Description
JUSTIFICATION DOCUMENT FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION Wounded Soldier and Family Hotline Call Center 1. CONTRACTING AGENCY: Mission and Installation Contracting Command (MICC), Mission Contracting Office (MCO)-Fort Sam Houston (FSH). 2. DESCRIPTION OF ACTION: Request approval to issue a new Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contract to the incumbent contractor, National Sourcing, Inc (NSI). The type of funding to be utilized is FY 2012/13 Defense Health Program (DHP). Funds are currently available. 3. DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES: The Chief of Staff of the Army activated The Wounded Soldiers and Family Hotline (WSFH) in March 2007. The intent of this initiative is to increase awareness and identify actions necessary to ensure our wounded Soldiers and their families receive effective and responsive medical care. Taking care of Soldiers and their families is a leader's top priority. Command emphasis is required to improve the quality and timeliness of medical care for our Soldiers. To meet the expectations of our wounded Soldiers and their families, a reporting and feedback procedure between the WSFH and the Soldiers command organization is required. The Army determined that this link must have 24 hour, 7 day a week hotline capability and must be responsive. The contractor shall provide all personnel, equipment, tools, materials, supervision, and other items and non-personal services necessary to perform support for the Army Wounded Soldier and Family Hotline (WSFH). The contractor shall perform Call Center Operations services including performance of day to day operations for the Army Wounded Soldier and Family Hotline program under the Army Medical Command Medical Assistance Group (MMAG). The contractor shall utilize the toll free call line to respond to Army families, Soldiers, Retirees, Veterans, and Disabled Soldiers (beneficiaries) who are seeking information, submitting suggestions, registering complaints, or raising issues about their medical care or medical administrative issues. The contractor shall also respond to crises calls when harm to self or others is suspected. The contractor shall also assist with MEDCOM directed surveillance programs that impact Soldiers health care. Incoming call volume is estimated at approximately 300 calls per week. The period of performance is for six (6) months 15 Jul 12, through 14 Jan 13 with, one (1) month option that if exercised could extend the contract end date to 14 Feb13. 4. AUTHORITY CITED: 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1) as implemented by FAR, 6.302-1 -- Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements. 5. REASON FOR AUTHORITY CITED: Continuation of services at the present level of effort must remain static through the procurement process of the follow-on contract. a. Background: The current contract is W91WAW-08-C-0006. The contract was awarded to National Sourcing Inc. on 16 Nov 07. FAR 52.219-27, Notice of Total Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Set-Aside was incorporated in the award. Attempts to contact the Contracting Officer, Mr. David Vroom or anyone at the original awarding contracting office, Contracting Center of Excellence, (CCE), Army Contracting Agency (ACA), 5200 Army Pentagon, Washington DC, have been unsuccessful. Without further evidence if the solicitation was a total service-disabled veteran-owned small business Set-Aside, it is assumed that the current contract was awarded as a total service-disabled veteran-owned small business Set-Aside. A sources sought notice was posted on 12 Sep 11. A six month extension of services to the current contract was exercised on 06 Jan 12. Solicitation, W9124J-12-R-0002 was posted on 1 Mar 12, with a closing date of 30 Mar 12. The solicitation was posted as a Firm Fixed Price, Lowest Price Technically Acceptable requirement. An amendment to the solicitation extended the closing date to 6 Apr 12. A total of 20 proposals were received by the closing date. Technical evaluations started and several issues were found during the technical evaluations. Of the six proposals that were evaluated, a trend was found showing a lack of knowledge and understanding of the requirement. A meeting was held with the Mission Division Chief and the customer to go over the PWS and solicitation. A risk assessment was accomplished and it was determined that changes to the solicitation and the PWS would be necessary and cancelling the solicitation would be in the best interest to the Government. A new solicitation would be posted using FFP LPTA strategy with a revised PWS and significantly revised evaluation criteria. b. Alternatives: (1) Suspension of the Operation. Continuation of services at the present level of effort must remain static through the procurement process of the follow-on contract. These services are critical to providing assistance and to reach out to Soldiers to ascertain their medically related issues. Without the toll free Hotline approximately 300 calls per week from Wounded Soldiers and their family members from across the United States would go unanswered. This will leave us with a significant contract break in service which impacts Wounded Soldiers and their families, ultimately causing a work stoppage. (2) Use of In-House Resources. MEDCOM Medical Assistance Group does not have the necessary in-house assets to fulfill the tasks that are currently being performed by the contractor. (3) Award an Extension to Incumbent Contractor Under Other Than Full and Open Competition. Extending the period of performance under the current bridge contract to the incumbent will avoid a disruption of service, and is the only feasible course of action given the criticality of the service and the required timetable for continuation of service. c. Justification: (1) National Sourcing, Inc. (NSI) is the incumbent prime contractor on contract number W91WAW-08-C-0006. Currently, only National Sourcing, Inc. has the experience, technical/operational knowledge, and other resources immediately available to execute these mission critical services for the period of performance from 15 Jul 20, through 14 Jan 13. Awarding of the services to another contractor at this time will cause a cessation of services as a result of the time associated learning