Inactive

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION Contracting Activity: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), New England District (NAE), 696 Virginia Road, Concord MA 01742. Descrip... JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION Contracting Activity: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), New England District (NAE), 696 Virginia Road, Concord MA 01742. Description of Action: The proposed action is for a modification to increase capacity in the amount of $350,000 for the duration of existing Hazardous, Toxic, Radiological Waste (HTRW) Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract W912WJ19D0005 five-year contract. This increase in capacity is requested so that the Hazardous, Toxic, Radiological Waste (HTRW) contractor, Mabbett & Associates, Inc. (Mabbett), can continue to provide highly specialized environmental consulting services at existing sites where work is already in progress and already scoped through the Decision Document (now referred to as Record of Decision (ROD)). The scope will include work at both Formerly Utilized Defense Sites (FUDS) Former Fort Hancock and Blue Beach where ongoing remedial investigation (RI) field work are being conducted. The existing Single Award Task Order Contract (SATOC) contract has less than $200,000 remaining in capacity that will not support ongoing project requirements. The 2019 SATOC is set to expire on 6 May 2024. Without this increase in contract capacity, the completion of the two RI field programs would require the de-obligation of expiring funds for the RI report through ROD, procurement of new Task Orders under the 2022 Multiple Award Task Order Contracts (MATOCs) and new funding for the RI field work through Record of Decision. This approach for new MATOC Task Orders will not meet the required FUDS site closure requirements. Description of Supplies/Services or Nature of Construction: The HTRW IDIQ Contract has a broad scope of services allowing it to support multiple project types and programs within NAE. The two areas of work under the existing Mabbett contract are summarized below. The proposed increase in contract capacity is estimated at $100,000 for Former Fort Hancock and $250,000 for Blue Beach, but capacity can be shared amongst all issued task orders. Remedial Investigation through Decision Document for AOC-15 at Former Fort Hancock located in Sandy Hook, NJ, Task Order W912WJ19F0122: conduct RI activities and prepare documents to support site closure in accordance with Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The Task Order modification will extend the Period of Performance by 36 months, to include project and financial management tasks, and executing option tasks to continue RI field work and reporting. Option tasks include Technical Project Planning (TPP) Meetings, Additional Soil Borings and Sample Collection, Well Abandonment, and Additional Mobilization/Demobilization. Remedial Investigation through Decision Document for Former Blue Beach Disposal Area FUDS in North Kingstown, RI, Task Order W912WJ23F0029: prepare documents to support site closure in accordance with CERCLA and conduct site closeout tasks. The Task Order modification will extend the Period of Performance by 24 months, including project and financial management tasks, revisions to the existing RI Report, a Feasibility Study Report with up to four alternatives, Proposed Plan, Decision Document and site closure tasks (e.g., monitoring well abandonment). Authority Cited: In accordance with 10 USC 3204(a)(1) and 41 USC 3304(a)(1), only one responsible source and no other supplies or service will satisfy agency requirements, as implemented in by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 6.302-1 entitled, “Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.” Reason for Authority Cited: Background on the Existing Environmental Services Contract: Mabbett was awarded the HTRW Contract W912WJ19D0005 on 07 May 2019 as a five-year $3M IDIQ SATOC for individual task order awards. This ordering period and capacity were considered sufficient at the time of the solicitation based on a review of previous environmental services contracted task orders and a projection of upcoming work based on best available knowledge. However, based on existing Task Order awards, option tasks negotiated and reserved for future work, and data gaps to be addressed required to support the FUDS site closures, the contract capacity is not sufficient to support the required site closure and scheduled funding within the USACE Headquarters FUDS tracking system (see Section 2 above for schedule impacts and Section 5(b) below for cost impacts). Justification: As noted in Section 3, the HTRW Contract has a very broad scope of services with multiple concurrent task orders. Much of the work under the task orders requiring the additional capacity is of a highly specialized nature with local knowledge, requiring significant ramp up time such that it cannot be easily or efficiently transferred to another contractor. It is critical that on-going work be maintained so that NAE can continue to fulfill its mission in the areas described above until the RI field work at Former Fort Hancock and Blue Beach are completed. New MATOCs were awarded in November 2022. However, the time required to complete the Task Order Requirement Notice (TORN) process and negotiation and award of new Task Orders would not support the ongoing RI field work at Former Fort Hancock and Blue Beach while meeting FUDS site closure schedules. Project costs for the new task orders will significantly increase due to the increase in labor rates between the existing 2019 HTRW (Year 5 rates) and the 2022 MATOC Year 2 contract rates (labor rate increases of 8-13% including Year 2 escalation were incurred during MATOC negotiations due to recent inflationary impacts). Former Fort Hancock (W912WJ19F0122) – Due to site restrictions during the nesting season of endangered shorebirds, field work is limited each year to 15 September through 15 March. This site restriction delayed the execution of the originally planned RI phase field work, which was completed in March 2023. Based on a review of the initial findings, additional RI field work is required to address identified data gaps and support the completion of the funded Feasibility Study (FS) through ROD and site closure. The FS through ROD is already fully fund with 2019 funds which will expire in June 2024 