In accordance with FAR 6.305(a), the justification is being made publicly available within 14 days after contract award: Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition January, 2013 Contracting Activity Contract: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (Bridge Effort) Contractor: New World Apps (NWA) Required Activity: Bridge Contract Acquisition Office:Office of Communications and Public Liaison (OCPL) Contracting Office Location: US Small Business Administration Denver Acquisition Office 721 19th Street, Room 355 Denver, CO 80202 Contracting Officer: Kent Morgan Contract Specialist, Contractor, EGS, Inc. US Small Business Administration Denver Acquisition Office 721 19th Street, Room 355 Denver, CO 80202
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+1 (555) 000-0000 (Fax) 1.Nature and/or Description of the Action Being Processed Approval of this Justification and Approval (J&A) provides the authority to award a sole-source hosting contract to New World Apps Corporation (NWA) - Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 6.302-1, Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies of Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements. The resulting action is award of a sole source bridge contract (up to but not exceeding 12 months) to meet mission critical requirements while an on-going assessment and competition for the follow-on acquisition is being completed. Based on the projected mission and workload requirements, the program office projects an estimated contract value of up to $XXXXXX for this bridge effort. This sole-source effort provides continued hosting support to the Office of Communications and Public Liaison (OCPL) to support the agency's online efforts. 2.Description of the Supplies/Services Required to Meet Agency's Needs The SBA.gov web site serves as a portal for small businesses and their owners to access the Agency's diverse and comprehensive resources. The site is intended as a resource for managing a small business, expanding a business, increasing knowledge, productivity and expertise, aiding and informing small business regarding obtaining business licenses and permits, obtaining business loans and grants, accessing external links to related resources, providing social media, providing Section 508 compliance information and other forms of searching for needed assistance. The Agency is iteratively enhancing and expanding the functionality of the SBA.gov digital universe, in an ongoing initiative aimed at providing a consolidated resource addressing the unique needs of the small business, one which brings together, and fosters communication between, the small business community and the Agency's public- and private-sector partners. The SBA requires managed web hosting services and software procurement and installation services to support this effort. This proposed sole-source effort will provide continued hosting service required for SBA.gov, SBIR and NWBC.gov for up to 12 months in the interim. 3.Statutory Authority Permitting other than Full and Open Competition This request is made pursuant to the authority of 41 U.S.C. - 253(c)(1), as implemented by FAR Part 6.302-1 (a)(2)(ii)(A and B): (A) Substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition; or (B) Unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency's requirements. (See 10 U.S.C. 2304(d)(1)(B) or 41 U.S.C. 253 (d)(1)(B).) Demonstration that the Contractor's Unique Qualifications or Nature of the Acquisition Requires the Use of the Authority Cited Above In accordance with FAR 6.302-l(a)(2)(ii)(B), full and open competition is not required when it is likely that an award to any other source would result in unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency requirements. Awarding to a new contractor during this short period of performance will seriously harm SBA's ability to sustain its Web site and jeopardize online operational capabilities to support small businesses, should this sole source contract effort not be authorized. Failure to retain the current contractor throughout the on-going source selection will result in significant delays to government operations. In accordance with FAR 6.302-1 (a)(2)(ii)(A)] - Substantial duplication of cost that is not expected to be recovered through competition. The agency has to date invested well over $3 million into the Business Gateway Project's Web hosting and software services, in support of the SBA.gov redesign effort. The incumbent service provider, New World Apps, has over the lifetime of their current and past contracts provided a broad range of products and services to the agency, including: - Physical infrastructure (hardware) - servers, firewall appliances, databases, etc. - Operating system and software servers - Microsoft Windows Server, Web, database, content management, disaster recovery - Professional services - hardware administration, network administration, system administration, database administration, facilities management, disaster recovery, intrusion detection, vulnerability scanning, system audits The agency's to date investment represents a sunk cost which cannot be recovered within a short- to mid-range timeframe; rather, the recovery horizon is greater than five years out, should the agency not incur additional sunk costs. Additionally, no less than $1.5 million in initial startup costs would be required to establish a new hosting environment. The incurring of such additional costs would be the case should the project be required to change its Web hosting and software services provider. Such a change would necessitate the negotiation of new hardware and software services and support contracts, the securing and provisioning of new hardware with the new provider, and the transition of content from the incumbent to the incoming provider. Also, as a result of their engagement to date, the incumbent possesses detailed knowledge of the agency, the project, and the project's information architecture. This deep functional knowledge cannot be replicated without a substantial duplication of cost and effort, one which will result in delays and potential service interruptions, and which will adversely impact the delivery of both products and services to the agency and its customers. Additional and duplicative costs would be incurred, rather than recovered, as a result of full and open competition. 4.Determination by the Contracting Officer that the Anticipated Cost to the Government will be Fair and Reasonable The work to be performed under the new contract will fall within the current contract scope and pricing structure. The Contracting Officer will utilize the current contract rates and any other necessary cost and pricing data to ensure the cost to be fair and reasonable. 5.Description of the Market Research Conducted and the Results or a Statement of the Reasons Market Research was not Conducted NA 6.Any Other Facts Supporting the use of the Other than Full and Open Competition This requirement is in the process of being re-competed. The new procurement will be a competitive award. This bridge continuation of services is to sustain hosting services until analysis of the cloud computing option is completed and a new contract is competitively awarded. Given the compressed acquisition timeline and period of performance, the government expects that either a break in service or a short notice change in contractors with no transition period will seriously disrupt mission-critical operations affecting online access to SBA information. Therefore, the risk is deemed unacceptable and must be mitigated with this sole source bridge contract. 7.List of Sources, if any, that Expressed Interest in the Acquisition NA 8.A Statement of the Actions, if any, the Agency may take to Remove or Overcome any Barriers to Competition before making Subsequent Acquisitions for the supplies or Services Required The follow-on hosting contract will be a competitive award. 9.Contracting Officer's Certification TBD 10.Technical/Requirement Personnel's Certification The Program Manager for this effort is responsible for verifying the technical requirement for this effort. (FAR 6.303-2(b))
