Inactive

Contracting Agency and Activity. Department Energy, Office of Fossil Energy (FE), Office of Clean Coal and Carbon Management (OCCCM). DOE Headquarters Procurement Services is awarding and administerin... Contracting Agency and Activity. Department Energy, Office of Fossil Energy (FE), Office of Clean Coal and Carbon Management (OCCCM). DOE Headquarters Procurement Services is awarding and administering the award. Nature and/or Description of the Action Being Approved. The current action will be for a labor hour order against the Professional Services Schedule (PSS-SIN 541611) under FSS Contract Number GS-10F-0126U. The expected duration will be a one-year base period and 4 one-year option periods. The proposed awardee is OnLocation, Inc. with DUNS 18-7273966. Onlocation is a large business. Description of Supplies and/or Services (Including the Estimated Value). The scope of this requirement is to provide long term model development support and NEMS model expertise for OCCCM. It will involve the development of market and technology deployment forecasts using widely accepted energy-economy models such as the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA’s) NEMS, economic and employment impact assessments using established methodologies and models, assessments of policies and advanced technologies on the existing fossil fuel electricity generating fleet using widely accepted resource planning and dispatch models, and the collection, analysis, and maintenance of data on energy markets and the existing fossil generating fleet in order to help identify and correlate economic and other causal factors to retirements and cycling operations. This work will have an expected period of performance from award date through July 31, 2026, with an expected price of $1,375,000 per year, for a 5-year total of $6,900,000. Authority and Supporting Rationale. 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. OnLocation is currently working with multiple DOE offices to run the NEMS model, and is currently performing work for OCCCM via a subcontract mechanism under a Leonardo Technologies Inc Order. NEMS is an integrated model of the US energy system linked to a macro-economic model, developed by the EIA primarily for the use of the EIA modelers. It is used to model changes in policy, energy prices, and other perturbations to the US energy system, and is utilized in the preparation of the Annual Energy Outlook, which presents several projections of energy markets. The current work that is being performed is limited in scope, and additional expansion of the NEMS model is critical to ensuring that FE technologies are accurately represented. Due to the highly specialized nature of such work, OnLocation is the only contractor with the expertise, history, and connections required to fulfill the requirement of providing model improvements. OnLocation is currently under contract directly to EIA to provide direct coding and modeling experience on an ongoing basis, and as a result, this organization is intimately knowledgeable about the structure and mechanisms of the NEMS model. Finding uniquely qualified individuals to understand FORTRAN programming (a little used programming language), as well as the innerworkings of NEMS is difficult. As stated by EIA, “…only a few organizations other than EIA use NEMS. Past external users are less familiar with NEMS programming and structure and have reported that the system presents limitations and challenges.” To our knowledge, no other firm can provide the specific developmental services being sought, as their organization is well integrated with these modeling efforts. Thus, any other contractor selected would require substantial time and effort to develop the understanding of models in use, and to develop relationships with other offices conducting such work, leading to significantly higher costs, and a high risk of project failure. Having multiple contractors involved in the same modeling work also introduces complications, as version control, programming syntax, and interfaces and exchanges of data can lead to delays and duplication of effort. These updates and technology representation are critical to inclusion of technology goals in the NEMS model, and by extension EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook. Ordering Activity Contracting Officer Determination of Best Value (Consistent with 8.404(d)). OnLocation is the best value for completing this work, as other organizations that perform this work will be required to subcontract OnLocation to successfully fulfill all requirements. GSA has already determined the prices of supplies and fixed-price services, and rates for services offered at hourly rates, under schedule contracts to be fair and reasonable (FAR 8.404(d)). In addition, DOE has significant historical cost data from this contractor and their efforts in execution of this requirement to make a determination that the overall price and level of effort is fair and reasonable. Description of the Market Research Conducted Among Schedule Holders and the Results or a Statement of the Reason Market Research was not Conducted. On 6/1/2021 DOE issued a Request for Information (RFI), Energy and Economy Modeling Services, (RFQ1495222) on GSA eBuy to all vendors under Master Award Scheduled 541611 (Management and Financial Consulting, Acquisition and Grants Management Support, and Business Program and Project Management Services). The RFI closed on 6/7/2021 and a total number of vendors who had access and were notified of this RFI was 2,014. 38 vendors reviewed the RFI and provided no response to the requirement. Three vendors provided a response: Oxford Economics: Small Deloitte: Large Business INTEK: Small The three responses to the RFI do not meet the requirement of the PWS (see attached review). The purpose of the PWS is to acquire services for the modification of NEMS as it is the official model used for the Annual Energy Outlook by EIA. The proposed approaches by all proponents explicitly call for the use of external models to bypass the direct modification of NEMS. The use of external models will not meet the purposes of the PWS On DOE has had experience for many years through NETL and directly working with OnLocation to perform this type of NEMS model development work. OnLocation is the only known contractor who has recent experience in developing the NEMS model, and there is no expectation of another vendor having NEMS experience, as it is developed solely for DOE. Furthermore, other organizations that perform similar work, often work with, or subcontract with OnLocation to assist their NEMS model development work. In addition, OnLocation has significant experience as they have been working with EIA to perform similar work since 1994. Any other facts supporting the justification. None. Actions to Overcome Barriers to Competition. EIA’s IDIQ contract, that acquires the support to develop NEMS, will soon be under re-competition. Efforts will be made to ensure that the scope of the NEMS work will include the ability of other DOE offices to acquired NEMS related services; thus, eliminating the need for other acquisitions, and sole source actions to conduct this service. Once this requirement can be moved to the EIA vehicle, the next option period will not be exercised.