SPECIAL NOTICE
99 -- Post Limited Source Justification IAW FAR 8.405-6(a)(2)
- Notice Date
- 9/25/2017
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- Contracting Office
- Interior Business Center, AQDDivision 4/ Branch 1300 East Mallard DriveSuite 200BoiseID83706
- ZIP Code
- 83706
- Solicitation Number
- D17PS00922
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- LIMITED SOURCE JUSTIFICATION AUTHORITY: FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(B) and 40 U.S.C 501 This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple Award Schedule Program. 1. Identification of the agency and contracting activity, and specific identification of the document as a Limited Source Justification. Department of the Interior (DOI), Interior Business Center (IBC), Acquisition Services Directorate (AQD), Division IV, Branch III, on behalf of the Office of Wildland Fire. 2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved. In accordance with FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(B), the Government requires a Sole Source award to Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) because market research indicates that other companies do not meet, or cannot meet, the agencys needs. The DOI Wildland Fire Information and Technology (WFIT) community is in the process of finalizing the development of a new paradigm for use of information and technology in support of the business mission of the interagency wildland fire program. Fundamental to this vision is providing information and technology data services and functions independent of agency or location of user in a manner that provides flexibility and adaptability. The existing Integrated Reporting of Wildland Fire Information (IRWIN) data integration service is intended to enable an endtoend fire reporting capability that provides an integrated and coordinated process for collecting and reporting incident/event data on a platform that is scalable and flexible to the demands of today and the future. By interconnecting systems, new and updated information is available to interagency systems. For some systems, data may be pre-populated and validated instead of manually being re-typed. Such a capability will support a number of needs and provide benefits throughout the wildland fire community. The purpose of this acquisition is to continue the final stages of data support work and external system connection orientation (onboarding) necessary to implement the fully integrated IRWIN data integration service using a vendor with proven skills and abilities of relationship building, wildland fire business process understanding, connecting federal and non-federal systems to the enterprise data integration service and data standardization without realizing an extended delay to the progress of project completion. Under the existing Geospatial Research, Integration, Development and Support (GRIDS II) contracting vehicle, SAIC has acquired critical skills, knowledge and understanding of the complexity pertaining to the data standards, authoritative data sources, data integration and documented an efficient and effective way to manage data through integration services of IRWIN in order to meet the business requirements of each system and the fire community. The current GRIDS II contract expires this August; however, PR # 0040336765 Page 2 of 6 data support work and implementation of IRWIN data integration service will require approximately five (5) years of continued data management, standard development, and working with authoritative sources for successful completion. 3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agencys needs (including the estimated value). The purpose of the task order is to provide program management and technical expertise needed to support and inform wildland fire incident decisions, management, and reporting. The task order includes four (4) tasks. The first three tasks are in support of the IRWIN data integration effort and includes program management, implementation, data architecture, and technical review/writing. The fourth task is in support of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) Data Management Committee (DMC) and its subcommittees. Estimated Value: $XXXXXXXXX (Base plus four options and 6 month extension) The authority and supporting rationale (see 8.405-6(a)(1)(i) and (b)(1)) and, if applicable, a demonstration of the proposed contractors unique qualifications to provide the required supply or service. FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(B) - Only one source is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services are unique or highly specialized. IRWIN data integration service provides a common capability across all participating functional areas for capturing, reporting, and sharing event/incident data. The IRWIN data integration service allows wildland fire personnel to access data in various formats and query multiple systems from a single location. A critical objective for IRWIN is to facilitate data integration among federal and non-federal wildland fire systems to support near-time availability of new and updated information to the relevant systems. Under the current GRIDS II contract, SAIC has completed the critical data analysis, defined and processed data standards, identified and tracked authoritative data sources mapped data across systems/programs and documented data hierarchies for all systems (44+) participating in the data integration environment. Creating the desired IRWIN data integration capabilities requires an in-depth and expert knowledge of data analysis, data standards, and authoritative sources and data hierarchies. The SAIC team has acquired and refined this critical knowledge and expertise throughout their exceptional performance on the current contract. In addition, the SAIC team has established a knowledge base of the unique wildland fire IT environment and culture. This required an understanding of authoritative data structures and system-to-system relationships, following and documenting complex transactional data exchange, a deep knowledge of partner applications and an understanding of incident data conflict detection and resolution. The SAIC team acquired this vital level of understanding and knowledge during the performance under the existing contract. The SAIC teams continued support is essential in order to provide continuous data support to the community. The experience and vital knowledge that SAIC possesses, with companion projects sponsored by the National Wildland Fire Coordinating Group (NWCG), will be leveraged to coordinate data requirements, and is a significant benefit from reuse of templates, processes, databases, and/or prototypes that may be applicable. The SAIC team is familiar with the process for onboarding partner systems into the integration service and understands the current enterprise circumstance regarding wildland fire reporting and stakeholder needs, which is a critical need for an effective data integration service for the wildland fire community. The SAIC team possesses the crucial knowledge and expertise regarding the requirements for assessing the existing fire reporting systems and data elements. This includes support to continue assessing the systems that generate fire reporting information (authoritative data sources and/or systems of record) as identified by the IRWIN data integration service business representatives. This is critical based on the objectives of the assessment for the remaining systems/applications to: 1) document each systems readiness for exchanging data and/or web-services with IRWIN; and 2) document how the systems currently manage and exchange the priority data elements during the remaining deployment schedule. This follow-on effort will allow for continued support from SAIC for on-site and remote consulting and data and onboarding support to carry out the necessary steps to continue exchanging priority data elements between select systems and IRWIN. 5. A determination by the ordering activity contracting officer that the order represents the best value consistent with FAR 8.404(d). The contracting officer will determine the price(s) fair and reasonable based on a price analysis of the quote received from SAIC, to include comparison of the prices to historical data from previous orders for similar services using GSAs Contract Awarded Labor Category (CALC) tool, SAICs Federal Supply Schedule pricing, and the Independent Government Estimate. 