W9127822C0027_JA_ BAMC OM Extension_Redacted.pdf

J&A Control # 26-0004

Justification and Approval (J&A) For

Other Than Full and Open Competition

1. Contracting Activity: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Directorate of Contracting, Mobile Regional Contracting Center, 100 Canal St., Mobile, AL 36602.

2. Description of Action: This J&A documents the verbal approval received on 15 January 2026 for a subsequent J&A to award a modification to extend the current firm fixed price (FFP) stand-alone contract number W9127822C0027 for the continuation of the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) of the Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC), Joint Base San Antonio, TX.

This contract was awarded by and is currently being administered through USACE Mobile District Medical Support Team (MST), in support of the Defense Health Agency (DHA) program. This action is a subsequent J&A to J&A SAM 25-0016 approved on 24 July 2025, which authorized a six-month extension from 29 July 2025 to 28 January 2026. This modification will serve to further extend the current contract until the Texas Region Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Multiple Award Task Order Contract (MATOC) under solicitation W9127825RA039-W9127825RA079 is established. The period of performance will be extended for four months from 29 January 2026 to 28 May 2026. This modification will be FFP, and funded with FY26 Defense O&M funding. The incumbent Contractor’s information is as follows:

Contractor Name: J & J Maintenance, Inc.

Contractor Address: 7710 Rialto Blvd STE 200, Austin, TX 787358575 Contractor Cage Code:

3. Description of Supplies/Services: BAMC is the United States Army and Department of Defense’s (DoD) only Continental Unites States ten story Level I Trauma Center with 425 hospital beds at approximately 4M square feet with a rooftop and a ground level Heliport.

BAMC is home to the DoD’s Burn Center, Bone Marrow Transplant Center, and Traumatic Brain Injury Research. BAMC contains 34 Operating Rooms, two Oral Maxillofacial Surgery Suites, two Labor & Delivery Suites, and two Burn Center Suites, and more. BAMC is an extremely active facility with military, civilian, and contract staff exceeding 8,816 personnel, and patient and beneficiary encounters exceeding 4,064 outpatient visits per day.

Under the modification to contract W9127822C0027, the contractor will continue to maintain the day-to-day (24/7/365) O&M for the medical facilities at BAMC. O&M services at BAMC include, but are not limited to emergency system testing, preventative maintenance and repair, generator testing, building automation systems monitoring and inspection/maintenance, medical gas inspections/certifications. These services keep the medical center operational and in line with accreditation requirements. BAMC, as well as the other Military Medical Facilities, adhere to The Joint Commission accrediting requirements for the guidelines of their O&M program.

Under the current period of performance for the six-month extension, the monthly price for full

W9127822C0027 was awarded to J&J on 29 July 2022 with a one-year base and two one-year options. J&A control number 25-0016 was approved on 24 July 2025 allowing for a six month extension from 29 July 2025 through 28 January 2026.

The current contract is in process of being replaced through a SEED task order that was solicited under solicitation W9127825RA039-W9127825RA079. The MATOC solicitation was posted on the Governmentwide point of entry (www.sam.gov) 21 July 2025. At the time the solicitation was issued, award was anticipated to be made no later than 28 November 2025. Before proposals were received, the contractors notified the contracting office of hindrances when negotiating Project Labor Agreements (PLA) with the local Union, which caused the proposal response period to be extended and an amendment issued allowing the PLA requirement to be executed post award. Additional delay occurred during the source selection process, as the Government shutdown from 1 October 2025 through 12 November 2025. The Shutdown delayed the proposal evaluation and award preparation, as the Source Selection Evaluation Board (SSEB) members were affected. This affect was compounded by the backlog of work necessary to be accomplished after the lift of the Government Shutdown, which further prolonged the SSEB and award preparation.

b. Justification: A four-month extension is required to avoid disruption and ensure continuation of critical O&M hospital services at BAMC while Mobile District takes the necessary actions to award the follow-on contract. This extension will bridge the gap created by unforeseen delays in the follow-on contract award from a 43-day Government shutdown and delays resulting from contractor concerns with meeting the solicitation’s PLA requirements.

