ASIST_JA.pdf

Control Number: JA-12-0024

Justification and Approval for Other Than Full and

Open Competition

1. Contracting Activity: The contracting activity responsible for this requirement is the Army Contracting Command, National Capital Region (ACC-NCR) on behalf of the Army G-1.

2. Description of Action: This J&A is for a sole source, base plus two option years, Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) firm-fixed price contract to Living Works Education, Inc to provide Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) and training materials in support of the Army’s ongoing efforts to prevent the incidence of suicides and suicide attempts among Army personnel. Base period of performance will be 12 Months after the date of award, with two 12 Month options. The estimated value of the proposed action is $3,000,000 per year, totaling $9,000,000 for base and 2 option periods. Task order(s) will be issued using Army- Operations and Maintenance funding.

3. Description of Services: The Army Human Resources Policy Directorate (HRPD) and its Army Suicide Prevention Program require support for conducting “Train-the-Trainer” (T4T), ASIST Seminars. Individuals will be trained at T4T to be able to conduct the secondary level ASIST suicide prevention training to all Army personnel. The goal of the Army is to have every military member and Army employee receive suicide prevention training. The training provides instruction to recognize suicidal tendencies in peers and to act accordingly by assisting and directing fellow soldiers to the proper channels for further assistance. The Army is continuing to experience the highest suicide rate since 1980. The rates have been steadily climbing with July 2011 having the highest number of suicides on record for one month with a total of 32 cases. The increase in suicide rates Army-wide and the increased documented cases of mental health issues in Soldiers throughout the deployment cycle necessitate this training to help stem the tide of suicides in the Army.

4. Authority Cited: 10 USC 2304(c)(1) as implemented in FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii): Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

5. Reason for Authority Cited: ASIST is an integral part of the Army’s Suicide Prevention Program. For Calendar Year 2012, Army G-1 has designated the ASIST as required training for all gatekeepers. DA PAM 600-24 titled “Health Promotion, Risk Reduction, and Suicide Prevention” dated 7 September 2010; designated ASIST as the only Army-approved and required training for all gatekeepers (primary and secondary). Primary gatekeepers are chaplains, Family Advocacy Program workers, and medical providers whose primary duties involve assisting people who are more susceptible to suicidal ideation. Secondary gatekeepers are personnel who by the nature of their job may come in contact with a person at risk. These can include Military Police, Inspectors General, Red Cross staff members, and first line supervisors.

This is a follow on contract for highly specialized services from the original source of the Army’s suicide intervention training for trainers. For approximately 15 years the Army’s approved training strategy has used the Living Works Education ASIST training. Currently, the Army has well over a thousand Army personnel who have received the training and have been certified to give suicide prevention training to others.

The Contractor’s Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training for Trainers (ASIST T4T) is a highly specialized training course developed over the past 25+ years by Living Works Education and is recognized world-wide as an effective program. Living Works Education ASIST Training was selected by the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline as its training program for crisis centers nation-wide. The U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a nation-wide crisis intervention program with a network of over 150 crisis centers and used as a first line contact by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, NIH, and many state and local mental health organizations. . Inclusion of ASIST in the Army’s Suicide Prevention Program will ensure that Army personnel are trained to the same high standards as the crisis center workers.

In 2010, the Vice Chief of Staff’s Suicide Task Force enlisted the assistance of representatives from the National Institute of Mental Health, the Army Medical Command, the Chief of Chaplains, the Army’s manager of the Suicide Prevention Program, and TRADOC to conduct a thorough survey of all the suicide prevention services offered. This group concluded that Living Works provided the most robust and effective training available. A cost/benefit analysis was also conducted, which concluded that Living Works gave the best value to the Army. Market research conducted for this procurement found that although some vendors could provide the secondary level of training, none could provide the train-the-trainer services. The secondary training offered by vendors utilized on-line training rather than face to face, an instructional technique that is inappropriate for the Army’s needs given the gravity of the situation and the need to effectively train the trainers.

The ASIST T4T program is only given by authorized Living Works Education trainers. Once an individual is certified through Living Works, he or she is authorized to give the secondary two-day ASIST training to others. Currently, there is a cadre of 1,602 trained trainers Army-wide, to include the Reserves and National Guard.

ASIST, ASIST T4T and related training kits are copyrighted intellectual properties of Living Works Education Inc. The programs and training materials were exclusively developed by the Living Works, using private funds and all rights to the program are proprietary to the company.

Only certified trainers from Living Works Education are authorized to provide training and give accreditation to prospective trainees.

Award to any other source would result in substantial duplication of cost that would not be recovered through competition. Awarding to another contractor would present duplicate costs to the Army to fund the new course development plus the cost to retrain and certify the current cadre who have already been trained by the Contractor and have received the Contractor’s train-the-trainer certification. Development costs to replace ASIST would cost an estimated $194,000.