curve and resourcing and this would prove detrimental to the best interest of the Government. NSI is currently providing hotline support to three highly visible Warrior programs, the Chromium Surveillance Program, the Rabies Exposure Program and support of the Forensic Psychiatry Reevaluation Program It is crucial that Soldiers calling the WSFH for assistance receive consistent and accurate information which the current vendor has the expertise to convey and accurately report to the MEDCOM Medical Assistance Group for further action. An interruption of these services would adversely impact not only Soldier care but also disrupt the collection of vital data needed by the US Army Public Health Command and the Army Surgeon General (2) The Mission Installation Contracting Command (MICC), Mission Contracting Office (MCO) - Fort Sam Houston (FSH) is working on procuring services amongst Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), with an anticipated award in Dec 13. Pending that award, MICC MCO-FSH requires continued services in order to acquire legal and policy reviews, issue solicitation, and evaluation reviews. The solicitation will be issued in Jul 12. d. Impact: (1) If this J&A is not approved, the mission would be severely impacted resulting in adverse consequences. The lack of services would negatively affect the welfare and quality of life of our Wounded Warriors and their families and could potentially lead to mission failure and or loss of life. (2) Additionally, one of the most difficult and complex problems faced by the Medical Command is how to manage Soldiers requesting assistance and to reach out to Soldiers to ascertain and resolve their medically related issues. In March 2007 the Chief of Staff, Army directed that a Wounded Soldier Family Hotline be established to give Soldiers and their Family Members a mechanism to resolve issues and provide leaders better visibility of the problems faced by our Wounded Warrior population. NSI worked diligently with MEDCOM Medical Assistance Group to develop the WSFH and address the plethora of medical issues especially with the challenges of multiple war efforts. Over the years the WSFH has become a vital link in resolving a myriad of complex medical as well as other issues faced by our Soldiers. Working together with the MEDCOM Medical Assistance Group Ombudsmen as well as local chain of command, the WSFH is an invaluable tool in caring for our Soldiers. In August 2009, LTG Eric B Schoomaker, former Army Surgeon General, called this program "an unequivocal success as we support our wounded, ill and injured Soldiers." If the requested J&A is not approved, then Senior Army Leaders would not have visibility on medically-related patient care issues supporting Wounded, injured, ill Soldiers and their family members. This would prevent Senior Army Leaders the ability to identify and allocate resources to best serve Soldiers and families. More importantly, disapproval of this J&A would take away/disrupt a very valuable resource in the betterment of the lives of our Wounded Warriors and their Family Members. (3) If a different contractor were awarded a bridge contract, the Government would essentially have to pay three contractors to maintain these critical services ineffectively. Pursuant to industry practices, there would be provisions for at least a month transition period. Even with this brief assistance, it will take the incoming contractor at least six months or more to develop a learning curve. Then in six months there will be another transition period once the awardee of the new contract takes over. The Government's need for continuity of operations and potential cost of such operations could cause failure of high visibility and politically charged services provided to returning wounded Warriors and families. These costs and risks could not possibly be recouped through competition. 6. EFFORTS TO OBTAIN COMPETITION: The follow-on contract will be competed amongst all eligible SDVOSB contractors. MCO-FSH is completing a risk assessment on the customer's Performance Work Statement (PWS) in order to complete the requirements package, Acquisition Milestone Agreement (AMA), and award the contract by the six month period of performance. The intention of the option from this J&A is for protests that might occur. The MCO-FSH is working with the customer to revise the PWS, Performance Requirement Summary and QASP. 7. ACTIONS TO INCREASE COMPETITION: A sources sought was advertised on FedBizOpps on 12 Sep 11. Based on the 23 responses received from the sources sought, there shall be effective competition for the follow-on action to be solicited by the MCO - Fort Sam Houston. 8. MARKET RESEARCH: Extensive market research has been conducted for the follow-on requirement. Below are the results from the market research: a. FAR Part 8 Review: FAR Part 8 deals with the acquisition of supplies and services from or through Government supply sources. This requirement is for office administration/call center services for the Army Wounded Warriors and Family Hotline. As required in FAR Part 8, the following sources were reviewed for applicability to this requirement: b. A review of the Ability One website conducted on 28 Oct 11, revealed that this type of service is not on the Procurement List. c. UNICOR does not provide call center per a review of their website on 28 October 2011. d. The MICC MCO-FSH posted a sources sought with NAICS code 561110 Office Administration Services for the Wounded Warriors and Family Hotline requirement on FedBizOpps, 12 Sep 11 with a response due date 26 Sep 11. The contracting office received 23 responses. After the Government reviewed the response it was determined that two (2) SDVOSB are capable of performing and four (4) additional SDVOSB are potentially capable performing the requirement. A Dynamic Small Business Search was conducted on 04 Oct 11, revealing 24 different types of small businesses that were capable of performing the WSFH. Further Market Research revealed that similar call center services are being performed or have been performed by at least 16 firms and eight of those firms are SDVOSB. The DD2579 for the follow-on contract was signed on 06 Dec 11 for a 100% SDVOSB. 9. INTERESTED SOURCES: See paragraph 8 above. 10. OTHER FACTS: Procurement history. Refer to Paragraph 5.