Justification for Exception to Fair Opportunity - 4-month extension - DMSS

JEFO No.: FY24-00162 Date: June 3, 2024 1. Agency and Contracting Activity. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity, and specific identification of the document as a - Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Procurement Operations (OPO), Science and Technology Acquisitions Division (S&TAD) prepared this justification for an exception to fair opportunity on behalf of the DHS Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate Office of Enterprise Services (OES), Finance and Budget Division (FBD). 2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved. DHS/OPO intends to extend task order number 70RSAT21FR0000078 awarded to Strategic Operational Solutions, Inc., 8391 Old Courthouse Road Suite 300 Vienna, VA 22182-3818 against National Institutes of Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessments Center Chief Information Officer-Solutions and Partners 3 (NITAAC/CIO-SP3) contract number 75N9811D0035 for four-months without considering other awardees pursuant to FAR 16.505 (b)(2)(ii)(B). 3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency's need (including the estimated value). The DHS/S&T/FBD requirement is for data management support services to ensure that the S&T financial data contained in the financial, procurement, travel, and asset management systems is prepared for successful management, conversion, and migration. The FBD provides the S&T Directorate with high- quality, efficient, and cost-effective financial management services through six branches. It is S&T's responsibility to ensure that data migration activities are executed successfully. This requirement assists in the implementation of the DHS S&T Financial Management Systems Inventory (FMSI) Mission Need Statement approved by the DHS Undersecretary on August 14, 2014 to: obtain services that integrate the financial, procurement, and asset management systems and provide the necessary business intelligence mission support functions while complying with federal requirements and guidelines and; replace aging, obsolete financial, procurement, and asset management IT systems with an integrated modern Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) system. The estimated value of the four-month extension is $$$$$$$$. This cost estimate was developed by applying option period two's current labor rates to the four-month extension. Additionally, the current option period two's burn rate was taken into consideration. The cost estimate was developed using the same labor rates for the current effort and were determined to be fair and reasonable at time of award. 4. Identify the exception to fair opportunity and supporting rationale, including a demonstration that the proposed contractor's unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the exception cited: FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C). The order must be issue on a sole-source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it is a logical follow-on to an order already issued under the contract, provided that all awardees were given a fair opportunity to be considered for the original order. Rationale: The current task order expires May 31, 2024, and the new competitive task order will not be in place. As a result, OPO intends to extend the period of performance as a logical follow-on to ensure the critical services remain available until a new award is in place. All awardees were provided fair opportunity under the task order number 70RSAT21FR0000078. The logical modification will obligate funds to continue services at the same level of effort and scope as the current task order, option period two labor rates. The new task order is expected to be awarded in August 2024. If the task order is not extended while the new acquisition is solicited, the FBD mission would be jeopardized, and there would be delays in FBD data migration activities dependent upon work to be performed during the period of the extension. Strategic Operational Solutions, Inc. is the incumbent contractor and possess the institutional knowledge of FBD six (6) branches and associated systems. Additionally, no other contractor would be able to efficiently and expeditiously acquire and on-board and manage the appropriate mix of personnel with the fundamental understanding of DHS/S&T/FBD missions, practices, policies, procedures, and systems to avoid a lapse in service while effort is being re-competed and to allow for a transition period. If this task order is not extended, the potential cost of disruption of services may result in substantial financial loss to the Agency as any delay in performance may have a direct negative impact to the operations in support of Agency missions. 5. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable. The Contracting Officer has determined that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable based comparison of the proposed prices to the historical prices paid, whether by the Government or other than the Government, for the same or similar items. In addition, the cost estimate was developed using the same labor rates for the current effort and were determined to be fair and reasonable at time of award. 6. Any other facts supporting the justification. There are no other facts supporting this justification. 7. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the exception to fair opportunity before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made. In accordance with FAR part 10, market research for the re-compete effort was conducted in February 2024. Several market research techniques and sources were considered and used. They include 1) review of the acquisition history; and 2) review of existing DHS-wide and Multi-Component Contract Vehicles with DHS Strategic Sourcing Program Office and/or on DHS Enterprise-wide Contract Vehicle Portal. The NAICS code identified for the data management, migration and conversion services required is 541512 - Network Systems Integration Services and size standard of $34 million. Based upon market research, it was determined the re-compete requirement would be solicited. 8. DHS intends to post a notice and justification on SAM.gov pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D).