A12_JA_Revised_21_Apr_Redacted.pdf

Control No. HEC-17-008

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Humphreys Engineer Center Support

Activity (HECSA)

Informa Agricultural Transportation Forecast Subscription Service

Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition

41 U.S. Code 1901, Simplified acquisition procedures, in accordance with FAR

13.501(a)(1)(ii)

Estimated Amount:

1. Contracting Agency: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Humphreys Engineer Center Support Activity (HECSA), 7701 Telegraph Road, Alexandria, Virginia 22315.

2. Description of Action: A new, Firm-Fixed Price contract using Civil Works funds (96x3121 appropriation). The contract will consist of a Base Year and two Option Years.

It is anticipated that each of the Option Years will also be funded using the 3121 Civil Works appropriation.

3. Description of Supplies/Services: The Institute of Water Resources (IWR) requires a commercial agricultural transportation forecast services subscription. The period of performance will be a Base Year with two Option Years. The estimated total value of the contract is with a breakout as follows:

Base Year - Option Year 1 - Option Year 2 -

Transportation Research Monthly Outlook -- Quarterly short-term (one-year) detailed forecast reports for domestic and export barge and rail movements of wheat, feed grains and soybeans.

Long-Term Forecast Outlook -- Semi-annual long-term forecast reports for exports of wheat, feed grains and soybeans, by coastal reach (Atlantic, Center Gulf, Texas Gulf, Pacific Northwest, and Great Lakes).

Reports -- Monthly and weekly reports on production for corn, wheat and soybeans and the transportation outlook.

4. Authorities Cited: The proposed action will be awarded on a sole source basis under the authority of 41 U.S.C. 1901 as implemented in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 13.501(a)(1)(ii) – Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items, Special Documentation Requirements, Sole Source Acquisitions.

5. Reason for Authority Cited: Informa Business Intelligence, Inc. (Informa) is an international firm specializing in analysis of agricultural production, trade, and policy issues. In addition to providing consulting services and occasionally providing customized multi-client studies, Informa provides a commercial-off-the-shelf subscription forecast service for agricultural transportation analyses. This subscription is unique to Informa Economics. There are no other firms that currently provide a similar subscription service with the required frequency or level of detail needed by USACE. The Informa subscription service provides a composite of historical and forecast production indices for key economic sectors that are produced more frequently and in greater detail than any publicly available source. Informa’s niche is that they obtain and utilize data from many sources, combine it with their own expertise and provide an unbiased composite forecast covering the needed subjects. In addition, Informa works closely with investment firms, barge industry, agri-business and others, and thus have access to confidential data and can aggregate the data directly from each of them. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and other federal agencies have been unsuccessful doing that.

These forecast services are vital to IWR’s analytical and technical support mission with respect to USACE Headquarters, Division and District offices.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Based on information in paragraph 5, above, competition for this action is not considered feasible. Informa is the only subscription service vendor for this data who provides the level of detail and breadth of coverage needed by IWR and USACE. As required by FAR subpart 5.2, a Notice of Intent was posted to the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website on 30 March 2017 for a period of 15 days. To date, no other sources have expressed, in writing, an interest in this acquisition.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: Presently, only Informa can provide an off-the-shelf agricultural transportation subscription service with frequent updates that meets the specifications required for USACE mission-related objectives. If other firms develop the capability to provide IWR with the agricultural transportation forecast information required on an ongoing subscription basis, those firms will be considered in future procurements.

Sources Sought notices and Requests for Information will be posted to FBO prior to future acquisitions to ensure that no other firms are capable of, or interested in, providing the required services.

8. Market Research: IWR continuously performs market research to search for firms that provide economic, transportation, and industrial forecast and analytical services. Such firms routinely visit IWR and provide information and presentations on their capabilities and expertise. IWR also performs market research by reviewing industry trade and technical publications and coordinates with other Federal agencies. Additionally, the HECSA contracting office has done internet research in an attempt to find additional vendors capable of meeting the requirement. At present, no other vendor offers an agricultural transportation forecast subscription service that meets IWR requirements.

9. Interested Sources: A Notice of Intent for this service acquisition was posted to FBO on 30 March 2017 for a period of 15 days. To date, no other sources have expressed, in writing, an interest in this acquisition.

10. . Other Factors:

a. Procurement History:

Contract Number Start Date End Date Amount Notes

DACW72-98-C-0004

Base Year and Four Option Years

09/21/98 09/20/03 $250,857.00 Subscription to Ag Service and Tech Analysis

DACW72-03-P-0115

Base Year and Four Option Years

09/21/03 09/20/08 $212,365.00 Subscription to Ag Service

W912HQ-07-P-100 09/15/07 09/14/08 $6,000 Transportation Roundtable Series

W912HQ-08-P-0115 09/21/08 09/20/13 $253,798.00 Subscription to Ag Service and Tech Analysis

W912HQ-09-P-0100 09/15/09 1 Year $6,000 Transportation Roundtable Series

W912HQ-14-P-0042 04/23/14 6/22/17 $189,292.00 Subscription and Option Years Transportation and Logistics Roundtable

Each of the prior acquisitions listed above were awarded as sole source contracts. The authority previously used was FAR 6.302-1(b)(1)(i). Prior justifications were prepared to support the acquisitions listed above. Market research was conducted via the Internet, and discussions with industry to determine if other contractors were capable of performing the work. The circumstances justifying the procurements are identical to the current justification in that there was only one source capable of performing the requirement.

b. Other facts: N/A