W9124J-22-R-HDSP MEDCOE CONSOLIDATION D_F 22 Feb 22_Redacted.pdf

CUI

CONSOLIDATION OF CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS DETERMINATION

FOR MEDICAL CENTER OF EXCELLENCE (MEDCoE)

AT JBSA FORT SAM HOUSTON, TEXAS

RATIONALE

1. Consolidation will provide substantial benefits to the Government. However, because of the potential impact on small business participation, before conducting an acquisition that is a consolidation of requirements with an estimated total dollar value exceeding $2 million, the senior procurement executive or chief acquisition officer shall make a written determination that the consolidation is necessary and justified in accordance with 15 U.S.C. 657q, after ensuring that—

A. Market research has been conducted;

B. Any alternative contracting approaches that would involve a lesser degree of consolidation have been identified;

C. The determination is coordinated with the agency's Office of Small Disadvantaged Business Utilization or the Office of Small Business Programs;

D. Any negative impact by the acquisition strategy on contracting with small business concerns has been identified; and

E. Steps are taken to include small business concerns in the acquisition strategy.

2. Introduction: The Mission and Installation Contracting Command-Fort Sam Houston (MICC-FSH) Contracting Office on behalf of the Medical Center of Excellence (MED CoE) plans to solicit offers for Computer Technicians (Computer Tech (IT-II) to provide help desk support service to the students and staff of MEDCoE. The mission of the MEDCoE is where the Army brings in all its Medical Areas of Concentration (AOC) and Military Occupation Specialties (MOS) for training. MEDCoE currently supports over 9000 end user devices, 96 servers, and a storage area network. Due to the change in MEDCoE Programs of Instruction, Distributed Learning, and the increased number of laptops required to support training and educational requirements, the MEDCoE G6 has a continuing need for help desk support to augment their office that provides services to the students and staff of MEDCoE end user devices.

The MICC-FSH Contracting Office has conducted market research that demonstrates the consolidation of this procurement is both necessary and justified. Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 2.102 defines consolidation as (1) a solicitation for a single contract, a multiple-award contract, a task order, or a delivery order to satisfy -- (i) two or more requirements of the Federal agency for supplies or services that have been provided to or performed for the Federal agency under two or more separate contracts, each of which was lower in cost than the total cost of the contract for which offers are solicited; or (ii) requirements of the Federal agency for construction projects to be performed at two or more discrete sites; or; (2) separate contract as used in this definition, means a contract that has been performed by any business, including small and other than small business concerns.

3. Description of the Procurement Action: The MICC-FSH Contracting Office on behalf of MEDCoE proposes to solicit and award a Firm-Fixed Price Task Order against the Army CHESS ITES-3S schedule contracts. This requirement provides the appropriate amounts of qualified labor and management necessary to perform IT Help desk support in a cost effective manner.

A. The requirement will have an estimated dollar value of and will focus primarily on the following performance areas:

(1) Operate and maintain the IT equipment and software; image, install, configure, troubleshoot, scan, and repair computer workstations, thin client workstations, personal digitals assistant (PDA) devices, printers, and current operating systems (WIN 10);

(2) Load, configure, and troubleshoot software applications unique to the installation and/or customers;

(3) Perform administrative tasks in support of deployment services such as equipment documentation, inventory changes, customer contact updates, service issue processing, resolution of system troubles encountered with problems and deployment efforts, documentation of assessment, and timely closeout of service orders;

(4) Lock systems out of the network that are not authorized or moved without coordination through the MEDCoE IAM, and NEC, and report associated incidents;

(5) Enforces the Information Systems (IS) security guidance policies as provided by the Information Assurance Management (IAM), and perform Cyber Security/Information Assurance duties;

(6) Enforces system access, operation, maintenance, and disposition requirements;

(7) Ensures that personnel meet required security investigation clearance, authorization, mission requirement, and supervisory approval before granting access to the IS;

(8) Report security violations and incidents to the servicing Regional Computer

Emergency Response Team (RCERT) in accordance with Section VIII, Incident and Intrusion Reporting. Remediates vulnerabilities associated with the Information

Assurance Vulnerability Management (IAVM) program as required upon notification from MEDCoE G6 management staff or authorized NEC personnel;

(9) Ensures systems are maintained with current anti-virus (AV) engines and definitions on all Information Systems;

(10) Submits, reviews, verifies currency and updates user profiles, accounts accesses and logins;

(11) Remove departing users’ accounts/profiles before departure;

(12) Terminate inactive accounts verified as no longer required that exceed 45 days;

(13) Suspend user accounts for the following types of actions: actions that knowingly threaten, damage or harm the IS, network or communications security;

revocation, suspension, or denial of security clearance or interim security clearance investigations; or unauthorized use of IS and networks;

