A_02_04_J A_PAS_FtIrwin_7_Sep_16_Redacted.pdf

Control Number: 16-HRCO-290 Bridge Justification and Approval (J&A) for Patient Appointment Services (PAS), Fort Irwin, California Estimated value:$434,996.56

For Official Use Only (See FAR 2.101 and 3.104-4)

(25 February 2016)

Sole Source Justification and Approval

Under FAR 13.501

1. Contracting Activity: Health Readiness Contracting Office (Provisional) (HRCO- (P)), U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM), 2199 Storage Street, Building 4197, Suite 68, Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA) Fort Sam Houston, Texas 78234-5074.

2. Description of Action: The HRCO (P) requests approval to negotiate a Firm-Fixed Priced non-personal service bridge contract with incumbent, Health Net Federal Services, to provide Patient Appointment Services (PAS) in support of Weed Army Community Hospital (WACH), Fort Irwin, California. The proposed contract period of performance will include one 6-month base period, from 1 Oct 16 through 31 Mar 17 and one 6-month option period under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Clause 52.217-8, Option to Extend Services. The fund type will be FY17 Defense Health Program. The proposed bridge is an interim contract that will provide services after contract W81K04-11-D-0002 expires until the Contracting Officer awards a competed contract for these services; no other bridges have been placed.

3. Description of Supplies/Services:

a. The required services are PAS, which encompass all activities needed to make appointments for eligible beneficiaries, by utilizing Military Treatment Facilities (MTF) provided appointing criteria which includes but is not limited to, making and canceling appointments, correcting appointments, verifying registration information, and registering beneficiaries, This requirement supports the capability of the MTF staff to book health care appointments.

b. The estimated value of this proposed action is $217,498.28. The period of performance will be 1 Oct 16 through 31 Mar 17. The estimated total value of the requirement, to include FAR clause 52.217-8, Option to Extend Services, is $434,996.56.

4. Authority Cited: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 United States Code 1901 as implemented in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.501(a)(1)(ii), sole source (including brand name) under the authority of the simplified procedures for certain commercial items.

5. Reason for Authority Cited: Pursuant to the provisions of FAR 13.501(a)(1)(ii), Health Net is the only source that can provide the required bridge contract services to fulfill the customer’s mission to ensure that all DOD beneficiaries receive quality healthcare, through on-time patient appointment services at WACH. Based on the

Irwin, California Estimated value:$434,996.56

For Official Use Only (See FAR 2.101 and 3.104-4) information below, failure to obtain approval J&A will result in unacceptable mission delays and a disruption of services.

a. Background. Currently, there is a task order in place for the required services through contract W81K04-11-D-0002, which expired on 31 May 16. A task order was issued by the servicing contracting office, Regional Health Contracting Office-Pacific, Provisional (RHCO-P), that allowed services to continue until 30 Sep 16. The HRCO

(P) is in the process of re-procuring the required services through a new long-term (base plus four option years) contract to be awarded through competitive acquisition procedures. The anticipated period of performance for the re-procurement is 1 Apr 17 through 31 Mar 18, with four one-year option periods through 31 Mar 22. The bridge contract will allow adequate time for the award of the re-procurement and ensure the services continue uninterrupted.

b. Transition. This requirement requires up to a a 90-day transition period, to ensure that a new contractor can be prepared to perform. The transition period is necessary and justified as it includes: recruitment and placement activities, execution of personnel security clearances, completion of mandatory training, government training and transition with the incumbent contractor in preparation for full performance on 1 Apr 17.

c. Impact: It is not feasible to solicit this requirement with any source other than the incumbent contractor, Health Net. Based on the above information, failure to obtain approval of this J&A will result in unacceptable delays in ensuring our military members and their families receive timely and quality health care, which is crucial to the overall mission of our military services. Without these services, WACH would be understaffed and unable to manage its appointment volume. This would cause not only WACH’s critical appointment operations to fail but it would also cause the overall mission to suffer dramatically because of its inability to ensure beneficiaries receive timely appointments. From a micro perspective, receiving timely medical care affects each soldier’s physical and emotional health and wellbeing. From a macro perspective, if our Soldiers are unable to make appointments, it will directly affect our military members’ ability to be fit for combat, thus affecting our overall military mission. The Surgeon General and the Command would consider it unacceptable to allow any serious degradation of appointing services, or a single missed appointment, or a beneficiary’s inability to make an appointment.

d. Incumbent: Health Net currently has the unique qualifications and infrastructure to instantly perform these services given that they already have the required clearances and certifications, resources and trained workforce, and have completed all in-processing requirements for their employees. Having the incumbent, Health Net provide these services negates the required transition period, which could be up to 90 days to get a new contractor in place and trained in order to perform services

Irwin, California Estimated value:$434,996.56

For Official Use Only (See FAR 2.101 and 3.104-4) by the required performance start date. During performance of the current contract, Health Net’s performance has been of high quality and based on competition on the original acquisition the prices paid by the government are fair and reasonable. They have demonstrated the necessary experience and resources to provide the required services successfully during the interim period.

