Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Support

Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity 1. Agency and Contracting Activity The Department of Homeland Security, Office of Procurement Operations. 2. Nature and/or Description of the Action being Approved The Government requires the extension to the task order period of performance from January 23, 2012 through July 22, 2012 for continuity of service. The Government also anticipates increasing the task order funding by $287,670.24 from $3,032,255.33 to $3,319,925.57 for the continuance of the service. The total task order ceiling mains unchanged from stated value in P00017 at $3,503,478.07. 3. Description of Services The OCIO Headquarters and OCIO Customs and Border Protection (CBP) require the contractor's continued performance of Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) statement of work tasks with the limits and the specified labor rates cited in the task order. The SOW tasks are as follows: Headquarters DHS OCIO: - Provide strategic advice and guidance; identify challenges and develop recommendations; and a develop a strategy to continuously improve the DHS OCIO organization and processes; - Review and analyze strategic initiatives; identifying alternative approaches and recommending solutions based on alignment to enterprise goals and capitalizing on industry, defense and federal best practices. - Develop Communication strategies to assist OCIO in communicating DHS OCIO enterprise wide goals to stakeholders; and, - Collaborate with the DHS CIO/DCIO to develop alternative strategies for enterprise-wide information sharing, security, performance and standards. CBP OCIO: - Provide strategic advice and guidance; identify challenges and develop recommendations; and a develop a strategy to continuously improve the DHS OCIO organization and processes; - Review and clearly define OCIO Division roles and responsibilities; analyze and identify gaps and duplication; and make recommendations for improvement; - Review current practices and recommend alternative approaches for the OCIO to successfully drive transformation capitalizing on how private sector organizations would approach similar situations and recommending what models, processes and tools would best serve the mission; - Review and recommend alternative ways to meet strategic goals; - Develop Communication strategies to assist OCIO in communicating DHS OCIO enterprise wide goals to stakeholders and - Review and analyze strategic initiatives; identifying alternative approaches and recommending solutions based on alignment to enterprise goals and capitalizing on industry, defense and federal best practices. - Support to the assigned project team throughout the life cycle of the project. - Support the CIO executives in interfacing and communicating with DHS Oversight/Stakeholders, as directed. 4. Identification of the exception to fair opportunity This justification is in accordance with the FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C ). The order must be issued on a sole source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it is a follow-on to an order already issued under the contract. All offerors solicited for the award were given a "fair opportunity" to be considered for the original order. Task Order # HSHQDC-07-J-00355 A six month extension is required for continuity of service and transition to the follow-on contractor. The contractor has extensive knowledge of the task order statement of work; therefore issuing a new task order would not be an efficient use of funds or time because a new contractor would have to rampantly come up the learning curve with the task order requirements and develop a rapport with the OCIO senior leadership staff during the six month period. 5. A determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable The anticipated cost for the six month extension is based on the EAGLE Task Order Option Period IV hourly rate of XXX. This rate was determined to be fair and reasonable during the evaluation of the EAGLE contract. A comparison of the contractor's rate for the Subject Matter Expert (SME) labor category with other EAGLE contractors' SME labor rates indicated that the contractor's labor rate is competitive. 6. Any other facts supporting the justification A lapse in contractor support would be detrimental to the Program's mission for several Data Center Transition initiatives related to the activities within DHS that directly impact One DHS. 7. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that lead to the exception to fair opportunity before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made. The current task order expires January 22, 2012. The CBP Contracting Officer plans to issue a solicitation for a follow-on task order to satisfy requirements that are being performed by the current contractor. The release of the solicitation was delayed due to the Continuing Resolution (CR). The anticipated RFP release date is January 30, 2012. The advance acquisition plan number for the follow-on requirement is 201171983. 8. I certify that to the best of my knowledge and belief this requirement meets the Government's minimum need and that the supporting data, which forms a basis for the justification, is accurate and complete.