should they have to be de-obligated. Former Blue Beach Disposal Area FUDS (W912WJ23F0029) – Due to site access issues, field work was completed in September 2023. Based on the results of this field work, additional investigations are required to complete the RI report and then prepare a FS through ROD (the FS is a new task – previously not required, while the Proposed Plan and ROD were already funded). The additional RI field work, revision of the RI report and preparation of the FS will extend the task order period of performance another two years. Alternatives Considered: NAE evaluated both projects for the ability to reduce the scopes of work to allow a follow-on scope of work to be awarded under either a SATOC or MATOC Task Order. Due to the ongoing RI activities, required schedule to complete the FUDS closures, the potential de-obligation of funded tasks (Fort Hancock FS through ROD are expiring funds), and that new funding would be required for both sites, this was not an option. The complexity of both projects and extensive site knowledge required to complete the site closures also limited the ability to contract the work with other A-E firms under the existing HTRW SATOC contracts. The required work at Former Fort Hancock and Blue Beach involves complex risk assessment using Incremental Sampling Methodology (ISM). Mabbett has already started some of this risk assessment work and is the only A-E firm capable of continuing risk assessment services to NAE without restarting this work. NAE considered awarding a site-specific contract for each of the sites. The first concern was the duration of the contracting process that would adversely impact the ongoing RI work at Former Fort Hancock and Blue Beach. This option would also create expiring funds for already authorized RI through ROD tasks and require new funding to complete all of these previously funded tasks. While Mabbett does hold a 2022 HTRW MATOC contract, the procurement time of the new task order, de-obligation of expiring funds, and requirement for new funding of existing tasks would not support the required schedule for the RI field work at Former Fort Hancock and Blue Beach sites. Because the ongoing work at Former Fort Hancock and Blue Beach sites are both in the middle of the RI phase and Mabbett has started the RI Report and risk assessments, Mabbett is the only A-E Firm that is capable for the continued provision of highly specialized services without unacceptable funding and schedule delays in fulfilling NAE’s requirements. Impacts: It is critical that on-going work at both the sites be maintained so that NAE can continue to fulfill its mission in the areas described above to complete the ongoing RI field work at Former Fort Hancock and Blue Beach and complete the CERCLA process through the ROD and site closures. Otherwise, NAE will be unable to fulfill the schedule and budget outlined in the FUDS work plans. The time necessary to contract this work using the new MATOC will result in the project exceeding the FUDS work plan schedule. The effort necessary to overcome inefficiency in transitioning ongoing RI fieldwork to another firm will result in the project exceeding the FUDS work plan budget. Additionally, because of the RI reports and complex risk assessments using ISM have already been started, Mabbett is the only A-E firm capable of continuing risk assessment services through the RODs in accordance with the FUDS work plans. In summary, an increase in capacity of the existing Environmental Services IDIQ Contract W912WJ-19-D-0005 is the only alternative that will allow NAE to meet multiple components of its missions without causing significant project delays and impact overall programmatic funding for the next several years. Efforts to Obtain Competition: A Notice of Intent was published on SAM.gov on 22 January 2024 proposing to increase the contract capacity of W912WJ19D0005 by $350,000. The Notice of Intent included a description of the proposed work at Former Fort Hancock and Blue Beach (see Sections 3 and 5(b)). This notice requested responses from potential competing firms to be considered for this work at Former Fort Hancock and Blue Beach. No responses to this public notice were received. Actions to Increase Competition: This ongoing work at the two FUDS sites is currently being conducted by Mabbett, a Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Business under their existing 2019 SATOC. As discussed in Section 5(b), new MATOCs were awarded in November 2022. These IDIQ awards include 3 large A-E firms and 6 small business A-E firms within the MATOC pool; however, the time required to complete the Task Order Requirement Notice (TORN) process and negotiation and award of new Task Orders would not support the ongoing work at Former Fort Hancock and Blue Beach. These MATOCs will be used for future Task Orders to increase competition among the unrestricted and small business pools of A-E firms. Market Research: Discussions were held with NAE Contracting, the Branch Chief of the GeoEnvironmental Group and NAE Deputy of Small Business for possible contracting actions to support the time sensitive follow-on work at Former Fort Hancock and Blue Beach. As discussed above in subsection 5(c), existing SATOCs either did not have the available capacity or technical expertise to support the ongoing work. Execution of the work is time sensitive so site-specific contract actions could not be used to increase competition for this work. It was determined that the one-time increase in contract capacity of Mabbett’s contract was the most prudent action. Based on these discussions, a Notice of Intent to increase the contract capacity of W912WJ19D0005 was published on SAM.gov on 22 January 2024. No responses were received expressing an interest in completing the specific ongoing work at Former Fort Hancock and Blue Beach. Interested Sources: As stated in Section 6 above, a Notice of Intent was posted on SAM.gov on 22 January 2024. No sources have written to express an interest in completing the specific ongoing work at Former Fort Hancock and Blue Beach. Other Factors: Procurement History: See subsection 5(a), above Accessibility of Information: Not Applicable Acquisition Data Availability: Not Applicable Follow-on Contracts: The New England District awarded nine new MATOC contracts (three unrestricted and six Small and Disadvantaged Businesses) with a total capacity of $90M. Mabbett was awarded one of the unrestricted MATOC contracts.