Limiting-Competition-under-SAT_ACC_Grds_Maint_Ft._Liberty_Final_Redacted.pdf

Memorandum for Record – Limiting Competition at or below the Simplified

Acquisition Threshold Control No:

Version – February 2017

1. Contracting Activity: U.S. Army Contracting Command, ACC-Orlando-Alpha Division, Orlando, FL 32826-3224

2. Description of Action: US Army , Fort Eustis, Virginia, for the US Army

, United States Army Garrison, Fort Liberty, North Carolina, requests a firm-fixed-price (FFP) contract with Calibre Systems, Inc (Calibre). The Government projects a period of performance for 4-months (30 Nov 2023 – 29 March 2024) at an estimated value of for Fort Liberty Grass Cutting and Ground Maintenance contract.

This ensures the continuation of essential planning and support services for training exercises and experiments to allow the Army sufficient time to re-compete the follow-on task order in a manner that promotes the fair opportunity process and then allow for the orderly transition to that task order without disrupting ongoing mission essential services. This action will cite funds.

New Requirement: Yes

Contract Vehicle: Purchase Order, Number To be announced.

Pricing/Contract Type: Fixed Price Funds:

Name of Proposed Contractor(s) and Address:

CALIBRE SYSTEMS

Brand Name Buy: No

3. Description of Services or Supplies: The Contractor shall provide all personnel and supervision necessary to provide grass cutting grounds maintenance services for Range Control, Pope, Simmons, and Camp Mackall Army Airfield activities to include mowing, bush hogging, policing, edging, trimming, and other general grounds maintenance of approximately 2,416 acres. The limited growing season is defined as November through March.

Period of Performance: 30 November 2023 to 29 March 2024 Total Value:

Control No:

Version – February 2017

4. Authority:

FAR 13.106-1(b)(1)(i) Soliciting from a single source

Reason For Authority Cited:

US Army at Fort Eustis, Virginia, and at Fort Liberty, NC.

supporting the requests a firm-fixed-price (FFP) sole source contract using funds for the procurement of range and airfield grass cutting services.

The request is to provide support grounds maintenance with Calibre Systems as the sole source contractor.

The proposed effort is for a non-personnel service, Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contract, to provide range and airfield grass cutting and grounds maintenance at Fort Liberty. The contractor shall provide the personnel and supervision necessary to provide grass cutting grounds maintenance services for the Range Control, and Pope, Simmons, and Camp MacKall Army Airfield activities to include mowing, bush hogging, policing, edging, trimming, and other general grounds maintenance of approximately 2,416 acres at Fort Liberty, North Carolina.

As described at FAR 13.106-1(b)(1)(i) Soliciting from a single source, “for purchases not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold. Contracting officers may solicit from one source if the contracting officer determines that the circumstances of the contract action deem only one source reasonably available.” The current effort must be issued on a sole-source basis in the interest of safety, and Army readiness. Calibre Systems is the only contractor that can currently meet the Army's needs for the reasons stated below.

The time frame required to ramp up services for grounds maintenance is estimated to be at least four (4) to five (5) weeks from contract award. The ramp up time creates an unacceptable delay if awarded to another company that does not have the expertise and experience of Calibre Systems.

The lack of current grounds maintenance is creating a safety issue for the airfields, equipment, and warfighters. Wildlife nests in high grass and flying fowl can impede the safety of airplanes taking off. Wildlife can damage engines and other hardware that can place soldiers at risk if the grounds aren’t maintained properly. Similarly, the increased risk decreases Army readiness at Ft. Liberty by reducing the availability of airfields used to train active duty, national guard, and reserve mobilization forces due to the increased risk caused by wildlife.

Control No:

Version – February 2017

Ft. liberty is the home of the Army's and is the headquarters of the United States Army , which oversees the U.S. Army and . It is also home to the U.S. Army , U.S. Army , and

. Fort Liberty maintains two airfields: Pope Field, where the stations global airlift and special operations assets as well as the

, and Simmons Army Airfield, where Army support the needs of airborne and special operations forces on post. The ground maintenance at these locations is crucial to the training of soldiers, Military operations, the utilization of air assets and soldier readiness. The impact of injury, damage to aviation assets and Army readiness on all these units due to the lack of grounds maintenance is high.

Additionally, the war between Israel and Hamas has increased the training requirements on Ft. Liberty and several Units at Ft. Liberty are required to deploy within 24 hours of being notified. The Secretary of Defense has alerted units in the US Army to be ready to deploy to the Mideast with many of those units stationed at Fort Liberty. The operation tempo and increased real military operations has increased the need to training at the ranges and airfields. Ft. Liberty is scheduled to be utilized more that usual to train active duty, national guard, and reserve mobilization forces. Over the next month, increased mobilization of US Army units will require access to all available training areas on Fort Liberty. The ready availability of the ranges and two airfields is a key to safety and those areas require a grass cutting and grounds maintenance contract.

