Knox_JA__Nielsen_FBO.pdf

Control No: Knox 2016-15 Contractor: The Nielsen Company

Program: National Television Monitoring Services

Version – MAY 2016 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

Department of Army FAR Part 6 Justification and Approval for Other than

Full and Open Competition

1. Contracting Activity: Mission and Installation Contracting Command – Fort Knox, 199 6th Avenue, Fort Knox, KY 40121-5720.

2. Description of Action: This justification and approval (J&A) is for a firm-fixed-price (FFP) contract for a one-year base period with two one-year option periods with The Nielsen Company, 40 Danbury Rd., Wilton, CT 06897. The Government projects award for 26 September 2016 through 25 September 2017 with two one-year option periods.

Fiscal year 2016 Operations and Maintenance funds will be used for the base year. The previous contract has expired. Market research does not reflect any current interest in this requirement.

3. Description of Supplies/Services: The contractor provides the government with reports that provide analysis and/or data that contain estimates of television watching and viewing in the United States for Army Marketing and Research Group (AMRG), 2530 Crystal Drive, Suite 4150, Arlington, VA 22202-3934. This data measures what housing units watch US Army commercials by time, day of the week and television media channel and allows the AMRG to determine if Army commercials were aired in the intended spot as well as track the Army’s return on investment (ROI) of the advertising purchased.

The period of performance is as follows:

Base Period: 20 Sep 16 thru 19 Sep 17 1st Option Period: 20 Sep 17 thru 19 Sep 18 2nd Option Period: 20 Sep 18 thru 19 Sep 19 Total: $480,000

4. Authority Cited: This action is authorized under provisions of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1, Only one responsible source and no other type of supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

5. Reason for Authority Cited:

a. Authority. As described at FAR 6.302-1(a)(2), when the supplies or services required by the agency are available only from one responsible source, or for DoD, NASA and the Coast Guard, from only one or a limited number of responsible sources, and no other types of supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements, full and open competition need not be provided for. Nielsen was awarded a previous contract to track Army advertisements in 2012 (W9124D-11 C-0002) and all option years have been used. There are no other companies that provide the robust tracking that Nielsen does.

Nielsen is the industry standard for advertisement tracking. Other vendor services have

Program: National Television Monitoring Services

Version – MAY 2016 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY been found online but their websites lack professionalism and contain no substantial information on the methodology they use. Industry experts have also been asked and they are not aware of any companies who provide the level of quality and scope of services that Nielsen provides.

b. Alternatives. There are no other known comparable services available to the Government. Suspending operations is not a viable option because we would not be able to verify if the Army advertisements ran when the Army required them to be, or be able to determine the ROI which is a best practice identified in GAO Report GAO-16- 396, dated 12 May 2016. Using in-house personnel/expertise is not an option because AMRG does not have the tools or manpower to validate that advertisements were ran at the appropriate time. Although the current contracted advertisement agency uses Nielsen to track the ads to ensure that ads they place for all their clients actually run before they pay the networks, the Army is not a part of that agreement between the advertisement agency and Nielsen, and therefore does not receive any of that data. The Army must have a separate, independent contract with Nielsen to obtain the data necessary to ensure that the ads purchased on behalf of the Army actually run on the networks, prior to approving invoices payable to the contracted advertisement agency. A third party vendor outside of the advertising agency is a necessity so they can provide non-biased data and accountability. There are no known similar products that have the full capability that Nielsen does.

c. Justification.

1) The minimum requirements are to track ALL marketing ROI (per GAO-16-396)

2) There are no known similar products that have the full capability that Nielsen provides. Other advertisement monitoring services have been found online but their websites lack professionalism and contain no substantial information on their tracking methodology. Industry experts have also been asked and they are not aware of any vendors who provide the level of quality and scope of service that Nielsen does.

3) GAO Report GAO-16-396 (DOD Advertising: Better Coordination, Performance Measurement, and Oversight Needed to Help Meet Recruitment Goals) states that when possible, ROI must be tracked.

d. Impact. If this J&A is not approved, ROI tracking for all advertisement spend would discontinue and the Army would be unable to adequately track this spend. This places the Army in a poor position to defend its marketing spend plan and budget.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Industry experts and numerous web searches were conducted to find other companies with similar capabilities. The market research conducted supporting the current request included publishing of a sources sought request on FedBizOpps web site for information as required by FAR 5.201. There were no industry responses to the sources sought request posted on 7 July 2016.

Program: National Television Monitoring Services

Version – MAY 2016 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

7. Actions to Increase Competition: This is a service and there are no known alternatives. No subcontractors are used as Nielsen does all of their work from within their company. Army Marketing and Research Group (AMRG) and MICC – Fort Knox will continue to research companies to determine if there are any other organizations that enter the marketplace and who can provide these services.

8. Market Research: During the market research, the AbilityOne Program was considered. As outlined in FAR 8.002(a)(2), the Procurement List that is maintained by the Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled was reviewed on 12 July 2016 and the required services were not listed. There are no other known similar services that provide the same capability that Nielsen provides. Other services have been found online but have unprofessional websites with no substantial information on their tracking methodology. Industry experts have also been asked and they are not aware of any vendors who provide the level of quality and scope of service that Nielsen provides. Neilsen has the only known total audience measurement available in the market; no viable competitor exists. Based upon the market research results and the information herein, there is not sufficient capability, outside of the Nielsen Company to meet this requirement.

9. Interested Sources: To date, no other sources have written to express interest in the acquisition.

10. Other Facts:

a. Procurement history as follows:

Contract: W9124D-11-C-0002 Contractor: The Nielsen Company LLC Award Date: 18 Feb 2011 (base period with four one-year option periods) Competitive Status: Restricted Authority: 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), Only one responsible source

b. Market research conducted by the contracting office found little to no change in the open market since the previous contract award as far as the contractor pool for this type of service. There is no active interest from other contractors for this procurement.

Program: National Television Monitoring Services

Version – MAY 2016 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

Approval

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of National Television Monitoring Services on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1, Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services or property herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition. In accordance with department procedures I have reviewed actions planned to eliminate barriers to competition and found they were completed.

SCOTT D. KUKES

Special Advocate for Competition US Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command, Ft Sam Houston, TX