(14) Maintain and use at least 2 separate accounts for access to network resources, 1 for their privileged level access and a separate general user, non-privileged level account for routine procedures;

(15) Monitor IS performance to ensure that recovery processes, security features, and procedures are properly restored after an IS has been rebooted;

(16) Monitor IS performance to ensure that processes and security features, and operating system configurations are unaltered;

(17) Perform equipment custodian duties as necessary;

(18) Notify the IAM when a system is no longer used to process sensitive information, or when changes occur that might affect Certification & Accreditation (C&A), to obtain disposition or resolution instructions;

(19) Ensure Configuration Management (CM) for security-relevant IS software, (including IS warning banners) and hardware is maintained and documented;

(20) Implement and test IS and data backup procedures for integrity;

(21) Prohibit attempts to strain or test security mechanisms or to perform network-line or keystroke monitoring without authorization; and

(22) Establish audit trails, conduct reviews and create archives as direct by the

Lead or the team, Chief of IT Operations, or the IAM.

B. The strategy includes awarding a Task Order against an ITES-3S contract for labor support for a twelve (12) month base period and four (4)- twelve (12) month option periods plus the option to extend six months under FAR 52.217-8.

C. As stated previously, these requirements were procured via two (2) different contracts administered by the Fort Sam Houston MICC Contracting Office. W9124J- 18-C-0012, originally called for two (2) computer technicians (Computer Tech (IT-II)) to provide services to support the MEDCoE G6. However, due to COVID 19, the customer required two additional computer technicians to continue fully supporting MEDCoE because of the development of blended hybrid-learning programs. These virtual learning platforms resulted in the purchase of an additional 1,800 end user devices, which required additional man-hour support to keep pace with the services required to keep devices maintained and supported. As a result, a short-term contract was issued to to provide two additional help desk technicians under W9124J-21-F-0079 (23 Aug ’21 – 22 Apr ’22). This contract will end at the same time as W9124J-18-C-0012. MEDCoE has decided to continue with its hybrid-learning programs for the near future, making the need for four (4) full time technicians permanent. This consolidation aids in the Government meeting its mission objective by awarding requirements via one contract vehicle that will bring consistency in contract management for MEDCoE and provide improvements that will save time and improve performance, reduce the acquisition cycle times and gain better terms and conditions through a competitive procurement process. In addition, operational efficiency is gained by the MEDCoE G6 as all augmented IT support will be under one contract vehicle.

D. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this requirement is NAICS Code 541519, “Other Computer Related Services”. This U.S.

industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in providing computer related services (except custom programming, systems integration design, and facilities management services). Establishments providing computer disaster recovery services or software installation services are included in this industry. The business size standard for 541519 is $30M. Previous contracts being consolidated under this requirement also used NAICS 541513 Computer Facilities Management Services.

This U.S. industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in providing on-site management and operation of clients' computer systems and/or data processing facilities. Establishments providing computer systems or data processing facilities support services are included in this industry. The business size standard for 541513 is $30M. The applicable Product Service Code (PSC) for the requirement is DE02, IT and Telecom – Mobile Device Support Services (Labor). In accordance with “Army Knowledge Management and Information Technology Management” and AFARS, 5139.101-90(a), The Army’s Computer Hardware, Enterprise Software Solution (CHESS) program, under PEO EIS, all task order request on ITES-3S must be on NAICS code 541519. Therefore, for the purposes of purchasing under CHESS, the DD Form 2579 will utilize the NAICS code of 541519.

provided whether the interested vendors were capable of performing the services. The results of the capability statement review are depicted below:

f. The ITES-3S contract does not have a specific reserve for 8(a) participants nor any of the applicable clauses. Accordingly, there is no built-in mechanism to offer a Task Order to SBA for inclusion in the 8(a) program. Therefore, it is not possible to set-aside an award for 8(a) vendors nor is it possible to award sole source to an 8(a) vendor. However, IAW FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(F) the ITES-3S does allow the following set asides: HUBZone, SB, SDVOSB, WOSB, and EDWOSB.

g. HUBZone Set-Asides. Based on market research, there is not a reasonable expectation that two or more capable HUBZone businesses would submit a responsive offer for this requirement.

h. SDVOSB set-aside: Based on market research, there is not a reasonable expectation that two or more capable SDVOSB businesses would submit a responsive offer for this requirement.

i. Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB) & Economically Disadvantaged Woman

Owned Small Business (EDWOSB) Set Asides. As referenced within the Federal Register, Vol. 82, No. 195, Wednesday, October 11, 2017, Notices, NAICS Code 541519 is on the list of NAICS codes eligible for WOSB set-aside. NAICS Code 541519 is not on the list of NAICS codes eligible for an EDWOSB set-aside. As there is an expectation that two or more responsive women owned small businesses would respond, and this requirement was previously in the WOSB Program, this requirement will be a WOSB set-aside.

