J A-Wage_Survey-Belgium_Post.pdf

409th CSB Acquisition Instruction BY-FY-16-001 6 December 2013

Annex 409-AI-A-00-01, Templates 1 Sole Source Template – FAR Part 13.1

SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION

Original Amendment

Amendment Number Original estimated total contract value $ 127,400.

New total estimated contract value (if amended) N/A

1. Contracting Activity: The United States Army, 409th Contracting Support Brigade (CSB)

RCO Benelux RCO Bavaria Bamberg (sub-office) Ansbach (sub-office) Stuttgart (sub-office) RCO Wiesbaden Theater Contracting Center (TCC)

2. Description of Supplies/Services:

This requirement is to provide salary data from locations across Belgium for specified survey jobs. This acquired salary data, for each identified job, is used to establish salary and compensation for Foreign Local National (LN) employees. These survey jobs are linked and previously matched to the US Forces (USF) position descriptions in accordance with the position functions and levels. The contractor shall provide the number of occurring job samples for all jobs in accordance with Attachment 1 (each function and level are also identified). The level of compensation shall be in compliance with the DoDI 1416.08 DoD Manual For Foreign National Compensation and AER 690-501-1. The survey of salaries includes collecting data on the number of employees and the rates of pay and analyzing the data to measure the compensation in the non-US Forces sector.

The US Forces neither have the manpower nor the required skills available to conduct a full wage survey, which requires – amongst other things – to establish contact with a sufficient number of companies, elicit their willingness to participate and then visit and collect survey information from these various companies and organizations, then compile and evaluate the information for use in pay-setting.

3. Sole Source Justification Rationale: In accordance with FAR 13.106, a sole source acquisition is justified on the following basis:

Only responsible source.

Unusual and compelling urgency.

Other. N/A

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Annex 409-AI-A-00-01, Templates 2 Sole Source Template – FAR Part 13.1

The data requirement to retrieve and compile the salary information relies on the Contractor’s capability to isolate specific data elements and/or companies in order to conduct special surveys to supplement data previously entered in a master database. This master database and its salary collection methods were created outside of Government contract and at its own expense. This information, including pay and benefit information must be comparable to the most specific positions used by the US Forces Local National workforce, including any and all unusual or unique USF positions. The company HVU Consult is the proposed contractor who can provide the salary survey data based on the requirement demands. They currently are the largest survey data provider with the Belgium marketplace.

HVU Consult’s capabilities include and permit retrieval of data from a variety of categories, industries, company sizes, geographic areas, etc. HVU Consult’s database provides salary data samples of approximately 750,000 including 120,000 applicable job matches and information on up to 12,500 companies. Without these capabilities the Government will incur substantial duplication of cost and time delays in fulfilling US Forces requirements.

HVU Consult currently operates using a proprietary database which includes pay data from a unique mix of companies. The continued use of this databases allows for stability and year-to-year comparability of salary data. The year-to-year comparability also mitigates the financial risk to the Government. Additionally, the information obtained from the surveyed jobs must be complete and reliable. HVU Consult provides historical data that is most representative for the non-US Forces work force Sector.

4. Identification of Source:

Name of Proposed Contractor: HVU Consult Street Address: Aststraat 26 City, State, Zip: 9170 Sent-Gillis-Waas

Phone: +32 475 6907 36

5. Market Research:

Synopsized on N/A.

Other Market Research: .

The sources of competition including Robert Walters, Payscale and Hudson were queried to providing survey data support. These companies use different databases and reference positions, which do not align with the majority of US Forces comparison. Their data is not representative of the specific data elements and capability requirements.

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Annex 409-AI-A-00-01, Templates 3 Sole Source Template – FAR Part 13.1

6. Other:

HVU consult has established pay scales covering approximately 430 Belgian Local Nationals (LN). They provide the Government with the ability to reduce the risk for increased cost of the Local National employees’ salaries and compensations. Moreover, HVU Consult reduces the performance risk associated with hiring another Contractor including overpaying/underpaying personnel, recruitment and retention issues, and unbalancing labor relations.

Also, Prior to 1996, USAREUR adjusted the local wages and benefits based on a pay linkage system that was established jointly between the Belgium Ministry of Defense (BMoD) and USAREUR in 1981. In 1996 the BMoD completely restructured its pay and grading system with the result that no more linkage points exist between the US Forces and the BMoD pay systems on which to base annual increases to wages and benefits. DoDI 1416.8-M requires that US Forces either mirror Host Nation Civil Service pay systems or prevailing pay practices in the Host Country private sector. For quite some time USAREUR attempted to relink the US Forces LN pay system to the new BMoD structure, but the differences are of such a nature that no meaningful and administratively manageable linkage system could be established.

The survey salary data compensation capabilities provided by HVU Consult mirrors the survey methodology modeled on a US Government acquisition of data in the United Kingdom.

This survey model currently allows the US Forces to minimize costly administrative procedures of data collection by scarce or non-existing in-house resources, while maintaining the standards set forth by the Department of Defense. This sole source contract was awarded by US Air Force on 1 October 2014 with performance through 30 Dec 2019.

7. Contracting Officer Certification:

I certify that this Justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief, and that completing this purchase as a sole source is in the best interest of the Government.

Typed Name: Melinda Paynter Date: 22 Oct 15 Title: Contracting Officer

Signature: ____________________

PAYNTER.MELIND

A.C.1290974417

Digitally signed by

PAYNTER.MELINDA.C.1290974417

DN: c=US, o=U.S. Government, ou=DoD, ou=PKI, ou=USA, cn=PAYNTER.MELINDA.C.1290974417 Date: 2015.10.23 10:35:49 +02'00'