JA_-_Hurrevac.pdf

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Control No.: NAB 19-026

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

03 July 2019

1. CONTRACTING AGENCY: United States Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District

2. DESCRIPTION OF ACTION: Approval is being requested to award a follow-on Firm-Fixed Price contract as a Sole Source with Sea Island Software for an HURREVAC Desktop Operation, Maintenance and Training 2019. The estimated value of support is for 6 months is $369,875.

3. DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES OR NATURE OF CONSTRUCTION:

The work to be performed is the continued operation and maintenance for desktop HURREVAC and training support for the HURREVAC program.

The multi-agency National Hurricane Program (NHP) is a partnership between FEMA, the USACE, and the National Hurricane Center (NHC), and supports Federal, State, and Local Government hurricane planning, preparation, and response through various products, tools, and services. Established in 1985, the NHP has prepared numerous Hurricane Evacuation Studies (HES’s) and provided tools and technical assistance to support State and Local Governments in developing hurricane evacuation and response plans. To support the management of HES data, the NHP commissioned through a grant from FEMA to develop the Hurricane Evacuation (HURREVAC) software program. HURREVAC software has been used by Government Emergency Managers to assist their hurricane evacuation decision making.

HURREVAC is a restricted-use, not commercially available, real time computer software program. Its intent is for Government emergency managers to both track hurricanes and get real-time forecast information, and to provide evacuation timing guidance for communities based on information developed during the HES process, and real-time forecast data distributed by the NHC. The program provides a common operating picture for supporting hurricane response across all levels of Government. HURREVAC has over 18,000 registered Government users at all levels. A web-based version of the HURREVAC program, HURREVAC Extended (HVX) has been developed since 2013 to replace the current desktop version.

Both programs need to be available for emergency managers during the 2019 hurricane season, since the web-based version is being transitioned to full operation. The National Hurricane Program plans to complete the transition to the new program by the end of the 2019 hurricane season and not to continue supporting operations and maintenance of desktop HURREVAC after December 31.

The purpose of this scope of work is to operate and maintain the desktop HURREVAC program through the end of the 2019 Hurricane season in order to provide redundancy during operational decision making while using the web-based version of HURREVAC, HVX. Additionally, the purpose of this scope of work is to provide HURREVAC during the 2019 hurricane season. This training includes webinars and in-person training sessions to old and new users of HURREVAC.

4. AUTHORITY CITED:

10 U.S.C. 2304(c) (1) and, FAR 6.302-1 and DFARS 206.302-1, “Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.”

5. REASON FOR AUTHORITY CITED:

Sea Island Software is the developer of the HURREVAC program. They are responsible for the development, maintenance and upgrade, and training support of the program. Sea Island Software is the only known entity with technical operational knowledge of the program, including advanced meteorological experience, critical programming and data feed requirements. This is a restricted use program that is not commercially available. This software was developed specifically for Federal Government use in response to tropical cyclone events nationwide. There is also no known contractor that is able to take over these tasks without a significant amount of training, capability, and infrastructure development. Program availability is important throughout the year to support decision making in both the Atlantic and Pacific basins, to hurricane response exercises and training programs conducted.

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6. EFFORTS TO OBTAIN COMPETITION: A web search and NAICS code search were previously conducted. I Web

4 U, Quadyster, and Berger lacked either the meteorological knowledge, the experience assisting emergency managers with tropical cyclone decision making experience or lacked experience with maintaining software with a real time data feed.

7. ACTIONS TO INCREASE COMPETITION: Based on this and the information stated in paragraphs 5 and 6 above, increasing competition for this action was not feasible.

8. MARKET RESEARCH: Market research was conducted via web search. Sea Island Software developed the HURREVAC program, and has 25 years of experience operating, maintaining, and providing training for HURREVAC.

They have the meteorological, emergency management and software development knowledge necessary to seamlessly operate and maintain the program and train others on how to use it.

9. OTHER FACTS:

a. Procurement History:

1) Previous contracts:

W912HQ-10-D-0006-0017 awarded 1/19/2012 in the amount of $344,743.48 W912HQ-10-D-0006-0027 awarded 2/15/2013 in the amount of $360,122.90 W912BU-10-D-0002-0016 awarded 5/20/2014 in the amount of $382,260.00 W912DR-15-C-0014 awarded 3/24/2015 in the amount of $397,750.00 W912DR-16-C-0010 awarded 3/21/2016 in the amount of $420,936.00 W912DR-17-T-0106 awarded 5/26/2017 in the amount of $537,094.00 W912DR-17-P-0081 awarded 6/4/2018 in the amount of $215,214.00 W912DR-17-P0081 awarded 6/24/2018 in the amount of $14,997

2) Competitive status of these actions: Task Orders were awarded from Single Award Task Order Contracts

(SATOC), therefore not competed.

3) If a J&A was prepared to support the procurement made before this one, include a summary of the contents of paragraph seven of the justification for that procurement and an explanation of the results.

Sea Island Software developed the HURREVAC program. They are responsible for development, maintenance and training support of the program. This is a restricted use program that is not commercially available. There is no other software program in the market. The software was developed specifically for Federal Government use in response to inclement weather events worldwide. There is no other software of its kind and to develop new software would be cost prohibitive. Program availability is also important to support hurricane response exercises and training programs conducted throughout the year. A Sole Source Contract was awarded to Sea Island Software on 3/24/2015, 3/21/2016, 5/26/2017, 6/4/2018, and 6/24/2018.

4) If any award for a similar type item was accomplished using full and open competition, include a detailed explanation of the changed circumstances preventing use of full and open competition with this procurement. N/A

5) An explanation of unusual patterns which may be revealed by the history, e.g. several consecutive urgent buys.

N/A

6) If a justification was prepared to support the procurement made before this one, briefly describe the circumstances justifying the buy and whether there have been any significant changes.

Sea Island Software developed the HURREVAC program. They are responsible for development, maintenance and training support of the program. This is a restricted use program that is not commercially available. There is no other software program in the market. The software was developed specifically for Federal Government use in response to inclement weather events worldwide. There is no other software of its kind and to develop new software would be cost prohibitive. Program availability is

Page-3 also important to support hurricane response exercises and training programs conducted throughout the year.

There have been no significant changes from the prior justification.

b. Acquisition data availability. As stated in Paragraph 3, 6 and 7 above, the HURREVAC program is a restricted use, proprietary program that is not commercially available. It was developed specifically for the NHP to provide a tracking and decision support system to government emergency managers for hurricanes and other inclement weather.

c. Unusual and compelling urgency: This software is essential for emergency managers to make life saving decisions regarding public safety when faced with a tropical cyclone. Delay in award of a contract would result in serious injury, financial or other, to the Government.

d. Subcontracting competition: N/A.

10. FAIR AND REASONABLE COST DETERMINATION:

I hereby determine that the anticipated cost to the Government for this contact action will be fair and reasonable.

An independent Government cost estimate (IGCE) has been prepared and will be compared to the contractor’s proposal, in accordance with FAR 15.404-1, to ensure that the contractor’s proposal is fair and reasonable. The IGCE Government cost estimate has been prepared based on historical funding requirements for the operation and maintenance of HURREVAC. Cost or Pricing Data is not required because the contract fee will not exceed the threshold for this requirement.

NAME: La Shura M. Johnson DATE:

TITLE: Contracting Officer SIGNATURE:

11. CONTRACTING OFFICER CERTIFICATION:

"I certify that this J&A is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief."

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APPROVAL

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement for the Operation and Maintenance of HURREVAC on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c) (1) and 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 and property herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.