This includes the development costs of a new program plus costs involved in writing and producing the associated training materials. The Living Works Education’s ASIST has been certified by a number of prominent mental health organizations, mainly the U.S. Government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration/Suicide Prevention Resource Center. For the new program to be equivalent to Living Works Education’s ASIST, the new program would be required to apply and gain similar certifications, resulting in a loss of valuable time for the Army’s suicide prevention program. The development and certification costs are based on the FY05 contract costs plus 3% inflation each year to normalize the costs to FY12. To retrain and recertify the already ASIST-trained and certified personnel would cost an additional $3,520,000 (training of 1600 personnel at $2,200 per person). Retraining would require 67 separate classes of 24 personnel to be held Army-wide, CONUS and OCONUS, encompassing the requirements of the Army National Guard, Army Reserves, and the forces in Theater. The logistics of setting up the training and the missed duty time spent in retraining would be exorbitant. A modest estimated cost to replace the current training program with a new training program is $3,714,000 compared to continuing with the current vendor at a cost of $1,446,250.

It is estimated that to stand up an equivalent program could take up to 2 years for the research, development, piloting, testing, and implementation.

There is a great need to get the training fielded as soon as possible. The time spent competing the requirement rather than giving the actual training literally means loss of life. Between 1 January 2012 and 17 Apr 2012, the Army has experienced 82 suicides. At this rate, it is projected that there will be approximately 280 completed suicides for a one-year period, surpassing the number of completed suicides in CY2011. To move to a different vendor and training program at this time would be at a considerable incurred cost, both in funds and in lives.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Based on information in paragraph 5, above, competition for this action was not feasible.

In 2005, after several years using Living Works, the Army made an effort to compete for a program like ASIST, and a contract with another vendor was procured. At the end of the one-year contract, only 96 personnel at Forts Drum, Riley, and Lewis as well as Germany and Korea were trained, and it was clear that this vendor’s program was not of the caliber or scope and lacked the expertise of Living Works. The decision was made by the Army’s Suicide Prevention Program Manager not to continue with the vendor’s services based on feedback from Commanders and participants who felt that this vendor’s training program lacked the depth and level of training provided in the ASIST.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: Research was conducted by the requiring activity for this procurement to identify other vendors that could provide train-the-trainer services. No other vendor providing these services was found. In the future, other vendors providing the services may be available, and the requiring activity is currently developing specifications to be used for full and open competition anticipated for execution during Fiscal Year 2016. Market research will be performed for the follow-on requirement to identify all potential sources.

8. Market Research: Research was conducted by the technical representative in January and February 2012 utilizing the internet and through contact with companies self-identified as providing suicide intervention training. The services provided by two vendors, Working Minds and Yellow Ribbon were reviewed. Although these vendors could provide suicide prevention training in a small-group environment, both are geared toward the civilian community and neither was capable of providing the T4T services tailored to the military-specific needs. It is self evident that training Army personnel to provide second level suicide prevention training to all other Army personnel would save millions of dollars over paying a vendor to conduct training for all Army military and civilian personnel.

9. Interested Sources: A notice of intent to sole-source was published to FedBizOps on 31 January 2012 and closed on 6 March 2012. One vendor, SIMCIP Group, expressed an interest, but provided no materials. A search of their website shows their services directed toward educational institutions, hospitals, law enforcement agencies, mental health agencies, and child and family services, but not the military. The training syllabus for SIMCIP group includes suicide prevention and intervention as a part of a 4-hour overview of an 8-hour training event.

The training isn’t accredited to certify train-the-trainers. A search of the Central Contractor Registry showed that this vendor was established in January 2011. A search of the Department of Defense Electronic Document Access (EDA) found no records of any contracts awarded by DoD to the vendor for Suicide Prevention Training. With no past performance or history of contracts of this size and scope, the risk of unsuccessful performance was considered too high.

10. Other Facts: In the past, ASIST training was procured via sole-source firm-fixed price contracts of short duration as requirements were identified. Headquarters, Department of Army G-1 procured an average about 6 classes every other year prior to the current engagement in conflict. In the past ten years of conflict, the increase in suicides for all Army components has necessitated the increased training to intervene and stop the trend in increased suicides. Both the US Army Reserves and the Army National Guard have an increasing requirement to continue the same type of training, necessitating a procurement strategy to effect efficient procurement of these services.

a. Procurement history: The most recent contracts for ASIST T4T courses and kits, W91WAW- 08-P-0556 and W91WAW-08-P-0362 were procured as sole-source contracts. ACC-NCR issued these contracts under FAR 6.302-2 (Unusual and compelling urgency.)

b. Acquisition data availability: Course materials, data and teaching methodology for the ASIST and ASIST T4T courses are proprietary to Living Works Education, Inc.

c. Unusual and compelling urgency: N/A

d. Subcontracting Competition: N/A

Approval

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training and training materials on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), FAR 6.302-1, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services and property herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

Date: ___25 April 2012________________

Signature: _ E-Signed by CLOUTIER.ELIZABETH.B.1009258821

VERIFY authenticity with ApproveIt

Elizabeth Cloutier, Special Competition Advocate