Inactive

Pre-Solicitation Notice Notice of Intent to Award Limited-Sources Justification (LSJ) - FAR 8.405-6 For orders or BPAs exceeding the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT) NAICS Code: 541511 Custom Co... Pre-Solicitation Notice Notice of Intent to Award Limited-Sources Justification (LSJ) - FAR 8.405-6 For orders or BPAs exceeding the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT) NAICS Code: 541511 Custom Computer Programming Services This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple-Award Schedule Program, 41 U.S.C. 152(3), Competitive Procedures, and 40 U.S.C. 501, Services for Executive Agencies. The statutory authority permitting limited source justification is FAR Part 8.405- 6(a)(1)((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. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) intends to negotiate on a sole source basis with Plateau Software, Inc for continued and expanded support of the existing Smart Mobile Tools for Field Inspector commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) application. The EPA intends to procure Plateau Software, Inc. products and services through the Multiple Award Schedule Program under the authority of 41 U.S.C. 152(3), Competitive Procedures, and 40 U.S.C. 501, Services for Executive Agencies. Pursuant to FAR 8.405-6(b)(1), this vendor specification shall be used because Plateau Software, Inc. is the only vendor with a solution and services that meets the requirements and is fully compatible with, and seamlessly integrates into, the existing deployed EPA core Smart Mobile Tools for Field Inspector COTS application. The EPA has a continuing need for this support, which is currently being provided by Plateau Software, Inc under contract number GS-35F-0166V, order number EP-G17H-01433. Plateau Software, Inc is the only vendor that can provide the necessary proprietary software to support EPA¿s requirement. The vendor shall continue development of the existing proprietary COTS product, the Smart Tools information system, along with associated support services, so as to provide the capability for use by EPA and EPA¿s co-regulators. The EPA has made a substantial investment over the last few years in using Smart Tools proprietary software to significantly improve its processes via automation and has come to rely upon the gained efficiencies in conducting its daily operations. EPA Regions and states have begun using the EPA-tailored Plateau COTS product to conduct onsite inspections and offsite compliance evaluations. Inspectors from these organizations have been successful in collecting and documenting their observations. As a result, inspection and compliance monitoring information and evidence are now stored on an EPA National Computer Center (NCC) server. That server was configured to receive information from the Plateau COTS product. Additionally, the vendor COTS application shall be scalable to concurrently extend to EPA¿s co-regulators (i.e., states, tribes, territories and local governments). EPA requires a solution that will accommodate the full range of federal and relevant state/local environmental compliance monitoring programs under the RCRA, CWA, CAA, SDWA, FIFRA, TSCA, EPCRA and CERCLA statutes. The range and scope of the application is broad and is critical to EPA meeting its obligations. The COTS product shall also link to federal and state citations in order to quickly compare conditions observed in the field with provisions in permits and regulations. The use of other products, at this stage, would require the EPA potentially several years and hundreds of thousands of dollars of reworking, retraining and reinvesting and could result in interoperability, compatibility, and interface issues that would preclude the system¿s support team from providing efficient and effective customer support. The Contracting Officer has determined that issuing the proposed Task Order for the Plateau Software, Inc. software represents the best value and will result in the lowest overall cost, considering price and administrative costs, to meet the Government¿s needs. Changing to another software is not an option for EPA at this time. The costs associated with using another manufacturer¿s software, which would not maintain absolute compatibility with the Plateau Software, Inc. software cannot be justified. This application and related services shall maintain operability. The General Services Administration (GSA) pricing under Plateau Software, Inc. GSA Schedule number GS-35F-0166V has already been independently determined to be fair and reasonable. The Contracting Officer will request any further available discount off of the established pricing as well. The contractor¿s quoted pricing is in line with the Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE) and the historical pricing of the previous order, EP-G17H-01433. Therefore, the Contracting Officer determines that the anticipated price(s) will be fair and reasonable. The Plateau Software, Inc. software cannot be obtained from any other source because Plateau Software, Inc. is the sole proprietor of the Smart Tools software application¿ it is unique or highly specialized and peculiar to Plateau Software, Inc. Therefore, the Contracting Officer has determined that Plateau Software, Inc. is the only known source that can provide Smart Tools Software. Further, the Contracting Officer has determined that the Smart Tools software application is the only source capable of providing the products and services required at the level of quality and reliability required by the Government, because these products and services are unique and highly specialized. The intent of this notice is to alert the vendor community to the EPA¿s intent to negotiate on a sole source basis with Plateau Software, Inc. for the continuing development and support of the Smart Mobile Tools for Field Inspector COTS application. This notification alerts all vendors to this action and to determine if any other source(s) exist; and, therefore, no solicitation is available. Responses to this notice must demonstrate clear and convincing evidence that competition would be advantageous to the Government, would not be cost or time prohibitive, and would not hinder the mission objective of the national solid waste recycling measurement initiative. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract extension based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether competition is viable. The Government will not be responsible for any costs incurred by responding to this notice. All vendor responses will be considered. Responses to this notice should be submitted to the Contract Specialist, Lenitra Elliott at Elliott.Lenitra@epa.gov and Contracting Officer, Joel Smith at Smith.Joel@epa.gov within 15 days from the date of this notice. Future actions related to this notice action will be posted at GSA eBuy at https://www.ebuy.gsa.gov/ebuy/