best value to the Government. As described above, given the nature of SOLV LLC’s expertise and knowledge coupled with the costs to the Government of re-competing this requirement, no further market research was conducted in support of this logical follow-on justification.

7. Any other facts supporting the justification.

All supporting facts have been documented herein.

8. Actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the restricted consideration before any subsequent acquisition for supplies and services is made.

It is anticipated that by issuing this logical follow-on task order, all requirements will be completed in full by the end of the period of performance. The CO and the program offices affected intend to compete any further follow-on effort and will continue to conduct market research to monitor industry’s capabilities in supporting this requirement in the future

9. Technical/Requirements Representative Certification.

I certify that this requirement constitutes the Government’s minimum needs and the supporting data provided herein is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Giannina DiMaio Frantz Date Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) National Ocean Service

10. Office of General Counsel Concur.

Concur Digitally signed by REBECCA JACOBSEN Date: 2022.03.08 13:20:37 -05'00'

Date Office of General Counsel

11. Approving Official Determination of Circumstance Applicability.

In accordance with the requirement at FAR 8.405-6(c)(2)(xi), the undersigned approving official for this justification hereby determines the circumstance cited above at #4, Authority and supporting rationale, applies to this acquisition.

Contracting Officer’s Certification and Approval

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

Approve LEWIS.TYRONE.MAURICE.15231849 Digitally signed by LEWIS.TYRONE.MAURICE.1523184934 34 Date: 2022.03.09 12:22:29 -06'00'

Tyrone Lewis Date Contracting Officer