5. Benefit Analysis:

a. MEDCoE is requesting consolidation of two separate contracts into one contract vehicle. By consolidating the two (2) contracts into one contract, the Government estimates a potential cost savings of of the contract (includes FAR Clause 52.217-8). Consolidating the two (2) separate contracts will also save significant time, energy, resources, and manpower it would take for each contract requirement to be generated, processed, solicited, awarded individually and then monitored throughout the life of each contract. The current total cost of the two contracts are listed in Table 5:

involve a complete acquisition package submitted for each requirement. This would be counter to the benefit analysis of Quality, Acquisition Cycle, Cost, Terms and Conditions, as well as other tangible and/or intangible benefits as mentioned above in paragraph 5 which outlines the benefit analysis for consolidation against the current acquisition process. As stated before, although the benefits of the expected cost savings are not considered substantial when compared to the total cost of the procurement, it is critical to the agency’s mission success because it reduces the burden on its scarce labor force and provides a more centralized and synergetic relationship with one (1) contractor versus two (2) different contractors with different ways of conducting business.

b. IAW FAR 7.107-2(a)(2) any alternative contracting approaches that would involve a lesser degree of consolidation were also considered. There is not a possiblity for a lesser degree of consolidation.

7. Bundling: The FAR 2.101 definition of bundling was considered. Bundling means -

(1) Means a subset of consolidation that combines two or more requirements for supplies or services, previously provided or performed under separate smaller contracts (see paragraph (2) of this definition), into a solicitation for a single contract, a multiple-award contract, or a task or delivery order that is likely to be unsuitable for award to a small business concern (even if it is suitable for award to a small business with a Small Business Teaming Arrangement) due to--(i) The diversity, size, or specialized nature of the elements of the performance specified; (ii) The aggregate dollar value of the anticipated award; (iii) The geographical dispersion of the contract performance sites; or

(iv) Any combination of the factors described in paragraphs (1)(i), (ii), and (iii) of this definition. (2) “Separate smaller contract” as used in this definition, means a contract that has been performed by one or more small business concerns or that was suitable for award to one or more small business concerns. In this case, all of the current requirements are performed by a small business. This award is still suitable for small business participation and is not considered bundling.

8. Considerations, Facts, Reasoning Supporting the Determination: Coordination will be made with the SBA Procurement Center Representative and Installation/Center Office of Small Business for this procurement and the DD Form 2579 will be signed prior to any solicitation release.

9. Summary: As mentioned in paragraph 3.a above, the requirements were procured via two (2) different contracts. Consolidating these requirements into one contract to be awarded by MICC-FSH will decrease the amount of resources needed to award and administer the contract. Cost savings can be realized through a reduction in overall Government labor cost in both the Requirements Office and Contracting Office, which results in a cost savings of . By consolidating, the two separate contracts into one contract the Government can realize a potential savings due to awarding both requirements via one contract vehicle that will bring consistency in contract management for MEDCoE G6. Efficiencies gained will be realized in the areas of contract management and oversight, as well as contract performance. Only one contractor will be held responsible for all requirements with one contractor management office that will allow for service that is more efficient to our students, at a cost savings to the Government due to the reduced administrative cost. Additionally, the synergy obtained by working with one contractor for these requirements will foster innovation and critical thinking between the Government and the contractor by having an established relationship that should only grow over time. The time, energy, resources, and manpower it takes for each of the two (2) contract requirements to be generated, processed, solicited, and awarded versus a consolidated contract for both requirements is significant.

10. Program Manager/Requiring Activity Justification: This requirement will be performed in the CONUS. Pursuant to AFARS 5119.202-1(1), I hereby support the consolidation of the MEDCoE contract requirements.

Program Manager:

Date: See Digital Signature

11. Office of Small Business Program Coordination: Pursuant to FAR 7.107-2, I agree that a consolidated requirement for the MEDCoE contract requirements is justified and necessary.

Small Business Representative:

REVIEW SIGNATURE PAGE:

Contract Specialist:

Contracting Officer:

Director, MICC-Fort Sam Houston:

MICC Legal Counsel:

Assistant Director, Small Business Program:

DETERMINATION

Based on the foregoing rationale, I hereby determine, pursuant to the Federal Acquisition Regulation 7.107-2 and Army Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement 5107.107-2, that the consolidation of the requirements for the Medical Center of Excellence (MEDCoE) Information Management/Information Technology Support Services is both necessary and justified and will serve the best interests of the Government.

COL, AC

Senior Contracting Official