Contractor personnel must be able to operate standard equipment associated with ground grass cutting requirements, such as agriculture tractors, mowing decks, weed eaters, various hand tools, etc. The government estimates it will take from three (3) weeks to train and certify contractor employees on government furnished equipment, and (2) two weeks to receive safety briefings that will certify contractor personnel to access ranges and airfields on Fort Liberty before starting work. Calibre Systems has personnel that are already trained in the utilization of the grass cutting equipment and that have received the safety brief to access the ranges and airfields. Therefore, Calibre Systems is uniquely positioned to start performance and reduce the risks associated with this effort immediately after contract award.

Therefore, Calibre Systems is the only viable source to meet the requirements identified above without and unacceptable start up delays, risk to critical training, risk to military operations. The sole source award to Calibre Systems will reduce the risk of injury to

Control No:

Version – February 2017 service members, damage to aviation assets, degradation of Army readiness, and risk to military operations.

b. There is no brand name specified.

c. U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Aviation, Advisory Circular (AC) No:

150/5200-33C, states” The FAA, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture - Wildlife Services signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) in July 2003 to acknowledge their respective missions in protecting aviation from wildlife hazards. Through the MOA, the agencies established procedures necessary to coordinate their missions to address more effectively existing and future environmental conditions contributing to collisions between wildlife and aircraft (wildlife strikes) throughout the United States”.

6. Publicizing Contract Actions: For FAR Part 13 actions, the public display and synopsis requirements of FAR 5.101 and FAR 5.203 apply and will be followed.

7. Market Research:

Market research was conducted using the following methods in accordance with Far Part 10. The Government queried, business in search engines to determine if there were small businesses capable of meeting the Government’s requirement. The Internet research was conducted using the below websites:

https://www.gsa.gov/systems/files/standard_2015-5311 (wage-determinations) https://www.sam .gov/content/wage-determinations

AMCOM Competition Advocates Shopping List (CASL) (January 2019)

GSA Advantage/Ebuy system

Other: Internet Search utilizing Google (September 28, 2023)

Outside of GSA search, the Government was unable to find any immediate sources in the internet searches that would provide the services of ground maintenance of 2,416 acres in time for a 30 November 2023 period of performance start date.

The Government also attempted to purchase the required services, which is similar to the requirement codified in this Limitation of Competition document, utilizing the General Service Administration (GSA) schedules for a 12-month base and four Option periods;

Control No:

Version – February 2017 however, this approach yielded one source willing to compete for the requirement. See the following details of this approach:

The Government performed a search in GSA which yielded 77 small businesses that were under the GSA schedule and under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 561730 Grounds Maintenance. The Government posted Request for Quotation in GSA on 05 September 2023. The Government notified 16 of the 77 companies located within the regional proximity to the place of performance. All 77 companies received a notification that the RFQ had been posted under the respective NAICS code. On 17 September 2023, the Government received one quote. The quote received was perceived to be technically risky and unreasonable from a cost perspective. While the quote bid a level of effort utilizing 8 Full-Time Equivalents (FTE), the technical experts and historical data estimated 22 FTE for the ground’s maintenance of 2,416 acres of land located in Ft. Liberty North Carolina in accordance with the associated schedule in the Performance Work Statement. The quote received also comparatively significantly higher than the Government’s independent estimate for the services per year. Due to the technical risk, the increased cost risk, and lack of competition, the Government canceled the GSA RFQ.

At this time, based on the above circumstances, and the results of the recent Market research conducted, it was concluded that CALIBRE was the only acceptable vendor that would be able to perform this service in the required time frame due to current knowledge and training required to begin performance on the required dates. Calibre has a labor force that is trained and ready to perform without delays or lead times associated with full-performance capability at contract award. Due to the safety issues, and other reasons for authority cited (Army Readiness, Soldier Safety, etc.) it is imperative that we provide these services on a limited source basis at this time.

8. Other Facts: The contract requires that any new vendor employee be trained*. The training is estimated to be a 4 to 5-week minimum for any new contractors prior to performing services on the airfields. Without this critical support, the “JUMP” status and training mission of all the airborne soldiers at Fort Liberty is at risk. Additionally, Training Support Systems Enterprise (TSS-E) III multiple-award, indefinite delivery indefinite quantity contract was protested requiring the ground maintenance contract to be solicited in another contract vehicle until the TSS-E III is active for requirement solicitation. The sole source purchase order anticipated for Calibre is needed as a gap for the services until the TSS-E III contract is awarded and a long-term requirement (base plus options) can be competed among qualified stakeholders. The TSS-E III has a small business lot with several small business vendors that may be capable of performing this requirement. The requirement will be competed to the maximum extent practicable in accordance with the TSS-E III Ordering Procedures.

*The government estimates it will take from 2-3 weeks to train and certify (2-weeks) contractor employees on government furnished equipment, and, in addition, another two weeks to receive safety briefings and to be certified to access ranges and airfields on Fort Liberty before starting work