e. Based on the aforementioned, the incumbent, Health Net, is the only logical source that can immediately perform a bridge contract of this magnitude and complexity for the period of 1 Oct 16 through 31 Mar 17.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition:

a. Effective Competition. No other efforts are being made to obtain competition for the bridge contract, as only one responsible source, Health Net, is capable of meeting the minimum requirements prior to the expiration of the current contract. The re-procurement will be awarded using competitive acquisition procedures. There will be adequate competition for the re-procurement. A Request for Information (RFI) was posted in FedBizOpps on 28 Jan 16; seventeen companies responded. Most of them had experience providing Patient Appointing Services’ in either a civilian hospital or MTF. However, Health Net is the only responsible source that is capable of meeting the minimum requirements on time because only Triwest has all of the qualified personnel trained and in place to prevent an interruption of services. There is not enough time for another source to recruit, train and place qualified personnel in time to prevent a service interruption by 1 Oct 16.

b. Subcontracting Competition. This requirement does not meet the requirement for a subcontracting plan per FAR 19.702(a)(1).

7. Actions to Increase Competition: No other efforts are being made to obtain competition for the bridge contract, as only one responsible source, Health Net, is capable of meeting the minimum requirements prior to the expiration of the current contract. The re-procurement will be awarded using competitive acquisition procedures.

Market research (see below) indicates that there will be adequate competition for the re-procurement. A RFI was posted in FedBizOpps on 28 Jan 16; seventeen companies responded.

8. Market Research:

a. Limited market research was conducted by checking the mandatory sources as required by FAR Part 8 and the optional use Federal Supply Schedules. There were similar services listed on the procurement list maintained by the Committee for Purchase from People Who are Blind or Severly Disabled and Unicor under Contact

Irwin, California Estimated value:$434,996.56

For Official Use Only (See FAR 2.101 and 3.104-4)

(25 February 2016)

Center Services, which includes Contact Centers, Help Desk, Switchboard and Answering Services; however, as there is up to a 90-day transition period, no other source would be able to adequately start performance by 1 Oct 16 as their personnel would need to get trained by the incumbent contractor, get all required security clearances and certifications and complete all in-processing requirements.

b. Additionally, in conducting market research for the 5-year re-procurement (base plus 4 one-year option periods) a RFI was posted to FBO; there were 17 respondents which indicated that adequate competition is likely. While the responses received do not mitigate the time and cost prohibitive circumstances necessitating a sole source bridge, market research results indicate that with additional time via approval of a bridge contract, the contracting team will have time to successfully solicit a competitive 5-year contract that will result in receipt of adequate competition.

9. Interested Sources: The notice required by FAR 5.201 of our intent to award a sole-source contract for this requirement was published in FedBizOpps on 6 July 16 notifying industry that any quotes, proposals, or capability statements received by the stated response time will be considered. To date, no sources have expressed an interest.

10. Other Facts: Below are additional facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition:

a. Procurement history.

(1) Contract numbers and dates of the last several contracts.

(a) The previous contract, W81K04-11-D-0002, was awarded by HRCO-P using competitive acquisition procedures. The award was made to Health Net Federal Services, Inc., 2025 Aerojet Road, Rancho Cordova, California 95742-6418 (a large business); the initial period of performance was from 1 Dec 2010 through 30 Nov 2015.

The extension of services clause was exercised and the contract end date is 31 May 16.

The servicing contracting office, RHCO-Pacific, issued a task order prior to 31 May 16 that takes performance out to 30 Sep 16.

(2) Competitive Status of These Actions. Full and open.

(3) Authority previously used for less than full and open competition. Not Applicable

(4) Summary of previous J & A. Not Applicable

Irwin, California Estimated value:$434,996.56

For Official Use Only (See FAR 2.101 and 3.104-4)

(25 February 2016)

(5) The current award was solicited as full and open and the intention for the 5-year contract is to do the same; however, as stated above, due to the short-lead time and transition period, there is not adequate time to execute a competitive award, to begin full performance on 1 Oct 16. Therefore, a sole source bridge, with the incumbent, who as state above, currently has all necessary personnel in place and does not require the 90-day transition period, to begin performance on 1 Oct 16 is the only logical solution.

(6) Explanation of unusual patterns revealed by history, e.g., several consecutive, urgent buys. There are no known unusual patterns that have been revealed by this acquisitions history.

(7) If J&A was previously used for this requirement, describe circumstances for justification & any significant changes. Not Applicable

b. Acquisition data availability. The performance work statement (PWS) for this bridge contract is essentially the same as the PWS for the current contract and only includes administrative updates such as date changes, changes to points of contacts, and those clauses required by law or regulation.

c. Unusual and compelling urgency. Not Applicable

Irwin, California Estimated value:$434,996.56

For Official Use Only (See FAR 2.101 and 3.104-4)

(25 February 2016)

11. Technical Certification:

I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in the justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Date: _09/07/2016_________

Title:_Health System Specialist (PAS/COR)

12. Requirements Certification:

I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in the justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Date: 09/07/2016__________

_Title:_Health System Specialist (PAS/COR)

13. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination:

I hereby determine that the anticipated cost to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable based on a price analysis IAW FAR 13.106-3, and in comparison with the Independent Government Estimate. The services are considered commercial in nature and therefore, certified cost and pricing data will not be required for this non-competitive action in accordance with the exception at FAR 15.403-1(b)(3).

Date: __________

Title:__________________________

14. Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Date: __________

Title:__________________________