Inactive

Justification and Approval (J&A) for an Exception to Fair Opportunity Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 16.5 Indefinite-Delivery Contracts Title: Medical Assistants services at NMCP, Branch... Justification and Approval (J&A) for an Exception to Fair Opportunity Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 16.5 Indefinite-Delivery Contracts Title: Medical Assistants services at NMCP, Branch Medical Clinics and Tricare Prime Clinics (N6264519F0437) 1. Identification of the agency and contracting activity: Tidewater Contracting Division Modify an existing task-order. 2. Nature and/or Description of Action being Approved: Modification to an existing contract / Individual This request is for a bridge action to add a 3-month extension and a 3-month option to the current task order (HT005018D0032 N6264519F0437) to allow time for contracting to complete the Task Order Proposal Request which will allow for fair opportunity for all contractors on the Multiple Award IDIQ MQS contract vehicle. 3. Description of Supplies/ Services: Medical Assistants services in support of Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Branch Medical Clinics and Tricare Prime Clinics. TOTAL CONTRACT VALUE BASE POP: From 1/1/2024 to 6/30/2024 POP: From 1/1/2024 to 3/31/2024 Estimated Value $1,839,656.00 Estimated Value $919,828.00 Type of Contract (Primary): OPTIONS FAR 16.202 Firm-Fixed Price Number of options: 1 POP (All options): From 4/1/2024 to 6/30/2024 Estimated Value (all options): $919,828.00 Funding Type: Operations & Maintenance (O&M) 4. This acquisition is conducted under the authority of 41 U.S.C. 4104, and Regulatory Authority (see FAR 16.505): FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B) – Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized. 5. Rationale Justifying Use of the Statutory Authority Cited: This requirement is a bridge in order to mitigate a lapse in services to support the mission of NMCP and supporting BHCs and TPCs. A lapse in service would impact patient care severely enough to necessitate shutting down services within the MTFs. Sole source procurement to the incumbent is recommended because the labor categories included on this task order have unique qualifications, and there is not sufficient time to allow for a new contractor to recruit for all services required. The PALT allowing for fair opportunity under the Multiple Award IDIQ is 160 calendar days, including time (60 calendar days) to allow a potential new awardee to recruit or retain incumbent employees. The current task order expires 31 December 2023. 6. Determination by the ordering activity contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable: The contracting officer will use an IGCE and comparison to historical rates to make a determination that the anticipated cost to the government will be fair and reasonable for this short-term bridge action. 7. 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 Conducted? No Provide Rationale: Market research has been completed at the enterprise level for all MQS efforts. The MQS contract vehicle is a mandatory source of supply for Medical Q-coded Services, which these are. Sources are limited to those contractors with an award under the MQS contracting vehicle. All awardees under this Multiple Award IDIQ were small business contractors at time of award of the base contracts. 8. Other Facts: Services provided by incumbent are already established at the MTF and performance under the current contract is considered satisfactory. If fair opportunity procedures were followed, the re-competed contract would be awarded 31 January 2024. Allowing for the vendor’s 60-day start-up period would mean services would not start until 1 April 2024. If this bridge action is not allowed, the MTF will lose critical services for 90 days and may not be able to provide healthcare services to the affected patient population. Due to time constraints, a 3-month sole source bridge extension w/ an additional 3-month option to the current task order is being added in order to mitigate a lapse in service while the competitive requirement is being worked. 9. Actions to overcome barriers: The long-term plan for this acquisition is to allow fair opportunity under the current MQS contracting vehicle. A completed package for this requirement was assigned to the Contract Specialist on 18 September 2023. Due to workload at fiscal year-end, there was a delay in starting the acquisition process. As of 8 November 2023, the contracting team is still working to solidify the departments’ needs for the re-competed effort. As such, it has been determined that there is not enough time to complete the fair opportunity award and allow a 60-day start-up period for the successful offeror. This bridge action will allow the contracting staff additional time to get the fair opportunity awards in place in time for services to begin by 1 April 2024.