SPECIAL NOTICE
D -- Informational Notice to provide notification of the use of funds authorized under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) MIDAS Initiative
- Notice Date
- 9/28/2010
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 541611
— Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- General Services Administration, Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), Federal Systems Integration&Management Center(FEDSIM)(QFOB), 2100 Crystal Drive, Suite 800, Arlington, Virginia, 22202, United States
- ZIP Code
- 22202
- Solicitation Number
- GS00T10AJC0010
- Archive Date
- 12/7/2010
- Point of Contact
- Lynnie Martin, Phone: 7036052267
- E-Mail Address
-
lynnie.martin@gsa.gov
(lynnie.martin@gsa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- THIS NOTICE IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND IS INTENDED TO PROVIDE NOTIFICATION OF THE USE OF FUNDS AUTHORIZED UNDER THE AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT AT OF 2009 (ARRA) ON THIS CONTRACT. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is pursuing significant modernization of aging departmental and agency program delivery systems in order to address challenges and opportunities in the rapidly changing federal technology environment. Farm Service Agency (FSA) intends to transform farm program benefit delivery through the "Modernize and Innovate the Delivery of Agriculture Systems" (MIDAS) initiative. MIDAS will address the FSA's outmoded delivery of farm program benefits by replacing obsolete technology and consolidating disparate local systems into a public-facing web-based enterprise-wide system that seamlessly integrates customer self-service, farm program management, financial management, and other business processes within a framework that is fully compliant with Federal regulations. FSA administers and manages farm commodity, credit, conservation, disaster, and loan programs. These programs are designed to improve the economic stability of the agricultural industry and to help farmers adjust production to meet demand. Economically, the desired result of these programs is a steady price for agricultural commodities for both farmers and consumers. FSA administers these farm programs through a network of federal, state and county offices as laid out by Congress and overseen by the Secretary of Agriculture. FSA's national administrative functions are managed in Washington, D.C. Implementation of farm policy through FSA programs is the responsibility of field offices based in states, counties and territories. Farmer committees at the state and county level oversee implementation of federal programs in their respective areas. The Deputy Administrator for Farm Programs (DAFP) administers the programs currently targeted for modernization through the MIDAS solution. The MIDAS scope currently contains DAFP farm programs and compliance/reporting functions. New legislation, regulation and policy decision will continually drive changes to these programs. Below are the strategic goals the MIDAS program will address: • Strategic Goal 1- Modernize and Innovate the Delivery of Farm Programs o Objective 1.1 - Modernize technology for service delivery of farm programs o Objective 1.2 - Provide effective and efficient business processes o Objective 1.3 - Provide data integrity, reliability, and consistency o Objective 1.4 - Provide enhanced information delivery o Objective 1.5 - Support future growth and changes in requirements • Strategic Goal 2 - Improve Customer Service o Objective 2.1 - Improve services to farmers and ranchers o Objective 2.2 - Improve services to FSA and USDA staff • Strategic Goal 3 - Achieve Compliance o Objective 3.1 - Reduce material weaknesses o Objective 3.2 - Comply with regulations • Strategic Goal 4 - Support USDA and FSA Strategic Plans o Objective 4.1 - Leverage existing investments o Objective 4.2 - Develop an extensible platform for agricultural program delivery o Objective 4.3 - Demonstrate strategic use of the department's human capital On March 31, 2009, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Farm Service Agency (FSA), awarded contract number AG-645S-P-09-0011 to Torres Advance Enterprise Solutions, LLC (Torres). The awarded contract was a directed 8(a) contract under FAR Part 19.8 for MIDAS Program Management Support Services with a total value of $3,354,062.65, including all options. Since the award of the contract, USDA exercised and funded the base period and option period CLINS for labor and travel. On March 19, 2010, the USDA Acquisition Management Division (AMD) executed contract modification number five which officially transferred Contracting Authority from USDA to FEDSIM. On March 31, 2010, FEDSIM and USDA Acquisition Management Division (AMD) completed the transfer of USDA Contract Number AG-645S-P-09-0011 to GSA FEDSIM. In doing so, FEDSIM converted the contract numbering to align with internal numbering convention which changed the contract number from AG-645S-P-09-0011 to GS00T10AJC0010 under Modification 6. RATIONALE FOR OTHER THAN FFP No other contract type was deemed suitable by the GSA FEDSIM Contracting Officer, Lisa Ellis, on September 2, 2010, due to the lack of and consequential delay of a System Integrator (SI) to design and build the system. Without the SI, procurement activities are difficult to predict. Ongoing coordination activities must occur between the Project Management Office and the vendor, thereby hindering the ability to determine the effort involved and determine a Firm Fixed Price. Therefore, the contract was awarded as a Labor Hour (LH) contract because it was not possible at the time of placing the order to estimate accurately the extent or duration of the work, nor was it possible to anticipate costs with the confidence which a Firm Fixed Price would demand. While the scope for the project is defined, the amount of effort in specific processes and lifecycle phases is difficult to predict due to the moving parts of the project and the complexity of the tasks. The contract was awarded as a Labor Hour (LH) Contract with a fixed ceiling price determined in order to mitigate the risk of using a LH contract.
- Web Link
-
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- Record
- SN02299520-W 20100930/100928235024-1f4d4ff7f4cf994c204cd3a6a943ae66 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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