The initial intent was to include a requirement for a PLA in accordance with FAR 22.503 (prior to RFO). After the solicitation was posted, the Contracting Officer was made aware of complications between some of the interested bidders and their negotiations for a PLA with the local union (Teamsters of Texas). The union president would not entertain negotiations with any contractor other than the incumbent O&M contractor. The Contracting Officer engaged with the union extensively, but the union position remained unchanged. The solicitation was amended with to include FAR 52.222-33 Alternate III and FAR 52.222-34 Alternate II, allowing the awarded contractor to enter into a PLA post award. The use of a PLA alternate clause required additional coordination with Division and HQ. As referenced below in Paragraph 10(a)(4), these unforeseen circumstances caused an approximate five weeks delay to the acquisition schedule.

The government shutdown, which began on 1 October 2025, furloughed key personnel from the DHA, facility staff, and the USACE Mobile District, including members of the Source Selection Team. The team's inability to convene halted the acquisition process, eliminating the buffer time originally scheduled for the MATOC award. Furthermore, upon returning, the team faced a significant backlog of other mission-critical duties, creating secondary delays that hindered the immediate resumption of the source selection process for the replacement contract. While personnel from various departments and agencies were furloughed, essential tasks were set aside. The MST customer and end users were faced with the challenge of organizing and prioritizing these responsibilities amidst a high volume of pending work. The return to work was closely followed by several federal holidays, which further complicated the team’s efforts to reintegrate and address the backlog of their workload.

These combined disruptions made the original award timeline of November 2025 unattainable, moving the acquisition into the holiday season, which caused further delays.

The requested four-month extension incorporates the critical 60-day phase-in period required for the new awardee to become fully operational. The revised schedule projects the new contract award for 27 March 2026, allowing for a smooth transition and full performance to begin by 28 May 2026.

Proceeding without this extension would lead to a lapse in service, causing unacceptable disruptions to facility operations. The incumbent contractor is uniquely positioned to provide uninterrupted performance during this period. Granting this extension to the incumbent is the most effective way to guarantee seamless O&M support and facilitate a successful transition to the new contract awardee.

c. Alternative: Competing a short-term bridge contract was considered; however, unacceptable issues and delays would be experienced if this alternative were selected, as discussed in more detail below. Soliciting and awarding a completely new contract is a lengthy process. However, even after award of a new contract, the contractor would still require a 60 day phase-in period, where full O&M performance is not expected. Phase-in periods overlap with the previous contract that is still performing the full O&M performance. Past history has proven that the Military Medical Centers and larger hospital facilities, such as BAMC, have required approximately 60 days to phase-in new contractors due to onboarding the larger contractor staff, with the additional requirements for the security protocols, vetting, badging, and training issues, the larger volume of inventory and equipment requiring O&M services to be initially covered and learned, as well as the larger requirements of tools, equipment and other resources that the new contractor must purchase and bring on-site during the phase-in period. In addition, there are O&M submittals and documentation that is required to be submitted during the first 30 to 45 days of the contract award. All of this must be accomplished during the phase-in period in order to be ready for the first day of full-performance to not have a lapse in O&M service coverage. The need for a phase-in period makes the use of a short-term bridge contract unacceptable. A bridge-contract award to any entity other than the incumbent would create the need for an additional phase-in period, which would increase costs and introduce unnecessary instability in the provision of O&M services.

The time required for the full procurement cycle (requirements definition, solicitation, evaluation, negotiation, award, phase-in) would significantly delay the start of essential

O&M (Operations & Maintenance) services for the medical center. A new procurement would necessitate duplicating efforts already completed under the current contract, leading to unnecessary and wasteful expenditure of Government funds. This includes initial assessments, planning, and potentially some preliminary work. Most critically, there is a real risk of a gap in O&M coverage for the medical center if a new contract isn’t awarded before the current contract expires. This interruption could jeopardize patient safety, equipment functionality, and overall facility operations. Extending the current contract ensures continuity of service.