6. A description of the market research conducted among schedule holders and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted. Market research was conducted to verify SAIC as the viable sole source awardee for this effort. The research was conducted by reviewing SAICs performance under the previous GRIDS II task orders, GSAS CALC tool for labor category analysis and comparison, System for Award Management (SAM), Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS), and Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS). Obtaining a new customer would not be a cost benefit to the Government, as the price to bring in a new contractor would be significant based on the substantial learning curve required to train new individuals on the technical requirements needed. PR # 0040336765 Page 3 of 6 7. Any other facts supporting the justification. Because the development and deployment of the IRWIN data integration service is in the later stages of maturity there have been a number of lessons learned, standards, protocols, and procedures developed and refined over the last period of performance that are key to the continued success of the effort. Changing data support and onboarding contractors at this time in the investment lifecycle would be costly to the government due to the high level of complexity of the IRWIN data integration service and the relationships within the community. For instance, over the last 10 years the SAIC team has provided support for identifying and documenting over 150 data elements that are being passed through the IRWIN integration service. This required the SAIC team to build relationships and hold meetings and workshops with up to 100 members of the community to define data elements, data standards and foster the data work through the NWCG process. This process of building relationships and garnering trust in the community took time and effort for the community to fully participate and understand the implications of quality data. IRWIN deploys annual updates in functionality each March. Considering the complexity and depth of the data, coupled with the complexity of the community, it would take a new vendor without the extensive experience of the community and the familiarity of the data more than six months to be able to support the March 2018 annual deployment of version 5 of IRWIN. This will delay the deployment of the new functionality until March of 2019. IRWIN would realize an 18 month delay in delivering the needed business requirements in support of the community. Not delivering this functionality in March of 2018 would result in $1M of sunk development costs to the IRWIN project. Which also results in not delivering and deploying the functionality that the IRWIN team plans to deploy for use by the community in March 2018. The expected delay would be realized due to a new vendor becoming familiar with the business processes and the data standardization process of the wildland fire community. After the understanding is gained, a new vendor would have to initiate discussions with the interagency community, to include federal and nonfederal partners, to build relationships and trust. To date, SAIC has developed over 150 data element definitions standards and have fostered them through the system. The system consists of defining the data element, documenting the data element, and exposing the work around for each and every data element to the appropriate committee of the NWCG, gathering feedback for each data element, then based on that feedback, adjusting the documentation accordingly and communicating the change throughout all levels of the wildland fire community. There are at least 50 additional data elements that need to be fostered through the system to complete the delivery of a fully documented data library that supports the IRWIN data integration service for the community. Since data standards, authoritative data, and data documentation are essential for the IRWIN data integration service to function it is critical not to experience a delay in the data support function. In addition to the data work, the SAIC team built strong professional relationships and trust with onboarding Federal and non-federal systems for access to the IRWIN data integration service. Along with building relationships and trust, SAIC has a unique in-depth understanding necessary for identifying and documenting effective and efficient ways for systems to connect PR # 0040336765 Page 4 of 6 to and understand the connection to the IRWIN data integration service. This requires extensive and in-depth knowledge that is gained from the experience working in an integrated interagency environment. If a new vendor was tasked with onboarding Federal and nonfederal systems to the IRWIN data integration service they would need to first understand the nuances of the interagency environment, business processes and build the trust in order to make a determination of what method to use to effectively and efficiently. It would take additional experience and knowledge to determine the level of support and maintenance that each organization requires. The process of onboarding new vendors or systems to data integration typically takes 18 24 months of meetings, conference calls, and workshops to help the vendor understand the complex environment, enterprise, and business processes. This learning period would result in an average of a two year delay of support for partner systems to gain near real time access to wildland fire operational data. In summary, changing the vendor that provides data support to the IRWIN data integration service at this point would require a steep learning curve for a new vendor, require an extended transition period where the government would fiscally support two vendors, and a delay in meeting key investment milestones in the federal wildland fire community and in the non- federal community. All of the impacts listed above would prove costly, in excess of $1M, for the government in fiscal resources, time, and personnel. The SAIC personnel have established professional relationships, protocol, and rapport with partners of the IRWIN data integration service. Those relationships, coupled with their excellent past performance, and in depth understanding of the complex business processes, data standards, and processing makes SAIC uniquely qualified to successfully meet the requirements outlined in the SOW. This reduces major risk to the government in delivery of a data integration service to the federal and non-federal partners within the wildland fire community. 8. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the restricted consideration before any subsequent acquisition for supplies and services is made. If a follow-on contract is necessary upon completion and delivery of a data integration service, and as the investment is transitioned to Operations and Maintenance (O&M), it is anticipated that a contract to cover O&M of the data integration will be fully competed. 9. The ordering activity contracting officers certification that the justification is accurate and complete to the best of the contracting officers knowledge and belief. I certify this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. Contracting Officer PR # 004036765 Page 5 of 6 PR # 0040336765 Page 6 of 6 10. Evidence that any supporting data that is the responsibility of technical or requirements personnel (e.g., verifying the Governments minimum needs or requirements or other rationale for limited sources) and which form a basis for the justification have been certified as complete and accurate by the technical or requirements personnel. I certify the technical data which forms a basis for this justification is complete and accurate and meet the Governments minimum needs. Program Office/COR 11. For justifications under 8.405-6(a)(1), a written determination by the approving official identifying the circumstance that applies. FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)B - Only one source is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services are unique or highly specialized. 12. Reviews and Approvals Concur Concur Concur Approve
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