Description
1- Office requesting the action: Adaptive Management Group 2- Description of proposed action: Sole-source acquisition 3- Description of services or supplies needed: A modification to Contract 07-CR-40-8185 to add work summarized as follows: The Government requires another season of data collection to strengthen the findings made to date on the contract and thereby provide more information to assist in the management of endangered fish to ensure the Government's uninterrupted operations in the San Juan River Basin. Therefore, two complex reaches along the San Juan River will be sampled once in August 2009 during base flow for young endangered fishes. This data, combined with sample data to be collected in the Spring of 2009, as well as reports on habitat mapping, interpretation and analysis of data, and integration of fish sampling and habitat data, will be delivered to the Government in the Spring of 2010. 4- Estimated cost $ 212,000 5- Authority: FAR 6.302-1 Only one responsible source 5a- Address specifically how the authority applies: FAR 6.302-1(1)(b)(1): When there is a reasonable basis to conclude that the agency's minimum needs can only be satisfied by -- (i) Unique supplies or services available from only one source or only one supplier with unique capabilities; Explanation: The conditions encountered during the field sampling portion of work performed under Contract 07-CR-40-8185 were and are much different than what the Government expected when the contract was initially awarded. Namely, at no fault of the contractor, the numbers of endangered fish that were expected to be captured fell far short of the quantities needed to insure statistical rigor. All statistical tests require a certain number of samples, which is dependent upon variation in the samples and the accuracy that the researcher requires. The inability to capture the required number of fish to give us the statistical accuracy needed requires that additional sampling be done. This additional sampling is essentially another year's worth of work--a spring and fall sampling period and is entirely related to and a continuation of the previous work performed on Contract 07-CR-40-8185. The current contractor has the expertise and knowledge of how such previousl collected information has been obtained in order to properly integrate it with this planned work. Contracting with another contractor at this point in the project would create undue hardships to the Government by requiring Government personnnel to integrate information that it had virtually no role in collecting. FAR 6.302-1(1)(b)(2): The existence of limited rights in data, patent rights, copyrights, or secret processes; the control of basic raw material; or similar circumstances, make the supplies and services available from only one source. Explanation: The Navajo Nation has only permitted 4 contractors to conduct work on Navajo Nation lands, where 100% of this work is occurring. The Navajo Nation has indicated to the customer that they had not issued permits to any additional contractors which would enable effective competition. 6- Effort made to obtain offers from multiple sources: Contract 07-CR-40-8185 was solicited on a full and open competitive basis. Notwithstanding such, only one proposal was received, which is attributed mainly to the restricted number of contractors permitted by the Navajo Nation to perform work on its lands. The Government has no information which would suggest that a follow-on competition for the same work would yield a different result. This additional work requirement was synopsized on 02 April 2009. 7- Description of market research performed: Market research was not performed because the Government is already aware of all of the contractors that are permitted to perform research on Navajo Nation lands. The Government has confirmed with the Navajo Nation that it has not issued permits to any other contractor outside of the four known contractors. 8- Determination of fair and reasonable cost: Per FAR 15.404-1, the Contracting Officer will determine that negotiation settlement is achieved at a fair and reasonable cost, based on historical cost data and analysis of cost and pricing data. 9- Other facts supporting use of other than full and open competition: If this work is not continued with the current contractor, the Government has significant concerns that integral continuity of data collection and analysis would not be sustainable in the event another contractor was selected. This would likely result in an undue hardship to the Government by requiring it to integrate information that it had virtually no role in collecting, which, in turn, would compromise the integrity of any analysis that would be performed on such data. 10- List any sources that have expressed interest in this proposed acquisition: To date, no responses to the presolicitation notice that was released on 02 April 2009 have been received. 11- Effort to overcome barriers to competition for future acquisition: The Government does not anticipate having the same requirements after FY2010. 12- Certification:Preparer's / requestor's name:Kent Munro //s//Preparer's / requestor's title:Contract Specialist I certify that the information and documentation provided with this requested justification are accurate and believe they form a valid basis to proceed with the requested acquisition without full and open competition. Preparer / requestor signature: Mike C. Ward //s// Date 24 April 2009