No reasonable alternatives are available to ensure no lapse in full O&M performance by the current contract expiration on 28 January 2026.

d. Impact: These O&M services keep the medical center operational and in line with accreditation requirements. If the facility experiences a lapse in maintenance services, it risks losing its accreditation and its ability to serve patients. The medical center would be shut down resulting in mission failure. Furthermore, current and future patients would need to be transferred to civilian facilities thereby jeopardizing overall patient care for active duty personnel and their dependents, military retirees, Department of Defense civilians, and their families, as well as the civilian population being served by the alternate facilities.

The BAMC is the U.S. Army’s largest medical center and serves military beneficiaries throughout central Texas and surrounding areas. To avoid mission failure and loss of the accreditation for the medical center, continuing services with the current contractor J&J is in the best interest of the Government due to several reasons. Those reasons include current access to the facilities, knowledge of the requirements and ability to perform satisfactorily.

Under The Joint Commission's guidelines, a break in continual O&M services in medical facilities can lead to numerous problems, including potential patient safety risks, financial penalties, equipment failure, and loss of accreditation. This can have irreversible consequences and be the difference between life and death. BAMC (and the BAMC outpatient facilities) are the main military medical facilities located in this area, and this facility is needed to provide medical services to the servicemembers, retirees and their families. Extending the current contract is the most advantageous and legally sound method to meet the Government's needs, preventing unacceptable operational delays and ensuring the continuous, complete performance of O&M services. This action ensures the stability of facility operations while the separate competitive procurement process is completed.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition:

a. Effective competition: Per RFO 5.101(b)(2), this action is exempted from posting the notice required by RFO 5.101. Based upon the information in paragraph 5, competition for this action is not feasible.

b. Subcontracting competition: The current contract required J&J to meet the required USACE subcontracting goals established. This modification will maintain the established USACE subcontracting goals and will include a subcontracting plan.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: Currently, the MST is in the source selection process for the IDIQ MATOC to support O&M programs at all the military medical facilities in the state of Texas. BAMC is the SEED project/first task order under the new IDIQ MATOC which was solicited as unrestricted with a small business reserve. The prior approved J&A (SAM 25-0016) stated “No actions to increase competition were made.” The current BAMC contract will expire on 28 January 2026. There is a 60 day phase-in period, and the MST does not anticipate awarding the MATOC and seed project prior to 28 January 2026.

8. Market Research: Sources Sought notice W9127825RSN01 was published on 5 July 2024 with a response date of 22 July 2024 for the Texas Region O&M MATOC that is currently in the source selection process. As discussed above, the replacement contract for BAMC was included as the SEED task order for the MATOC which was solicited competitively as unrestricted with a small business reserve.

9. Interested Sources: J&J is the only known source capable of providing the service within the required timeframe. This requirement was not synopsized pursuant to the exception in FAR 5.202(a)(2).

10. Other Facts:

a. Procurement history:

(1) Contract number and date of the last award: W9127822C0027 was awarded on 29 July 2022.

(2) Competitive status of this action: These O&M contracts have historically been competed under full and open competition.

(3) The initial J&A was approved on 29 July 2025, and extended the contract to 28 January 2026. The initial extension was necessitated by delays associated with determining the appropriate NAICS for the project, as well as discussions of how to proceed with the DHA O&M program. This added an unanticipated four months to the acquisition timeline. Additionally, between February and June 2025, fluctuations in DoD policy regarding the application of the PLA requirements of FAR 22.5 resulted in additional delays. DoD Class Deviation 2025-0002 was issued in February 2025, directing that PLAs not be required by DoD solicitations. The class deviation was rescinded, reinstating the PLA requirements, in June 2025. Immediately after the recission of the Class Deviation, PLA market research was posted for the seed project with a submission deadline of 18 June 2025.The results of the PLA market research resulted in an amendment to the Acquisition Plan. The aforementioned delays impacted the acquisition timeline, which supported the initial J&A that extended the contract W9127822C0027.