VA119A-15-D-0005-014.pdf

Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity [Prepared in accordance with FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)]

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs

Office of Acquisition Operations Strategic Acquisition Center- Frederick 321 Ballenger Center Drive, Suite 125 Frederick, MD 21703

2. Action Being Approved: This justification is for a 12 month, sole source, Firm Fixed Price order with one 12 month option period against the Agile Delivery of VA imminent Strategic and Operational Requirements (ADVISOR) contract VA119A-15-D-0005 with Enterprise Resource Performance, Inc. (ERPi) for program assessment, evaluation and reporting for the Office of Strategic Integration| Veterans Engineering Resource Center (OSI|VERC) on behalf of the VA Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention 10NC5.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: The proposed action is to provide professional services as required by Section 2 of the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans (SAV) Act. Specifically, that the Department of Veterans Affairs, through a contract with an unaffiliated independent third party, conduct an evaluation of the mental health care and suicide prevention programs carried out under the laws administered by the Department and that the evaluation be conducted at least annually, and that the independent evaluator shall submit each evaluation to the Secretary.

Work will include the ADVISOR task areas of program/project management support, performance measurement, and studies and analyses.

The estimated value of the acquisition, based on historical data from the previous task order, is $3,008,026.20 for two years of performance. The current task order, VA119A- 15-D-0005 VA119A-17-J-0238, ends on June 15, 2019. All Labor Hours support to Clay Hunt on this task order is scheduled to end December 31, 2018. This new task order will have a base period of performance of December 2, 2018 through November 28, 2019, with a one-year option available for continued support beginning November 29, 2019.

The task order overlap during December 2018 will allow for a transition from the previous labor hour tasks to the new firm fixed price task order.

4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting an exception to fair opportunity is Section 41 U.S.C. § 4106(c)(3), as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C), titled “The order must be issued on a sole-source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it is a logical follow-on to an order already issued under the contract, provided that all awardees were given a fair opportunity to be considered for the original order.”

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: The work required under the next task order is a continuation of activities currently performed under a previously competed task order, ADVISOR 69. Issuing a logical follow-on order to the previously competed order will avoid disruption of service and duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition, transition delays, and increased costs and therefore is in the interest of economy and efficiency.

The cost of understanding the requirement and the pre-evaluation phase costs were $999,980.77 under ADVISOR TOPR 10. Using a logical follow-on to continue the program evaluation and reporting, results in the highest likelihood of success and lowest program risk.

The Contractor is currently conducting for the Government the initial program evaluation as required by the Clay Hunt Act. The Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention has partnered with the Contractor through the dedication of resources to provide the Contractor with a detailed understanding of the programs, and the identification and availability of data, viable metrics and reports. This foundation was provided so to initiate the evaluation and result in an implementation of a methodology that is focused, detailed, disciplined, and defensible. Identified programs are being evaluated for their effectiveness, cost effectiveness, and Veteran satisfaction using relevant data and outcome measures.

Utilization of an alternative contractor unfamiliar with the VA Mental Health programs, data, and work requirements associated with the Clay Hunt Act program evaluation would result in delays, re-work and re-training of the Contractor and avoidable transition issues, productivity losses and an increased risk of discontinuity in reporting.

6. Fair and Reasonable Cost: See the “Justification Signatures” section of this document for the Contracting Officer’s determination that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

7. Other Facts Supporting the Justification: The previous task order for these services was competed among all twelve ADVISOR IDIQ contract holders by issuing the TOPR and providing fair opportunity to all ADVISOR contractors. ERPi provided the best value quotation. The Government anticipates that a competition for the same services on ADVISOR would: 1) be disruptive to those projects in progress, and 2) yield the same competitive outcome given ERPI’s enhanced experience with, and knowledge of, the program.

Past Performance: ERPi has provided support in a greater than acceptable fashion throughout the previous task order Period of Performance.

The logical follow on order value, at $3,008,026.20, is within the remaining ADVISOR ceiling.

8. Actions to Remove Barriers to Competition: The Government does not anticipate a follow-on competition for these same services following completion of this (12 month-with one option period) logical follow-on task order. New requirements that arise in regard to continued compliance with the Clay Hunt Act will be handled on a case by case basis, and will include strategies supported by associated market research.

In accordance with FAR 5.301 and 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D)(1), the Government will publish a notice within 14 days of award on Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) and the justification will be posted and made publicly available for a minimum of 30 days.

Justification Signatures

9. Technical and Requirements Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included and form a basis for this justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Sara Paronish Date Contracting Officer’s Representative

10. Certification of Accuracy and Completeness/ Cost Determination/ Approval

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

b. I hereby determine that the anticipated price to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable based on established rates from the task order and a comparison to recent historical pricing data.

c. Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby recommend approval this acquisition of follow-on support to the current ADVISOR 69 Task Order on an other than fair opportunity basis pursuant to the authority cited in paragraph 4 above, subject to availability of funds.

Allen L. Smith Date Procuring Contracting Officer

Approval

Justification Approval ($700K to $13.5M): As Competition Advocate for the contracting activity, I have reviewed the foregoing justification and approve the justification for other than full and open competition pursuant to the authority cited in paragraph 4 above, subject to the availability of funds, and provided that the services herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

Clint Druk Date Deputy Director, Competition Advocate Strategic Acquisition Center - Frederick