LDP Brand Name Program Redacted.pdf

1. Contracting Activity:

Brand Name Justification

US Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District

FAR 13.501(a)(2), Brand Name

US Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District, Robert A. Young Building 1222 Spruce Street, St.

Louis, MO 63103

2. Description of Action.

The Contractor shall provide all personnel, equipment, supplies, tools, materials, supervision, and other items and non-personal services necessary to perform development and administration of a Leadership Development Program as defined in this performance work statement except for those items specified as Government furnished property and services. The Contractor shall perform to the standards in this contract.

3. The rationale or circumstances for limiting competition.

This acquisition is conducted under FAR 13.501(a)(2), for soliciting for purchases exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold, which states that the requirements of FAR 13.501(a)(2) apply to solesource (including brand-name) acquisitions of commercial products and commercial services conducted pursuant to subpart FAR 13.5. FAR 13.501(a)(2), Justifications and approvals are required under this subpart for sole-source (including brand-name) acquisitions or portions of an acquisition requiring a brand-name. If the justification is to cover only the portion of the acquisition which is brand-name, then it should so state; the approval level requirements will then only apply to that portion.

The use of the brand names of Gallup StrengthFinders and Myers Briggs assessments are essential to the Government's requirements, thereby precluding consideration of products manufactured by another company. The Gallup StrengthFinders and Myers Briggs assessments are essential to meeting the requirements for future tiers ofleadership development within USACE and the Army, and using other assessments would cause issues with eligibility for participation in those programs. Both the Gallup and Myers Briggs assessments provide specific, unique results of an individuals strengths and personality type that are not able to be compared to other products. Not having these products in the St. Louis Distrit LDP would mean St. Louis employees would not be eligible for future tiers of leadership development.

Not being able to take further leadership development will limit career opportunities for St. Louis District employees.

The Gallup StrengthFinders product is specifically tailored to increase employee engagement, allow for optimum position selections, and have higher retention, productivity, and performance. It is uniquely based on the most extensive research of any product of its kind. The data shows that participants taking the StrengthFinders assessment are 6 times more likely to be engaged in their job, 6 times more likely to agree that they have a chance to do what they do best every day, and 3 times more likely to report having an excellent quality of life. The Myers Briggs Type Indicator personality inventory uniquely interprets psychological types to allow them to be understandable and useful in people's lives. By using this assessment, MVS LDP participants gain an understanding of how they perceive the world around them and then react to it. This allows not only a unique understanding of their own personality type, but a greater understanding of team members around them. The LDP program utilizes this data to improve team performance and no other other vendors other than Myers Briggs can provide this. The St. Louis